Книги

Subsistence agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has only recently gained interest from agricultural economists. Their origin, their future and even their definition is still not well elaborated. This paper tries to throw light on the issue of subsistence farming in CEE. It first discusses the theoretical and empirical background of subsistence agriculture. This part is followed by a typology of subsistence farming as found in CEE. Analysis considers several hypotheses on the cause of subsistence agriculture, among them the structure of land ownership, market imperfections and lack of alternative income sources or low opportunity costs of labour respectively. Of all these hypotheses, only the latter can be proofed empirically, which is done by a nonlinear regression analysis. The paper concludes that this gives reason to argue that rather economic problems than specific problems related to the agricultural structure in CEE determine the degree of subsistence farming. Consequently, structural and social policies rather than agricultural policies like market intervention are to be considered.

Regulatory reform had its beginnings in the United States in the 1970s, and today it is taking place around the globe. One of the central questions for industrial policy is how to regulate firms with market power. Regulatory Reform tackles this important policy issue in two parts: it describes an analytical framework for studying the main issues in regulatory reform, and then applies the analysis to the British experience in four utility industries - telecommunications, gas, electricity, and water supply. Britain's utility industries, state-owned monopolies just ten years ago, offer a dramatic example of comprehensive reforms with parallels elsewhere: industries have been restructured, markets have been liberalized, and new regulatory methods and institutions have been created. The authors focus on common policy questions that arise in each industry while taking into account the considerable diversity between the industries and the different reform policies adopted. The analysis and experience in Britain's utility industries also provides a rich variety of issues concerning monopolistic and anticompetitive practices that are of interest for competition policy in general.

В последние десятилетия многие европейские страны сталкиваются с ростом неравенства в доходах и заработной плате, долгосрочной безработицей. Особенно это касается таких групп на рынке труда, как женщины и молодёжь. Таким образом, реформа рынка труда как необходимый инструмент эффективного развития экономики в целом, осознается практически всеми. В данной работе описывается реформирование рынка труда, проводимое в Соединённом Королевстве, а также в других европейских странах (Дании, Новой Зеландии, Нидерландах). Особое внимание уделяется политике занятости, которая может осуществляться по двум направлениям: создание новых рабочих мест, во-первых, или осуществление ряда мер для более гибкого и эффективного функционирования рынка труда, во-вторых. Часто эти подходы противоречат друг другу и требуют разных мер государственного регулирования. Кроме этого, в книге обсуждаются меры государственной защиты тех групп, которые являются менее конкурентными на рынке труда.

The objective of the paper is to develop a methodology for supporting the evaluation and design of agri-environmental schemes. The methodology is based on a combination of mathematical programming, contract theory and multicriteria analysis and is tested on a case study in Northern Italy. The methodology proposed can add insights into the policy design process, by taking consistently into account three issues often overlooked: the adaptation of cropping systems to the measures proposed; the diversity of compliance costs among farmers; the multidimensionality of the decision problem.

Cтатья посвящена оценке государственной программы "Новое предложение для безработной молодежи"по содействию занятости в Англии на основе данных панельного исследования 1982 - 1999 гг.

This text is about positive and normative issues in international trade and focuses on methods of applied analysis. It includes essential theory sections and chapters dealing with imperfect competition and other new trade theory topics. It also identifies the implications and weaknesses of the various theories and models in terms of empirical implementation. In summary, the text provides a complete and up-to-date approach to applied international trade analysis.

Enlarging the EU presents a tremendous effort with obstacles for old and new member states especially in the agricultural sector. In this paper, impacts of a new accession round were analyzed with the help of the comparative-static general equilibrium model GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project). The standard version was extended to allow for a better representation of specific instruments of the Common Agriculture Policy and the EU budget.

To capture detailed effects in new member states, simulations were carried out for 12 candidate countries, the EU-15 and the rest of the world. As for products the focus lies on agriculture. Scenarios include an enlargement with and without the transfer of direct payments in the new member states, according to the proposal of the EU commission from January 2002. Simulations in a post-Agenda 2000 environment led to heterogeneous country specific impacts in the accession countries whereas the changes within EU-15 and the rest of the world were negligible. Due to adjustments in tariffs, trade balances of the new member states were deteriorating while welfare effects are positive. Transfer of direct payments led to more pronounced effects, especially with regard to output and trade. Without direct payments accession countries would be net contributors to the EU budget. This would change when they become eligible for this subsidy. In general, the analysis shows the importance of a country specific perspective.

Migrant networks, in the form of families, associational ties and social organizations, stretch across the globe, connecting cultures and bridging national boundaries. The effects of this global networking are vast. This book is the first to stand back and explore the impact. Families living outside of their original national boundaries have had, and continue to have, a profound influence over the flow of people, goods, money and information. More in-depth perspectives reveal how immigrants face troubling issues of cultural identity, economic change, political uncertainty and social welfare. From an examination of nineteenth-century transnational families emigrating from Europe, to the Ghanaian Pentecostal diaspora in Europe today, this book combines broadly based analysis with more unusual case studies to reveal the complexities that immigrants and refugees must contend with in their daily lives. What are the experiences of migrant Turkish women living in Germany? In what ways has religion been hybridized amongst West African Muslim migrants in Paris? What are the gender relations and transnational ties amongst Bosnian refugees? Never has such a topic been more relevant. Problems relating to immigrants' and refugees' situations in their adopted countries continue to grow. This book, wide-ranging in its geographical and thematic scope, is a highly important and timely addition to debates on transnational families, immigrants and refugees.

