The international financial crisis and problems of Russian Economic Development

This paper analyzes the development factors of the Russian economy and causes of the financial crisis, as well as anti-crisis policy objectives and methods.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Investment in private water development: Property rights and contractual opportunism during the California Gold Rush

This paper explores the development of water supplies by private ditch companies during the California Gold Rush. Using data taken from newspaper stories, mining camp by-laws, and state Supreme Court and district court cases, the paper documents the presence of institutional conditions that were unfavorable to support private water investments including property rights uncertainty, imperfect capital markets, and significant contractual enforcement costs that may have provided opportunities for contractual holdup by miners. Some evidence suggests that water development was likely discouraged to some extent. Nevertheless, the larger response was a major expansion in water supplies through an extensive ditch system, suggesting that there were factors that limited the ability of miners to capture rents, including various ditch company strategies to limit their exposure to opportunistic behavior and recognition by miners of their reliance on ditch companies.     

TESTING FOR INTEGRATION IN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT MARKETS

The degree of spatial market integration in European Community agricultural product markets is investigated. The methodology is based on co-integration analysis. A two-step testing procedure is applied to test the existence of the ‘Law of One Price’ which should be in force if these markets are truly integrated. The results show that market integration has not been achieved in a number of cases even when MCAs are subtracted from the price series used.     

Trade and agricultural development in the 1980s and the challenges for the 1990s: Latin America

Trends in agricultural trade for South and Central America are documented and the reform process is discussed. Performance of the agricultural sector of the region is evaluated. Challenges for policy makers are reviewed, ranging from macroeconomic policy to science and technology.     

Die neutrale Verbraucherinformation über die Qualität von Dienstleistungen — einige methodische Probleme

Zusammenfassung Auch wenn die vielbeschriebene Entwicklung zum Dienstleistungssektor häufig überschätzt wird, haben Verbraucherorganisationen die neutrale Berichterstattung über die Qualität privater und öffentlicher Leistungen in ihr Serviceangebot einzubeziehen. Die bei einer solchen Informationsstrategie entstehenden methodischen Probleme der Qualitätsmessung immaterieller Produkte sind zahlreich und unterscheiden sich erheblich von denjenigen des Warentests. Sie liegen einerseits in der Natur des Untersuchungsgegenstandes selbst sowie in den Besonderheiten der Marktstrukturen; zum anderen entstehen sie aus den verfügbaren Meßmethoden und Bewertungskriterien. Die Unterschiede zwischen Dienstleistungen und physischen Markenartikeln sowie die noch unbefriedigend entwickelte Methodologie der Dienstleistungstests sind in den Kommunikationsaktivitäten der Verbraucherorganisationen entsprechend zu berücksichtigen.

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Independent consumer information about quality of services — some methodological questions

Though the increasing importance of service industries in modern societies is mostly overrated, consumer organizations should offer independent information about the quality of private and public services. In setting up such information programmes there will arise a lot of methodological issues, different to those of comparative testing of products. Some of the problems stem from the nature of the research object itself and the market structure; other problems are connected with the social science research methods that have to be used and with the choice of criteria of evaluation. The differences between services and physical products as well as the little developed methodology of service testing have to be considered in the choice and design of the testing organization's communication activities.

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Günther Rosenberger ist Leiter der Abteilung Dienstleistungen bei der Stiftung Warentest, Lützowplatz 11–13, D-1000 Berlin 30.