MISUSE AND USE OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS AS A WELFARE INDICATOR: SELECTED ANALYTICAL AND MEASUREMENT ISSUES

Few economic relationships have been as scrutinized as that between SNA measures of national product, investment and consumption, and welfare. The present paper contrasts SNA economic production and welfare to total production and welfare within the Walrasian framework of usefulness and costliness. An evaluation of deductions and additions to the SNA made by Nordhaus-Tobin, Zolotas, Richard and Nancy Ruggles, Kendrick, Eisner and Jorgenson-Fraumeni, in their research on extended product and income accounts and improved indicators of welfare reveals numerous unresolved analytical and measurement issues; and reaffirms the usefulness of the SNA as a fundamental, initial, welfare indicator.     

ADVERTISING RESTRICTIONS AND CIGARETTE SMOKING: EVIDENCE FROM MYOPIC AND RATIONAL ADDICTION MODELS

Because of the high social cost of cigarette smoking, many countries impose advertising restrictions to reduce cigarette consumption. Yet previous studies conclude that advertising constraints have been ineffective at reducing cigarette smoking. This conclusion is incorrect because it ignores the fact that advertising restrictions have supply as well as demand effects. The authors extend existing research by showing that advertising regulations, especially those found in the recent National Tobacco Settlement, have decreased the equilibrium level of cigarette consumption in the United States, a result that holds for both myopic and rational addiction models. (JEL L50, L66, M37 )     

Reproductive behaviour in peasant societies: a theoretical and empirical analysis

In spite of the concern and repeated attempts to promote population control programs, a coherent and unified theory of peasant reproductive behavior has not emerged. The author attempts to extend the microeconomic foundations of reproductive behavior by considering a dynamic intertemporal model of household production emphasizing survival uncertainty and age specific differences in productive ability. An optimal policy is derived in a single sex model in which decisions are made sequentially based on new information. It is shown that households will follow a stopping rule; the household will continue to reproduce until an optimal number of living children is reached. As a consequence of the stopping rule households will appear to be replacing infant and child deaths if these occurred early in the program. After presenting the model, empirical applications of the theory are explored and the model is estimated using sample survey data collected in Bangladesh in 1977. Issues raised in the analysis are discussed.     

Other financial institutions' portfolio behaviour and policy implications: A study of India

Abstract

Applied literature has largely neglected the asset decision of other financial institutions (OFIs), though it may possess important policy implications. In this paper, portfolio behaviour of OFIs in India is modelled by using the annual flow of funds data for 1951/52 to 1993/94. The long-run model of the Almost Ideal Demand System and the allied concepts of cointegration generated economically and statistically plausible results. We find a strong influence of interest rates on portfolio behavior, thereby the role of interest rates on resource allocation. The paper concludes that the macroeconomic management through monetary policy actions may not be unnecessarily limited through the channel of OFIs in the post-financial reform regime in India.     

北星双峰聚乙烯技术的开发设计思路

北欧化工公司是拥有高性能聚烯烃专有技术，且在聚烯烃的市场分额中占有领先地位的国际性公司，北星双峰聚乙烯技术更是核心技术，自1995年工业应用以来，尽管投产装置还不多，但产品的先进性和工怕独创性已为行业所公认，我国最近也引进了此项技术，本文肉容虽然技术性强，却不局限于作事实型知识（know what)的介绍，而是从一项新技术开发的推动力，原有技术局限所在，突破上述局限的思路,实现这种思路的理论和实践依据，以及将此思路变成技术商品具体历程等方面，对北星双峰聚乙烯工艺及产品技术的发展背景及技术特色，作了简要全面的阐述，不仅内容翔实，文章瓣可读性也较强，是一篇立足点较高，从大处着眼而又触及本质的技术性文章，完全不同于以往此类作品事论事，注重描述具体技术或偏重数据的行文风格，相信会使读者有耳目一新之感，21世纪是知识经济的时代，创新已成为这个时代推动人类发展的主旋律，本刊期待着组织到更多有关介绍创新过程，诠释创新内函，启迪创新思路和采文华章，以此奉献读者，为我国石化行业的技术进步起一点添砖瓦的作用。重点介绍北星双峰技术开发的工艺选择和设计思路，以期对国内聚烯烃技术的科研开发能起到借鉴作用。     

Management training in small and medium-sized enterprises: methodological and conceptual issues

The paper examines the impact of management training and development on the organisation and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), via a variety of quantitative and qualitative research techniques and including both crosssectional and longitudinal approaches to analysis. The paper demonstrates the value of management training and development in SMEs and demonstrates a series of one-off and longer lasting effects on their organization and performance. The paper also highlights the conditions under which management development projects are likely to be more successful. Finally, the paper extends the schema developed by Arthur and Hendry (1990) and Hendry et al. (1991), indicating the factors influencing training within businesses, and shows the indirect and complex links between management training and firm performance.     

Connecting strategic orientation,innovation strategy,and corporate sustainability: A model for sustainable development through stakeholder engagement

This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the relationship between organizations' strategic orientation (i.e., instrumental, equidistant, and stewardship) and their innovational strategy (i.e., organizational ambidexterity and open innovation), and this relationship's influence on their sustainability performance. We expected organizations' strategic orientation to influence their innovational strategy and exhibit better corporate sustainability. We focused on 12 different multinational organizations in the Eurozone and found that inbound open innovation acts as a driver for corporate sustainability while simultaneously positively enabling organizations to pursue both financial and social initiatives. After suggesting open innovation as a new corporate sustainability antecedent, we only found empirical evidence of inbound open innovation. However, we would suggest that if organizations incorporated outbound open innovation in their strategy, they could likely improve their corporate sustainability. Also, we found that achieving an equidistant or stewardship orientation paves the way for sustainability to become an integral part of an organization's innovational culture and actualizes the organization's strategic behavior. Our findings further contribute to a deeper understanding of organizations' characteristics as their sustainability commitment grows and as they move from an instrumental to a stewardship orientation and implement an open innovational strategy.