Efficiency in agricultural production: the case of peasant farmers in eastern Paraguay

This paper contributes to the productivity literature in developing country agriculture by quantifying the level of efficiency for a sample of peasant farmers from Eastern Paraguay. A stochastic efficiency decomposition methodology is used to derive technical, allocative and economic efficiency measures separately for cotton and cassava. An average economic efficiency of 40.1% for cotton and of 52.3% for cassava is found, which suggests considerable room for productivity gains for the farms in the sample through better use of available resources given the state of technology. Gains in output through productivity growth have become increasingly important to Paraguay as the opportunities to bring additional virgin lands into cultivation have significantly diminished in recent years. No clear strategy to improve farm productivity could be gleaned from an examination of the relationship between efficiency and various socioeconomic variables. One possible explanation for this finding is the existence of a stage of development threshold below which there is no consistent relationship between socioeconomic variables and productivity. If this is the case, then our results suggest that this sample of Paraguayan peasants are yet to reach such a threshold. Hence, improvements in educational and extension services, for example, would be needed to go beyond this threshold. Once this is accomplished, additional productivity gains would be obtained by further investments in human capital and related factors.     

An exploratory study of exclusive dealing in channel relationships

The channel literature has paid little attention to issues related to exclusive dealing governance arrangements. Consequently, there is only limited knowledge about how exclusive dealing impacts various channel processes and outcomes. This gap is especially regrettable since exclusive dealing, in addition to being one of the most commonplace governance formats within the distribution channels, is also one of the best exemplars of viable unilateral governance formats. In this initial investigation, the authors explore the linkages among the constructs of exclusive dealing, relationalism, communication, and performance. Empirical data for the study were drawn from the photocopier industry. He obtained his M.B.A. and D.B.A. degrees from Boston University. His primary research interest includes channels of distribution, franchisor-franchisee relationships, and consumer purchase behavior in international contexts. He has published articles inJournal of Marketing Channels and the proceedings of several marketing conferences. This article was crafted when Rajiv Dant was at Boston University. He received his M.B.A. from Bombay University and his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research focuses on channels of distribution, with primary emphasis on franchise structure, franchisee-franchisor relationships, and public policy aspects of franchising growth and ownership topics. His research has been published inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of the Operations Research Society, Marketing Letters, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Economic Psychology, Southern Business & Economics Journal, Philosophical and Radical Thought in Marketing, Journal of Healthcare Marketing, Journal of Marketing Channels, andInternational Small Business Journal.     

The Distribution of Multifamily Mortgage Originations: What We Know and Why We Care

Three policy-relevant questions about multifamily mortgage originations (MFOs) are addressed. First, what is the annual volume of MFOs? This analysis highlights differences and problems among three publicly available multifamily lending surveys; the 1993 volume is estimated at $30 billion. Second, what is the size distribution of multifamily mortgages? Using kernel density estimation, variation in this distribution among central cities and suburbs, underserved areas, and lender type is examined. Third, what are the primary determinants of the variation in multifamily lending? A relatively simple regression model is estimated to shed light on the variables most highly correlated with multifamily lending. Tract income relative to MSA median income and minority concentrations are shown to be highly correlated with lending volume, but the largest source of variation is the number of multifamily rental units in the tract.     

Working-time reduction and employment: experiences in Europe and economic policy recommendations

The paper seeks to evaluate the evidence on the employment effectsof the collective working-time reductions in Europe over thepast 20 years. While theoretical analyses produce contradictoryassessments, most empirical studies show positive employmenteffects but take insufficient account of these conditions underwhich the reductions in working time were implemented. Theseconditions for the success of collective working-time reductionsinclude an active training policy designed to minimise skillshortages in the labour market, the modernisation of work organisation,wage increases in conjunction with productivity gains and amore equal income distribution.     

Allocations and Common Costs in Long-Run Investing and Pricing Decisions: An Historical Analysis

The extent to which allocated common costs should influence business decisions remains controversial in management accounting. In the finance and investment literature this issue is generally ignored or dismissed by appeals to the'incremental' principle. This article presents an historical analysis of allocations in long-run investing and pricing decisions. It is demonstrated that seminal figures in the development of both investment and price theory were conscious of the need for firms to cover common costs and generally favoured some form of allocation. The anti-allocationist position is shown to be of relatively recent origin and to have caused an inconsistency in the management accounting literature in the treatment of common costs. European costing theory is shown to have been consistently allocationist. Evidence of a return in the recent U.S. literature to the older Anglo-American, and continuing European, allocations tradition is presented.     

Utility and construct validity of an ethical dilemmas scale in management education

Business ethics has gained much attention over the past decade in both work and educational settings. This study used a version of Lysonski and Gaidis' (1991) ethical vignettes to examine by gender the ethical views of 165 Canadian undergraduate management students, to examine the psychometric properties and construct validity of the instrument, and to determine if the instrument is a useful tool for introducing undergraduates to the topic of ethics in management practice. Results showed that while the instrument is a useful teaching tool, it has psychometric and validity inadequacies that need to be corrected.Robert Loo is currently a Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Studies in the Faculty of Management at the University of Lethbridge, Canada. Over the past 20 years, he has published extensively in the management and psychology literature. Ethics is a key theme throughout every management course he teaches. Bob strives to make ethics a relevant and interesting issue for students by using a variety of learning techniques such as cases, videos, self-assessment tools, and research projects.     

Another Look at the Cross-section of Expected Stock Returns

Our examination of the cross-section of expected returns reveals economically and statistically significant compensation (about 6 to 9 percent per annum) for beta risk when betas are estimated from time-series regressions of annual portfolio returns on the annual return on the equally weighted market index. The relation between book-to-market equity and returns is weaker and less consistent than that in Fama and French (1992). We conjecture that past book-to-market results using COMPUS-TAT data are affected by a selection bias and provide indirect evidence.