REDUCING FAT IN THE U.K. DIET — SOME LEGISLATIVE FACTORS

A high fat diet has been associated with a number of clinical conditions and it is recommended that the quantity of fat in the U.K. diet be reduced. Many foodstuffs of high fat content sold in the U.K. are subject to compositional regulations. The authors illustrate how the current regulations are acting to perpetuate the high fat nature of these food items and show how amendment of the legislation would be a useful strategy leading to a reduction in fat intake.     

Advertising Expenditure in the UK: 1982 Survey

This paper sets out the method of compilation of the UK official advertising statistics.     

The impact of capital transfer tax on agriculture a preliminary assessment

Abstract

This paper aims to measure and compare technical efficiencies in the England and Wales dairy sector from stochastic production functions in the immediate post‐quota period. Milk Marketing Board data for a stratified random sample of dairy farms for 1984/85, 1985/86 and 1986/87 are used. The results show that average levels of efficiency have initially fallen and then stabilized over this period. Moreover, there is a high degree of correlation between the rankings of the efficiency measures.     

THE ELASTICITY OF DEMAND FOR THE EXPORTS OF A SINGLE COUNTRY — A RECONSIDERATION

One country's exports of a particular commodity are usually imperfect substitutes for similar exports from other countries. Consequently, the price elasticity of export demand involves unknown cross elasticities between sub-groups of the commodity. However, there are constraints on the relative magnitudes of all the sub-group elasticities. These make it possible to assess the degree to which the whole commodity elasticity divided by the market share is an over-estimate of the export elasticity.     

TAX POLICIES TO INCREASE FARM PRICES AND INCOME: A QUANTITATIVE SIMULATION

In previous periods when agricultural production was large relative to demand in North America, supply control through limitations in production and markets has been used. Large cropfalls and mammoth international purchases by the USSR during the early 1970s depleted North American grain stocks and caused major supply control programs to vanish. With more favorable worldwide weather, however, grain production and carryover have increased to levels where farmers may demand supply and market controls to improve prices and income. In contrast to conventional models, we make a quantitative analysis for the United States to three tax policies which might be used to restrain production and improve prices and farm income. All tax alternatives do so if the taxes collected by the government are returned to farmers. The tax alternatives examined include a tax on inputs, a gross sales tax, and a tax-in-kind similar to a share rent. The tax policies are applied through an econometric simulation model. Certain limitations of the tax policies are explained. Aux époques antérieures, lorsque la production agricole était grande compareée à la demande dans l'Amérique du Nord, on a contrôlé les stocks de réserve par moyen de limitations de production et de vente. Les récoltes inférieures et les énormes achats par l'URSS pendant la premiére partie des années 70 ont diminué les réserves des céréales de l'Amérique du Nord, ce qui a rendu superflus les programmes majeurs de contrôle. Toutefois, un climat global favorable a augmenté la production et l'accumulation jusqu'au point oú les agriculteurs peuvent considérer nécessaires des contrôles sur la production et la vente afin d'améliorer les prix et leurs revenus. Faisant contraste avec les modéles conventionnels, nous présentons une analyse quantitative pour les Etats-Unis de trois systémes d'impôts qui pourraient etre appliqués pour diminuer la production et pour améliorer les prix et les revenus agricoles. Tous les trois systémes sont effectifs à ce but, pourvu que les impôts perçus par le gouvernement soient rendus aux producteurs. Les alternatifs examinés comprennent un impôt sur les frais de production, un impôt en gros sur les ventes et un systéme d'impôts payables par une quantité des céréales produites, semblable au métayage. Les systémes sont appliqués par moyen d'un modéle de simulation économétrique. Certaines limitations des systémes sont presentées.     

On the Function Coefficient, Euler's Theorem, and Homogeneity in Production Theory

This paper makes three related points useful in teaching first-year graduate production theory. First, the local applicability of the classical function coefficient idea for short-run nonhomogeneous production technologies is shown for returns to scale, satisfaction of second-order and total conditions for profit maximization, and delineation of the economic region of production in factor space. Second, the general applicability of Euler's Theorem results to nonhomogeneous (variable-proportional-return) cases is developed. Lastly, it is shown that short-run, nonhomogeneous production/yield functions are fully consistent with long-run linear homogeneity.