The Welfare Economics of a Biofuel Tax Credit and the Interaction Effects with Price Contingent Farm Subsidies

A framework is developed to analyze the effects of a biofuel consumer tax exemption and the interaction effects with a price contingent farm subsidy. Ethanol prices rise above the gasoline price by the amount of the tax credit. Corn farmers gain directly while gasoline consumers only gain from any reduction in world oil prices due to the extra ethanol production. Domestic oil producers lose. Historically, the intercept of the ethanol supply curve is above the gasoline price. Hence, part of the tax credit is redundant and represents rectangular deadweight costs that dwarf triangular deadweight cost measures of traditional farm subsidies.     

荒地资源持续利用研究

荒地资源的持续利用应该考虑采用不同于传统资源开发的模式与思路：指出荒地资源开发中自然生态环境的退化是开发中遇到的最大的问题;对荒地资源开发中这些问题的出现进行了经济学分析．指出需求拉动、市场缺乏、价格扭曲、外部性未内化、产权不明晰及缺乏认识和短视行为等因素是荒地资源配置效率低下．引发生态环境退化的重要原因;对荒地资源价格进行估算．依据边际社会成本（MSC）定价法．指出荒地资源价格包括边际私人成本和边际环境成本两部分．并分别对剩余法、替代成本法和贴现率的选择进行了探讨．指出贴现率选择对于生态环境退化是至关重要的．提出了荒地资源持续利用的思路与模式。     

Transaction Costs and Cattle Marketing: The Information Content of Seller-Provided Presale Data at Bull Auctions

At sales of breeding bulls, prospective buyers have strong incentives to undertake presale measurement activities. To reduce these transaction costs, sellers often provide information on sale bulls. We examine the information content of two measures of the expected performance of the bulls and find that within a given herd, older, simpler measures of performance contain more information about prices (from buyers' perspectives) than newer, more sophisticated measures known as expected progeny differences, or EPDs. We also find, however, that buyers appear to pay considerable attention to annual changes in herd-average EPD values when comparing animals from different sellers.     

ADOPTION AND PRODUCTIVITY IMPACT OF MODERN RICE VARIETIES IN BANGLADESH

Technological progress has helped Bangladesh to achieve self‐sufficiency in rice production in 2001 from a heavy import‐dependence, despite doubling of population and a reduction in arable land since its independence in 1971. As the adoption of modern varieties (MV) of rice is reaching a plateau, particularly for the irrigated ecosystem, an important issue is whether the research system will be able to sustain the growth of production. The present paper addresses the following questions: (i) to what extent farmers have been replacing the old MV with the new MV, and (ii) what has been the impact of the variety replacement on productivity and profitability. How crucial is the continuous research and release of improved rice varieties toward improving farm production and income for farmers comes out as a clear message to policymakers from the current paper.     

方向限制的信息搜索引擎在智能交通系统中的应用研究

基于位置的信息服务(LBS)要求在任何时间,任何地点,向有需要的人群提供正确的位置信息,因而在智能交通系统(ITS)中有着广泛的应用.传统的信息搜索方式是先对海量数据进行关键字检索,再对兴趣点进行逐个排除并得到最终结果,这种方式运算量大,检索结果复杂.方向限制的信息搜索通过对兴趣点建立新型索引,利用快速有效的剪枝技术结合关键字索引方法预先剪除大量不符合方向要求的数据,显著提升了搜索效率,为用户的出行提供更加便利的体验效果.     

Understanding the formation of e-loyalty based on a dedication-constraint perspective

Despite the importance of retaining customers in the context of e-shopping, the formation of an e-buyer’s loyalty remains inconclusive. Drawing on e-shopping literature, this study developed and tested a model to explain e-buyer loyalty from the perspective of business-to-consumer relationship management. We build on a dedication-constraint dual model to delineate the relationship between perceived benefits, switching cost, service-specific investment, and loyalty. Empirical results from 505 respondents show that loyalty is influenced by both perceived benefits and switching costs. In addition, switching costs partially mediate the relationship between service-specific investments and loyalty. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Masterful Meisters? Voluntary Certification and Quality in the German Crafts Sector

Voluntary certification systems potentially reduce search costs in markets with imperfect information. Service markets with many heterogeneous firms – such as the crafts market – are prone to information imperfections and can therefore potentially benefit from such informational mechanisms. We examine if the Meister qualification in the German crafts sector improves service quality as perceived by consumers. We find a significant and positive relationship between the Meister title and consumer ratings and conclude that the certificate is a credible sign of quality.     

Efficient Liability Rules: Complete Characterization

Received May, 18, 2000; revised version received March, 19, 2001     

A strategic market game with seigniorage costs of Fiat money

Summary. A model that includes the cost of producing money is presented and the nature of the inefficient equilibria in the model are examined. It is suggested that if one acknowledges that transactions are a form of production, which requires the consumption of resources, then the concept of Pareto optimality is inappropriate for assessing efficiency. Instead it becomes necessary to provide an appropriate comparative analysis of alternative transactions mechanisms in the appropriate context. Received: September 5, 2000; revised version: May 3, 2001