Aggregate supply response in Tanzanian agriculture

Tanzania is among the many African countries that have engaged in agricultural liberalization since the mid-1980s. in the hope that reforms that introduce price incentives and efficient marketing will encourage producers to respond. This paper assesses that claim by examining the supply response of agricultural output in Tanzania. Our estimates suggest that aggregate agricultural supply response is quite high so that the potential for agricultural sector response to liberalization of agricultural prices and marketing may be quite significant. The long-run elasticity of aggregate food crop output to relative prices was almost unity. Short-run supply responses were estimated at about 0.35 for aggregate food crops and for all (food and export) crops. Liberalization of agricultural markets, where it increases the effective prices paid to farmers, can be effective in promoting production, although complementary interventions, to improve infrastructure, marketing, access to inputs and credit, improved production technology etc, are probably necessary.     

AMBITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ASSESSING MILITARY PERFORMANCE IN CRISIS RESPONSE OPERATIONS

This paper addresses the issue of measuring armed forces’ performance in crisis response operations. By means of interviews (17 respondents) and a large scale survey (1,253 respondents) field and general officers of the Netherlands Armed Forces (NAF) have been questioned on perceived organisational success in crisis response operations. The Dutch officers assess the NAF's performance positively. A number of senior officers are hesitant about the usefulness of measuring the performance of crisis response operations. According to them the context in which the operations are being executed is too complex. Most interviewees, however, are convinced that measuring performance is useful and should be improved. These military leaders express a strong need for criteria to assess their performance on the job.     

中小学教师职业压力的成因与自我调适

中小学教师承受的职业压力主要来自考试压力、新课改的挑战、工作强度大、角色冲突等几个方面。教师个体的自我调适是缓解压力的关键所在,教师只有合理认知并积极应对,才能变压力为动力,从而提升自身的职业幸福感。     

Service Problems,Service Crises and Service Disasters

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the need for tourism service organisations to implement effective ways of responding to their clients when a problem occurs in the delivery of a service. Failure to recognise or respond appropriately to a problem when it occurs can cause a crisis which requires more organisational resources and skills to overcome, and if this is not achieved the original problem may result in desertion of the company by its clients, or adverse publicity impacting severely on the company's success. The paper presents a short illustrative case study. The paper suggests that organisations may learn from analysing service problems how to adopt adaptive strategies to minimse the negative consequences of future service failures. It indicates the need for further studies to improve the responsive of organisations to service problems.     

Why persistent high inflation impedes growth? An empirical assessment of threshold level of inflation for India

In the policy debate on growth–inflation trade-off and the role of monetary policy in managing the trade-off in the short-run, theoretical and empirical research suggests the presence of a country specific threshold level of inflation. Empirical findings of this paper suggest that for India the threshold level of inflation could be around 6%. The inflation target for monetary policy may have to be somewhat lower than the growth maximizing threshold, since any positive inflation could be a risk to inclusive and sustainable growth objective.     

应对美国对华贸易保护政策的路径选择

文章指出,金融危机以来,伴随着全球贸易的急剧萎缩,贸易保护主义也风起云涌,特别是美国等一些西方国家近期针对中国的贸易保护措施更是纷纷出台,对我国经济发展造成了不利影响,成为我国经济发展的一个制约因素。文章认为,面对日益严重的贸易保护主义,政府、企业应采取积极的应对措施,建立健全贸易救济系统、充分利用WTO争端解决机制、实现对外贸易保护前置化和鼓励创立自主品牌等,以突破美国对华贸易保护的藩篱。     

金融业国际化发展与经济竞争力——基于浙江视角的实证研究

浙江省金融业国际化通过多种效应对经济产生重要的拉动作用。本文利用2006年1月至2009年12月的月度时间序列数据,对变量进行了Granger因果关系检验,建立了基于VEC模型的脉冲响应函数,对浙江经济竞争力对金融业国际化发展的动态响应结果进行了分析。检验结果表明,浙江省金融业的国际化发展有利于浙江省经济竞争力的提高。基于上述结论,本文提出了浙江金融业国际化发展的对策建议。     

A comparison of work absence periods and the associated costs for two different modes of exercise therapies for patients with longstanding subacromial pain

Abstract

Background: There are no studies on economic issues concerning rehabilitation exercises for shoulder pain.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate sick leave and the associated costs after a medical exercise therapy programme in patients with longstanding subacromial pain/impingement.

Methods: A randomised controlled trial in which 61 patients were randomly assigned either to a high-dosage medical exercise therapy group (HD) (n=31) or to a low dosage exercise therapy group (LD) (n=30). Both groups were given three treatments a week over 3 months. The differences between the groups were number of repetitions, number of sets and time performing global aerobic exercises.

Results: The outcome for the HD group was significantly (p<0.05) better compared to the LD group. The reduction in costs for sick leave for the HD group was 59.1%, whereas for the LD group, the reduction was only 42.3%, which is a significant difference.

Conclusion: In patients with longstanding subacromial pain, HD medical exercise therapy might be an efficient treatment approach.     

循环经济建设探索

通过对国际循环经济实践的认识和对我国循环经济建设现状的思考以及对江苏省循环经济建设案例的分析，揭示了循环经济的实质和循环经济的本质内涵，提出了循环经济建设的时策。