Sharecropping efficiency in Ethiopia: threats of eviction and kinship

We tested a theoretical model with the Marshallian inefficiency (H1) and threat of eviction (H2) hypotheses having opposite effects on land productivity on sharecropped plots. The model also assumes that kinship contracts may eliminate or reduce the Marshallian inefficiency (H3) and threat of eviction (H4) effects on land productivity. Our empirical findings were consistent with H2 and H4 being true. We found higher land productivity on sharecropped plots than on share tenants' own plots and higher land productivity on sharecropped plots of nonkin than of kin tenants. The nature of the data allowed controlling for unobservable household characteristics through household fixed effects and for observable plot characteristics. Analyses with and without plot characteristics revealed that these findings were stronger with plot characteristics than without them. Based on the plausible assumption that observable plot characteristics are positively correlated with unobservable plot characteristics this strengthens our conclusion. The results are also supported by first-order stochastic dominance analysis. Sharecropped plots' output value distribution unambiguously dominated the output value distribution from share tenants' own plots. Nonkin sharecropped plots' output value distribution also first-order stochastically dominated the output value distribution from kin sharecrop plots.     

Price Reporting in Experimental Markets

The spatial oligopoly model has been proposed as a method of explaining behavior in food markets, particularly in response to retail food price reporting systems. This paper presents an analysis of the effects of price reporting in experimental spatial duopoly markets with controlled buyer behavior. The experiments are designed to evaluate the impact of a changed information flow on the price decisions of oligopolistic sellers. The short-run theoretical predictions of the spatial model are largely consistent with experimental market results. Thus, the spatial oligopoly model is not rejected as an explanation of seller response to changed price information Rows.
Le modéle oligopolistique spatial a déjà été proposé pour expliquer le comportement des marches alimentaires, tel que déterminé en particulier par les systémes d'inforrnation sur les prix au detail des aliments. Nous présentons une analyse des effets du systéme d'information sur les prix dans des marches duopolistiques spatiaux expérmentaux dans lesquels le comportement des acheteurs est contrôle. Ces expériences sont conpes pour évaluer I'incidence d'un changement dans la transmission des informations sur les décisions des vendeurs oligopolistiques concernant les prix. Les prévisions théoriques a court terme du modele spatial sont largement en accord avec les rksultats experimentaux. Ainsi, le modéle oligopolistique spatial peut he retenu pour expliquer la réaction des vendeurs è des chan-gements sumenus dans la transmission des informations sur les prix.     

Tenants’ land access in the rental market: evidence from northern Ethiopia

The purpose of this study is to investigate the allocation efficiency in the tenancy market, and thereby the potential of the market to facilitate operational farm size adjustment that can help land‐poor tenant households to transform into smallholder commercial farms. We analyzed three rounds of balanced panel data for the production seasons 2005–2006, 2009–2010, and 2014–2015 collected from 320 smallholder farms in Tigrai region in northern Ethiopia. Random effects dynamic probit and tobit models are used to assess how land‐poor tenants’ access and extent of access to land are affected by state dependency (earlier participation in the market), kinship ties, climate shocks, and legal restrictions. The results indicate that state dependency and kinship ties with the landholder had strong positive effects on participation and intensity of participation. Climate shocks significantly affected the intensity of participation of tenants already in the rental market. Tenants’ overall access to rented land had not improved from 2005–2006 to 2014–2015. The amount of land accessed by those already in the market was insufficient for them to become commercial farmers. The important policy implication is that orchestrated interventions at community level are needed to reduce transaction costs and thereby improve land access of entrepreneurial tenants.     

The change in information uncertainty and acquirer wealth losses

A large body of literature demonstrates that acquisitions are on average value destroying for the acquirer. We investigate whether the change in the acquirer??s information uncertainty contributes to acquirer wealth losses. Information uncertainty affects the discount rate (the cost of capital), which in turn influences stock price. Our results indicate that acquisitions lead to increases in information uncertainty, as proxied by analysts?? earnings forecast dispersion. We also find that the change in information uncertainty is negatively related to acquirer long-term stock performance, after controlling for the acquirer??s fundamentals. Taken together, this evidence is consistent with the conclusion that increases in information uncertainty resulting from acquisitions contribute to acquirer post-acquisition wealth losses     

Issues for Management Thought and Research

One of the tenets of the editors of The Journal of Product Innovation Management is the principle, probably first enunciated by social scientist Kurt Lewin, that there is nothing more practical than a good theory. That principle is one that draws together academics and practicing managers to the journal's task of advancing the management of product innovation. It is a principle that says to academics that their theories must meet the test of utility, and to managers that it can be useful to develop a theoretical perspective.
Questions of practice and theory emerged in the first two issues of the journal when members of the Editorial Board presented a series of viewpoints on the issues they thought would be significant for the future of product innovation management. These were viewpoints that questioned our current practices and suggested     

Forecasters face the future

The Eighth International Symposium on Forecasting was held on June 12–15 1988 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It was sponsored by the International Institute of Forecasters in collaboration with The University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Amsterdam. This article reports on the proceedings of the conference.