Impacts of risk aversion on whole-farm management in Syria

This article reports on a study of the impact of risk on farm management practices in northern Syria, focusing particularly on how these are affected by risk aversion and farm size. The study is based on production data from an eight-year field trial and on prices from market surveys. A large linear programming model is built, representing the eight years as observations from a discrete probability distribution. Risk aversion is modelled by inclusion of a utility function with constant relative risk aversion, represented using the DEMP/UEP approach.     

EUROPEAN UNION CEREALS POLICY: AN EVOLUTIONARY INTERPRETATION

Following an introduction explaining the genesis of the paper, section 2 briefly reviews some relevant literature and concepts. On the basis of this review, section 3 develops an outline evolutionary model of policy development. Section 4 interprets the history and present status of the EU policy within this framework (here illustrated by the cereals policy which is taken as archetypal for the CAP as a whole). It characterises the policy history In broad evolutionary terms, emphasising the 'fitness for purpose' of various manifestations of the policy organism. The key conclusion from this section is that the present policy situation cannot be described as 'fit' — there is too much conflict between the present (rather new) policy environment and the character of the existing policy. This conclusion is in distinct contrast to more conventional views about the status of the present policy and to the current view from within the policy-making bureaucracy. Section 5 develops some major implications of this analysis for future development of the CAP. Section 6 offers some broad conclusions.     

Firm-level interactions between exporting and productivity: Industry-specific evidence

This paper investigates interactions between exporting and productivity at the firm level, using a panel of firms in the UK chemical industry. This is both highly technology intensive and the UK’s largest exporting sector. We find exporters are more productive than non-exporters, but are also on average smaller. This superior productivity performance among exporters appears to be caused by both self-selection and learning-by-exporting effects. In contrast to other studies, we find learning effects are significantly positive among new entrants, weaker for more experienced exporters and negative for established exporters. JEL no. F14, D21, L65     

Was It Possible to Stabilise the Price of Wool? Organised Wool Marketing 1916 to 1970

Wool is the only Australian commodity for which there has been an attempt to organise price stability through a buffer stock scheme (1970–91). Growers pressed for the introduction of a scheme since the early 1920s. We test the veracity of claims that the sale of the stockpiles optimised growers' returns. We also simulate the likely outcomes of the reserve price schemes (RPS) proposed in 1925 and 1952, respectively. Our findings are that post-war stockpile disposals did not optimise wool growers' incomes, the undercapitalised proposed RPS of the 1920s would have collapsed in the depression, and that the post-1952 RPS would have been in considerable difficulty.     

Evaluating the effect of soft business support upon small firm performance

The paper applies robust econometric techniques to assess theimpact of publicly-provided subsidised ‘soft’ businesssupport on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs). It considers the assistance for consultancy advice providedtowards marketing under the UK Enterprise Initiative, lookingat its effect on sales turnover, employment and survival, andmaking explicit allowance for selection effects. It is foundthat the policy has no impact on the survival of smaller SMEs,and that it is most effective in the mid-range SMEs, where itraises survival rates by about 4% over the longer run and growthrates in surviving firms by up to 10% per annum. Overall, thescheme has a substantial impact, but the paper draws attentionto the possible displacement effects.     

REFRIGERATION AND DISTRIBUTION: NEW ZEALAND LAND PRICES AND REAL WAGES 1873–1939

The responses in New Zealand to the opportunities of refrigeration transformed farming in the Dominion during the half-century from 1890. Closer settlement and the extension of the cultivated area combined with more intensive farming methods to increase land productivity and real gross domestic product capita to the extent that living standards in New Zealand measured by the Human Development Index ranked first in the world by 1913. In contrast, real wages in the Dominion stagnated. The refrigeration-related trade boom had powerful income distribution effects that increased sharply the land rental–wage ratio during the years to 1920. Widely diffuse land ownership in New Zealand tempered the rise in income inequality, to set the Dominion apart from other land-abundant economies of the periphery.