Marx's Theory of Ground Rent: A Critical Assessment

This critical essay provides the reader with an up-to-date assessmentof Marx's relatively neglected theory of absolute ground rentby bringing together in a coherent manner his scattered observationsand arguments contained primarily in Capital, Vol. III and Theoriesof Surplus Value, Vol. II. It also reviews the extant secondaryliterature which suggests that within Marx's theory of rentis an embryonic theory of monopoly from which scholars can drawimportant insights into the history of economic thought andthe workings of mature capitalism. The paper is organized asfollows. After an introductory section, Section II providesthe reader with an overview of Marx's theory of differentialrent and compares it to that of Ricardo, particularly Marx'sdiscussion of differential rent II and whether nature is productiveof exchange value. Section III discusses Marx's theory of absoluterent in light of recent criticisms by prominent scholars andsuggests that what determines whether rent is paid on the marginalland is not technical backwardness or lower productivity oflabor per se, but a social relation, viz., the monopoly createdby the private ownership of land. The last section summarizesthe main arguments and suggests some avenues for future research.     

The Expectations Hypothesis of the Term Structure and Time-Varying Risk Premia: a Panel Data Approach

One implication of the expectations hypothesis is that the yield spread should forecast subsequent changes in the long yield. However, regression tests based on this specification strongly reject the expectations hypothesis. One explanation for this rejection is that these tests fail to allow for a time varying risk premium that is correlated with this yield spread, leading to a bias in the estimated regression coefficients. This paper uses panel data in order to testm the expectations hypothesis under the assumption that risk premia are time-varying but driven by a single factor. It is found that while the expectations hypothesis is still rejected, the bias in the estimated coefficient is verysubstantially reduced.     

Änderungen der durchschnittlichen Blutdruckwerte in den Jahren 1956–1968

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Professionals in the NHS – a case study of business process re-engineering

Rather than providing evidence of business process re-engineering (BPR) as another example of cultural change rhetoric, this case study shows BPR as a substantive initiative that has had a considerable impact on health care professionals. A hybrid of differing bureaucratic professions allows for a diversity specific to the health service. The study highlights a number of controversial issues unique to health care professionals, particularly in the areas of job redesign, multiskilling and empowerment.     

The Nature of Business Planning Undertaken by General Practitioner Fundholding Practices in the North West Region

This article focuses on a central feature of the former Conservative Government's approach to the National Health Service (NHS), the introduction of General Practitioner Fundholding. It examines the nature of business planning undertaken by fundholding practices in the North West Region by looking at the participation of various stakeholders in the business planning process, the business planning techniques adopted and the extent to which fundholding practices set and monitor their objectives.     

Measuring the social costs of suboptimal combinations of policy instruments: A general framework and an example

Since most agricultural programs employ two or more policy instruments simultaneously, it is notable thai little research has attempted to find optimal instrument combinations and no research exists which evaluates the social costs (unrealized benefits) of combining instruments suboptimally. In our paper we report a simple and feasible method to find optimal policy instrument combinations, and we provide the first general, formal approach to measuring the social costs of suboptimal policy instrument combinations. Our approach is illustrated in an analysis for live major U.S. crops (corn, feed grains, wheat, rice, cotton). The simple model we employ for the illustration suggests that except lor the feed grains program, the observed programs combined policy instruments quite suboptimally. We conclude that agricultural economics research now can and should begin placing increased emphasis on studying optimal policy instrument combinations.     

Is the Risk of Bankruptcy a Systematic Risk?

Several studies suggest that a firm distress risk factor could be behind the size and the book-to-market effects. A natural proxy for firm distress is bankruptcy risk. If bankruptcy risk is systematic, one would expect a positive association between bankruptcy risk and subsequent realized returns. However, results demonstrate that bankruptcy risk is not rewarded by higher returns. Thus, a distress factor is unlikely to account for the size and book-to-market effects. Surprisingly, firms with high bankruptcy risk earn lower than average returns since 1980. A risk-based explanation cannot fully explain the anomalous evidence.