May’s theorem in an infinite setting

We generalize May’s theorem to an infinite setting, preserving the elementary character of the original theorem. We define voting scenarios and generalized voting scenarios, and prove appropriate versions of May’s theorem. The case of generalized voting scenarios specialized to a countably infinite set of voters and the collections of all coalitions that have asymptotic density, shows that majority rule is the only aggregation rule that satisfies neutrality, irrelevance of null coalitions, anonymity, and positive responsiveness.     

PATENT LENGTH AND THE TIMING OF INNOVATIVE ACTIVITY

The standard result in patent policy, as demonstrated by Gilbert and Shapiro (1990), is that infinitely lived but very narrow patents are optimal as deadweight losses are minimised and spread through time but inventors can still recover their R&D expenditures. By extending their innovative environment to include timing as an important choice, we demonstrate that a finitely lived, but broader, patent can be socially desirable. This is because a patent breadth is a better instrument than length to encourage socially optimal timing. Thus, patents need not be infinitely long in order to encourage a greater number of inventions     

Carbon Offset Provision with Guilt‐Ridden Consumers

Carbon offsets allow consumers to mitigate their guilt associated with their carbon footprint. On the one hand, when offsets are purchased in an industry unrelated to the consumption activity, offsets are complements to consumption and the introduction of an offset market causes consumption to rise. On the other hand, when offsets are purchased in a related industry, consumption and offsets are substitutes and consumption falls. In general, however, net emissions decline. We find two exceptions to this rule. First, when offsets are purchased in an unrelated market, if there is no latent demand for offsets in their absence, the introduction of offsets can potentially cause a rise in net emissions when producers of “dirty” consumption goods have market power. Second, when offsets are purchased to fund green energy, emissions can rise if “dirty” producers can engage in pre‐emptive strategic commitments and the price of offsets is chosen endogenously.     

Unpacking ostensive and performative aspects of organisational routines in the context of monitoring systems: A critical realist approach

Drawing on the theory of organisational routines as generative systems, we deploy a critical realist approach based on Searle's philosophy of language to analyse the generative mechanisms that specify the pre-conditions for recognisable, repetitive patterns of interdependent activities. Using the example of the organisational routines implemented in Germany to monitor the allocation and disbursement of the European Social Fund, we contend that constitutive rules of the type “X counts as Y in context C” are at the very centre of organisational routines. Such rules consist of generative mechanisms that account for the emergence of the ostensive aspects of organisational routines out of artefacts and/or procedures in a social structure of power relations. We further claim that, far from being proxies for the ostensive aspects of routines, artefacts whether tangible or intangible are instantiations of such ostensive aspects on a par with any other performative aspects of routines. On this basis, a re-conceptualisation and a re-labelling of the ostensive and performative aspects of routines are proposed. The former are the result of the activation of systems of constitutive rules, i.e. actual routines in critical realist terminology, the latter are patterns of interdependent activities instantiating the ostensive aspects of routines, i.e. empirical routines in critical realist terminology. Implications for theory and practice are discussed by developing a model of organisational routines that interweaves extant research streams.     

Women on the Board and Managers’ Pay: Evidence from Spain

The current literature shows great interest in the issue of gender diversity on boards of directors. Some studies have hypothesized a direct relationship between diversity and the value of the firm, but not many examine the intermediate mechanisms that may exert an influence on such relationships. We employ two stages of GMM estimation methodology to exhibit evidences of the relationship between gender diversity and compensation of top managers in the Spanish context. Results show that gender diversity positively affects the effectiveness of boards—in terms of composition, structure, size and functioning—influencing a proper design of top managers compensation linked to company performance. Evidences suggest that legislative actions aimed at increasing the presence of women on boards of directors are justified not only for ethical reasons, but also for reasons of economic efficiency.     

