Federal and union job queues: further evidence from the US labour market

Recent research on union differentials suggests that although the premium to unionization is higher in the private sector, it can hardly be ignored in the federal sector. Consequently, the nature and length of the federal queue may differ between union and non-union sectors. Similarly, the union queue may not necessarily be homogeneous between federal and private sectors. We estimate separate queues for federal-union, federal-non-union and private-union jobs from the same sample. This avoids the problem of simultaneity between the federal queue and the union queue. In addition, it explores several important differences that exist between these queues.     

THE EFFECT OF THE FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1991 ON BANK STOCKS

In this study we use a multivariate regression model to investigate the effect of the passage of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act (FDICIA) of 1991 on returns to the shareholders of bank-holding companies. The empirical results suggest that the shareholders of well-capitalized banks benefited from the enactment of the FDICIA, while those of undercapitalized banks experienced significant losses during the announcement period. However, the shareholders of adequately capitalized banks did not gain or lose significantly from the enactment of the FDICIA. The FDICIA also affected stock returns of large and small bank-holding companies similarly.     

The Effects of Various Policy Regimes in the Integration of North American Grain Markets

This paper examines the integration between U.S. and Canadian grain prices using cointegration and error correction approach. Price relationships are examined in four different subperiods: pre-NAFTA (January 1986 to December 1993), post-NAFTA (January 1994 to July 1999), pre-WGTA (January 1986 to July 1995) and post-WGTA (August 1995 to July 1999). A free trade agreement implemented in 1989 that later folded into NAFTA affected price integration in the North American grain market, but Canada's elimination of freight subsidies in 1995 strengthened it. Empirical results indicate that longterm relationships exist among the price series. Prices are found to be first-difference stationary and cointegrated during the four subperiods. However, cointegration analysis shows significant post-WGTA improvement in market integration, particularly in the speed at which the market adjusts to departures from its long-run equilibrium.     

Factors influencing hybrid rice adoption: a Bangladesh case

As rice constitutes the major share in cereal consumption in South and East Asian countries that ranges from as low as 40 per cent in India to 97 per cent in Myanmar, to ensure food security, governments in these countries are encouraging farmers to adopt hybrid rice. This is mainly because hybrid rice provides a yield gain of 15–20 per cent over conventionally bred varieties in general. Yet, despite strenuous government efforts, farmers’ adoption rates have remained low in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam compared with China. Although studies often claim that higher seed costs and inferior grain quality are the major factors limiting hybrid rice adoption, very few studies examine the importance of socio‐economic factors and infrastructure in the adoption of hybrid rice. Using Bangladesh as a case, a comparative analysis has been made on the adoption of hybrid and modern varieties relative to traditional rice varieties and land allocation to these varieties. Econometric results indicate that general land characteristics, loan facilities and general infrastructure, such as roads, irrigation facilities and the availability of government‐approved seed dealers, significantly influence the adoption of hybrid and modern rice varieties and land allocation to these varieties compared with traditional varieties.     

Attribute Specific Impacts of Stated Non‐Attendance in Choice Experiments

In this paper, we generalise existing approaches to the treatment of stated attribute non‐attendance data in discrete choice experiments by allowing attribute specific impacts. We implement this approach by employing an extended hierarchical Bayes logit model specification. To illustrate this approach, we consider data collected to examine Indian consumers’ preferences for traditional aromatic rice varieties. Our results regarding stated attribute non‐attendance reveal that, our new approach shrinks marginal utilities of non‐attenders substantially compared to stated attenders, with significant differences in the shrinkage between some of the attributes. In addition, our results reveal the way in which non‐attendance of attributes interact with each other and the impact that this has on the distribution of willingness to pay estimates.     

Methods of forecasting parameters of equipment

A technical parameter of a set of models of a specific type of equipment produced by the world industry during a given year represents a set of values that often differ considerably from one another. If one considers the progress of a certain type of equipment in time, it is possible to obtain the combination of interrelated sets of parameter values, which form a certain process by studying the variation of these parameters over time. In view of the great number of factors (controlled and uncontrolled) that affect the production of equipment (considered on the world scale), the change of any parameter may be regarded as a stochastic process. The concept is illustrated for the case of computer addition speed.     

