Firm size and export performance

Economic analysis based on the Theory of the Firm shows that the exporting firm can be conceptualized as a discriminating monopolist, facing several demand curves. The analysis shows that under these conditions, and assuming certainty, the larger the firm, the higher the ratio of exports to total sales.When uncertainty is introduced into the model, the conclusion regarding the relationship between size and the ratio of exports to sales is reinforced. Large firms can afford to assume more risks than small ones; in addition, their risks from foreign operations are less than those of small firms because the large firms benefit from economies of scale in foreign marketing. Consequently, the risk premium demanded by large firms from foreign marketing is less than the premium insisted upon by small firms. Large firms therefore tend to export a higher share of their output. These theoretical constructs are confirmed by empirical analysis performed on a sample of several hundred firms from six industries in Denmark, Holland and Israel. The figures confirm, with few exceptions, that the size of firms is indeed positively correlated with the ratio of exports to sales.The normative conclusion which can be drawn from the above is that economic policy-makers who wish to increase the export potential of industrial firms, should adopt policies which will encourage large firms to come into being through mergers, take-overs or simply fast growth.     

Size and industry effects in the performance of agricultural cooperatives

The objective of this study is to determine if there are important size and industry effects on financial performance of agricultural cooperatives. The performance of 43 dairy, food, grain, and farm supply cooperatives in the U.S. was analyzed over the period 1970-1987 using financial ratios derived from accounting data. The analysis revealed significant size and industry effects. Large regional cooperatives are more efficient in utilizing their assets to generate sales, while small regional cooperatives have higher profitability. The findings suggest that the emphasis on growth may not always produce beneficial results among agricultural cooperatives. Among the four industries studied, the dairy regional cooperatives appear to be the strongest performers, while the food marketing cooperatives are characterized by the lowest performance measures. Since both dairy and food cooperatives engage in value-added processing, this difference in performance makes it difficult to reach clear conclusions about possible advantages of disadvantages or vertical integration relative to traditional cooperative activities. Trend analysis indicates that the profitability of the agricultural cooperatives in all industry and size categories declined in response to the downturn in U.S. agriculture after 1980. While the decline in profitability was at similar rates for both large and small cooperatives, the variation of efficiency and leverage was in opposite directions. Large cooperatives may be expected to continue improving their asset utilization without relative improvement in profitability, and increasing the level of their debt in relation to equity.     

Market value,R&D,and patents

A significant relationship is found between the market value of the firm and its ‘intangible’ capital, proxied by past R&D expenditures and the number of patents, based on a time-series cross-section analysis of data for large U.S. firms.     

Short-run fluctuations in fertility and mortality in pre-industrial Sweden

This paper describes and interprets annual Swedish data from 1750 to 1869 on weather, harvests, real wages, birth rates, and death rates using vector autogression. Impulses due to unexplained increases in wealth, whether this occurred through increased real wages, improved agricultural yields, or warmer winters, led in the short run to increased fertility and decreased infant and non-infant mortality, and hence to increased rates of population growth. Unexplained or unanticipated fluctuations in infant mortality led to replacement cycles in fertility within one to three years, although only a negligible cumulative effect on fertility persisted after five to ten years. Fluctuations in deaths among persons older than one year evoked a fertility response several years later, but this replacement response persisted after more than a decade. Although vector autoregression is not designed to account for long-term trends and their consequences, the interrelationships found here among exogenous weather shocks and fluctuations in economic conditions and demographic rates provide support for the homeostatic mechanisms hypothesized by classical economists and discussed by Malthus. The methodology of vector autoregression appears useful for studying historical series on climatic, economic and demographic variables where we do not yet have a sufficient theoretical foundation for specifying and estimating structural models.     

On the independence of transactions on the New York Stock exchange

This paper presents empirical tests of a model of intraday transaction price walks haveior events both the existence of price reversal's in transaction price sequence with random, New York daily. and longer different intervlas. In genral, we find that trasaction of independ events both with respect to their time execution and the siem and (bid or ask) or whick thaye are executed. Over very short intervals times, however, transapction tend to cluster in time and on a particular side of the market. We conjecture that this latter phenomenon is a consequence of market procedures on the New York Stock Exchange.     

Competitive location strategies for two facilities

In this paper we present the problem of locating a facility when competition from another facility is taken into consideration. Two problems are addressed here. One is the location of a new facility that will attract the most buying power from an existing facility. The other is the location of a facility that will secure the most buying power againts the best location of competing facility to be set up in the future.