ALBERT

Notizen: We model firms as competing for socially responsible consumers by linking the provision of a public good (environmentally friendly or socially responsible activities) to sales of their private goods. In many cases, too little of the public good is provided, but under certain conditions, competition leads to excessive provision. Further, there is generally a trade-off between more efficient provision of the private and the public good. Our results indicate that the level of private provision of the public good varies inversely with the competitiveness of the private-good market and that the types of public goods provided are biased toward those for which consumers have high participation value.

Notizen: We analyze the interactions between internal and external control mechanisms in a framework in which the board selects the CEO and then decides whether to retain or dismiss him after observing a signal regarding his ability. The novel aspect of our paper is that we consider both the hiring and the firing of the CEO by the board. The type of board is defined by its ability to select a good CEO, so that the quality of the CEO depends on the type of board. Then, the dismissal-retention decision provides information not only on the quality of the CEO but also on the board's type. We show that the board's behavior depends on the pressure from the takeover market and on whether its type is publicly known. When the pressure from the takeover market is high and the type of board is private information, the board prefers not to dismiss the manager even if it has received a very low signal regarding his quality. Hence, our model endogenously derives a collusion between board and CEO in which the board does not fire a bad CEO. This behavior emerges as an attempt to hide the board's inability to accomplish the first task, CEO selection, by distorting the second task, the CEO retention-dismissal decision.

Notizen: This paper estimates the importance of indirect network effects in the US video cassette recorder (VCR) market between 1978 and 1986. Estimation reveals the significant role of networks in the format competition between VHS and Beta. The paper also finds that if Sony, the system sponsor of Beta, had aggressively introduced its VCRs at the early stage of competition, Beta would likely have dominated the market in 1985; instead, the format disappeared in 1989. Finally, the paper measures consumer welfare for the value of network effects in VCRs, and assesses the consumer welfare effect of standardization.

Notizen: We consider a repeated interaction between a manufacturing firm and a subcontractor. The relationship between the two parties is characterized (1) by moral hazard, and (2) by the fact that they do not have perfect knowledge about the base cost level of the project, which is carried out by a subcontractor (the parties only have identical a priori beliefs). We consider a two-period model where the players can update their estimate of the base cost level according to incoming information. Exit relationships, where the firm signs one-period contracts with different subcontractors, are compared with voice relationships, where both partners commit to a two-period interaction and (due to information sharing and face-to-face communication between the partners) additional information about the base cost level is generated. It is shown that in such a dynamic framework with common uncertainty the quality of the additional information plays a crucial role in determining the characteristics of the optimal relationship: voice-based strategies governed by long-term contracts are preferable if the precision of the additional information about the base cost level is high. If the precision of the additional signal is low, exit strategies with frequent changes of the subcontractors are optimal for the manufacturer.

Notizen: We examine a model of locational choice in commercial media markets. Commercial media (stations) compete for audiences with their choice of programming variety in order to attract advertising revenues from advertisers. These advertisers (producers) compete in a differentiated product market and rely on advertising to inform consumers about their product. We use the model to show that media have incentives to minimize the extent of differentiation between them. This incentive is an implication of the assumed role of advertising as information and as an ultimate nuisance to the audience. When stations minimally differentiate their programming offerings, producers choose lower levels of advertising. Consequently, lower levels of product information are available to consumers, permitting producers to gain higher margins on product sales. As a result, stations can negotiate higher payments for advertising space.

Notizen: This paper applies spatial econometrics to hamburger price data to assess the degree of substitutability of products and locations of spatially dispersed franchised chains. First, while intrachain price variation exists, I find that hamburger prices at neighboring outlets of different chains are spatially uncorrelated. I conclude that their products are not close substitutes, which provides an explanation for why price promotions have not raised market share. I do find spatial price correlation, however, among proximate outlets of separate franchisees within the same chain. This finding implies that customers view proximate locations of a chain as substitutes.

Notizen: This paper studies vertical integration by an essential-good monopolist into complementary markets. Unlike previous studies of complementary products, consumers are allowed to purchase some components of a complementary basket, but not others. Two different pricing strategies by the integrated firm may emerge. In mass-market equilibria, the price of the complement under integration is zero and it is given away with the essential good. Niche-market equilibria have more conventional pricing. This dichotomy is consistent with consumer software pricing. Integration enhances consumer and total surplus, unless it leads to exit by the higher-quality rival, in which case welfare is reduced. Exit is most likely when it is least damaging to consumer welfare. Integration reduces innovation by the rival firm. The effect on innovation by the integrated firm is ambiguous, but numerical computation of an extended model indicates that integration increases the innovation of the integrated firm and enhances welfare.

Notizen: We examine bargaining in a dynamic context where exchange between two parties affects the potential surplus from future trade. In this setting traders negotiate current contracts anticipating the impact of their agreement on future exchanges. We show that in growing environments these dynamic considerations will often ameliorate bargaining inefficiencies associated with private information and facilitate exchange as both parties cooperate to nurture the relationship. In contrast, we find that in declining environments dynamic considerations will often exacerbate bargaining inefficiencies and hinder trade, as both parties are hesitant to let the relationship mature. These findings have implications for preferences to form long-lived relationships.

Notizen: We investigate knowledge spillovers and externalities in the disagglomeration and growth of the advertising-agency industry. A simple model of high demand, low wages, and externalities associated with clusters of related industries can explain the dispersion of advertising agency employment across states. Other factors affected the industry growth rate within states. Consistent with Jacobs and Porter but contrary to Marshall, Arrow, and Romer, competition, but not specialization, enhanced growth. In accord with Porter (1990), growth increased with buyer cluster size. Diversity had no effect on growth. Despite improvements in telecommunications and transportation reducing effective distances, location still matters.

Notizen: We test empirically for network effects and preannouncement effects in the DVD market. We do this by measuring the effect of potential (incompatible) competition on a network undergoing growth. We find that there are network effects. The data are generally consistent with the hypothesis that the preannouncement of DIVX temporarily slowed down the adoption of DVD technology.

Notizen: We develop a new approach to endogenizing technological spillovers. We analyze a game in which firms can first invest in cost-reducing R&D, then compete on the human-capital market for their knowledge-bearing employees, and finally enter the product market. If R&D employees change firms, spillovers arise. We show that technological spillovers are most likely when they increase total industry profits. We use this result to show that innovation incentives are usually stronger for endogenous than for exogenous spillovers and that endogenous spillovers may reverse the result that innovation incentives are stronger under quantity competition than under price competition. Finally, we explore the robustness of our results with respect to contractual incompleteness and the number of R&D workers.

Notizen: The patent system encourages innovation and knowledge disclosure by providing exclusivity to inventors. Exclusivity is limited, however, because a substantial fraction of patents have some probability of being ruled invalid when challenged in court. The possibility of invalidity—and an ensuing market competition—suggests that when an innovator's capability (e.g., cost of production) is private information, there is potential value to an innovator from signaling strong capability via a disclosure that transfers technical knowledge to a competitor. We model a product-innovation setting in which a valid patent gives market exclusivity and find a unique signaling equilibrium. One might expect that as the probability that a patent will be invalid becomes low, greater disclosure will be induced. We do not find this expectation to be generally supported. Further, even where full disclosure arises in equilibrium, it is only the less capable who make full disclosures. The equilibrium analysis also highlights many of the novel and appealing features of enabling knowledge disclosure signals.

Notizen: This paper analyzes the effect of competition among downstream firms on an upstream firm's payoff and on its incentive to integrate vertically when firms in both segments negotiate optimal contracts. We argue that as downstream competition becomes more intense, the upstream firm obtains a larger share of a smaller downstream industry profit. The upstream firm may encourage downstream competition (even excessively) in response to high downstream bargaining power. The option of vertical integration may be a barrier to entry downstream and may trigger strategic horizontal spinoffs or mergers. We extend the analysis to upstream competition.

Notizen: This paper studies the welfare consequences of a vertical merger that raises rivals' costs when downstream competition is a la Cournot between firms with constant asymmetric marginal costs. The main result is that such a vertical merger can nevertheless improve welfare if it involves a downstream firm whose cost is low enough. This is because by raising the input price paid by the nonmerging firms the merger shifts production away from those relatively inefficient producers in favor of the more efficient firm. Yet, there is a trade-off between the gain in productive efficiency and the loss in consumers' surplus caused by the higher downstream price that follows a higher input price. It is also shown, through an example, that this result extends to price competition with differentiated products.

Notizen: In competitive telecommunications markets each carrier relies on competing networks to terminate internetwork calls. Regulators typically require the calling party's network to pay a termination fee to the called party's network equal to the terminating network's “incremental cost” of completing the call, effectively imposing all of the costs on the calling party's network. These payments can affect retail prices and therefore consumption. I show that when both parties benefit from a call, they should bear its costs in proportion to the benefit they receive. Therefore, imposing all of the costs of an internetwork call on the calling party's network can be inefficient if these costs are reflected in the calling party's usage rates. A system in which two networks exchange traffic at specified points on a bill-and-keep basis imposes some of the cost on each network, which will then be imposed on the parties. This can generate more efficient network utilization, even with unbalanced traffic between networks. Thus, regulators may improve the efficiency of telecommunications markets by establishing bill-and-keep intercarrier compensation rules.

Notizen: This paper introduces the subject of private politics, presents a research agenda, and provides an example involving activists and a firm. Private politics addresses situations of conflict and their resolution without reliance on the law or government. It encompasses the political competition over entitlements in the status quo, the direct competition for support from the public, bargaining over the resolution of the conflict, and the maintenance of the agreed-to private ordering. The term private means that the parties do not rely on public order, i.e., lawmaking or the courts. The term politics refers to individual and collective action in situations in which people attempt to further their interests by imposing their will on others. Four models of private politics are discussed: (1) informational competition between an activist and a firm for support from the public, (2) decisions by citizen consumers regarding a boycott, (3) bargaining to resolve the boycott, and (4) the choice of an equilibrium private ordering to govern the ongoing conflicting interests of the activist and the firm.

Notizen: More powerful managers make more important decisions. Therefore, firm performance is more informative about the abilities of such managers, who, realizing that they are more visible, are more eager to improve performance. If this reputation effect exists, how should firms allocate power? I analyze the optimal allocation of power and derive implications for several issues that often arise in management practice: the choice of departmentation criteria, the importance given to seniority, and the width of job definitions. Finally, I show that the model is consistent with the empirical evidence on managerial succession.

