Determinants of efficiency of vegetable production in smallholder farms: The case of Ethiopia

Improving production efficiency remains as a plausible means of increasing productivity when resource reallocation, and the creation and adoption of new technologies are limited. Technical, allocative and economic efficiencies are derived from a sample of smallholder vegetable farmers in Ethiopia using parametric and non-parametric methods. The results reveal that the two methods yield similar estimates and the existence of substantial inefficiencies in production as well as efficiency differentials among farmers. The analysis of the determinants of efficiency of vegetable production using regression models show that low asset ownership, illiteracy, large family size, inadequate extension contacts, small farm size, age, low off/non-farm income and high consumer spending are the major socio-economic factors causing inefficiency of vegetable production in the study areas. A comparison of the market-driven (vegetables) with the whole-farm (crops and livestock) production efficiency indicates that lower economic efficiency scores for the former might be related to the limited access to capital markets, high consumer spending, and large family size.     

对话《现代主义之后的艺术史》第二部分:艺术史终结了吗?

1、今日的艺术经验与历史学性质的艺术研究2、今日艺术中的艺术史:告别与相遇1、今日的艺术经验与历史学性质的艺术研究人们关于艺术终结与艺术史终结的谈论已经足够多,虽然说这两大议题的提倡者并非相同的人,而且它们也并不处于同一种关系域中。艺术的终结常常被用作呼唤新艺术诞生的标语,而认为艺术史的终结已然到来的     

Sources of the Persistent Gender Wage Gap along the Unconditional Earnings Distribution: Findings from Kenya

Past studies on gender wage inequality in Africa typically attribute the gender pay gap either to gender differences in characteristics or in the return to characteristics. The authors suggest, however, that this understanding of the two sources may be far too general and possibly overlook the underlying covariates that drive the gender wage gap. Moreover, past studies focus on the gender wage gap exclusively at the conditional mean. The authors go further to evaluate the partial contribution of each wage-determining covariate to the magnitude of the gender pay gap along the unconditional earnings distribution. The authors' data are from Kenya, and their empirical technique mirrors re-centered influence function regressions. The authors' results are novel and suggest that while gender differences in characteristics and the return to characteristics widen the gender pay gap at the lower end of the wage distributions, gender differences in characteristics widen the gender wage gap at the upper end of the wage distributions. Importantly, the authors find that the underlying covariates driving gender differences in characteristics and the return to characteristics are the industry, occupation, higher education and region covariates. In the middle of the distributions, however, the authors find that gender differences in the return to characteristics, fueled by education and experience covariates, exert the strongest influence on the magnitude of the gender pay gap.     

Perceived risk and information search. A systematic meta-analysis of the empirical evidence

Does high perceived risk really induce intensive information search? A systematic meta-analysis of 100 empirical findings showing 51 contradictory results, raises severe doubts. For convenience goods, perceived risk usually seems to remain below the tolerated threshold. For complex goods, information search turns out to be only one among several risk-reducing instruments. The findings are also influenced by the extent, type, and validity of risk measurement, and by the operationalization of information search, but measurement problems alone cannot explain the contradictory evidence. Alternative theoretical concepts are proposed and implications for marketing and consumer policy are discussed.     

Asset Prices, Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stability

This article discusses the role of asset prices in the conduct of monetary policy when the ultimate goal is to maintain price stability and limit fluctuations in real income. It is argued that judicious interpretation of asset price movements can provide information about the risks of future macroeconomic imbalances, and that this information should be utilized in monetary policy decisions. Simulations results from both theoretical and empirical models support the conceptual argument. It is stressed that policy reactions to asset prices must not follow a mechanical rule, since the appropriate response depends on the underlying shock.     

一种机载设备的风冷散热优化设计

针对采用强迫风冷散热的典型机载电子设备,利用CFD/NHT 仿真进行优化设计,与热测试相结合进行验证.     

The Pathological Export Boom and the Bazaar Effect: How to Solve the German Puzzle

Germany is the laggard of Europe, yet the country is world champion in merchandise exports. The paper tries to solve this theoretical and empirical puzzle by diagnosing a ‘pathological export boom’ and a ‘bazaar effect’. Excessively high wages defended by unions and the welfare state against the forces of international low‐wage competition destroy too big a fraction of the labour‐intensive sectors and drive too much capital and labour into the capital‐intensive export sectors, causing both unemployment and excessive value added in exports. Moreover, excessive wages induce too much outsourcing of upstream production activities, which implies that export quantities grow too much in relation to value added contained in exports. Finally, excessive wages cause capital flight resulting in a too large current account surplus.     

Frank Esser

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Frank Esser