The Impact of the Berlin Accord and European Enlargement on Dairy Markets

Journal paper No. J-18684 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa, Project No. 3566, and supported by Hatch Act and State of Iowa funds. Using a world agricultural model, we analyze the impact on dairy markets of the Berlin Accord on the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Reforms. We also investigate the consequences of enlargement of the EU to include the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland for the same markets. We produce a market outlook up to 2010 for these two scenarios. The Berlin Accord induces lower EU milk and dairy prices. A change in relative prices between cheese and butter-skim milk powder (SMP) occurs after 2005 and induces an expansion of cheese production, consumption and exports at the expense of the butter–SMP sector. Accession of the three central and eastern European countries (CEECs) leads to a permanent but moderate decrease in EU prices of milk and dairy products. For the three acceding CEECs, domestic prices increase dramatically. Their final consumption of milk decreases and dairy product consumption drops considerably. The derived demand of milk in dairy production increases, however, because of the higher prices for dairy products, benefiting dairy producers in these CEECs. Dairy exports of the three acceding countries to the EU–15 increase by one to three orders of magnitude, despite building large inventories. The impact of accession on world markets is small. À l'aide d'un modèle agricole à l'échelle mondiale, nous analysons l'impact des accords de Berlin sur la réforme de la Politique agricole commune (PAC) de l'Union Européenne, en ce qui touche les marchés laitiers. Nous examinons aussi les conséquences éventuelles de l'élargissement de l'Union Européenne à la République Tchèque, à la Hongrie et à la Pologne. Ces deux scénarios nous ont servi de base d‘élaboration de perspectives du marché jusqu'en 2010. Les accords de Berlin déclenchent une hausse duprix du lait et desproduits laitiers dans l'UE. Selon nos prédictions, on assiste après 2005 à un changement du prix relatif du fromage par rapport à celui de la poudre de lait écremé (PLE). II s‘ensuit une expansion de la production et de la consommation et des exportations defromage aux dépens du segment de la PLE. L'entrée des trois pays de l'Europe, du centre et de l'est (PECE) conduit à une baisse permanente, encore que modeste, des prix du lait et des produits laitiers dans l'UE. Chez les trois nouveaux arrivés, les prix intérieurs grimpent de façon spectaculaire, ce qui entraîne une chute de la consommation du lait particulièrement de celle des produits laitiers transformés. En revanche, la demande de lait industriel augmente à cause des prix plus élevés des produits dérivés, ce qui profite aux producteurs laitiers des trois pays. Les exportations laitières de ces pays augmentent de 1 à 3 ordres de grandeur, ce qui n'empèche pas la constitution de stocks importants. L'impact de l'accession sur leur marchés mondiaux devrait être de peu d'importance.     

Central Transfer a Curse or Blessing? Evidence from the Relative Revenue Effort of Indian States

This paper evaluates the revenue effort of Indian states during the 13th and 14th Finance Commission periods and estimates the impact of central transfers recommended by the Finance Commission on the relative revenue effort of states. Using panel data the study finds that Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Kerala are the top five states with the greatest relative revenue effort. Further, the impact of central transfers on revenue effort was found to be negative, suggesting that greater devolution encourages laxity in the state's tax collection efficiency by providing perverse incentives.     

Fiscal Deficit and Economic Growth Nexus in India: A Simultaneous Error Correction Approach

This paper examines the impact of fiscal deficit on economic growth in India, during the period from 1970–71 to 2018–19. Using a combination of Autoregressive Distributed Lag and Simultaneous Error Correction Approach, this study shows that fiscal deficit and revenue deficit have an adverse effect on economic growth both in the long run and in the short run. The empirical analysis confirms that fiscal deficit influences economic growth both directly, and indirectly through the routes of investment, interest rate, current account deficit and composition of government expenditure. Further, gross investment has a positive and inflation rate has a negative impact on economic growth. For a policy perspective, the government should control fiscal deficit and revenue deficit as suggested by the FRBM Act. The composition of government expenditure should be altered to devote more resources for the formation of productive capital in India.

     

Investigation of adolescent accident predictive variables in hilly regions

The study aims to determine the significant personal and environmental factors in predicting the adolescent accidents in the hilly regions taking into account two cities Hamirpur and Dharamshala, which lie at an average elevation of 700--1000 metres above the mean sea level (MSL). Detailed comparisons between the results of 2 cities are also studied. The results are analyzed to provide the list of most significant factors responsible for adolescent accidents. Data were collected from different schools and colleges of the city with the help of a questionnaire survey. Around 690 responses from Hamirpur and 460 responses from Dharamshala were taken for study and analysis. Standard deviations (SD) of various factors affecting accidents were calculated and factors with relatively very low SD were discarded and other variables were considered for correlations. Correlation was developed using Kendall's-tau and chi-square tests and factors those were found significant were used for modelling. They were – the victim's age, the character of road, the speed of vehicle, and the use of helmet for Hamirpur and for Dharamshala, the kind of vehicle involved was an added variable found responsible for adolescent accidents. A logistic regression was performed to know the effect of each category present in a variable on the occurrence of accidents. Though the age and the speed of vehicle were considered to be important factors for accident occurrence according to Indian accident data records, even the use of helmet comes out as a major concern. The age group of 15–18 and 18–21 years were found to be more susceptible to accidents than the higher age groups. Due to the presence of hilly area, the character of road becomes a major concern for cause of accidents and the topography of the area makes the kind of vehicle involved as a major variable for determining the severity of accidents.