Notizen: The idea that an industry with sunk costs may be contestable even in the absence of long-term contracts has received little attention informal economic theory yet is sometimes popular among practitioners. This paper formally illustrates the argument. In an infinitely repeated game, there exists a class of contestable outcomes in which the monopolist sells only on the spot market and charges low prices along the equilibrium path to prevent customers from resorting to long-term contracts. The crucial test for contestability is the level of transaction costs in the latent contract market.

Notizen: I consider an infinite-period race where players choose between low- and high-variance motion technologies. I provide sufficient conditions under which, in equilibrium, the leader chooses a safe technology and the laggard a risky one, thus formalizing the sports intuition that the laggard has nothing to lose. Various examples and empirical implications are presented.

Notizen: Transaction-cost and agency theorists have frequently cited trucks as prototypical user-owned assets, and have consequently predicted a predominance of self-employed drivers who contract with motor carriers. In fact, owner-operators accounted for less than one-third of US trucking activity conducted by large interstate trucking firms in 1991, a proportion that has changed little since deregulation. Given the predictions of organizational economists, why is self-employment in the interstate trucking industry not the dominant organization form?We propose that transaction costs and agency costs are indeed important in the trucking industry. In the absence of externalities across hauls, contracting between carriers and owner-operators is preferred for traditional agency reasons. However, when the outcome of one haul imposes externalities on other hauls or on the carrier's reputation, an owner-operator will not internalize all costs associated with poor outcomes. Given problems of noncontractibility of maintenance effort, carrier ownership of the vehicle is the preferred organizational form in such a case. We also propose that vehicle idiosyncrasy can create thin market conditions that encourage carrier ownership of vehicles. A study of the organization and operations of 354 trucking firms for 1991 provides evidence consistent with these predictions.

Notizen: In 1985, Demsetz and Lehn argued both that the optimal corporate ownership structure was firm-specific, and that market competition would drive firms toward that optimum. Because ownership was endogenous to expected performance, any regression of profitability on ownership patterns would yield insignificant results. To test this hypothesis, we use the zaibatsu dissolution program from late-1940s Japan as a natural experiment: an exogenous shock to the equilibrium ownership structure. Through that program, the US-run occupation removed the more prominent shareholders from many of the most successful Japanese companies. By focusing on the way firms and investors responded to the mandated selloff, we accomplish two goals: (a) we avoid the endogeneity problem that has plagued much of the other research on the subject, and (b) we clarify the equilibrating dynamics by which competitive markets move firms toward their optimal ownership structure. With a sample of 637 Japanese firms for 1953 and 710 for 1958, we confirm the equilibrating mechanism behind the Demsetz-Lehn hypothesis: between 1953 and 1958, the ex-zaibatsu firms did retructure their ownership patterns. As of 1953, the unlisted ex-zaibatsu and new firms still had not been able to negotiate the transactions necessary to approach their profit-maximizing ownership structures. Even the listed firms had not fully undone the effect of the occupation-induced changes on managerial practices. By 1958 the firms had done this, and the earlier correlation between profitability and ownership disappeared. By then, firm profitability showed no correlation with ownership, whether under linear, quadratic, or piecewise specifications. We further find no evidence that ex-zaibatsu firms sought to strengthen their ties to banks over 1953–1958.

Notizen: The study aims to provide a critical review of the literature on the consumer interest in the UK in organic food, with a particular focus on organic meat. Given that people are more likely to purchase products if they have faith in them, the regulation of organic food standards is reviewed to explore issues affecting consumers. This is followed by a review of the organic meat sector. Aspects of the consumer interest considered in this paper include consumer information, consumer access, consumer safety, consumer choice and consumer representation. As the literature on organic food/meat in the UK is extensive, it was therefore necessary to be selective with regard to the publications suitable for this review. Most of the literature selected for this paper has been drawn from UK publications, although several European and international sources have also been used. The review found that there is a considerable level of interest in the UK organic meat sector. As the regulation of organic food produced is set at varying standards across the European Union, this could lead to consumers being misled regarding the quality of products offered. It was also found that, although consumers perceive organic foods as healthier, more nutritious and tasting better than non-organic products, the literature shows that this may have only a limited basis on fact. Contamination of organic products with pesticides and even genetically modified ingredients is always possible. Organic farmers are permitted to use other ingredients in organic meat products that may be harmful to health. Escherichia coli and Salmonella risks associated with conventional meat also appear to affect organic meat. Consumers need clear, accurate and reliable information about organic meat. They also need to be provided with safe products, a choice of organic products, access to organic products and to be represented effectively.

Notizen: ‘Development’ and the globalization of consumption is leading to a breakdown of biological and cultural diversity, erosion of food security, an increase in violence and devastation for the global biosphere. We urgently need to shift away from economic globalization and homogenization towards localization and diversification.

Notizen: The promises and pitfalls of agricultural biotechnology have long been debated. The public is often thwarted because consumers frequently perceive as risky, and therefore undesirable, those advances that they do not understand or of which they are unaware. A comparative study of the introduction of a biotechnology innovation in the United States (US) and in the European Union (EU) is a case in point. In the US, despite concerns of consumer protection and environmental groups that the use of genetically produced growth hormone in milk-producing cows will adversely impact the safety of the milk supply, scientific evidence and governmental findings appear to indicate that milk from treated cows is identical in quality, taste and nutritional value to milk from untreated cows. Experience to date in the US demonstrates some consumer resistance to milk from those cows that have received the growth hormone, which typically leads to a 10% increase in milk production. In fact, if there is no perceived differentiation between the two forms of milk, the issue offers little choice to consumers at large, and may result in economic benefit only to selected dairy farmers, as well as the producers of the genetically produced growth hormone. This situation in the US is an example of dysfunctional technology transfer, with perceived desirable benefits to a few, and perceived undesirable benefits to society-at-large. The information suggests that the US may have reacted hastily in approving the use of bovine growth hormone in milk-producing cows. The EU has taken a divergent approach by enacting moratoriums against its use. The differences identified in this study, contrasting responses to the bovine somatotrophin issue in the US and EU – driven in part by general consumer attitudes towards biotechnology – may provide insights into the issues and challenges that will be faced by both advocates and opponents of global proliferation of certain advances in biotechnology.

Notizen: The purpose of this article is to describe how households in Novgorod the Great, Russia, deal with food provision in everyday life. The study focuses on changes experienced in food provision and consumption in Russian society, in order to illustrate how households respond to the transformation towards a market economy. The study reflects women's perspective on food provision. Students from Novgorod the Great visited 105 households and asked the women in the household to answer a questionnaire. Results from the study show that in order to cope with changes in society related to economic reforms, Russian households had changed both their food consumption and food production patterns. There was no big difference between urban and rural households. Nearly all of the households were self-sufficient in the provision of vegetables and potatoes. Many households had a ‘dacha’ (plot), where they produced most of what they needed. Among the changes experienced during recent years (i.e. during the end of the 1990s), a decade after perestroika was initiated, households mentioned the rise in food prices and the decrease of income. Households reported that they consumed less fruit and/or meat. Some households also mentioned that the quality of nourishment had decreased, thereby indicating lower general quality, lower nutrition value, or less healthy foodstuffs.

Notizen: Localization: A Global Manifesto. Ed. by Colin Hines (2000). London. Published by Earthscan Publishing. ISBN 1-85383-612-5 (softcover). In Canada, the book is available from for Can$29.00. In the UK, the book is available at for £10.99 or earthinfo@earthscan.co.uk

Notizen: Many researchers have studied and documented the financial literacy of youth. Even more have developed educational programs or curricula to teach financial and consumer issues to youth; however, few have actually evaluated the effectiveness of their programs. The Money Talks: Should I be Listening? curriculum, developed by a University of California Cooperative Extension team, was created to appeal to teenagers as it increased their financial literacy. In order to develop a program that young people would readily use, and from which they would learn, teenagers were surveyed prior to program development to determine the topics that were relevant to them, the educational format that appealed to them, and when and where they preferred to receive the information (Varcoe, Peterson, Garrett, Martin, Rene, & Costello, 2001).This paper discusses the effectiveness of The Money Talks: Should I be Listening? curriculum on the financial knowledge and behaviour of participants using the series. The curriculum was designed for use as a part of school curriculum as well as for presentation in other venues.The findings indicate that using the curriculum did improve the financial literacy of high school students with significant positive changes in both knowledge and behaviour. They have a better understanding of the value of savings and have changed behaviours. It is interesting to note that the males demonstrated a significantly greater increase in knowledge from pre-test to post-test than females. Perhaps the females have more interest in or knowledge of financial issues prior to participation in this project?Overall the results of this study are consistent with the findings of others. Research based curricula in personal finance seem to yield results. This age group has specific requirements for method of delivery and location of the seminars suggesting that it is important to keep the materials interactive. To address this issue, a web-site was added to the program. Included on the web-site are interactive games and a video on the importance of saving. The teens are naturally more interested in learning about the consumer and financial issues they perceive as salient in their lives at that particular time. Educators should identify topics of interest to the teens and develop, or use existing, interactive methodology to present the information.

