Perennial grain crops in the West Soudanian Savanna of Mali: perspectives from agroecology and gendered spaces

Perennial grain crops may play an important role in environmentally sound and socially just food systems for Africa. We study the future possibility of integrating perennial grains into Malian farming systems from the perspective of agroecology, and more specifically using a gendered space approach. We interviewed 72 farmers across the sorghum-growing region of Mali. We found that perennial grains offer a vision for transforming human relations with nature that mirrors the resource sharing of customary land tenure, including patterns of extensive and intensive land use in time and space. Women interviewees identified a broad set of potential advantages and challenges to perennial grain production. Advantages include reduced labour, saving seed, and improving food security. Women farmers were concerned about livestock, water access, and resource limitations. We argue that perennial grains may increase access to land and natural resources for women farmers. Perennial grains may improve soil quality, reduce labour early in the rainy season, and provision more resources from fallow lands. Pastoralists stand to benefit from improved pastures in the dry season. We conclude that investments are needed to develop viable crop types in consideration of the complexity of West African farming systems and the local needs of women farmers and pastoralists.     

Choosing a discount point/contract rate combination

Confronted with an array of contract rate/discount point combinations from which to choose, a mortgagor must evaluate his/her wealth with respect to each choice. The future path of the cost of mortgage capital will affect the wealth of the mortgagor to a different degree depending on which contract rate/discount point combination he/she chooses. Using the Expected Monetary Value algorithm, we show that variation of marginal income tax rates and expectations about the future path of the cost of mortgage capital across mortgagors can explain the demand for different contract rate/discount point combinations. Our results provide a rationale for a mortgagor choosing an intermediate point/contract rate combination.Paper presented at the annual meeting of the A.R.E.U.E.A., 1989, Atlanta.     

LIABILITY RISK MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE SOCIAL PERFORMANCE

Reputations travel fast and far. Poor corporate citizenship anywhere in the world is increasingly likely to be reported everywhere in the world. Human rights abuses and environmental accidents and pollution have put many well-known companies on the defensive, and once in the spotlight, all actions tend to be carefully scrutinized.
Corporations risk losses due to fines and lawsuits stemming from poor citizenship, but even more significant is the potential loss of reputation—a significant portion of most companies' value. A damaged corporate reputation can hurt sales and damage employee morale.
The ensuing financial losses expose executives and boards of directors to shareholder derivative lawsuits for not having policies in place to protect the corporation from such scandals. As providers of liability insurance, insurance companies have a direct interest in these losses.
Corporate adoption of effective environmental and social accountability program—which are likely to prevent scandals in the first place, will limit the liability of corporations and their officers if a scandal does occur.     

Forecasting the Discounts of Market Prices from Appraised Values for Real Estate Limited Partnerships

A vexing problem for the appraisal industry has been estimating an appropriate discount for the value of real estate limited partnerships (RELPs) relative to their appraised value. This research develops a linear regression model that explains over 80% of the cross-sectional variation in discounts across 60 RELPs using characteristics of each partnership. Among a holdout sample of 41 RELPs, the model provides forecasts of discounts that are superior to assuming no discount or applying a mean discount to all partnerships. Discounts are greatest for RELPs with low current yields, low leverage and high trading ranges for their market prices.     

Risk taking in sales-force selection decisions: The impact of decision frame and time

A field experiment was conducted in which managers selected between two differentially risky candidates for an open sales position. Decision frame (gain or loss) and time until decision outcome (close or distant) were manipulated. As predicted by the Mowen and Mowen (1991) time and outcome valuation (TOV) model, an interaction occurred between decision frame and time such that preferences for the more- or less-risky candidate varied based upon these conditions. The results are discussed in terms of the potential for improving sales management selection decisions. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.