We can be farmers,just for one day

Academics from the University of Cambridge and the London School if Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have developed a simulation game of the role of agrarian change in a traditional community of small farmers in India. Following extensive data collection and trials of ad hoc games in a variety of institutions over the past ten years, the game has now been marketed in a commercial form as The Green Revolution Game. The primary aim to the game is to give participants an idea of what life is like for a small farmer in a dynamic society in developing country. The designers hope that it will be of value in training and sensitizing professionals and students in agricultural extension, project appraisal, rural and development planning, nutrition and economics.     

CAN A NEW NUCLEAR PROGRAMME BE JUSTIFIED?

The moratorium on the building of new nuclear power stations in the UK that has existed since the 1980s may be ended as a result of government concerns about the security of energy provision and the environmental impact of fossil-fuel-based energy supply. This viewpoint argues that the case for nuclear power on both counts is unproven. Moreover, renewed government support for a civil nuclear power programme may be a case of government attempting to pick winners, when the evidence suggests that such decisions are best taken by energy suppliers, producers and consumers.     

The determinants of export subsidiary formation by US transnationals in developing countries: An inter-industry analysis

This paper examines the inter-industry variation in US transnationals' propensity to invest in export-orientated manufacturing subsidiaries in less developed countries. The results obtained from the empirical analysis indicate that a significant proportion of the variation can be explained by industry characteristics, such as factor-intensity, research and development expenditure, and marketing requirements. This study draws attention to a number of data limitations, and suggests that further progress in this area of investigation will depend on the assembly of a more refined data base.     

CHOICE UNDER UNCERTAINTY

Books reviewed in this article:
Jacques Drèze (1987) Essays on Economic Decisions under Uncertainty.
W. Kip Viscusi and Wesley Magat et al (1987) Learning about Risk.
J. L. Ford (1987) Economic Choice under Uncertainty: a Perspective Theory Approach.
Isaac Levi (1986) Hard Choices: Decision Making under Unresolved Conflict.     

Accounting in its social context: Towards a history of value added in the United Kingdom

Although the relationship between accounting and society has been posited frequently, it has been subjected to little systematic analysis. This paper reviews some existing theories of the social nature of accounting practice and, by so doing, identifies a number of significant conceptual problems. Using the case of the rise of interest in value added accounting in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, the paper conducts a social analysis of this particular event and then seeks to draw out the theoretical issues and problems which emerge from this exercise. Finally, the implications of these for the social analysis of accounting are discussed.