Notizen: In a world where the role of women in decision-making is seldom adequately appreciated, they make a remarkable contribution due to their hard work and sense of confidence. It is observed that women are mostly involved in repetitive and monotonous household work irrespective of the fact that they share most of family responsibilities and perform a wide range of duties in and outside home. On the other hand men perform activities, which require skills, but there is sufficient evidence, which show a clear, although slow shift of stereotype sex roles.In early societies, decision-making was predominantly done by menfolk being the breadwinner of the family. With modernization and education women have been empowered to make the best use of human and non-human resources in management of the family with respect to efficient use of time and energy. So, a study was undertaken to know how far the working women of Faridkot district participate in the decision-making process with the following objectives:〈list style="custom"〉(a) to find out the level of participation of working women in the decision-making process as consumer.(b) to find out the level of difficulty among working women at different steps of the decision-making process.The present investigation pertaining to Faridkot district of Punjab state of India was exploratory in nature. A sample of 100 working women was selected by simple random sampling procedure. The responses were recorded through a well structured and pretested questionnaire including an index developed to measure level of participation and difficulty as realized by working women in the decision-making process. After collecting the data, it was analysed by employing simple statistical tests like frequency percentagesThe important findings emanated out of the present investigation are as follows:〈list style="custom"〉• Most of the respondents were middle aged, educated up to graduation level, having nuclear family, small size of family with monthly income more than Rs.5000.00. It was also observed that majority of the respondents were in the teaching and medical professions.• Working women were found to be involved more in the case of food items (79.0–93.0%) as compared to non-food items (6.0–46.0%) with an exception of their major participation (78.0%) at the stage of identifying the problem in case of non-food items.• The study revealed that the time consumed at various steps of consumer decision-making process is minimum for most of the steps in case of food items but moderate to maximum in case of non-food items. But for analysing the alternatives the time consumed was moderate to maximum for both the categories.• Findings also revealed that difficulty level was from moderate to high (32.0–98.0%) in most of the steps in case of food items whereas, in case of non-food items it was from low to high (11.0–78.0%)

Notizen: The   main   criteria   that   consumers   use   during   the   decision making process when purchasing food has traditionally been a combination of prices, incomes, taste and social attitudes, with price being seen as the main determinant. However in the past 10 years risk has become a ‘new’ criterion that can affect the consumer's decision whether or not to purchase a particular food item. The effect of the increased awareness of risk has been observed during the numerous food scares in the last decade and in trends for the demand for foods that connote a healthy image.This research, carried out in Northern Ireland, looked at how consumers quantified and managed risk. The research involved 202 primary food consumers and identified the factors that were perceived to be important from both a societal and a personal perspective.Using principal component and cluster analysis societal food risks were seen as either processing or dietary and personal food risks were seen as either extrinsic or intrinsic. Further investigation into the attributes of the personal risk revealed a three-factor solution described as fear, involvement and newness.Although these factors cannot be used as predictors of the risk associated with a particular food, they help to describe and explain how the risk may be managed. The relationship between two of the factors, involvement and fear, provides a framework for understanding the way consumers manage their perception of the risk, particularly of high-risk items. Consumer and scientific knowledge of the risk in question, and the degree of control over the risk were seen as important. The conceptualisation of the mechanism by which risks are processed and acted upon provides information regarding risk management and communication strategies that should be employed by educators, food retailers and government policy makers.

Notizen: People are becoming more health conscious nowadays, but most of them are not able to adopt a lifestyle with adequate physical exercise and a healthier eating pattern. Many attempt to compensate by taking ‘health foods’. Despite the recent economic recession, the functional food market expands rapidly in Asian countries. Recent statistics indicate a huge increase in weight loss and functional food product advertising expenditure in Hong Kong and other Asian countries. In a massive survey conducted by the Hong Kong Consumer Council, it was found that 85% of the medicines, health food and therapies sampled contain questionable claims and misleading messages (Consumer Council, 1999). In fact, young people do not understand much about modern food processing, in particular those present in low energy and functional foods, and they know very little about the modern food marketing strategies. The situation is detrimental to consumer welfare especially to the younger generation.This study attempts to reflect critically on the implications of these issues for the health and well-being of young people in Hong Kong. It explores directions for designing relevant and effective education programmes to empower young people in understanding food advertising strategies and making informed decisions on food choice. The paper will begin with a critical review on the current situation in Hong Kong. An interview survey on preservice and in-service teachers’ perception towards misleading food advertising and labelling will then be reported. The situations at schools will be defined and problems faced by teachers in providing relevant consumer education programmes to students will be identified. Finally, the study will look to the future, with a view to developing students’ critical skills in evaluating claims offered in food advertisements.

Notizen: The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 76 million people get sick, more than 300 000 are hospitalised, and 5000 Americans die each year from food-borne illness. Research over the past 40 years has shown, however, that food irradiation can decrease the incidence of food-borne illness and disease. Despite this benefit, food irradiation has been the focus of much controversy for years. Proponents of irradiation claim that it will improve food product safety by reducing harmful bacteria. Opponents, on the other hand, raise concerns about its long-term health effects, nutrient loss, and worker safety at irradiation facilities. The debate intensified recently when the US government approved the use of irradiation to kill E. coli 0157:H7 and other harmful bacteria in ground beef and other raw meat. The US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration are also expected to decide soon whether to allow the process to be used on sandwich meats, hot dogs, and similar packaged food products.This study examines consumer willingness to pay for irradiated beef products. About 58% of the respondents are willing to pay a premium for irradiated beef. An ordered probit with sample selection model was estimated. Our findings suggest that females and those who think that improper handling contributes to food poisoning are more likely to pay a premium of 50 cents per pound of irradiated beef than others. Those who trust the irradiation technology are more likely to pay a premium of between 5 and 25 cents per pound for irradiated beef.

Notizen: A recent application of biotechnology to food is genetic modification. Genetically modified (GM) plants, animals and processed foods have been introduced to the international marketplace in the 1990s. As scientific and technological progress in modern biotechnology continues at a breakthrough pace, the consumers are presented with different types and levels of information that is potentially relevant for making choices.Findings from studies of consumer attitudes and awareness towards GM products have varied greatly. Many studies, however, have indicated that public opinions about GM products are not fully formed and the task of informing the public is far from over. This study expands on previous research by examining the factors that influence the search for information about GM products. Utilizing the theory of consumer behaviour and information search, we analyse consumers’ information search patterns about GM products. Specifically, we estimate the probability that consumers search for information actively, passively or do not search for information at all, and the factors influencing this search.An ordered probit model is formulated to measure the factors, both economic and behavioural, that influence in-formation search by consumers for GM products. Variables representing the informational attitudes and behaviour related to GM products have the greatest impact on the probability of searching for information about GM products. With the exception of age, demographic factors are not significant. The results point to information search, not, for the genetically modified characteristic, but instead for the absence of the characteristic.

Notizen: Advertisers use social marketing to inform and convince consumers of the available products. The most casual apparel like jeans also comes in several brands ranging from designer names with status appeal to economical choices. Labels and hangtags serve as the first connection between the consumers and the apparel product. They address both intrinsic and extrinsic traits. Consumers use labels for social identification, information acquisition and care instructions. The threefold purpose of the reported study was (1) to determine the compliance of the information on the labels of men's jeans with the federal requirements of permanent care labelling; (2) to examine the content and significance of information on the hangtags; and (3) to determine if the weight/unit of the men's jeans varied across various brands used for the study.A content analysis of the information on the labels and hangtags of 26 men's jeans was conducted. The information was tabulated and examined for compliance with federal regulations as well as additional information provided to convince the consumer of the products’ authenticity and performance for the intended use.The findings revealed that labels and hangtags had useful information for persuading the consumer of the longevity of the company and authenticity of the product. The analysed jeans varied for price, style, and weight to meet the satisfaction of a broad spectrum of consumers who could be price conscious, status-driven, and/or just information-seekers. The results support the role of social marketing in reaching a variety of consumers by offering choices. This work can be further extended to determine the impact of labels and hangtags on decision-making across various consumer markets for jeans as well as other apparel categories.

Notizen: This study investigated consumers’ awareness and information need about food hygiene especially focused on pesticide residues and food borne illness in Korea. The data were collected from 350 adults living in Daegu and Busan, Korea by a self-administered questionnaire. Frequency and chi-square tests were conducted by SPSS. The results of the survey were as follows: Firstly the consumers’ concerns about food hygiene were high. About three-fourths of the respondents answered that they were ‘somewhat’ or ‘highly’ concerned about pesticide residues and food borne illness. Especially women and the older showed more concerns than men and the younger. Secondly, the respondents worried about eating vegetables, fruits and grains in turn because of pesticide residues, and did not trust the results from food hygiene tests by the Government. Thirdly, three-fourths of the respondents used the way to wash food stuffs with water several times to clean pesticide residues. Fourth, about four-fifths of the subjects worried about food borne illness caused by fish to the extreme and about two-thirds answered that un-fresh or contaminated food stuffs were the major factor of food borne illness in cooking. Finally, the respondents primarily wanted to get the information about harmfulness of pesticide residues in foods, and methods to choose fresh food regarding food borne illness. Under the situation of the lack of educational programs for food hygiene in Korea, the educational contents for food hygiene to improve public health can be developed on the basis of this study.

Notizen: The diets of school children have been a major cause for concern for a considerable time. There is a whole host of evidence to suggest that inadequate dieting beginning in childhood is a major underlying cause of ill health in later life. The link between diet and disease is now well established, as is the need to improve the health of the nation. A number of issues have been raised in recent years including the need for nutritional standards for school meals, however, not enough has been done to eradicate these problems in schools.This research looks into one particular provision – breakfast clubs for primary school children. Research suggests that a large proportion of school children are missing out on this vital meal and the opportunity to gain a substantial proportion of the essential daily nutrients required for adequate growth and development. Breakfast clubs are intended to provide children with the opportunity to receive a nutritious breakfast at the beginning of the day.The objective of the work was to investigate breakfast clubs and establish how they could help to overcome some of the problems associated with poor nutrition in school children. An investigation was carried out using two samples of school children, one already attending a breakfast Club and one not. Comparisons were made between the two groups to see which was providing children with the most nutritious start to the day via a series of food diaries. It was concluded that the breakfast clubs provide children with higher intakes of all the nutrients surveyed and made a significant contribution towards improving the diets of the primary school children.

Notizen: Consumer education is an important EU and United Nations priority. In most countries’ formal education systems, it is not a single discipline in its own right, but a cross-curricular subject involving many areas of the school curriculum. Adult consumers are expected to be critical and informed consumers but may not know how to acquire the appropriate skills. The formal school system in many countries has failed to deliver these skills and values and adults need consumer education through both formal and informal means. With increasingly varied societies consumer education will help to produce active socially responsible citizens and citizenship is an essential element of the delivery of consumer education to adults. It is particularly important that consumer education should reach the vulnerable groups in society. Increasing globalisation and business power necessitate ethical and sustainable business practices; an informed, educated and empowered consumer will strengthen the market place to the benefit of both consumers and business.Unlike school education, adult education across Europe is fragmented     with     a     mixture     of     formal     education,     including training for vocational qualifications, continuing and community education,   and   informal   education,   an   essential   contributor   to life-long   learning   delivered   through   media,   women's   groups, consumer groups and many other large and small organisations.The     issues     have     been     addressed     by     the     EU     Socrates supported     CEA     (Consumer     Education     for     Adults)     project which     has     10     partners     from     7     European     countries     drawn from non-government organisations, teacher training and adult education institutions, universities and research institutes. The project   has   produced   a   training   manual   for   adult   consumer education, a training module, piloted in Vienna, which includes a handbook of teaching materials and a video, and has initiated a dialogue between consumers, consumer educators, business and producers.

