Economic drought management index to evaluate water institutions’ performance under uncertainty*

Reservoir management and intertemporal water allocation are critical issues in semiarid regions where agriculture has to confront highly variable rainfall patterns. In this paper, we derive and propose an economic drought management index (EDMI) to evaluate water institutions’ performance to cope with drought risk. The EDMI is based on the optimal conditions of a stochastic dynamic optimisation problem that characterises reservoir management. The index's main advantages are its ease of interpretation and breadth of scope, as it incorporates information on hydrological processes, structural constraints, water institutions’ rules, and the economic benefits of water use. An empirical application is developed to assess the institutional rules governing water allocation in two different supply systems in Andalusia (southern Spain).     

Food insecurity in developing countries

Despite improvements in the world food predicament, the underlying causes of food crises have not disappeared. The aim of this article is to improve understanding of food security problems in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and to assess the relative merits of alternative national and international intervention schemes. The article includes discussion of the concept of ‘food security’, policies that can be undertaken at the national level, a quantitative assessment of national food insecurity for a sample of LDCs, and an examination of the proposed international policies to enhance food security in food-deficit countries.     

Agriculture in the Uruguay Round: Interests of Developing Countries

Agriculture has been favored and protected in developed countrieswhile trade policies in developing countries frequently supportindustry at the expense of exportables and unprotected importablesin agriculture. This protection constrains expansion of temperateand subtropical agricultural exports from developing countries.Several studies have estimated the effects of liberalizationof trade restrictions on world prices, export earnings, andimport costs. While developing countries generally would benefitfrom having the agricultural policies of the most powerful countriesbound by international rules on trade, there are differencesamong the developing countries as to which products should beliberalized. Even if such conflicts did not exist, politicallyfeasible means to obtain such compliance are elusive. The potentiallymost feasible approaches for developing countries to obtainsome measure of liberalization in the Uruguay Round of tradenegotiations are discussed.     

Horizontal innovation-based growth and product market competition

The influence of the intensity of competition in the product market on economic growth is analyzed by developing an endogenous growth model with horizontal innovation. Product market competition is measured by (1 − Lerner index) and depends on both the share of factor inputs in total income and the degree of substitutability across goods. We find that the shape of the relationship between competition and growth can change dramatically according to which proxy of competition is used. We explain our results in terms of the interplay between the resource allocation and the profit incentive effects.     

WOULD CHEAPER CAPITAL REPLACE LABOUR?

Left‐leaning members of the ruling alliance should be careful what they wish for. By estimating elasticities of substitution and factor demand between capital and four labour types, we find microeconomic evidence that cheaper capital would reduce demand for labour. While capital and all occupations are substitutes, many but not all occupations are themselves complements. These results allow for endogenous changes in output and apply to the vast majority of firms in our sample.     

The moderating effect of culture on overall perceived value in the online purchasing process

This study analyzes differences in the formation of overall perceived value of a tourism service purchased online, taking tourists’ national culture as a moderating variable. The intention is to understand the influence of cultural dimensions on the antecedents and consequences of overall perceived value amongst consumers of different cultures. The sample is made up of 300 tourists (150 British and 150 Spanish) who have purchased a tourism service via the Internet. The two cultures to which the tourists belong differ in terms of the cultural dimensions of uncertainty-avoidance and individualism–collectivism. The findings reveal that in the formation of overall perceived value—which embraces both the online purchase phase and also consumption of the tourism service—moderating effects are generated principally by the cultural dimensions of uncertainty-avoidance and individualism/collectivism. The key practical implications of the study are to understand the variations on overall perceived value when making an online purchase, and to understand the role played by cultural dimensions in interactions with web-based businesses.     

Macroeconomic Context,Relationships with Stockholders and Strategic Factors in the Determination of Brazilian Corporations' Performance

ABSTRACT

With the purpose to identify the intensity of the existent relationships in the explanatory topology of corporations' financial performances, comprised by the three dimensions of macroeconomic context, resource management strategies and relationships with stockholders, Brazilian corporations which were active from the year of 1996 to 2000 were analyzed. Based on the understanding of the relationships among the three dimensions previously mentioned, a structural model was adopted and as the methodology for the measurement and analysis of the relationships among constructs, the parameters estimation method used was the Partial Least Squares. As a result, the resource allocation strategies were identified as the critical factor in the performance of the analyzed corporations.

RESUMEN. Las empresas brasileñas de capital abierto fueron estudiadas a lo largo del período 1996 a 2000, con el objeto de identificar la intensidad de las relaciones existentes en la topología explicativa del desempeño financiero de dichas organizaciones, constituida por las dimensiones, el contexto macroeconómico, las estrategias de gestión de sus recursos y su relación con sus stockholders. Cubriendo especialmente la comprensión de las relaciones entre las dimensiones presentadas, adoptamos un modelo estructural y, como metodología de mensuración y análisis de las relaciones entre los constructos, la estimación de parámetros en base al método Partial Least Squares. Como resultado, logramos identificar que las estrategias de asignación de recursos son un factor determinante del desempeño de las organizaciones estudiadas.

RESUMO. Com o objetivo de identificar as intensidades das relações existentes na topologia explicativa constituída pelas dimensões ambiente competitivo, estratégias competitivas, relações com stakeholders e o desempenho das organizações, foram estudadas empresas brasileiras de capital aberto, ativas no período entre 1996 e 2000. Com foco no entendimento das relações entre as dimensões apresentadas, foi adotado um modelo estrutural e como metodologia de mensuração e análise das relações entre os constructos, a estimação de parâmetros pelo método Partial Least Squares. Como resultado, as estratégias competitivas foram identificadas a como fator determinante do desempenho das organizações estudadas.     

Labor supply, child care, and welfare in Spanish households

This paper presents a household model in which both spouses work and care for their children, thereby obtaining a measure of household welfare. Applying this model to the Spanish case allows for drawing some basic conclusions. That is, the highest efficiency in caring for children is obtained when time is offered by the mother. Moreover, the time dedicated to child care by the father is considered as leisure time in a higher proportion than time dedicated by the mother. Also, a direct and strong relationship is detected between monetary income and welfare. Household welfare is greater when the children are older, and welfare increases when the father dedicates less time to work outside the home.The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper. The authors are also indebted to the Ministerio Español de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales for its financial support.     

A RULE FOR AGGREGATING INDIVIDUAL WELFARE MEASURES

It is common, but often incorrect, practice in most applied works, especially in the field of applied general equilibrium models, to evaluate the overall impact of alternative policy changes by means of the sum of equivalent variations of (different classes of) individual consumers. This note proposes to use these same equivalent variations in a different way, namely, to aggregate them by the Borda rule.