The impact of coffee price changes on rural households in Uganda

Employing household survey data covering the periods 1992–1993, 1995–1996, and 1999–2000, this article shows for the case of Uganda that a coffee market liberalization followed by a price boom was associated with substantial reductions in poverty, which could even be sustained when prices went down again. Coffee is not planted by the richest farmers and the gains from higher coffee prices accrued to poorer and richer coffee farmers alike. Nor were poorer farmers hurt disproportionately when prices fell. In addition, we find strong spillovers from coffee production to other agriculture, which tends to favor the poor, and to nonagricultural activities. These multiplier effects are concentrated in coffee regions. In an economic environment characterized by a booming agricultural sector, coffee farmers were able to accommodate the negative price shock, in particular through agricultural diversification. General agricultural growth also cushioned possible negative multiplier effects in coffee regions. Overall, the case of coffee in Uganda thus lends support to the view that agricultural trade liberalization is beneficial for the poor.     

Measuring the quality of work: the case of the Italian social cooperatives

Quality of work has within a short time become a major subject of study and discussion in labour economy. Its quantification is a challenging task because it implies the translation of various subjective perceptions into a single objective measure (composite indicator). In this paper, the method used to construct measures is the Rating Scale Model and the available data come from the Survey on Italian Social Cooperatives carried out in 2007. The validity of the obtained Rasch measures is tested with respect to some overall variables of the quality of work. Moreover, using inferential confidence intervals, these measures are utilized to evaluate the differences in the perception of the quality of work due to worker (gender, age and education) and cooperative (type, dimension and geographic area) characteristics, work characteristics (service area, membership, time and type of contract) and work incentives (economic, professional and learning).     

Exploring 3D datasets: a factorial matrices analysis of the US industry in the 1980s

In this paper a Factorial Matrices technique suitable for exploratory analysis of multivariate, disaggregated time series is presented and applied to a data set covering 19 US manufacturing industries over the years 1979 to 1990. The empirical analysis confirms that the technique is a powerful tool, allowing otherwise difficult extraction of stylized facts from multidimensional datasets. In this case: (i) there are no signs of deindustrialization induced by growing import penetration, and, (ii), employment decline has generally not been associated to substitution of capital to labour.     

The Determinants of Technology Adoption in Italian Manufacturing Industries

The adoption of new technologies in Italian manufacturing industries is analysed using data for 13,334 firms selected from the 1990–92 Community Innovation Survey. The determinants of technology adoption are analysed in an econometric framework (logit model) which is a general test of different theoretical explanations of technological diffusion. We particularly refer to the rank, epidemic and information effects which significantly affect the use of new technology in Italian manufacturing industries. We use a set of explanatory variables which enables us to set up a well specified empirical model and to use odds ratios to determine the effect of their changes on the adoption probability, thus giving a more precise picture of the determinants of technology adoption.     

Cash holdings and SME performance in Europe: the role of firm-specific and macroeconomic moderators

Small Business Economics - For the first time, this paper examines the way in which cash holdings affect firm operating performance in a wide sample of European small and medium-sized enterprises...     

Mean-Variance Hedging for Stochastic Volatility Models

In this paper we discuss the tractability of stochastic volatility models for pricing and hedging options with the mean-variance hedging approach. We characterize the variance-optimal measure as the solution of an equation between Doléans exponentials; explicit examples include both models where volatility solves a diffusion equation and models where it follows a jump process. We further discuss the closedness of the space of strategies.     

A Personal Construct Psychology Based Investigation Into A Product Service System For Renting Pushchairs To Consumers

This paper explores how consumers construe a product service system (PSS) for the supply of pushchairs. A PSS is a system of products, services, networks of actors and supporting infrastructure designed to be more sustainable than traditional business models. PSSs face an implementation challenge in consumer markets, and this case based research explores some reasons for this. The study applies personal construct psychology (in particular, the repertory grid technique), which has not previously been used in relation to researching PSSs. Results suggest that a PSS might be difficult to implement in relation to pushchairs. Renting pre‐used equipment may meet resistance because of a perceived risk that acquisition by this means might endanger infants. Participants in the study construed buying new products from specialist infant product shops as being the best way of acquiring them. Accordingly, PSS providers may, for instance, have to implement certified quality assurance processes in order to reassure consumers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Pitfalls in the modeling of labor market flows: a reappraisal

ABSTRACT

We discuss the relevance of the internationally adopted methodology for modelling labour market flows and comparing labour market flexibility. This is based on a two-state labour market model that neglects inactivity and uses aggregate stock data to derive transition rates. Traditionally, the results suggest that continental European labour markets are inflexible and unable to adjust quickly to aggregate demand or supply shocks compared with their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. This evidence has driven us to gain a better understanding of the relevance of such a modelling approach and critically discuss its main methodological hypothesis. We relax its assumptions by including inactivity and by using flow data for the period 2010–2017. We compare the results thus obtained with transition rates derived using a three-state labour market model for France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. These countries represent the institutional settings of continental Europe on the one hand and Anglo-Saxon nations on the other. The implied transition rates are much higher, even in continental Europe, when inactivity is considered, thus suggesting that conclusions derived using an incomplete representation of the labour market are misleading. Inactivity therefore plays a crucial role and its inclusion provides a more exhaustive picture of labour mobility.