Notizen: Consumer education is an integral part of the European Community's consumer policy. It plays a key role in consumer empowerment, helping consumers gain the skills, attitudes and knowledge they need to be able to gear the choices they make as consumers to their economic interests and to protecting their health and safety. In its policy statement, the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection states that the European Community is aware that joint   measures   at   national   and   Community   levels   should be more structured, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness.This presentation/paper aims to set out the current policy and strategic context for consumer education and empowerment in the UK; review the role of UK government bodies and other agencies concerned with developments; review recent literature; present the results of interviews with an extensive range of key stakeholders and the results of a survey of service heads for Trading Standards throughout the UK. It will consider implementation, partnership, resources, ideas and opportunities.The research found that the agenda for consumer education in the UK is at an interesting stage of development. The Enterprise Act 2002 gives the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) a statutory power to carry out educational activities. Consumer education is also moving up the agenda in the Trading Standards Service. In addition, the teaching of citizenship in English schools is already stimulating new developments in consumer education.The paper will consider the need for organisations like these to work together to build on these policy developments and ensure that consumer education gains the profile it needs to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour.

Notizen: At a time when the major dialogue in food labelling is directed towards the volume and type of information presented, it is important to understand whether adolescents leaving education have the abilities to comprehend and use the current label as they represent the next generation of consumers.Legislation has been created to protect consumers and to enable them to make informed food choices. Food labels carry a significant volume of mandatory and voluntary information, designed to fulfil a variety of commercial and consumer functions. For these laws to be effective at an individual level, it is important that information is framed correctly, and that people can manipulate the data in an accurate and meaningful manner.In order to optimise food label information consumers require some competence across three different conceptual dimensions: maths, English comprehension, and health and nutrition. Most individuals acquire such skills at school.The pilot research that this paper describes investigates changes in   the   abilities   to   frame,   comprehend   and   manipulate label information, of 19 schoolchildren at one secondary school in Scotland. The main research, to be conducted in 2003, will include over a thousand children from another seven Scottish schools.Statistical analysis indicates that there is a significant improvement in the dimensions of both maths and English comprehension between levels S1 and S5, whilst the health and nutrition dimension does not show such significance.Each dimension has been measured against attitudes towards the use of labels in shopping and cooking to determine if the differences between those who use labels and those who do not are significantThe research also proposes a new method of presenting nutrition information to make it more meaningful to individuals across a wide spectrum of competence by reducing the number of conceptual components required to comprehend it.

Notizen: The purpose of this study is to investigate how the process of consumer socialization will determine adolescents’ decision-making styles. Eight decision-making styles were conceptualized as outcomes of the socialization process, which is acquired via interaction with socialization agents, namely parents, peers, printed media, television commercials and in-school education. The study also proposed five social structural variables (social class, gender, ethnicity, residence and religion) as being associated with the socialization agents and decision-making styles. The study sample consisted of 934 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 19 years. The data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed with the SPSS computer program. As a result of regression analyses, significant relationships were found between social structural factors and socialization processes, suggesting that the influence of socialization agents on adolescents may vary according to certain demographic characteristics. Significant relationships were also found between social structural factors and socialization processes. Peers appeared to be the most important agents of consumer socialization, contributing to a variety of desirable as well as undesirable consumer decision styles. Printed media and television commercials were also found to be significant sources of the acquisition of both desirable and undesirable decision-making styles. Parents and in-school education, however, were insignificant in the acquisition of any decision-making styles among adolescents. Information obtained from this study could be useful to government agencies and consumer educators. The most revealing finding of this study is that parents did not contribute to the formulation of decision-making orientation for adolescents. This points to the need for consumer educators to take steps in designing programmes that will involve parents as primary socialization agents at home; this may be facilitated via printed materials. Apart from this, the information can also be helpful in enabling marketers to be more effective in targeting various adolescent markets by formulating marketing strategies according to demographic factors, socialization process and decision-making styles.

Notizen: The objective of this research was to investigate the family life of employed women from different occupational statuses (white collar, blue collar and professionals) on their work efficiency. The data were obtained from a survey of 300 randomly selected women who work in various offices, universities and factories in Ankara. The findings suggest that women in better conditions (high education, profession, etc.) experienced less negative spillover.

Notizen: Book reviewed in this article: The Identification of Soils for Forest Management. By Fiona Kennedy.

Notizen: Abstract. A no-tillage (NT) system was developed in semiarid Morocco to improve the soil fertility and stabilize yield through conservation of water. Results in two long-term trials (4 and 11 years) were able to show the effects of a no-tillage system in increasing total soil organic matter and total nitrogen. Over time, the quality of the NT soil surface was improved compared with that under conventional tillage (CT) with disc harrows. This effect was the result of an increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) and a slight decline in pH. However, over time, nitrogen decreased in both tillage practices, especially in the 0–25 mm layer (from 0.59 to 0.57 t ha−1 and from 0.44 to 0.42 t ha−1 under NT and CT, respectively). After 4 years of NT an extra 5.62 t ha−1 of SOC was sequestered in the 0–25 mm layer, and after 11 years the SOC increased further to 7.21 t ha−1.

Notizen: Book reviewed in this article: Agriculture, Hydrology and Water Quality. By P.M. Haygarth and S.C. Jarvis (Editors).

Notizen: Abstract. For an efficient abatement of diffuse N pollution from arable land, it is important to have practical and reliable tools that can quantify the effect of different management practices on leaching, and also analyse the effect of alternative management scenarios aimed at reducing leaching. We present here an application of soilndb, a management-oriented model for quantifying nitrate leaching from arable land. Simulations with soilndb were compared with measurements of pipe-drain discharge of nitrate taken in a 14-year field experiment on a sandy loam soil in south-west Sweden. Following adjustment of parameters connected to litter and faeces decomposition and mineralization, the model gave satisfactory predictions of nitrate leaching for all 10 treatments. The temporal pattern was generally well captured by the model, as was confirmed by high model efficiency values (average = 0.59). This application also supports the model's ability to simulate the long-term influence of different crops and catch crops as well as different manure strategies on leaching. However, further studies should be done to evaluate the model under additional agro-environmental conditions (e.g. soils, climates, and crops).

Notizen: Abstract. The Phosphorus Indicators Tool provides a catchment-scale estimation of diffuse phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural land to surface waters using the most appropriate indicators of P loss. The Tool provides a framework that may be applied across the UK to estimate P loss, which is sensitive not only to land use and management but also to environmental factors such as climate, soil type and topography. The model complexity incorporated in the P Indicators Tool has been adapted to the level of detail in the available data and the need to reflect the impact of changes in agriculture. Currently, the Tool runs on an annual timestep and at a 1 km2 grid scale.We demonstrate that the P Indicators Tool works in principle and that its modular structure provides a means of accounting for P loss from one layer to the next, and ultimately to receiving waters. Trial runs of the Tool suggest that modelled P delivery to water approximates measured water quality records. The transparency of the structure of the P Indicators Tool means that identification of poorly performing coefficients is possible, and further refinements of the Tool can be made to ensure it is better calibrated and subsequently validated against empirical data, as it becomes available.

Notizen: Abstract. We present a semi-quantitative visual and tactile method for assessing soil physical fertility in terms of soil structure, root growth and soil surface condition. A block of topsoil is dug out with a spade. Horizontal layers (usually 2–4) are then identified as they appear. A brief one-page description of the soil is produced. Using a key, structural and rooting scores are assigned to each soil layer from the appearance of the soil and from its response to tactile assessment. These scores are then combined across depths, with weighting appropriate for the depth of each layer. A separate score was made of soil surface condition. Thus, overall soil physical fertility is assessed as three scores for topsoil structure, rooting and surface condition. The usefulness and sensitivity of the procedure were tested in two ley-arable organic rotation experiments on sandy loams in northeast Scotland.

Notizen: Abstract. Eleven precipitated phosphates were evaluated as sources of phosphorus (P) for plant growth by comparing their effectiveness with that of monocalcium phosphate, a source of water soluble P that is generally considered to be fully plant available. The precipitated phosphates comprised struvites recovered from waste water discharges (mainly magnesium ammonium phosphate), laboratory synthesised struvites, a synthetic iron phosphate and a recovered calcium phosphate. Precipitating phosphates in these forms could be a way for removing P from waste water before it is discharged to rivers, so reducing the risk of eutrophication. Application to agricultural land would be one potential use for such phosphates. Evaluation was by pot experiments with a sandy loam soil and with a sandy clay loam soil using perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) as the test crop. The soils differed in pH (6.6 and 7.1) and in Olsen P (28 and 11 mg L−1). Measured variables were grass dry matter (DM) yield and grass P concentration which were used to calculate offtake of P in the harvested grass. DM yields of ryegrass and P offtakes given by the synthetic and recovered struvites were not significantly different statistically either between themselves or to MCP applied at the same rate. On this basis these struvites could be used to recycle P to similar soils and the effect of the P on crop yield should be similar to that of MCP

Notizen: Abstract. The main inputs, outputs and transfers of potassium (K) in soils and swards under typical south west England conditions were determined during 1999/00 and 2000/01 to establish soil and field gate K budgets under different fertilizer nitrogen (N) (0 and 280 kg ha−1 yr−1) and drainage (undrained and drained) treatments. Plots receiving fertilizer N also received farmyard manure (FYM). Potassium soil budgets ranged, on average for the two years, from −5 (+N, drained) to +9 (no N and undrained) kg K ha−1 yr−1 and field gate budgets from +23 (+N, drained) to +89 (+N, undrained). The main inputs and outputs to the soil K budgets were fertilizer application (65%) and plant uptake (93%). Animals had a minor effect on K export but a major impact on K recycling. Nitrogen fertilizer application and drainage increased K uptake by the grass and, with it, the efficiency of K used. It also depleted easily available soil K, which could be associated with smaller K losses by leaching.

