The Dutch disease: The Canadian evidence

Zusammenfassung Die ⋯holl?ndische Krankheit”: Der kanadische Befund. — Der Autor betrachtet detailliert das Ausma\ der sektoralen Verschiebungen und untersucht die strukturellen Anpassungsprozesse in der kanadischen Volkswirtschaft. Er zeigt, da\ das Wachstumsmuster nicht nur zwischen den Sektoren asymmetrisch ist, sondern auch zwischen zwei Phasen des Konjunkturzyklus. Dementsprechend scheint der Strukturwandel einem zyklischen Pfad gefolgt zu sein. Diese Hypothese wird empirisch getestet unter Verwendung von Vierteljahresdaten aus der Zeit zwischen 1962 und 1983. Eine disaggregierte Analyse der Lohnentwicklung zeigt eine ?hnliche Asymmetrie. Dies wird zum gro\en Teil auf die Rohstofflastigkeit der kanadischen Wirtschaft zurückgeführt. In einem verallgemeinerten Rahmen für die ⋯holl?ndische Krankheit” l?\t sich daraus entnehmen, da\ die Rohstofflastigkeit zum strukturellen Wandel beigetragen und auch die zyklischen Charakteristika bestimmt hat.

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Résumé La maladie néerlandaise: l’évidence canadienne. — Cette étude jette un coup d’oeuil sur la dimension des déplacements sectoriels et examine le processus d’ajustement structurel dans l’économie canadienne. Il est constaté que la croissance se développe d’une manière asymétrique en ce qui concerne les secteurs et les deux phases consécutives du cycle conjoncturel. Pour cette raison le changement structurel semble avoir suivi une voie cyclique. Cette hypothèse est examinée par un test empirique en utilisant des dates trimestrielles pendant la période 1962–83. Une analyse désagrégée du développement des salaires démontre une asymétrie similaire. Ce fait est largement attribué au caractère de l’économie canadienne basée sur des ressources naturelles. Dans un cadre généralisé de la maladie néerlandaise cela peut être expliqué d’avoir contribué au changement structurel et aussi d’avoir déterminé le caractère cyclique.

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Resumen La enfermedad holandesa: evidencia para el Canadá. — En este trabajo se analiza detalladamente la magnitud de cambios sectoriales y se examina la naturaleza del proceso de ajuste estructural de la economía canadiense. Se encuentra que además de ser asimétrica entre los sectores, la pauta de crecimiento también es asimétrica entre dos fases del ciclo económico. Por ello, el cambio estructural parece haber seguido una trayectoria c?clica. Esto se estudia emp?ricamente utilizando datos trimestrales correspondientes al período 1962-1983. El análisis desagregado del comportamiento salarial muestra una asimetría similar. Esto es atribuído en gran parte a la importancia de los recursos naturales para la economia canadiense. En el marco generalizado de la enfermedad holandesa esto puede haber contribuído al cambio estructural y a determinar sus características cíclicas.

     

Book reviews

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Rational functions: an alternative approach to asset pricing

This paper shows that asset prices are linear polynomials of various underlying explanatory factors and asset returns being ratios of these polynomials, are rational functions that do not add linearly when averaging. Hence, average returns should be modeled based on stock prices. However, continuous returns may be treated as approximately linear across time and modeled directly. Our new Rational Function (RF) models, empirically outperform the traditional asset pricing models like the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Fama–French three and five-factor models for both average and continuous returns. Moreover, the RF theory also provides a model to estimate the asset volumes. The average change in asset volumes together with average returns provide the estimates for average change in market values of assets. Thus, the RF model approach can be used to select assets that provide either highest returns for profit maximization or highest change in market values for wealth maximization for given levels of risk.     

Dept and input misallocation of agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives

Kim and Maksimovic provide an empirical model to examine the effect of dept on a firm. Their model is adopted to examine agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives. Using a short-run variable cost function, we find firm efficiency decreases as dept increases. A US$1 increase in indebtedness increases total short-run variable costs by US$0.0167 or roughly 1.67% Dept tends to shift input usage away from labour inputs. A test developed by Conrad and Unger is applied to determine whether the agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives are at a long-run equilibrium capacity. It is found that most of the cooperatives were overinvested in capacity. However,dept does not explain this overinvestment. Finally,the effect of dept on total productivity over the study period is examined. It is found that dept has had a small positive impact on total factor productivity growth. Scale economics and non-optimal capacity had large impacts on total factor productivity. Although dept is associated with short-run misallocation of resources, we find little evidence that dept is associated with long -run suboptimal capacity.     

Repeated measures and longitudinal data analysis using higher‐order entropies

This paper implements the generalized maximum entropy (GME) method in longitudinal data setup to investigate the regression para meters and correlation among the repeated measurements. We derive the GME system using Shannon classical entropy as well as some higher‐order entropies assuming an autoregressive correlation structure. This method is illustrated using two simulated examples to study the effect of changing the support range and compare the performance of the GME approach with the classical estimation methods.     

Developing the e-commerce sector for the fishery industry: What business are we really in?

In this study, we use the theory of the marketing firm to explain marketing relationships between consumers and firms selling fish in the context of developing the e-commerce sector for the fishery industry. We use a unique dataset composed of quantitative and qualitative data to provide a behavioral economic analysis and interpretation. The results reveal interdependent managerial and consumer behavioral relationships, indicating the presence of bilateral contingencies. The results also provide some indication of the theory of transaction cost, where cost-intensive activities are likely to be internalized within marketing firms selling fish.     

Understanding volunteer motivation for participation in a community‐based food cooperative

Those concerned with social exclusion have increasingly recognised the value of community‐level activities as a basis for the development of disadvantaged communities. Much community development activity is collective and depends on members of the community volunteering to take on tasks and responsibilities associated with the collective action. The long‐term success of these activities is contingent on recruitment of sufficient numbers of volunteers and maintaining their commitment. The purpose of this research was to gain insights into volunteers' motives for participating in a community retail initiative, with a view to understanding the dynamics of their relationship with the enterprise as time passes. A series of in‐depth interviews provided evidence that motivations and factors influencing involvement change over time. Relatively vague ideas of the potential benefits of volunteering that motivated initial involvement were clarified as volunteers gained experience of participating in the enterprise. There was overt recognition of skill development and growth in self‐esteem and confidence that had been gained during the first few months of working on the project and there was anticipation that these would be enhanced through ongoing involvement. The implications of these findings are discussed and some future research directions are proposed. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Values,gender and attitudes towards environmental policy: A study of future managers

This study explores if the value priorities and their impact on future managers' attitudes towards environmental responsibilities vary with gender. While relevant prior studies mostly focus on gender‐based variations of individuals' personal values in developed economies, we concentrate on both personal values and pro‐environmental attitudes in an emerging economy. This study is built on MBA students (a proxy for future managers) in India since India is characterized as a male‐dominated society and a producer of larger number of MBA graduates. Overall, our results show that personal values and attitude towards environmental responsibilities do not vary significantly with gender. Only two values (among the 21 values) and one value type (out of 10 values) get significantly higher ranking from females compared with males. Further, although ‘universalism’ and ‘benevolence’ are found to have a statistically significant impact on respondents' attitude towards environmental responsibility, the latter is invariant to the respondents' gender. Our findings may indicate India's transformation from a male‐dominated society towards a more gender‐balanced society. These findings can be used to operationalize a pro‐environmental recruitment policy and to formulate strategies to improve female participation in MBA cohorts of business schools.