Private and state-led contract farming in Zimbabwe: Accumulation,social differentiation and rural politics

Contract farming schemes often amplify existing patterns of socio-economic differentiation. In Zimbabwe, processes of differentiation were underway before the current expansion of contract farming and they have deepened through the Fast Track Land Reform process. This article examines how pre-existing dynamics of differentiation shape the forms of contract farming adopted, as well as which groups of farmers gain access and on what terms. Social differentiation partly explains the outcomes of contract farming, even if contract farming in turn results in further differentiation. This article contrasts private sector-led contract farming of tobacco and state-led financing of maize production (the ‘command agriculture’ programme) in two high-potential sites and across different forms of land use. Unlike in many other settings, contract farming in Zimbabwe is highly influenced by the state, through the regulation of private sector arrangements and the establishment of a state-led contracting programme. The state-led programme boosted maize production amongst medium-scale farmers and resulted in an embedding of patronage relations. Meanwhile, the private-led contract farming has supported a widespread boom of tobacco production, mainly amongst smallholders. We find therefore that contract farming is highly dependent on the contingent, politically mediated processes of social differentiation.     

Posted price and name-your-own-price in a product line design problem

In this research, we address Name your own price (NYOP) as a mechanism to offer products with transparent, rather than opaque, quality levels. We compare posted price (PP) and NYOP in a product line design problem from a firm’s viewpoint. We first consider the firm offering two vertically differentiated products that each can be priced by NYOP or PP. The quality level of products is considered either as a decision variable or as a fixed predetermined value for the firm. A customer correspondingly decides which product to purchase and if applicable, the bid at NYOP. We characterize both the customer’s and the firm’s decisions under four possible pricing scenarios. The results show that, it is most profitable for the firm to use PP for both products. We then consider if each product is offered by a competitive firm, where quality levels might again be decision variables or fixed. Results show that both competitive firms prefer PP to NYOP when they can create quality differentiation. The firm that offers the product with a lower quality level prefers PP to NYOP for all combinations of fixed quality levels as well. The other firm, with a higher quality level, also usually prefers PP to NYOP; However, it can be better off using NYOP when fixed quality levels are large and close enough to each other. In this case, the preference of NYOP over PP increases as customers’ willingness to pay enhances.     

An Index Approach to Measuring Product Differentiation: A Hedonic Analysis of Airfares

The main objective of this paper is to introduce an Allen-type index of differentiation based on cost functions. With this index, we create an economic measure of product differentiation that quantifies differences between products. Applied research has some generally accepted economic measures, for example, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index for market concentration, or the Gini coefficient for inequality. Product differentiation, however, does not yet have an established measure. Our objective is to fill that gap and introduce a measure that can be used in market-related applied research such as market power, antitrust, price indexes, or market strategy. To operationalize the index, we introduce the concept of a core product and use cost functions to measure the degree of differentiation from the core product. To demonstrate the use of the index, we study the effect of product differentiation on price formation in the airline industry using an enhanced hedonic model. The model is empirically tested on 103,980 observations of quarterly US domestic airfare data between 2002 and 2016 and shows that product differentiation has a significant effect on both price and mark-up.     

Understanding the sequential interdependence of mobile app adoption within and across categories

This research examines the interdependencies in users’ sequential app adoptions within and across diverse app categories. We employ a Zero-inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) model to analyze a unique, granular, and individual-level mobile app adoption dataset, revealing three main findings. First, users’ app adoption decisions are highly history-dependent and category-specific in a nonlinear fashion. Early adoption can enhance subsequent downloads within the same category for app categories with high needs evolvement and horizontal differentiation (e.g., Game and Education apps). However, it may crowd out subsequent downloads in other categories with low needs evolvement and horizontal differentiation (e.g., Communication and Social media apps). Second, these effects are further moderated by users’ individual characteristics such as app usage tenure and phone price. Third, there exist nontrivial app adoption spillovers across app categories. For example, users’ adoptions of apps with relatively high hedonic values (e.g., Game and Music apps) can suppress their subsequent need for apps with relatively high utilitarian values (e.g., Education and Online banking apps), and vice versa. Together, these results offer novel managerial implications for app developers and platforms to promote apps in different categories based on users’ adoption histories.     

中国物流业与数字经济融合水平时空分异及影响因素研究

基于熵权-TOPSIS和耦合协调度模型对2012—2021年中国30个省份物流业与数字经济融合水平进行测度，利用Dagum基尼系数及莫兰指数对物流业与数字经济融合水平的时空分异情况进行分析，并通过Tobit模型探究其影响因素。研究发现，我国物流业与数字经济融合水平存在明显区域差异，融合水平最高的是广东和北京，融合水平最低的是宁夏和青海；融合水平总体基尼系数在波动中上升，东部、东北和西部地区是融合水平时空分异的重要来源；我国物流业与数字经济融合水平在空间上存在明显的正向空间集聚效应和空间依赖性；融合水平的正向影响因素有产业结构、经济发展和基础设施等。据此，提出相关对策建议以促进我国物流业与数字经济深度融合。     

社会整合理论视角下丹江口水库移民新村社会管理创新研究

从帕森斯AGIL模式为基础的社会整合理论出发,通过援引河南省丹江口水库移民村社会管理创新实践,关注移民间内部结构的再分化与社会整合,探讨对移民实施政治整合、经济整合、社会和文化整合的策略和逻辑,以期实现移民"搬得出,稳得住,可发展,能致富"的目标。     

土地托管、劳动力分化对农户家庭收入的影响研究——基于6省1 933户农户的实证

研究目的：探讨土地托管服务对农户家庭收入的影响机理，从土地托管视角考察三大粮食区域农户的土地、劳动力资源配置对家庭整体经济福利的影响。研究方法：最小二乘法、工具变量法、分位数回归和中介效应模型。研究结果：（1）土地托管服务对农户家庭收入有显著正向影响，该收入分配效应表现出个体异质性和区域差异性；（2）劳动力分化能促进土地托管服务的发展和农户家庭经济福利的提升，是土地托管服务促进农户家庭增收的有效路径。研究结论：（1）完善土地托管服务市场和劳动力就业市场以提升农户的家庭经济福利；（2）加强政策帮扶，保障资源禀赋较弱农户的土地托管服务需求；（3）因地制宜，加强各粮食生产区域之间土地托管服务的经验交流。