Notizen: Abstract. Crops on sandy soils (〈5% clay) are exposed to K deficiency due to the small release and high leaching losses of K. Reliable tools are needed to improve the K management in cropping systems with limited K input, such as organic farming where import of nutrients are restricted according to the EC regulations. We investigated K balances and exchangeable K (Kexch) changes in an organic crop rotation experiment. Potassium leaching decreased from 42 kg ha−1 in 1998/99 to 21 kg ha−1 in 2000/01 as an average of a crop rotation (spring barley, grass-clover, winter wheat and pea/barley) with manure application and without catch crops. In the same period, spring Kexch decreased from 5.0 to 3.0 mg K 100 g soil−1 (0–20 cm). The retention of the straw K left in the field after harvest increased with decreasing levels of Kexch. The cereal crops did not respond to K application but in the pea/barley mixture the pea yield increased by 46%. The concordance between measured K balances and changes in Kexch was weak. Exchangeable K is suitable as a tool for K management on a rotational basis, and a Kexch above 3 mg 100 g soil−1 in the autumn should be avoided to minimize K leaching.

Notizen: Abstract. Diagnosis of soil salinity and its spatial variability is required to establish control measures in irrigated agriculture. This article shows the usefulness of electromagnetic (EM) and soil sampling techniques to map salinity. We analysed the salinity of a 1-ha plot of surface-irrigated olive plantation in Aragon, NE Spain, by measuring the electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECe) of soil samples taken at 22 points, and by reading the Geonics EM38 sensor at 141 points in the horizontal (EMH) and vertical (EMV) dipole positions. EMH and EMV values had asymmetrical bimodal distributions, with most readings in the non-saline range and a sharp transition to relatively high readings. Most salinity profiles were uniform (i.e. EMH=EMV), except in areas with high salinity and concurrent shallow water tables, where the profiles were inverted as shown by EMH 〉 EMV, and by ECe being greater in shallow than in deeper layers. The regressions of ECe on EM readings predicted ECe with R2 〉 84% for the 0–100 to 0–150 cm soil depths. We then produced salinity contour maps from the 141 ECe values estimated from the electromagnetic readings and the 22 measured values of ECe. Owing to the high soil sampling density, the maps were similar (i.e. mean surface-weighted ECe values between 3.9 dS m−1 and 4.2 dS m−1), although the electromagnetically estimated ECe improved the mapping of details. Whereas soil sampling is preferred for analysing the vertical distribution of soil salinity, the electromagnetic sensor is ideal for mapping the lateral variability of soil salinity.

Notizen: Abstract. The effects of soil management on soil losses from olive plantations in southern Spain were evaluated using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), a review of published experiments, and preliminary results of an on-going field trial. Experimental data were used to parameterize the RUSLE for olive orchards under various soil management regimes. The predictions agreed qualitatively with the data available, and the model provided a simple way to assess the effects of soil management on erosion. Our results showed that no-tillage caused the greatest soil loss, while cover crops showed the least. Tillage and planting following contours proved only partially effective and did not reduce soil erosion as much as protective crops. One scenario studied suggests that, on slight to moderate slopes, land transformed from row crops to olive orchards may remain below the maximum tolerable soil erosion limit, if a cover crop is included between the trees. A scenario for marginal olive orchards located on steep slopes suggests that effective erosion control could only be achieved with a cover crop system that would have the side-effect of reducing the yield of rain-fed olives. Quantifying the effects of soil management on soil erosion in olive orchards is uncertain because very few experimental results are available. Further research that monitors soil loss in carefully selected long-term experiments at different scales and follows the changes in key soil parameters is urgently required to develop effective erosion control policies.

Notizen: Abstract. Rainfall simulation experiments on a laboratory soil flume were conducted to test the hypothesis that the incorporation of slurry into the soil would reduce bacterial transport in overland flow. Presumptive faecal coliform (PFCs) concentrations were higher in the runoff from the surface applied treatment than from the incorporated treatments. The transport of PFCs and organic sediment were strongly correlated, with values of r ranging from 0.72 to 0.91.

Notizen: Abstract. Land evaluation is the prediction of land performance over time under specific uses, to guide strategic land use decisions. Modern land evaluation has a 30 year history, yet the results have often been disappointing. Land users and planners have been reported to ignore land evaluations, perhaps reflecting poor quality, low relevance, or poor communication. To test the success of a large land evaluation exercise undertaken as part of micro-catchment project in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, we queried agricultural extensionists, considered as the primary land evaluation clients. We used a questionnaire with both structured and open questions, to determine their experiences with, and attitudes to, the current land evaluation method. The soil resource inventory and associated land evaluation had some usefulness, but were not in general used for their intended purpose, namely farm planning. This was mainly because they did not contain crucial information necessary to such planning in the actual context of the farmer taking decisions. The primary deficiencies were identified as:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉1no estimate of environmental degradation risk;2no financial analysis;3no social analysis of decision-makers' attitudes and preferences;4no risk assessment for weather, yields, profits and market; and5insufficiently-specific alternative land uses.These deficiencies could have been avoided with a demand-driven approach, evaluating and reporting according to the true needs and opportunities of the decision-makers.

Notizen: Abstract. The residual value of mineral N fertilizer applied in the spring was investigated in a field experiment where four cereals (winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley and spring oats) had been grown at reduced (0.7N), normal (1N) or high (1.3N) N fertilizer rates for 20 to 28 years. The effect of previous N fertilizer dressing was tested in two succeeding years by replacing the original N rate with five test N rates ranging from 0 to 240 kg N ha−1 for winter cereals and 0 to 200 kg N ha−1 for spring cereals. In the first test year, winter wheat grown on plots previously supplied with the high rate of mineral fertilizer (202 kg N ha−1 yr−1) yielded more grain and straw and had a higher total N uptake than wheat on plots previously supplied with the normal (174 kg N ha−1 yr−1) or reduced (124 kg N ha−1 yr−1) rate. The grain yield response and N uptake was not significantly affected by the N supply in the test year. The winter wheat grown in the second test year was unaffected by the previous N supply. Grain and straw yield response and total N uptake for spring barley, winter barley and oats, were almost identical irrespective of the previous N rate.After 20 to 28 years there were no significant differences in soil C and N (0 to 20 cm) between soil receiving three rates of N fertilizer. Soil from differently fertilized oat plots showed no significant differences in N mineralizing capacity. Nitrate leaching losses from the soils at the three N rates were estimated and the N balances for the 20 to 28 years experimental period calculated. The data indicated a reduction in overall loss of 189 to 466 kg N ha−1 at the normal and high N rates compared with the reduced N rate. We conclude that the N supplying capacity and soil organic matter content of this fertile sandy loam soil under continuous cereal cropping with straw removal was not significantly affected by differences in N fertilizer residues.

Notizen: Book reviewed in this article:Peter Lawrence and Colin Thirtle (eds.), Africa and Asia in Comparative Economic Perspective

Notizen: Announcements in this article:International Association for Research in Income and Wealth: Twenty-Eighth General Conference, 2004, Cork, Ireland, 22–28 AugustTravel Grant for the IARIW 28th General Conference in Cork, Ireland 22–28 August, 2004Notice of Availability of Back StockInformation for Contributors

Notizen: This paper examines the effects on saving of a continuous increase in lifetime and shows that a greater increase in lifetime leads to greater savings. This is because an increase in lifetime is accompanied by uncertainty and because the working-age cohort whose lifetime is longer saves more than the retired cohort dissaves. This result is tested empirically with cross-country data, and it is confirmed that an increase in life expectancy has a positive effect on various saving rates.

Notizen: This paper uses a two-step Heckman approach to investigate to what extent there are differences in income from work between immigrants and natives in Sweden. Contrary to previous studies this study takes the selection effect, i.e. the probability of having an income from work, into account when calculating the effect on income from work of a change in any of the explanatory variables. Our study shows that when the selection effect is taken into account, the differences in income from work between immigrants and natives are smaller than when the selection effect is not considered. We find that immigrants have a lower income from work than the native population when we control for variables such as schooling, experience, civil status and region of residence. Furthermore, immigrant cohorts with a recent year of immigration have a considerably lower income from work than earlier immigrant cohorts.

Notizen: Measures of income inequality based on current income are well known to overstate lifetime income inequality for two reasons: intracohort mobility and the shape of the age-earnings profile. Utilizing the concept of age equivalence scales along with varying assumptions concerning the extent of intracohort mobility, the method presented bounds lifetime income inequality using only cross-sectional data from the CPS, 1967–86. As a result, we are able to analyze changes in lifetime inequality over this period.

Notizen: Book reviewed in this article:Utz-Peter Reich, Review of National Accounts and Economic Values—A Study in Concepts

Notizen: Environmental taxes have been introduced in many countries. However, few countries have reached the level of environmental taxation that is seen in Denmark today. This paper analyses the individual taxes as well as the combination of all these taxes and duties related to environmental concerns, including taxes on heating, transport fuels, electricity, water, waste, plastic bags, registration of cars, annual car use and pesticides.The distributional effect of taxes is examined in relation to household income, socio-economic class, residential location and family status. The shifting of the tax structure from high marginal income tax to consumption-based taxes, especially environmental taxes, might have distributional impacts that have not been considered part of the tax policy.The results suggest that in Denmark taxes on petrol and registration duties for cars are progressive, whereas most other environmental taxes are regressive, especially the green taxes on water, retail containers and CO2 emissions.

Notizen: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the long-term impact on Spanish individual income tax (IRPF) compliance of the amnesty measures granted in 1991 within the framework of the 1988–91 income tax reform programme. To that end, we combine time-series techniques with outlier detection methods and the Bai and Perron (1998) test for the endogenous estimation of structural breaks. On the basis of the analysis of the monthly IRPF tax collection series from 1979 to 1998, we find that the amnesty had no effect on tax collection in either the short or the long term. By contrast, we find evidence of the permanent positive impact caused by the legislative and administrative measures linked to the IRPF reform process begun in 1988.

Notizen: The long-term care funding system continues to attract much debate in the UK. We produce projections of state and private long-term care expenditure and analyse the distributional impact of state-financed care, through innovative linking of macro- and micro-simulation models. Variant assumptions about life expectancy, dependency and care costs are examined and the impact of universal state-financed (‘free’) personal care, based on need but not ability to pay, is investigated. We find that future long-term care expenditure is subject to considerable uncertainty and is particularly sensitive to assumed future trends in real input costs. On a central set of assumptions, free personal care would, by 2051, increase public spending on long-term care from 1.1 per cent of GDP to 1.3 per cent, or more if it generated an increase in demand. Among the care-home population aged 85 or over, the immediate beneficiaries of free personal care would be those with relatively high incomes.

