Een terugblik op Mr. N. G. Pierson

Summary Dr. Holtrop's address on the occasion of the award of the Dr. N. G. Pierson medal to Professor C. Goedhart and to Professor G. A. Kessler answers the question why it is still meaningful to commemorate Dr. N. G. Pierson (1839–1909), the foremost Dutch economist of the 19th century. Pierson was successively a managing director and later governor of the Nederlandsche Bank (1868–1891), a professor of economics (1877–1886), a minister of finance (1891–1894 and 1897–1901) and a prime-minister (1897–1901). A brief outline is given of Pierson's publications in the fields of (1) methodology, (2) the social problem, (3) the international monetary system, and (4) equitable taxation. The address concludes with a quotation from Alfred Marshall's last letter to Pierson.

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Oud-president van de Nederlandsche Bank.

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Tekst van een toespraak, gehouden als voorzitter van de Stichting Mr. N. G. Pierson Fonds, ter gelegenheid van de uitreiking der Mr. N. G. Pierson-penning aan Prof. dr. C. Goedhart en aan Prof. dr. G. A. Kessler op 15 september 1978 in het gebouw van De Nederlandsche Bank te Amsterdam. De inleiding van de toespraak is enigszins verkort weergegeven.     

Organizational climate factors and the evaluation of technical ideas

Based on data obtained from 359 idea evaluators, canonical correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between several organizational factors and a set of criteria used in the evaluation of technical ideas. In contrast to other studies, it was found that organizational factors—assessed in terms of organizational climate—could be explained in terms of two dimensions: organizational clarity and risk. Technical evaluation criteria could be explained in terms of professional self-gratification and organizational responsibility. In light of the multivariate relationship among the two sets of factors, a number of organizational design implications are outlined.     

Assessing introduction factors for a new industrial product

The present research involves determinant component analysis [3]. Specifically, the study assesses which components—price, product or environmental—are most important in the design of new entry strategy. Under conditions of abundance, industrial firms primarily analyzed price and product characteristics when making new product decisions. In choosing one supplier over another the stalwart buying motives have been quality, service and price [4]. However, these decision components were conceptualized in a period of abundance. Under conditions of scarcity, are price and product characteristics still important? Are environmental dimensions perhaps more important under shortage conditions when making new product decisions? Besides describing the key components that may be considered in new product programming, the article also outlines an approach that may be used to find determinant decision components.     

Black americans and Ghanaians: Comparative patterns of internal migration

Conclusions For our purposes here, the analysis has been fruitful in that it has served to indicate and underscore in both general and specific terms the sources and determinants of migration movement and the destination of migrants. The qualitative analysis and the statistical test have led to several research conclusions. Both United States and Ghanaian migrants behave in accordance with the migration concepts examined. Common relationships between migration and economic opportunity are apparent. While push factors have generally initiated migratory movement among black Americans, particularly in respect to the South, both groups tend to move to regions with better economic opportunities. In both cases, migration is a negative function of distance, and a large labor force at the origin is a stimulus to out-migration at the origin.     

Disequilibrium,power and economic systems

Summary This is a review article of D.B.J. Schouten's new book Macht en wanorde, Een vergelijking van economische stelsels (Power and Disorder, A Comparison of Economic Systems). After having summarised the book's contents, three points are discussed: (a) does the book offer a comparison of economic systems as its subtitle suggests; (b) how does Schouten's theory relate to disequilibrium analysis and does it give a better understanding of disequilibria than disequilibrium analysis; (c) is Schouten's proposal of a centrally-guided rate of return policy indeed to be preferred above a centrally-guided wage policy in order to overcome the basic problem in capitalist market economies of slow and sometimes perverse adjustments?D.B.J. Schouten,Macht en wanorde, Een vergelijking van economische stelsels, (Power and Disorder, A Comparison of Economic Systems), H.E. Stenfert Kroese b.v., Leiden/Antwerpen, 1980: Pp. 270. Dfl. 47,50.I am indebted to Professor Th. van de Klundert for useful comments.     

The theory of effective protection a critique

Summary A linear two-by-two general equilibrium model of international trade has been developed with international mobility of capital goods and capital funds. By means of this model the consequences of imposing an ad valorem tariff on imported inputs and imported consumption have been investigated. Special attention has been paid to the consequences of a differentiated tariff structure for total imports.The analysis leads to the conclusion that in the present model a unique relation between the differentiated tariff structure and the effective protective rate does not exist.In many respects this article draws heavily upon my doctoral dissertation:Heterogeen kapitaal en internationale handel, mimeographed, Tilburg, 1973     

Remittances from international labour migration: a summary of findings and issues for labour-exporting developing countries of the ESCAP region

International labor migration from the ESCAP region to the Middle East is analyzed, and patterns of remittances from migrants are examined. The focus is on "contract" migration, in which the workers involved have no intention of settling in the country of employment and which is characterized by a job contract that is concluded by the employer on behalf of the workers. Topics discussed include the labor market situation, controversies over the benefits of remittances, the flow of migration and the stock of workers in host countries, characteristics of migrating workers, management of the migration flow, the size and significance of remittance flows to ESCAP countries, and policy issues.