U.S. Dairy Policy and the Agreement on Agriculture in the WTO

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors alone and in no way represent those of the institutions they represent. This paper calibrates a stylized national policy model of the U.S. dairy industry to analyze the effects of liberalizing the tariff quota policy. It is important to distinguish in-quota, over-quota, out-of-quota and nonquota imports. A framework to model quota underfill with out-of-quota imports is highlighted. To endogenize quota underfill and still account for out-of-quota imports, one needs to depict the marginal private benefits of imports under the quota and the corresponding marginal cost curve. The total transaction costs of the import quota scheme can be calculated. This framework is well suited for handling shocks because a change in in-quota or out-of-quota tariffs or a shift in the excess supply/demand curves affects marginal benefits, while a change in the quota affects the marginal cost of imports. We show regime switches affect trade liberalization and that a decrease in tariffs or an increase in quotas may have little effect without liberalizing both instruments. A component approach to model the sector has endogenous government-controlled class prices. An increase in imports of one product can result in an increase in the prices of other nontraded dairy products. This is because component prices change and so impact government-controlled class prices. Nous étalonnons un modèle de programme national stylisé du secteur laitier étatsunien pour analyser les effets d'une libéralisation de lapolitique des contingents tarifaires. Il est important de faire la distinction entre importation à l'intérieur du contingent, excédentaire au contingent, hors-contingent et non visée par un contingent. Nous mettons en évidence un cadre pour modéliser la portion non utilisée d'un contingent en présence d'importations hors-contingent. Pour endogénéiser la portion non utilisée d'un contingent tout en gardant en compte les importations hors-contingent, il faut décrire les avantages privés marginaux des importations prévues dans le contingent et la courbe des coûts marginaux correspondants. Les coûts transactionnels totaux des régimes de contingents tarifaires 4aG l'importation peuvent être calculés. Ce cadre convient bien pour absorber les chocs, du fait qu‘un changement des tarifs douaniers imposés aux importations intra-contingent ou aux importations hors-contingent, ou encore un déplacement de la courbe d'offres/demandes excédentaires, se répercute sur les bénéfices marginaux des exportations, alors qu‘un changement du régime de contingentement le fait sur les coûts marginaux. Nous démontrons que des changements de régime influent sur la libéralisation du commerce extérieur et qu'une réduction des tarifs douaniers ou une augmentation des contingents peuvent n'avoir que peu d'effets sans une libéralisation réelle des deux instruments. Une solution utilisant les composants laitiers pour modéliser le secteur comporte un contrôle endogène de l'État sur les prix par catégoric de produits. Un accroissement des importations visant un produit donné peut se propager aux prix d'autres produits laitiers non visés par les échanges commerciaux. Une telle réaction vient du fait que les prix des composants changent et qu'ils peuvent se réverbérer sur les prix par catégorie réglementés par l'État.     

The Diversity of Farmers' Risk Management Strategies in a Deregulated New Zealand Environment

In this paper, the results of a nation-wide survey of New Zealand sheep and beef farmers are presented. Multivariate statistical techniques are used to identify groups of farmers who differ in their risk management practices. Five groups are identified. They are labelled income risk reducers, capital managers, part-timers, debt and market risk managers, and production managers. These groups differ in their perceptions of risk sources and in some farm and farmer characteristics. Reasons for these differences are identified and discussed in the context of deregulation.     

Measuring the social costs of suboptimal combinations of policy instruments: A general framework and an example

Since most agricultural programs employ two or more policy instruments simultaneously, it is notable thai little research has attempted to find optimal instrument combinations and no research exists which evaluates the social costs (unrealized benefits) of combining instruments suboptimally. In our paper we report a simple and feasible method to find optimal policy instrument combinations, and we provide the first general, formal approach to measuring the social costs of suboptimal policy instrument combinations. Our approach is illustrated in an analysis for live major U.S. crops (corn, feed grains, wheat, rice, cotton). The simple model we employ for the illustration suggests that except lor the feed grains program, the observed programs combined policy instruments quite suboptimally. We conclude that agricultural economics research now can and should begin placing increased emphasis on studying optimal policy instrument combinations.