Notizen: This paper contributes to the debate on investment in transport infrastructure and the allocation of public funds between road and railway projects. We model the two options and provide a consistent framework to appraise investment in typical new inter–urban road and rail projects. Our results suggest that road improvements have substantially higher returns than railway schemes. These findings cast doubt on the rationale of the new transport policy for the UK, which proposes to allocate more public funds to the (private) railways than total new investment in strategic roads.

Notizen: Little is known about the wealth of older self-employed people, despite growing interest in this labour market group. This paper utilises the British Retirement Survey to fill the gap by providing novel estimates of their lifetime wealth. The findings dispel the idea that the self-employed live in poverty; indeed, they seem to be a relatively wealthy group, holding a broad spread of assets and subject to moderate lifetime wealth inequality. These findings may help inform modelling of retirement behaviour of this group, as well as pension policy design.

Notizen: Abstract. A field experiment was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of a combined treatment, involving addition of Aspergillus niger-treated sugar beet (SB) residue in the presence of rock phosphate and mycorrhizal inoculation of seedlings with Pisolithus tinctorius. The aim was to improve the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of a degraded semiarid Mediterranean soil. Short-term effects of such improvements on the establishment of Cistus albidus L. seedlings were evaluated. Eight months after planting, macronutrients (NPK), total carbohydrates, water-soluble C, water-soluble carbohydrates, microbial biomass C and enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, urease, protease, acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase) measured in the rhizosphere soil of C. albidus were increased greatly by addition of fermented SB residue. Soil structural stability improved only with the fermented SB addition (about 79% higher in the amended soils than in the non-amended soils). The mycorrhizal inoculation was the most effective treatment in improving the growth of C. albidus plants, but only slightly improved soil quality. Growth of inoculated plants was about 33% greater than plants grown in the amended soil and about 131% greater than control plants. The combined benefit of mycorrhizal inoculation of seedlings and addition of fermented SB residue to soil on plant growth was similar to that of the treatments applied individually.

Notizen: Abstract. Organic agriculture (OA) aims to identify a production regime that causes less environmental problems than conventional agriculture (CA). We examined whether the two systems differ in their susceptibility to soil erosion by water. To account for the large heterogeneity within the rotations practised on different farms, we chose a statistical evaluation which modelled erosion using the USLE method from the cropping statistics for 2056 districts in Bavaria (70 547 km2; 29.8% arable). Physical conditions of erosion were determined in a rectangular grid yielding 13 125 grid-cells of c. 5 km2 each. For validation, erosion was measured in 10 sub-watersheds on two neighbouring OA and CA farms over 8 years (287 erosive events). On average, about 15% less erosion on arable land was predicted for OA than for CA due to the larger area of leys, although OA occupies areas that are susceptible to erosion more often than CA. The same conclusions could be drawn from the validation data. These data also demonstrated that erosion could be reduced considerably below 1 t ha−1 yr−1 with best management practices under both farming systems. In contrast, at the countrywide scale, cropping did not change adequately with site conditions favouring erosion. The need for erosion control seems not to influence crop rotation decisions on erosion-prone sites.

Notizen: Abstract. The effects of various fallow management systems and cropping intensities on water infiltration were measured on an Alfisol at Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria. The objective was to determine the influence of the land use systems (a combination of crop–fallow sequences and intercropping types) on soil hydraulic properties obtained by disc permeameter and double-ring infiltration measurements. The experiment was established in 1989 as a split-plot design with four replications. The main plots were natural fallow, planted Pueraria phaseoloides and planted Leucaena leucocephala. The subplots were 1 year of maize/cassava intercrop followed by 3-year fallow (25% cropping intensity), or 2-year fallow (33% cropping intensity), or 1-year fallow (50% cropping intensity), or no fallow period (100% cropping intensity). Water infiltration rates and sorptivities were measured under saturated and unsaturated flow. Irrespective of land use, infiltration rates at the soil surface (121–324 cm h−1) were greater than those measured at 30 cm depth (55–144 cm h−1). This indicated that fewer large pores were present below 30 cm depth compared with 0–30 cm depth. Despite some temporal variation, sorptivities with the highest mean value of 93.5 cm h−½ increased as the cropping intensity decreased, suggesting a more continuous macropore system under less intensive land use systems. This was most likely due to continuous biopores created by perennial vegetation under long fallow systems. Intercropped maize and cassava yields also increased as cropping intensity decreased. The weak relationship between crop yields and hydraulic conductivity/infiltration rates suggests that the rates were not limiting.

Notizen: Abstract. Hierarchical crop growth models can contribute significantly to land quality research because the yield gap between the estimated optimum and the actual crop production has been identified as a major land quality indicator. This study describes a three-level, hierarchical crop production model, simulating radiation-thermal, water-limited and natural production potentials of annual crops. Input requirements have been kept low to ensure its applicability to developing regions, which often have access only to limited data. The simplicity of this model also has disadvantages: inconsistencies have been reported when applying this model in semiarid regions, which are characterized by very irregular rainfall patterns. Revision of the water balance, which simulates the availability of water, was required. The modified model was validated using the experimental yields of maize and sunflower in Guquka, a semiarid region of South Africa. Yields were estimated very well, possible improvements to crop production were identified and implications for land-use planning highlighted. Yield gap analysis revealed that radiation, sunshine and temperature are favourable for crop production, but the heavy dependence on rainfall makes the region very vulnerable to drought, with devastating impact on yields. The generally low chemical soil fertility further reduces crop performance.

Notizen: Abstract. A potential technique for reducing overwinter leaching from high N containing crop residues is to immobilize the N released during decomposition by co-incorporating materials of a wider C : N ratio. This article describes the use of laboratory incubation experiments to investigate the effects of a wide range of such amendment materials on the mineralization of N from sugar beet and brassica leaf residues in a sandy loam and a silt loam. These materials were of varying quality, with C : N ratio ranging from 15 : 1 to 520 : 1, and cellulose content from 0 to 34%. Amendments were added at a fixed rate of 3.5 mg C g−1 of dry soil, equivalent to around 10 t ha−1 C (to 20 cm depth). The soils were then incubated at 15°C, and net mineral N derived from the leaves was measured at regular intervals over 168 days. Net mineralization of residue N was greatest with molasses (C : N ratio of 18 : 1), whereas paper waste (C : N ratio of 520 : 1) reduced N mineralized by up to 90% compared with a soil-only control. As the concentration of cellulose and lignin in the amendment materials increased, so the amounts of N mineralized decreased, with 62 and 54% of variance in N mineralized explained by cellulose and lignin content, respectively. Reduced levels of mineral N were associated with higher levels of biomass-N. The levels of N2O-N lost from sugar beet residues on day 14 were significantly reduced from 66 to 5 g ha−1 where compactor (cardboard) waste had been mixed into sandy loam, but this effect was not observed in the silt loam. These techniques could lead to greater efficiency of N use in rotations through reduction in N losses, and provide alternative routes for disposal of wastes when the EC Landfill Directive is implemented.

Notizen: Abstract. The Olsen method is an indicator of plant-available phosphorus (P). The effect of time and temperature on residual phosphate in soils was measured using the Olsen method in a pot experiment. Four soils were investigated: two from Pakistan and one each from England (calcareous) and Colombia (acidic). Two levels of residual phosphate were developed in each soil after addition of phosphate by incubation at either 10 °C or 45 °C. The amount of phosphate added was based on the P maximum of each soil, calculated using the Langmuir equation. Ryegrass was used as the test crop. The pooled data for the four soils incubated at 10 °C showed good correlation between Olsen P and dry matter yield or P uptake (r2= 0.85 and 0.77, respectively), whereas at 45 °C, each soil had its own relationship and pooled data did not show correlation of Olsen P with dry matter yield or P uptake. When the data at both temperatures were pooled, Olsen P was a good indicator of yield and uptake for the English soil. For the Pakistani soils, Olsen P after 45 °C treatment was an underestimate relative to the 10 °C data and for the Colombian soil it was an overestimate. The reasons for these differences need to be explored further before high temperature incubation can be used to simulate long-term changes in the field.

Notizen: Abstract. Nitrous oxide (N2O) from animal excreta in grazed pasture systems makes up a significant component (c. 10%) of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas inventory. We report an effective method to decrease N2O emissions from animal urine patches by treating the soil with the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD), in a simulated grazed dairy pasture system under spray irrigation. The soil was a free-draining Lismore stony silt loam (Udic Haplustept loamy skeletal) and the pasture was a mixture of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and white clover (Trifolium repens). By treating the soil with DCD, N2O emissions were decreased by 76% following urine application in the autumn, from 26.7 kg N2O-N ha−1 without DCD to an average of 6.4 kg N2O-N ha−1 with DCD over the 6-month experimental period. N2O flux was decreased by 78% following urine application in the spring, from 18 kg N2O-N ha−1 without DCD to 3.9 kg N2O-N ha−1 with the application of DCD over the 3-month period. A single application of DCD immediately after urine was sufficient to effectively mitigate N2O emissions from the urine. The results showed that repeated applications of DCD after urine application, or mixing DCD with urine, offered no advantage over a single application of DCD immediately after urine deposition.

Notizen: Abstract. Pig slurry was applied by open-slot injection to experimental plots on a sandy loam site at ADAS Gleadthorpe, Nottinghamshire. Volume and distribution of over-winter drainage were adjusted through the use of rainfall exclusion covers or irrigation. The resultant slurry N leaching over the range of drainage values tested (up to 300 mm) could be satisfactorily described by curve-fitting, using a quadratic or exponential function. Initial simulations of slurry N leaching using the manure nitrogen decision support system manner (v. 3.0) compared poorly with the experimental data, predicting both earlier and greater amounts of nitrate leaching. However, the lack of fit could be explained by consideration of the likely ammonia emissions following slurry injection, the actual volumetric soil moisture capacity at the experimental site and the likely time delay for the nitrification of slurry N following application. Good agreement between modelled and observed data was achieved when these factors were taken into account. The manner model was used to simulate nitrate leaching beyond the range of drainage treatments tested in the experiments and the anticipated sigmoidal relationship between nitrate leaching and drainage was observed. The model was then used to study the effects of manure application timing and the likely impact on nitrate leaching, across the range of rainfall conditions found in Great Britain. Simulations for a range of manure types were undertaken, with manures applied at rates up to the limit of permitted N loading on freely draining sandy loams. Rainfall inputs for these simulations were based on long-term average climatic data. Results are presented for two contrasting manure types, cattle slurry and poultry manure, both of which are subject to controls in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) in Great Britain.

