Knowledge diffusion and agricultural development

Low agricultural productivity remains the primary source of poverty in the developing regions and yet little is known about the influence on agricultural productivity of domestic and international accumulated R&D knowledge and the channels through which this knowledge is transmitted internationally. Following a large scientific literature, this article argues that R&D and R&D knowledge spillover are ecozone‐specific and, therefore, are transmitted internationally through ecozones, where ecozones are the broadest biogeographic division of the earth's land surface. Using data for a panel of 88 countries, it is shown that international knowledge spillovers are ecozone‐specific and have been an important contributing factor behind the marked widening of the income gap between developed and developing countries since 1983.     

Exploring the widening food gap: an international perspective

Using data for a long panel of 90 developed and developing countries, this article explores the effects of research and development (R&D) and fixed capital stock on agricultural land productivity over the period 1961–2012. Instruments are used for R&D to deal with feedback effects and measurement errors. The results show very high social returns to investment in R&D and to fixed capital stock, suggesting that increasing investment in these factors are promising ways of arresting the increasing food prices due to increasing demand for animal protein, population growth, desertification, salinization, soil erosion, climate change, and decreasing growth in land productivity.     

Understanding Business Relationship Management in China： A Power and Leverage Perspective

This paper examines whether a power and leverage perspective, successfully applied to analyse extended buyer-supplier relationships in a western context, can be used to analyse business relationships in China. A single embedded case study is presented in this paper and a power and leverage approach is used to analyse business relationships. The power and leverage perspective is applicable for investigating buyer-supplier relationships in a Chinese cultural context. However, in this context using power as coercion is an extremely counterproductive relationship management strategy, which can draw both buyers and suppliers in to a ＂no-win＂ or negative sum situation. The findings are based upon a single case, which makes drawing generalisable conclusions more difficult. In addition, although every effort was made to limit the subjectivity of the power and relationship analysis, researcher interpretation of the data was required. In the Chinese business context, it may not be advisable to manage any relationships in an arms-length manner. Chinese business networks are centred on less explicit or formal power relationships and therefore companies that have learnt the rules of the game of exchange in the west need to modify their approach in China. This work extends the understanding of buyer-supplier relationships and provides additional empirical evidence validating a power and leverage perspective. In addition, the paper provides the first assessment of whether this approach can be used in a non-western context without significant modification.     

The supportive expatriate spouse: An ethnographic study of spouse involvement in expatriate careers

Previous research on the influence of accompanying expatriate spouses has emphasized the negative impact on the business expatriates that could contribute to unsuccessful outcomes of the foreign assignments. But spouses’ influences could also be positive. Applying ethnographic field-work methodology, this study investigated female spouses’ involvement in the career of a sample of Danish business expatriates living in the same compound in Saudi Arabia. Results showed that the accompanying partners were active in trying to support and further their expatriate husbands’ immediate careers and repatriation opportunities by using social strategies, such as creating alliances and establishing social networks with influential others through social contacts and dinner parties. The female trailing partners also tried as a group to influence company decisions regarding working schedules, pay, and holidays. These findings are consistent with recent theoretical developments focusing on positive outcomes of the work–family interface and social capital theory and are in line with empirical research on repatriation and post-assignment careers.     

Risk perception and risk management in Norwegian aquaculture

This exploratory study seeks to provide empirical knowledge about fish farmers' risk attitudes, risk sources and risk management tools by presenting the results from a survey among Norwegian fish farming companies. The results show that fish farmers think of themselves as only moderately risk averse compared, for instance, to crop and livestock farmers. The most important sources of risk are considered to be future salmon prices, institutional risks and fish diseases, while keeping costs low is the most important risk management tool.     

What Explains the Success or Failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes?

This paper analyses the causes of success or failure of adjustment programmes, using a new database on 220 reform programmes. We find that the success or failure of reform depends on domestic political-economy forces. A few donor-effort variables are also highly correlated with the probability of success. However, once these effort variables are treated as endogenous, there is no relationship between any of them and the success or failure of reform. These results have clear implications for how the international community should approach policy-based aid.     

The Rise and Fall of Exceptional Australian Incomes Since 1800

We gauge how productivity and factor endowments shaped the rise and fall of Australia's exceptional incomes using new measures of total factor productivity (TFP), which include natural resource inputs, in an accounting of income growth. Further, we explore the drivers of TFP growth. Pastoralism and mining had negative TFP externalities, and we incorporate these findings into a unified accounting of incomes, which distinguishes the roles of endowments and productivity. Nevertheless, TFP growth played an important role in promoting exceptional incomes between 1842 and 1890. Our findings favour a more balanced interpretation of Australian growth that has roles for natural resources, labour participation, and productivity.     

The political economy of financial reform: How robust are huang's findings?

Using new data on financial liberalization taken from Abiad et al. (2008, IMF Working Papers, No. 08/266) for 62 countries over the period 1975–2005, we show that some of the main findings of Huang's (2009, Journal of Applied Econometrics 24 : 1207–1213) replication study on the drivers of financial liberalization are not robust. Major changes concern the effect of democracy on financial reform and the supposed relationship between the desired level of financial liberalization and a country's per capita income. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.