Determinants of Consumer Preferences for Honey in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Honey is one of the important non-timber forest products consumed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and, as such, an important source of income for many households. However, poor knowledge of buyers’ preferences in the marketing of honey presents a major challenge to the profitability of the honey enterprises. The research presented in this article identifies key consumer characteristics that influence the preferences of honey consumers in the DRC. The primary data source used in this analysis is drawn from a survey of 214 consumers. Results show that consumers who are married and have reached at least the level of secondary education have a strong preference for local forest and savannah honey. Those between the ages of 30 and 50 do not prefer honey from beekeeping, but would rather have it imported. We conclude that segmentation of the honey market and increasing consumer awareness must go in tandem in order to develop a good marketing strategy.     

Irrigation production functions with water-capital substitution

The dynamics of biomass growth implies that the yield of irrigated crops depends, in addition to the total amount of water applied, on irrigation scheduling during the growing period. Advanced irrigation technologies relax constraints on irrigation rates and timing, allowing us to better adjust irrigation scheduling to the varying needs of the plants along the growing period. Irrigation production functions, then, should include capital (or expenditures on irrigation equipment) in addition to aggregate water. We derive such functions and study their water-capital substitution properties. Implications for water demand and adoption of irrigation technologies are investigated. A numerical example illustrates these properties.     

Kalecki on money and finance

It is argued that Kalecki had a greater appreciation of the role of the monetary sector than has been generally recognized, and that Kalecki presented ideas which can be seen as now embedded in the structuralist post Keynesian analysis of endogenous money and in the circuitist approach. Six key features of Kalecki's monetary analysis are identified. The paper outlines Kalecki's dismissal of the ‘Pigou effect’ and the ‘Keynes effect’, and then discussion the relationship between the ‘principle of increasing risk’ and the nature of the supply of credit. It discusses interest determination in Kalecki's writings and the manner in which he distinguished different types of money.     

AN APPLICATION OF BASS'S MODEL IN THE ANALYSIS OF DIFFUSION OF COCOA-SPRAYING CHEMICALS AMONG NIGERIAN COCOA FARMERS

Several studies on the process of diffusion of agricultural innovations have recently emerged in the literature. They serve as an important link between studies on the establishment of innovations and those in their impact on the economy. However, previous standard diffusion models used in the analysis of diffusion of agricultural innovations assume that the population of potential adopters is identical and that they are all imitators. This assumption may not be realistic in all cases. Hence, it is argued, in this study, that the population of potential adopters is not identical but consists of both innovators and imitators, and a model incorporating the two categories of potential adopters is employed. This model is also assessed against the standard diffusion model to test its superiority. Although the data on the diffusion of cocoa-spraying chemicals among Nigerian cocoa farmers fit the model well, the result of its statistical evaluation shows little or no improvement over the standard model. This may, however, be due to the nature and composition of the data employed and the need for further refinement of the model.     

Managers' conservatism and corporate performance

This article argues that conservatism as a personal value among senior managers significantly affects corporate performance. A scale to measure conservatism was developed and its measurement properties were tested on several hundred executives. Empirical results were consistent with the hypotheses that conservatism among senior management teams is negatively associated with the firm's social responsiveness as well as certain aspects of financial performance.     

Twentieth century female ad images: Cultural interconnections,social learning,and the dialectical logic of advertising

The study conducts a historical investigation of the linkages among the focused social learning of a few (such as ideas of feminists groups), the amplification of those ideas throughout the masses, and observable female images in ads. The Hegelian sublation or Aufgehoben dialectical framework is applied to deepen understanding of how ad strategies have reconciled multiple cultural conversations about the proper image and role of women through the years. The findings of the research reveal distinctive dialectical processes and strategies in the ever-evolving patterns of female images in ads. The results of the study indicate that the focused social learning of the few is amplified to the masses through more emergent ad female roles and images during prosperous and peaceful times and is thwarted during times of national distress.     

An empirical examination of the role of vertical product differentiation in north-south trade

Conclusions Our results indicate that the general line of reasoning embodied in the recently developed models of North-South IIT would seem to be valid. The various measures of income and size similarity do seem to affect North-South IIT in the theoretically predicted way. Further, this type of trade is positively impacted by the direction of quality differences and, to a lesser degree, the extent of quality differences. Finally, it would appear that modeling this type of trade on a bilateral basis using data detailed by both industry and country has not only theoretial appeal, but is empirically useful. The results, however, do not address the mechanism which generates these quality differences between the exports of the North and South. The theoretical models use different assumptions concerning the process which generates the quality differences. Such differences may be related to capital abundance as in Falvey [1981]; a Ricardian form of comparative advantage as in Flam and Helpman [1987]; or a complex combination of the two.¹⁵ Some preliminary evidence on the role of quality differences has been given in this paper. The difficult task of explaining what generates these differences is an important issue left unaddressed at this point.