Notizen: Abstract. As measures to reduce point source inputs of phosphorus (P) to water have been introduced, the effect of diffuse P has become more evident. Land drains can act as an effective conduit for transfer of sediment and sediment P from agricultural land to surface waters. This article describes the development of a national risk map, identifying areas of agricultural land in England and Wales that are most likely to be prone to such losses. The map is based on data obtained from a variety of sources, including field studies, laboratory-based rainfall simulation experiments and secondary sources. From these studies, eight factors relating to soil HOST class, rainfall, soil moisture deficit, land use and the type and condition of land drains were identified as influential in the process of sediment and sediment P transfer. Each factor was weighted to provide an estimate of risk and the combined total was used to plot a national risk estimate at a resolution of 25 km2. The exercise suggests that large areas of England and Wales may be at risk of subsurface sediment and sediment P transfer from agricultural land to rivers. The scale of the map is insufficient for planning at the farm level, but further work incorporating similar data and principles could make it more applicable to potential end-users on the ground.

Notizen: Abstract. Detailed morphological, physical, chemical, mineralogical and micromorphological studies were carried out to identify properties that influence the yield of deep-rooted crops in 29 Vertisols of semiarid central India, since existing land evaluation methods are not adequate to explain the yield of cotton obtained by farmers. The studies indicated that among the soil parameters, CaCO3 in the clay fraction, the exchangeable Ca/Mg ratio, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (HC) were the yield-influencing factors. The pedogenetic relationships between the semiarid climate, formation of pedogenic calcium carbonate, exchangeable Ca/Mg, ESP and HC have been established. In view of the pedogenetic processes that ultimately impair the drainage of soils, evaluation of Vertisols for deep-rooted crops on the basis of HC alone may help in planning and management of soils, not only in the Indian semiarid tropics, but also in similar climatic areas elsewhere.

Notizen: Abstract. Water retention properties of 219 horizons were measured in Cambisols, Luvisols and Fluvisols, mainly from the Paris basin. We derived class pedotransfer functions (class PTFs) based on texture alone and in a second stage class PTFs based on classes combining texture and clod bulk density. The performance of these two types of PTFs were discussed at −330 and −15000 hPa water potential on an independent set of 221 horizons. Results showed that PTFs based on sets grouped by texture and clod bulk density provide estimates with an accuracy that is (i) greater than with class PTFs based on texture alone, and (ii) similar to the estimation accuracy recorded with continuous PTFs. As a consequence, the lack of interest in class PTFs should be reconsidered to bridge the gap between the available basic soil data and hydraulic properties which are generally missing, particularly when pertinent soil characteristics can be derived from the data available in soil databases. The two types of class PTFs providing gravimetric water contents at seven water potentials ranging from −10 to −15 000 hPa were converted to volumetric water content using the soil bulk density. Finally, the parameters of van Genuchten's water retention curve model were computed for every class PTF.

Notizen: Abstract. Soils can be used as a biospheric sink for carbon under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol and parties are able to use agricultural soil carbon sinks to contribute towards carbon emission reduction targets. This should be done ‘taking into account uncertainties, transparency in reporting, and verifiability’. Models are often tested against data sets of long-term changes in soil organic carbon (SOC), but most data sets have only mean SOC values available at each sample date, with no estimates of error about the mean. We show that when using data sets that do not include estimates of error about the mean, it is not possible to reduce the error (root mean squared error) between modelled and measured values below 6.8–8.5%, even with site-specific model calibration. Equivalent errors for model runs using regional default input values are 12–34%. Using error as an indicator of the certainty that can be attached to model projections, we show that a significant reduction in uncertainty is needed for Kyoto accounting. Uncertainties for modelling during the first Kyoto Commitment Period could be reduced by better replication of soil measurements at benchmark sites. This would allow model error to be separated from measurement error, which would allow more comprehensive model testing and, ultimately, more certainty to be attached to model predictions.

Notizen: Abstract. Artificial urine containing 20.2 g N per patch of 0.2 m2 was applied in May and September to permanent grassland swards of a long-term experiment in the western uplands of Germany (location Rengen/Eifel), which were fertilized with 0, 120, 240, 360 kg N ha−1 yr−1 given as calcium ammonium nitrate. The effect on N2O fluxes measured regularly during a 357-day period with the closed-chamber technique were as follows. (1) N2O emission varied widely among the fertilized control areas without urine, and when a threshold water-filled pore space 〉60% was exceeded, the greater the topsoil nitrate content the greater the flux from the individual urine patches on the fertilized swards. (2) After urine application in May, 1.4–4.2% of the applied urine-N was lost as N2O from the fertilized swards; and after urine application in September, 0.3–0.9% of the applied urine-N was lost. The primary influence on N2O flux from urine patches was the date of simulated grazing, N-fertilization rate being a secondary influence. (3) The large differences in N2O emissions between unfertilized and fertilized swards after May-applied urine contrasted with only small differences after urine applied in September, indicating an interaction between time of urine application and N-fertilizer rate. (4) The estimated annual N2O emissions were in the range 0.6–1.6 kg N2O-N per livestock unit, or 1.4, 3.6, 4.1 and 5.1 kg N2O-N ha−1 from the 0–360 kg ha−1 of fertilizer-N. The study demonstrated that date of grazing and N-fertilizer application could influence the N2O emission from urine patches to such an extent that both factors should be considered in detailed large-scale estimations of N2O fluxes from grazed grassland.

Notizen: Abstract. We studied the effects of five diverse non-agricultural organic wastes on soil composition, grass yield and grass nitrogen use in a 3–year field experiment. The applied wastes were distillery pot ale, dairy salt whey, abattoir blood and gut contents, composted green waste (two annual applications each), and paper-mill sludge (one annual application). With the exception of N immobilization in the paper-mill sludge treatment, the wastes had no unfavourable effects on the soil. In the 2–year treatments, grass dry matter yields from the abattoir and distillery wastes (26.3 t ha−1) were larger than those from a NH4NO3 fertilizer treatment (24.3 t ha−1) and from the dairy waste (20.4 t ha−1) and composted waste (22.8 t ha−1). Yield and N recovery were impaired markedly after the single application of paper-mill sludge, both in the year of application and in the following year. The results demonstrated clear differences in the ability of the applied wastes to provide crop-available N. We conclude that in order to improve prediction of both the benefits and risks from waste recycling to land, more information should be gathered on soil/waste/crop interactions.

Notizen: Abstract. A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the effects of adding an intermediary byproduct of olive oil extraction (alperujo or solid olive-mill waste, SOMW) on the sorption, degradation and leaching of the herbicide simazine in a sandy loam soil. The effect of SOMW addition on soil porosity was also assessed. The soil was amended in the laboratory with SOMW at two different rates (5% and 10% w/w). Simazine sorption isotherms showed a great increase in herbicide sorption after SOMW addition to soil; sorption increased with the amount of SOMW added. Incubation studies showed extended persistence by reduced biodegradation of simazine in the soil amended with SOMW compared with the unamended soil. Although the addition of SOMW to soil increased the total porosity, breakthrough curves of simazine in handpacked soil columns showed that SOMW addition retarded the vertical movement of the herbicide through the soil and reduced the total amount of herbicide leached. It appeared that the longer residence time of simazine in the amended soil columns (〉20 days) compared with that in the unamended soil column (〈20 days) allowed enhanced degradation and/or irreversible sorption under column leaching conditions. The results revealed important changes in herbicide behaviour upon SOMW addition, confirming the need to assess these changes in order to optimize the combined use of organic wastes and soil-applied pesticides.

Notizen: Abstract. Jute geotextiles are widely used to stabilize steep banks and road cuttings. Jute protects bare surfaces until seeded grass becomes established, then after several years, the jute decays. To evaluate two types of jute geotextiles, eight erosion plots were established in July 1994 at the Hilton Experimental Site, Shropshire, UK. On 10 April 1995, the plots were treated as follows:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉1jute geotextile net;2jute mat;3perennial rye grass (Lolium perenne); and4bare soil, with duplicates of each treatment.Over one year, sediment yields from jute net and jute mat were 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, of the yield from the bare control. Although both had similar soil protection qualities, runoff was very different. The runoff from the jute net was 35% and the jute mat 247% of the control. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of jute net for erosion and runoff control, while the jute mat may both conserve soil and ‘harvest’ rain or redirect runoff.

Notizen: Abstract. A predictive model of metal concentrations in crops was developed to optimize soil liming and sludge application strategies at a dedicated sewage sludge disposal site. Predictions of metal concentrations in plant tissue were derived from measured values of soil metal concentration, humus content and soil pH. The plant and soil data used to parameterize the model were collected on site using quadrat sampling of mature crop and underlying topsoil. The uptake model was used to map predicted metal concentrations in wheat grain and forage maize based upon a database of soil characteristics (metal content, % humus and pH) measured as part of a routine geochemical survey of the site. The effect of a management strategy to modify uptake of Cd by wheat by changing soil pH was investigated. The effect of soil dust adhering to maize plants at harvest was also simulated to investigate the importance of this pathway for Cd transfer to animal feed such as silage.The model gave satisfactory predictions for uptake of Cd and Zn but less useful simulations for Pb, Cu and Ni. The results for Cd uptake showed a greater dependence on soil pH in the case of wheat in comparison to maize. It is suggested that, for the study site, liming to pH 7.0 will reduce Cd concentrations in wheat grain to within EC legal standards. However the Cd content of maize may still exceed these guidelines, with a relatively minor contribution from contamination with soil dust.

