International research on vegetable improvement in East and Southern Africa: adoption,impact, and returns

There is a lack of evidence for impact at scale of vegetable research and development, although the importance of vegetables for human nutrition and smallholder incomes is generally understood. We therefore study adoption and impact of improved tomato and African eggplant varieties developed through international agricultural research, released by national agricultural research and extension systems, and supplied to farmers by private seed companies in East and Southern Africa from 1990 to 2014. The study finds that in 2014, varieties developed by the World Vegetable Center accounted for 50% of tomato and 98% of African eggplant commercial seed production in East and Southern Africa. For Tanzania alone, investment in crop improvement generated economic gains of US$ 255 million for tomato and US$ 5 million for African eggplant up to 2014. The internal rate of return is 26% for tomato and 12% for African eggplant, though we project the latter to increase to 26% by 2024 as the variety was released only in 2007. These findings support the view that agricultural policy and investment reoriented towards contemporary nutritional challenges will give high returns to investment.     

Code and Conduct: Predictors of Irsih Managers' Ethical Reasoning

We analyse Irish managers' perceptions about the degree of wrongness of ten types of unethical conduct. In-person interviews with 348 managing directors of Irish-owned businesses who report their perceptions of the degree of wrongness of ten business ethics problems (the dependent variables) yield the data for our study. Predictors of managers' ratings include the existence of a business code of ethics, perceived frequency of occurrence of the given acts, company size and sector, union membership, Irish business ownership and independence (the independent variables). Results indicate that approximately 75% of those sampled are independent Irish owned businesses but few (only 22% of this sample) have a formal business code. Regression analyses reveal that small firms with a code of ethics predict higher wrongness ratings for managers in regard to the practices of unfair pricing and delayed payments (unethical behavior involving firms) but managers also consider such acts the least wrong overall. Wrongness ratings on the eight remaining unethical acts are explained by the manufacturing sector. However, manufacturing firms in Ireland also have a high percentage of unionised workers indicating that unions influence managerial thinking about social and employee ethics (e.g., discrimination, insider trading). The traditional adversarial Industrial Relations model is useful in noting that unions are important in setting ethical standards for indigenous Irish-owned businesses. Given this reality, management in small, manufacturing firms should work with unions to create a more formal ethics code in order to guard against corruption and to remain competitive in the international marketplace. Those without strong unions might articulate their own organisational values.     

Income Provision in Old Age

Few areas of public policy impinge more directly on individual lifetime welfare than those directed at retirement income. While policy initiatives implemented since the start of the 1970s fall short of major reform, there have nevertheless been substantial changes in the real value of pensions, the coverage of pensions, and the tax treatment of various forms of retirement income. The objective of this article is to catalogue these changes in policy, and to identify the combination of political philosophy and socio-economic pressures underlying them. It also analyses some of the economic consequences of these policies and examines the question of national superannuation. The article concludes that, for the present at least, any reforms in the area of retirement income provision seem likely to be limited to the refinement of the status quo.     

The effect of human capital on the economic status of divorced and separated women: Differences by race

This study investigated the impact of investments in human capital on the economic well-being of black and white women immediately following marital disruption. It also explored the extent to which the observed differences in income between the two groups were due to differences in the levels of qualities (endowments) or differences in the impact of these qualities (discrimination). The average differences in endowments explained almost two-thirds of the income gap between black and white women. Most of this explanatory power was due to differences in educational attainment, work experience, and region.     

Regional Integration of Nineteenth Century U.S. Egg Markets

Multivariate asymmetric threshold vector error correction models are applied to a historical analysis of the regional integration of U.S. markets for eggs at the turn of the nineteenth century. Two general approaches to the selection of the thresholds are considered. The first criterion ignores the cross equation correlation while the latter explicitly accounts for it. Our results suggest that threshold behaviour characterises spatial price linkages between the markets analysed.     

‘Who owns the customer?’: A commentary on channel debate through the eyes of the customer

Amid intense changing competitive environments in the insurance industry, insurance manufacturers and intermediaries are preparing themselves to be closer than ever to their customers. But are they collaborating to serve the customer or are they still playing ‘tug of war’ over who owns the customer, while their customers seek greener pastures with the competition? In this paper the authors discuss six realities of customers and the insurance industry today and finish with suggestions on how collaboration between manufacturer and intermediaries will help serve the common interest of building stronger customer relationships.     

Shaping of Strategic Behavior: How Macro-Environmental Effects Pattern the Country-Level Participation of Non-US Firms in US Equity Markets

This paper examines the effects of macro-environmental variables on country-level patterns of participation by firms on the US NASDAQ stock exchange. NASDAQ's popularity can be linked to the strength of its technological system, as well as the high frequency of listings of technology-oriented firms. Using concepts from organization theory, strategy and international business, we consider the impact of political, legal, cultural, and colonial heritage status on the strategic capital-seeking behavior of non-US companies in US markets. We empirically demonstrate that similarity in legal systems and a shared colonial heritage will influence the probability of a non-US country having firm participation on the NASDAQ. The results also indicate that the effects of institutional forces are not static processes