Rising Food Prices and Household Welfare: Evidence from Brazil in 2008

Food price inflation in Brazil in the 12 months to June 2008 was 18%, whereas overall inflation was 7%. Using spatially disaggregated monthly data on consumer prices and two different household surveys, we estimate the welfare consequences of these food price increases, and their distribution across households. Because Brazil is a large food producer, with a predominantly wage‐earning agricultural labour force, our estimates include general equilibrium effects on market and transfer incomes, as well as the standard estimates of changes in consumer surplus. Although the expenditure (or consumer surplus) effects were large, negative and markedly regressive everywhere, estimates of the market‐income effect were positive and progressive, particularly in rural areas. Because of this effect on the rural poor, and of the partial protection afforded by increases in two large social assistance benefits, the overall impact of higher food prices in Brazil was U‐shaped, with middle‐income groups suffering larger proportional losses than the very poor. Nevertheless, as Brazil is 80% urban, higher food prices still led to a greater incidence and depth of poverty at the national level.     

Guanxi Networks,Buyer-Seller Relationships,and Farmers' Participation in Modern Vegetable Markets in China

The aim of this study is to investigate the joint effects of small-scale farmers’ guanxi networks and buyer-seller relationships on their marketing behavior in China. A survey of 167 vegetable farmers shows that farmers' guanxi networks have significant effect on trusting relationship building with buyers and on their investment behavior for transactional specific assets. Guanxi networks also help to improve farmers’ participation in modern high-value markets (e.g., supermarkets and international markets) and encourage relational transactions. Farmers’ modern market participation will be further enhanced by trusting buyer-seller relationships with buyers and complying with buyers' quality requirements. The application of formal contracts, on the other hand, is closely related to farmers’ trusting relationships with buyers and transactional specific assets for vegetable transactions. Some policy implications are discussed.     

Characterisation and Diagnosis of Rural—Urban Interface Farming in the Tu Liem and Thanh Tri Districts of Hanoi City,Vietnam

A research project was carried out in two areas in the outskirts of Hanoi city using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The objective was to study interactions among the vegetable farming systems and the peri-urban context within which they are situated. The farms studied were characterised as small-scale farms that use high inputs of soil amendments and pesticides for diversified crop rotation systems. The main source of irrigation water and nutrients for vegetable farming in southern Hanoi is wastewater from the To Lich River. In northern Hanoi, irrigation water is obtained directly from the Red River and nutrients are supplied through high fertiliser inputs. The concentrations of COD (144–287 mg l^?1), N-NH₄ ⁺ (1–25 mg l^?1), PO₄ ^3? (0.5–4 mg l^?1) and coliform (525 × 10³?28 × 10⁶ MPN 100 ml^?1) along the To Lich River was much higher than the limits specified in the Vietnamese standard for water used in agriculture. A higher Cu content in soil in Phuc Ly seems to be linked to the high input of chicken manure at the site. However, the contents of heavy metals in irrigation water, in vegetables and in the soil surface layer at the two sites were lower than the Vietnamese maximum permissible levels.     

The determinants of Internet financial reporting

Responding to the widespread adoption of the Internet and the rapidly growing demands for information from stakeholders, corporations around the world are using the Internet for business and financial disclosures. Internet reporting has the benefits of low cost, wider reach, frequency and speed. Despite these benefits Internet reporting varies across companies and across countries. We study Internet financial reporting (IFR), in particular the presentation and content of IFR, of 660 large companies in 22 countries to identify the firm, and environmental determinants of IFR. The study revealed that firm size, listing on US stock exchanges and technology were firm specific determinants of IFR. Given that IFR is not just about the content of disclosure, but also about employing new presentation methods, the environment of disclosure was included in the research. The overarching disclosure environment of a country was found to be an important environmental driver for IFR presentation and less strongly for IFR content. The presentation aspect of IFR was more associated with the identified determinants than the content of IFR, which suggests that Internet presentation technologies were more related to the determinants than the content of the reports on the company Web sites.     

The subordinate's predicaments

How can subordinates improve relations with their superiors? And how can superiors help their subordinates feel comfortable in what is often a tense relationship? These questions have usually been dealt with only indirectly in management circles. Yet the relationship is so threatening to many subordinates that they react in ways that are damaging to themselves and their ogranizations. Drawing heavily on the work of psychologist Erik Erikson, the authors present dilemmas that commonly confront the subordinate. They point out that being aware of these dilemmas can make them more manageable and then offer advice to superiors to aid subordinates in handling such situations.     

Job Classifications and Plant Performance in the Auto Industry

This study assess the relationship between plant economic performance and job classifications, using data from a large, unionized, automobile manufacturer. Combining skilled and semi-skilled job classifications leads to small improvements in economic performance, while reductions in the member of assembly job classifications affect neither plant productivity nor plant quality. The data also reveal that classification reductions predict plant modernization, although the magnitude of this effect varies with the occupational group.     

A systematic approach to technological forecasting

Past attempts to rationalize the many methods of technological forecasting have not been sufficiently practical; they have largely been based on an abstract sort of classification while their use has been of an ad hoc nature. This paper reviews the position and puts forward a rationale leading to a more logical classification of methods and a systematic approach to their use in practice. The proposed classification and systematic use of the many methods is based on the concept that a technological forecast has four prime elements or dimensions, qualitative, quantitative, time and probability. Only when all these elements are provided can a technological forecast be responsibly used in decision making in R & D and corporate planning.     

Project management for R & D equipment: a prescriptive attack

The authors review statements from industry on the problems of procuring physical equipment for research and development, and list the lessons of project management that can be applied