Notizen: Abstract. The transfer of suspended sediment (SS) and phosphorus (P) in overland flow from 30 m2 field plots receiving either nil, surface-applied or incorporated manure (slurry) were monitored to determine the vulnerability of land cropped to continuous forage maize to diffuse pollutant transfer in winter runoff. In the absence of slurry, P export was dominated by particulate forms, with up to 1 t SS ha−1 and 0.75 kg total P ha−1 collected from an individual storm event. Background concentrations of P in soluble (〈0.45 μm) form were large (c. 0.5 mg L−1) by eutrophication standards due to the previous build-up of soil P, and largely independent of SS concentrations. Largest P exports (representing up to 23% of the slurry P applied) were measured when dairy slurry (3–13% dry solids) was surface-applied. The P mobilized from the slurry accounted for up to 60% of total plot P export, with the majority occurring in a soluble bioavailable form during the first storm event. Initial P concentrations in runoff were in proportion to the amount of slurry P applied and significantly lower where rainfall was delayed after application. In one year, splitting the slurry application (3 × 10 kg ha−1) reduced total P export by 25% compared to a single surface application (30 kg P ha−1). In two years, incorporation of slurry, either by ploughing, or by tine cultivation, reduced the amount of overland flow by 50%, and the amount of P export by up to 60%, compared to the surface-applied slurry treatments. Timeliness of slurry spreading to avoid periods of wet weather and simple cultivation of maize fields after harvest are practical and effective options to minimize SS and P transfer in land runoff from maize fields. The results also draw attention to the need to grow maize, and apply slurry to fields with a low P loss risk.

Notizen: Abstract. To determine the effects of low-input agriculture on soil properties, we compared several forms of arable land management in a rotation experiment lasting 8 years on a Cambisol in Lithuania. Conventional arable cropping with applications of inorganic fertilizers increased the potassium (K) status of the soil, but resulted in losses of nitrogen (N) from the soil by mineralization and leaching. With ley–arable integrated cropping, a similar fertilizer regime based on farmyard manure (FYM) augmented with inorganic fertilizers increased the phosphorus (P), K, organic matter and N in the soil, as well as increasing N loss by leaching. These two high-input regimes were compared to three systems with less or no input. A reference treatment with no input, which produced small crop yields, maintained its nutrient status and organic matter. An organic regime receiving FYM and green manure lost only P, but maintained its K and N status, while a second organic regime in which the FYM was replaced by composted sewage maintained its fertility. The microbial activity varied somewhat from treatment to treatment, with the largest numbers of almost all groups of microorganisms in the reference treatment. All treatments led to decreases in fulvic acid, and the soil managed conventionally lost humic acid, too. The content of humic acid increased in the treatments where FYM was applied and in the reference soil, and the fraction bound to calcium increased in the integrated and the first organic treatments. The soil structures under the integrated cropping and second organic regime were the most stable. Of the low-input systems, the second organic regime seemed the most sustainable.

Notizen: The knowledge of which events are most effective in pushing households out of deprivation should help in designing poverty-alleviating social policy. Using longitudinal data for Spain, we analyze the nature of events pushing poor households out of poverty, adding an interesting decomposition of transitions: the occurrence of an event and the income change implied by it. We find that, similarly to other developed countries, the events that most help Spanish households in leaving poverty are related to changes in labor status of household members. However, non-labor income changes are significantly more important in Spain than elsewhere.

Notizen: Household surveys of the distribution of income and expenditure are discussed in this paper. The potential for non-sampling errors, effecting both the mean and measures of dispersion, is noted. These errors are shown to result in substantial discrepancies between the survey data and national accounts-based estimates of the incidence of poverty and trends in living standards. It is argued that the reconciliation of these discrepancies offers the best way forward for improving both types of data.

Notizen: One of the major sources of uncertainty in capital stock estimates stems from the use of the perpetual inventory method (PIM) in all the cases where direct stock information is not available. In the Danish capital stock estimates, it has been possible to dispense with the PIM as far as buildings are concerned. Instead, an administrative register of buildings is used together with a property register and the business register to produce an exhaustive enumeration of practically all buildings in the economy broken down by industry and sector. For the most important type of buildings, namely dwellings, the paper compares direct stock estimates derived by multiplying physical quantities (square meters) by the replacement prices per square meter with those that would result from applying the PIM to historical investment series. Dwellings are by far the most important non-financial assets in most developed economies.

Notizen: Many comparisons of public and private firms use a public/private ownership dummy variable to capture cost differences. If, however, public and private firms use different production technologies, the dummy-variable approach is misspecified. Data from public and private firms should not be pooled. Secondly, selectivity bias may arise, making it more difficult to identify cost differentials that actually exist. Thirdly, if data should be pooled, the resulting empirical model may be logically inconsistent. This paper compares public and private firms using the refuse collection costs of 170 firms in 115 Swedish municipalities. First, public production costs were 6 per cent lower than private production costs. Secondly, cost differences did not affect producer choice. It is crucial to adjust for selectivity. Data for private and public firms should not be pooled. The dummy-variable model is misspecified.

Notizen: Among the majority of high–income OECD countries, the degree of fiscal decentralisation has converged over the last 30 years towards an intermediate level. The theoretical arguments for and against fiscal decentralisation point to explanations for this tendency, because both extreme decentralisation and extreme centralisation are associated with disadvantages for economic growth. Hence, the observed trend of convergence would be growth–promoting. The paper analyses the long–run empirical relationship between per capita economic growth, capital formation and total factor productivity growth, and fiscal decentralisation for the high–income OECD countries. The evidence supports the view that the relationship is positive when fiscal decentralisation is increasing from low levels, but then reaches a peak and turns negative. A policy implication is that policy–makers in several countries with relatively low degrees of fiscal decentralisation could possibly mobilise growth reserves by increasing it.

Notizen: The government is committed to introducing a new savings account for people on lower incomes. This will provide a strong incentive for eligible individuals to save, or at least to hold financial assets, in these accounts. This paper describes possible rationales for this government intervention. It then presents new evidence on the characteristics of people with lower incomes and finds that many already have some financial assets, while those who do not often appear to have good reasons for why they may not want to be currently saving. The result is that the proposed Saving Gateway will be extremely difficult to target at those who might benefit in the way the government hopes. The danger is that the policy will be expensive relative to the number of genuine new savers and savings that it generates.

Notizen: For most state financial benefits, the making of any payment, or its level, depends upon a means test to assess the applicant's income or wealth. Attempts to make such tests fair often lead to procedures that are complicated to administer and confusing for the applicant. This paper describes the analysis underlying a review of means testing for civil legal aid in England and Wales, to achieve considerable simplification without sacrificing fairness.

Notizen: This paper measures the distortionary and distributional effects of housing subsidies in the Netherlands. Its broad scope allows us to discuss the results in the light of the main justifications for subsidising housing, i.e. the merit–good argument, external effects and the distribution motive. Our measurements reveal some patterns of subsidisation that seem difficult to justify on these grounds. This applies especially to the differences between subsidisation of rental and owneroccupied housing and between mortgage– and equity–financed ownership. Moreover, the inelastic supply of housing in the Netherlands entails that subsidisation has only a limited effect on promoting housing quality.

Notizen: The UK will introduce in 2004 a system of tradable permits for the landfill of municipal waste, in response to an EU directive setting limits on such activity. Tradable permits are becoming an increasingly popular method of dealing with some environmental issues — for example, sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions in the USA. This paper describes the background to the landfill proposals and provides an analysis of how the permit system might work. Estimates are made of the possible savings in compliance costs of a permit system compared with a conventional ‘command–and–control’ approach. These estimates are subject to a considerable degree of uncertainty, related to factors discussed in the paper.

Notizen: In this paper, we offer and discuss new evidence on the performance of British Telecom (BT) before and after privatisation. We use a unique data-set based on company accounts over 40 years (1960–99) and original additional company data on several variables. We focus particularly on output, prices, revenues, costs, employment, productivity, profits and investment. Our key findings are that operating profits (i.e. gross profits before interest and tax) were remarkably stable before and after divestiture, and that ownership change per se had little discernible impact on productivity trends, particularly between 1984 and 1991. Major changes in performance after 1991 were, however, related to variations in financial arrangements, competition and regulatory pressure. This allows us to regard the BT case history as a natural experiment on the relative importance of privatisation, liberalisation and regulation.

Notizen: The distribution of UK revenue to the regional and territorial governments, administrations and authorities that spend the money is based on a hotchpotch of badly designed formulae. This is widely recognised. The Barnett formula, which allocates money to the devolved territories, has been attacked from all sides, its consequences described as ‘terribly unfair’ by its progenitor, Lord Barnett. The mechanism by which resources are distributed to local authorities within the English regions has been abandoned by the government, although its replacement has not yet been determined. This paper argues that a common basis for government spending across the regions and territories of the UK will be more equitable and efficient, and may even depoliticise the financial framework of the UK.

Notizen: Abstract. Emissions of N2O were measured after application of NH4NO3 fertilizer and incorporation of winter wheat and rye green manures in two field experiments in southeast England. Incorporation of green manure alone resulted in temporary immobilization of soil N, small N2O emissions and also low availability of N for the following crop. Emissions were increased after application of inorganic fertilizer, and were further increased from integrated management treatments whereby green manure residues were incorporated after fertilizer application. The highest emission was from the incorporated winter wheat green manure plus fertilizer treatment, with 1.5 kg N2O-N ha−1 (0.6% of N applied) being emitted over the first 55 days after incorporation. This high emission was attributed to the supply of C in the residues providing the energy for denitrification in the presence of large amounts of mineral N and the creation of anaerobic microsites during microbial respiration.

Notizen: Abstract. Soil compaction has long been considered to be a problem in arable land, primarily because it causes damage to soil structure, which can lead to serious reduction in crop yields. However, few studies have sought to investigate the effects of soil compaction on the water transport regime of modified soil pore systems. We attempted to quantify the effects of soil compaction on the initiation of preferential flow by using dye tracers and image analysis. A laboratory methodology involving rainfall simulation enabled us to quantitatively evaluate differences in the mechanisms of water flow between two soil types at several degrees of compaction. The results suggested significant differences in the types of water flow pathways between clay loams and sandy loams at different extents of compaction. In the sandy loam, it was concluded that a high degree of compaction led to an increased likelihood of preferential flow, whereas a more uniform movement of soil water occurred at less compaction. By contrast, preferential routing of soil water was recorded in the clay loam, except at the highest measured compaction. The results indicate that the visual techniques of dye tracing and image analysis could enable improved understanding of flow pathways of soil water associated with soil compaction.