High and persistent inflation has been one of the distinguishing macroeconomic characteristics of many developing countries since the end of World War II. Countries afflicted by chronic inflation, however, have not taken their fate lightly and have engaged in repeated stabilization attempts. More often than not, stabilization plans have failed. The end of stabilizations -- particularly those which rely on a pegged exchange rate -- has often involved dramatic balance of payment crises. As stabilization plans come and go, a large literature has developed trying to document the main empirical regularities and understand the key issues involved. This paper undertakes a critical review and evaluation of the literature related to inflation stabilization policies and balance of payment crises in developing countries.

Successful innovation depends on the development and integration of new knowledge in the innovation process. In order to successfully innovate, the firm will combine different innovation activities. In addition to doing own research and development, firms typically are engaged in the acquisition of knowledge on the technology market and cooperate actively in R&D with other firms and research organizations. In this paper the authors provide evidence on complementarity between different innovation activities. Using data from the Community Innovation Survey on Belgian manufacturing firms, the authors show that firms that are only engaged in a single innovation strategy, either internal R&D activities or sourcing technology externally, introduced fewer new or substantially improved products compared to firms which combine internal and external sourcing. This result is consistent with complementarity between own R&D and external technology sourcing activities. Furthermore, the authors show that the different innovation activities are strongly positively correlated and identify common drivers, resulting in the perceived complementarity between these innovation activities. An important finding is that a capacity to strategically protect intellectual property and a more basic R&D base which may serve as an absorptive capacity, are important common drivers for the different innovation activities.

Authors study financial fragility, exchange rate crises and monetary policy in an open economy model in which banks are maturity transformers as in Diamond-Dybvig. The banking system, the exchange rate regime, and central bank credit policy are seen as parts of a mechanism intended to maximize social welfare; if the mechanism fails, banking crises and speculative attacks become possible. Authors compare currency boards, fixed rate and flexible rates, with and without a lender of last resort. A currency board cannot implement a socially optimal allocation; in addition, under a currency board bank runs are possible. A fixed exchange rate system may implement the social optimum but is more prone to bank runs and exchange rate crises than a currency board. Larger capital inflows enhance welfare if the no-run equilibrium occurs, but may also render the economy more vulnerable to self-fulfilling runs. A flexible exchange rate system implements the social optimum and eliminates runs, provided the exchange rate and central bank lending policies of the central bank are appropriately designed.

During the past few years, the global environment has been increasingly causing revolutionary, disruptive innovation changes in traditional industries, corporations and business models. Traditional approaches to strategy are proving to be inadequate to deal with these changes, and those who want to survive and succeed in the highly competitive global economy urgently need more dynamic, innovative and holistic approaches to strategy and strategic management.
The major focus of this book is to provide new strategic management approaches and tools to enable capabilities for rapid, discontinuous organizational innovation and change. For both advanced students and business managers, it presents a well-balanced combination of leading-edge theory supported by published articles of prominent scholars, and case studies & examples, all designed to substantiate a new strategic mindset, innovative tools, and practical applications for significantly increased innovative capabilities

This paper presents a comparative method (SICOM) to evaluate complex site conditions at the level of a Federal State (Brandenburg) and at different areal units. The methodology uses primary site conditions and provides the possibility to objectively compare and judge different ecological questions. Objects with heterogeneous content are pooled in comparison groups. Consideration of the main site characteristics allows a goal-oriented allocation of subsidies. The use of SICOM is demonstrated for the wind and water erosion risk assessment across different scales from Federal State down to a parcel of land. The “parcel” aggregation-level proves to be useful to assess the erosion risk. Larger scales are less useful in the assessment of subsidies policy with regard to erosion risk. SICOM is demonstrated to be suitable for comparing and assessing regional aspects more objectively.

Commercial producers, brokers, exporters and spinners dominate the wool supply chain in South Africa. Until recently smallholder farmers in the Transkei region had limited access to a profitable market outlet for their wool. In response, the South African wool industry has taken the initiative to help local farmers by building shearing sheds, under which the local association can bulk the wool and trade directly with the brokers. More direct access to the wool brokers is a prerequisite for the farmer to develop a viable business.

This article investigates on the effect of membership in the local shearing shed association on the farmers. revenue. A two-step regression model of the gross margin is used to analyse whether farmers selling through the local association have better financial records as compared to those who sell their wool to local traders. This article exemplifies how institutional innovation through local marketing associations can contribute to economic development in poor rural areas.

This paper addresses the question which factors influence a farmer in deciding to adopt an innovation. We differentiate between innovations that are new to the farmer, but already well established in the sector, innovations that are early in their process of diffusion, and innovations that are new to the farmer’s sector. We use an ordered probit approach to relate adoption behaviour to variables that capture characteristics of the farm (labour and financial resources and market position), of the business environment of the farm (type of production and market, degree of regulation) and of the farmer (access to information, capabilities, preferences). We use data on 865 Dutch farms and find that innovation adoption is positively related to labour resources, market position, access to information and past adoption behaviour, and negatively to solvency and the degree of market regulation.