Temporary Separations and Firm Size in the German Labour Market

We estimate the duration of out-of-work periods in the German labour market from 1980–90 and their relationship with employment protection legislation. We distinguish between Employment Interruptions that are legally protected and ordinary Layoffs. We investigate the question of whether the size of employer has an impact on the choice of the type of temporary separation. We find that firm size does matter, in both the type and the duration of temporary separations, and we examine the complex re-hiring process.     

Profitability and Media Advertising in Greek Food Manufacturing Industries

The effect of advertising intensity in four media(television, radio, newspapers and magazines) on profitability is examined in this paper. Aprofitability model is tested using a unique 1993–1996panel data set of 350 Greek food manufacturing firms.Fixed effects results for the full model show thatonly television advertising increases profitabilitysignificantly. The results for eight major foodcategories estimated separately show importantdifferences between consumer and producer groups;television advertising effects on profitability arepositive and significant only in the consumerindustries where television advertising intensity ishigh. These findings show that television is the onlymedia where persuasive advertising exists in Greekfood manufacturing firms.     

Risk and (Re-)organization in Agriculture: The Economics of Back grounding Cattle in Saskatchewan

The beef system in western Canada is currently undergoing restructuring. To increase the number of animals a feedlot finishes, their portion of the production process is being narrowed to the final 136 kgof weight gain. This results in a stage of production known as backgrounding, where calves are grown before entering the feedlot. This paper explains the reorganization that is occurring in the context of transaction cost economics, which explains this evolution as a process in which the governance structure involved in contracting has minimized the transaction costs. New methods of marketing these backgrounded cattle are being developed, which may increase the profitability of these operations. This paper measures the impacts of five different marketing options on the backgrounding enterprise's risk and returns. Thirteen enterprises are modeled, using various levels of capital and labor intensities, live stock numbers, sizes of calves fed and average daily gains. These models are simulated from 1978 to 1994 using costs of production and prices of cattle. Profits per head calculations allow the comparison of the enterprise efficiencies. The marketing alternatives are then evaluated using mean-variance rule(E-V) and stochastic dominance methods of risk analysis.     

Measuring technical efficiency in the Greek agricultural sector

This paper measures the degree of technical efficiency of Greek farms at discrete points in time. Stochastic frontier production functions are estimated from four annual Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) surveys of the 1992–1995 period. From the results, a measure of technical efficiency is calculated for each farm for each year. The four distributions of technical efficiency values are examined and compared. All four samples show a wide range of farm-specific technical efficiency but efficiency is improving over the period. The paper also presents frontier estimates for small and large farms classified according to economic size. In that case, technical efficiency measures are calculated and their distributions are examined and compared. The results show that large farms are more efficient than small farms. However, efficiency is improving in both size farms over the period. In general, the results of this study indicate that there is substantial scope for improving technical efficiency of Greek farms.     

Market Concentration and Multifaceted Productive Efficiency

Developing the analytical framework of the decision making process of a possible entrant, a reduced form system equations model is estimated in order to examine the market concentration – productive efficiency relationship in an endogeneity context. Technical and scale efficiency estimates are obtained from an inter-industry stochastic production frontier using a panel dataset regarding the seven most energy intensive manufacturing industries in Greece over the period 1980–96. Several new versions of the concentration – efficiency relationship, may be derived from the alternatives of the entrant considering the possible conduct character of incumbents’ technical efficiency and excess capacity, which is depicted on their scale efficiency, on market concentration.