Property Rights Reform in Rangeland China: Dilemmas On the Road to the Household Ranch

This paper contributes to the debate over land tenure in rural China by extending its spatial coverage to the country’s extensive rangeland regions. Key characteristics of pastoral tenure, identified from field appraisals in western China, include group tenure and fuzzy boundaries. Although these characteristics give rise to efficiency concerns, from a new institutional economics perspective they also facilitate the realization of certain benefits, benefits that could represent opportunity costs of further exclusiveness. The strengthening of rangeland co-management may constitute a more appropriate path to institutional improvement than the establishment of the household ranch, the current goal of national rangeland policy.     

Private Pension Arrangements and Retirement in Britain*

This paper looks at the policy debate surrounding private pensions and retirement patterns in the UK. Recent increases in longevity have led not only to increased pressures in public pensions but also to corresponding increases in the importance of private pensions in the UK and changes in the way in which they are structured. We consider the economic implications of these changes, and in particular the increased importance of defined contribution plans. In addition, we discuss the prospects for future trends in retirement ages.     

Introduction to Political Science

This introduction to the JET symposium on political science briefly reviews the main results of the papers in this issue and tries to put them in the context of the current research in political theory. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D70, D71, D72, D78.     

The assessment: household saving - issues in theory and policy

In this assessment we discuss the issues raised by the papersin this issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy in thecontext of economic models of household consumption and saving.We also provide a discussion of what we consider to be someimportant areas in the current debate surrounding theories andevidence regarding saving behaviour. We highlight the differencesthat arise from considering partial, as opposed to general,equilibrium models, and in looking at developed, as opposedto developing countries. We also discuss current policy issuesrelating both to the adequacy of household saving and to thedistribution of saving across households, or across asset types,as well as the need for more microdata on saving and asset holding.     

Evidence from Patents and Patent Citations on the Impact of NASA and Other Federal Labs on Commercial Innovation

Federal lab commercialization is explored: (1) by analyzing US government patents and (2) in a qualitative analysis of one NASA lab's patents. Tests apply to three distinct sets of patents, 1963–94: NASA, all other US government, and a random sample of all US inventors' patents. The federal patenting rate plummeted in the 1970s. Consistent with increasing commercialization, both NASA's and other federal agencies' rates recovered in the 1980s. The case study finds citations to be a valid but noisy measure of technology spillovers. Excluding 'spurious' cites, two-thirds of cites to patents of NASA-Lewis' Electro-Physics Branch were evaluated as involving spillovers.     

EFFECTS OF PRICING DECISIONS OF A STATUTORY MARKETING BOARD: A CASE STUDY

Applying econometric analysis to a model recently used by Parish, this article examines the short-run implications for consumers and producers of the pricing decisions of the Western Australian Egg Board over the period 1953-54 to 1962-63.     

The influence of gender on the effectiveness of probability markers in advertising

The results of two studies reveal that gender plays a moderating role on the effects that the use of probability markers (hedges – e.g., possibly, could help; and pledges – e.g., definitely, without a doubt) in advertising copy has on consumers' attitudes towards the brand advertised and purchase intentions. Women, as comprehensive processors, are not particularly sensitive to probability markers, which function as heuristic cues. Men, on the other hand, display higher levels of sensitivity towards probability marker usage; more precisely, their responses show preference towards the use of hedges over both pledges and no probability markers in advertising copy. Interactions with product category involvement, buying motivation (hedonic or utilitarian), and familiarity with the brand advertised are also explored.     

Monopoly Pricingand Regulatory Oversight

This paper analyzes the interaction between a regulator and monopolist in the determination of the price for the monopolist's product, where only the monoplast knows ex ante its true marginal cost of production. The regulator observes the market price proposed by the monopolist and decides whether to hold a rate hearing, where suck a hearing is a costly means of verifying the monopolist's marginal cost. Subsequent to a rate hearing, the regulator can impose a market price for the monopolist's product; in the absence of a rate hearing, the market price is set equal to the monopolist's proposed price. Equilibrium behavior by the monopolist and regulator is characterized, and the degree of regulatory "activism," as defined by the probability a rate hearing is held, is seen to vary ex post with the monopolist's true marginal cost .