How elections affect fiscal policy and growth: revisiting the mechanism

This paper reconsiders the popular result that the lower is the probability of reelection, the greater is the incentive of incumbent politicians to choose short-sighted, inefficient policies. The set-up is a general equilibrium model of economic growth, in which fiscal policy is endogenously chosen under electoral uncertainty. Political parties can value possible economic benefits differently depending on whether they are in or out of power, and—by contrast with the literature—the relevant preference coefficient is a choice variable rather than an exogenous taste parameter. The main result is that, when political parties choose both economic policy instruments and preference coefficients, the fundamental reason for short-sighted policy is the extra rents from being in power per se.     

Paradigms lost?: Reflections on the coming organizational ‘revolution’

The question of optimal organizational change for the future is attracting growing interest. The authors examine the literature to date and find that its basic tenets are too simplistic and over-optimistic to provide a methodological base for evaluation of change in the future.     

The Practice of Buddhist Economics?

A bstract . The guidance provided by Buddhism about forms of economy is examined, focusing on individual and social aspects of Buddhist practice, rather than a literal readings of the canonical texts. The case of the village-level development organization in Sri Lanka, Sarvodaya Shramadana , illustrates issues concerning Buddhist approaches to organization at the micro level. The impact of the Buddhist institution of the laity supporting monks on economic growth is considered, and the role of material welfare in a Buddhist conception of development. This examination of Buddhism suggests that its practice reveals insights into approaches to economy.     

Applications of quantitative techniques in Hong Kong: An empirical analysis

A survey was conducted to examine the usage of quantitative techniques among companies in Hong Kong. Results show that, although 74% of the respondents reported using one or more techniques, usage was confined to relatively few and simple techniques. These techniques, however, were used in a rather wide spectrum of application. The lack of understanding among top management of quantitative techniques was cited by respondents as the major barrier to their use. The results of this study are compared to a comparable survey in the United States, and the implications of the findings for the training of managers are discussed.     

THE DISINCENTIVE EFFECT OF FOOD-FOR-WORK ON LABOUR SUPPLY AND AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION AND DIVERSIFICATION IN ETHIOPIA

Food-for-work (FFW) as a form of food aid has been criticised for its many disincentive effects. This paper investigates alleged disincentive effects of food-for-work (FFW) on labour supply and agricultural intensification and diversification in one district of Ethiopia, using a ranking exercise and a small survey of farmer opinion. Despite the popularity of FFW as a source of income, careful project design meant that disincentives were largely avoided. In particular, the take-up of FFW was restricted, by a combination of self-targeting and community based administrative rationing; and agricultural intensification and diversification were encouraged directly through extension programmes.     

Implementing the nash extension bargaining solution for non-convex problems

Conley and Wilkie (1993) introduced an axiomatization at the Nash extension bargaining solution defined on a domain of comprehensive but not necessarily convex problems. In this paper we present a non-cooperative game which implements the Nash extension solution in subgame perfect equilibria in the limit as the discount rate applied between rounds of play vanishes.     

Rejoinder : The mixed blessing of domestic support policies

This rejoinder notes the encouraging conclusion in the article by Tim Josling and Richard Barichello (p317–27),¹ that the impact of the policies followed for wheat by the world's main exporters has tended towards stabilizing world markets over the past twelve years. However, placing this conclusion in a wider context, the author believes that assuring world food security will remain dependent on support policy decisions taken for domestic policy reasons and that developed country domestic support policies have had a mixed effect for world markets.