Farm-household investment behaviour and the CAP decoupling: Methodological issues in assessing policy impacts

The objective of this paper is to compare and discuss the role of farm-household surveys and farm-household models in assessing the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy reforms, focusing in particular on the effects of 2003 decoupling on farm investment behaviour. The paper compares two specific approaches: (i) in-depth face-to-face interviews with farm-householders and (ii) mathematical programming models of individual farm-households. The effects of decoupling estimated by these two approaches coincide in a majority of cases, while the differences suggest relevant complementarities. Altogether the paper suggests a wider scope for using mixed methodologies in assessing CAP policy impacts.     

2030年前俄罗斯经济创新发展战略

一、经济创新的重要性在提高俄罗斯经济增长速度,改善居民生活质量和提高俄罗斯产品的国际竞争力等方面实现预期目标的关键是,正确选择和坚决落实过渡时期国家改革发展的长远政策。创新政策的提出是基于以下背景:第一,主要的技术基础已经老化甚至到了严重破损的程度。绝大多数机器、仪器和运输工具尚停留在20世纪70~80年代的技术水平上,近15年来没有进行过任何更新,有形损耗率为60%~70%,已经不适应生产具有竞争力产品的需要,因此,必须在尽可能短的时间内对其进行更新改造。第二,国家加工业产品已经老化并缺少竞争力,正在被排挤出国际和国内…     

Company Performance,Corporate Governance,and CEO Compensation in Norway and Sweden

This paper examines the relationshipamong company performance, corporategovernance arrangements, and CEO compensationwithin the Scandinavian countries of Norway andSweden. Our sample consists of 224 tradedcompanies, 120 of which are from Norway and 104from Sweden. The empirical evidence fromboth Norway and Sweden reveals significantpositive relationships among board size andCEO compensation, foreign board membership andCEO compensation, and market capitalization andCEO compensation. A significant negativerelationship is found between CEO ownership andCEO compensation. In addition, no significantrelationship is found between companyperformance and CEO compensation or CEO tenureand CEO compensation, except in the case ofNorwegian firms when a change in market-to-bookperformance measure is used. Despite itslimited geographical scope, the study adds toour general understanding of internationalcorporate governance issues.     

ARE “RISKY ASSETS” SUBSTITUTES FOR “MONETARY ASSETS”?

The paper uses an asymptotically ideal model to estimate substitution elasticities between financial assets held by the U.K. personal sector. An important innovation is to extend the range of assets to include "risky" assets as well as capital certain "monetary" assets. The most significant result is the evidence of substitution between "risky" assets and "cash" assets. Also, as risk aversion increases substitution between "risky" assets and "cash" assets generally falls. ( JEL E41)     

Individual control treatment in split-plot experiments

The paper deals with experiments laid out in a complete or an incomplete split-plot design in which one control (standard) treatment occurs in addition to the usual treatments. Usually the control (standard) treatment has been treated as one specific factor level. In this paper, in contrast to others in this area, the control (standard) may not be strictly connected with treatment combinations. The new incomplete split-plot designs with control satisfy all generally accepted methodological requirements, with special reference to the problems of randomisation. Moreover, tools are described which allow checking of the general balance or efficiency of the design, as well as performance of experiments with inference.     

Disease resistance modelled as first-passage times of genetically dependent stochastic processes

Summary.  Mastitis resistance data on dairy cattle are modelled as first-passage times of stochastic processes. Population heterogeneity is included by expressing process parameters as functions of shared random variables. We show how dependences between individuals, e.g. genetic relationships, can be exploited in the analyses. The method can be extended to handle situations with multiple hidden causes of failure. Markov chain Monte Carlo methods are used for estimation.     

ECONOMIC DISARTICULATION AND FERTILITY IN LESS DEVELOPED NATIONS

A large body of research and theory seeking to explain fertility levels in less developed nations has stressed the effects of economic development on family-level decision making. While clearly a major factor, economic development levels fail to explain much of the variation in fertility rates. Some researchers have attempted to remedy this shortcoming by taking into account cross-national variation in income distributions, on the grounds that this approach provides a more refined indication of the real social consequences of economic development. The present analysis extends this tradition of research by arguing that the degree of disarticulation provides a theoretically more powerful and empirically more accurate way to operationalize these hypothesized distributional effects on fertility levels.     

Childhood Family Dissolution and School Outcomes. The Timing of Dissolution Effects

Abstract

Existing studies estimate the negative effects of family dissolution; however, evidence regarding when such effects appear is lacking. The effect is hard to isolate for at least two reasons: families select into dissolution; and effects might be observed before, during and after the dissolution. This paper presents evidence regarding the timing of dissolution effects. Family fixed effects (FEs) and a value-added model handle selection; timing is addressed by exploiting repeated observations of student performance before and after dissolution. I present evidence of weaker performance among students from dissolving families, an effect mainly driven by the deterioration of family relations before the break. The divorce itself seems to be less important.     

Tests for the Proportional Intensity Assumption Based on the Score Process

Proportional intensity models are widely used for describing the relationship between the intensity of a counting process and associated covariates. A basic assumption in this model is the proportionality, that each covariate has a multiplicative effect on the intensity. We present and study tests for this assumption based on a score process which is equivalent to cumulative sums of the Schoenfeld residuals. Tests within principle power against any type of departure from proportionality can be constructed based on this score process. Among the tests studied, in particular an Anderson-Darling type test turns out to be very useful by having good power properties against general alternatives. A simulation study comparing various tests for proportionality indicates that this test seems to be a good choice for an omnibus test for proportionality.