摘要:

AbstractThis study uses dynamic linear programming to derive normative development plans through time for small land reform farms in the newly irrigated Metaponto plain of southern Italy. The analysis indicates great potential for internal savings and investment by peasant families and therefore rapid development possibilities for intensive fruit and vegetable cultivation. However, a risk discount of only 16 percent would eliminate orchards from the plans. Government investment in low interest loans and grants for development costs have a high potential return (about 85 percent) on these farms. To facilitate rapid development rates, technological advice to farmers provided by government appears critical. Methodologically, the model maximizes the present value of future returns from annual plans over a 60‐year horizon, allowing capital formation and optimum choice between short‐ and long‐term activities. The model could be easily reformulated to solve problems involving optimum timing of replacement of capital assets.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236536

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis article sets forth the components of the rate of interest in underdeveloped rural areas. They are (1) the unit opportunity cost of the lender's raw material‐money, (2) the administration charge on each unit loaned, (3) the unit premium for risk, and (4) any unit monopoly profit. The determinants of each one of these elements of the rate of interest are discussed, and suggestions are made regarding action which might reduce their size. The general conclusion is that the development of the farmer's collateral will allow him to borrow more at less risk to the lender, as well as put him in contact with the low interest, urban money market. This will in its turn help to reduce the unit administration costs on loans together with the lender's premium for risk, as well as tend to eliminate whatever monopoly profit the lender has been able to obtain. Only in this way can the rural rate of interest in poor countries be reduced.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236537

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractT. W. Schultz and D. G. Johnson in the early post World War II period identified the unstable general economy as the major source of the instability of farm income and stressed the importance of the stabilization of the nonfarm economy. Results of an extensive empirical investigation of the relationships among the variances of farm income, national income, and farm output for the period 1913 to 1962 is reported in this paper. The role of the automatic stabilizers in stabilizing disposable income relative to national income is examined for the same period. The research reported in this article associates most of the instability of farm income over the past 50 years with instability of nonfarm income. This source has been essentially eliminated by structural changes in the general economy in line with recommendations by Schultz and Johnson. The increased stability of the general economy seems more than sufficient to explain the recent stability of farm income.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236538

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractRecently some voices have taken issue to the proposition that the market for agricultural economists may be a declining one. One area sorted out for possible growth has been the extension and collegiate teaching function. However, there are complaints that these activities are not equal in status or monetary rewards to research activities and therefore cannot attract and hold outstanding talent. This article analyzes the nature and cause of this atmosphere of discrimination. It is argued that what is needed is a conscious effort to restore professional status to the teaching function and also to devise ways of measuring and awarding differentials in quality of teaching activities. Among other suggestions, it is proposed that administrators take an active role in developing criteria for measuring the performance of extension and collegiate teaching; that the American Farm Economic Association take specific steps to break down the image of discriminatory treatment between researchers and teachers.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236539

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis paper attempts to specify an activity analysis equilibrium model for the agricultural sector which would account for the competitive pricing and allocation of primary, intermediate, and final commodities in space. Linear final commodity demand relations are specified and the concept of maximizing net consumer surplus is employed as a basis for deducing the price and allocation equilibrium conditions and formulating the primal‐dual programming problem. An algorithm is suggested for obtaining the equilibrium solution and an example is specified which reflects the structure of the programming problem.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236540

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractTwo‐stage least squares estimates of a six‐equation model of the annual markets for U.S. soybeans and soybean products suggest that simultaneous measurement of important price‐making forces is feasible when the joint product and multimarket aspects of soybeans, meal, and oil are considered. Domestic markets for meal and oil and the export market for beans are considered. Implied direct price flexibilities are −1.30 for farm level soybeans, −1.12 for meal at wholesale, and −.52 for oil at wholesale. Although the predictive value of the estimated model is not yet clear, the empirical results can be used to evaluate the nature and relative magnitude of adjustments in the soybean market as changes occur in market conditions, market structure, and government programs. Both the analytical method and empirical estimates may be useful to price analysts and commodity specialists.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236541

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis paper presents a theory of the hog cycle as true harmonic motion, arising from “feedback,” a widely occurring phenomenon in which a stimulus induces a response which acts to alter the stimulus after a fixed delay. In the model of the hog cycle, it is postulated that the signal is the price of hogs, or more accurately the hog‐corn price ratio which is a measure of current profitability of hog production; the response is a change in the rate of production of hogs; and the fixed delay is the biologically determined time required to produce a market hog. The supply response parameter, being a rate of change of planned production from current levels, does not correspond to slope or elasticity of a static supply curve, and little or no economic theory exists to account for the magnitude, or even the existence, of a dynamic supply parameter of this sort, though it has been observed by a number of students of the hog cycle. The nature of the supply response differs fundamentally from that of the cobweb theorem, where producers' decisions are assumed to refer to a short‐run supply curve. This is the feature of the model that leads to a four‐year cycle instead of the two‐year cycle that most naturally emerges from the cobweb theorem.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236542

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis article examines many of the arguments for and against advertising in terms of the well‐being of society. Advertising is a market phenomenon with significant social implications, with a potential for both beneficial and harmful effects. The net effect depends upon the society's ability to institute market rules to reap the benefits while avoiding the harmful effects. Economic theory is of limited value in analyzing the social consequences of advertising.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236543

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractData presently available suggest that the cost of transportation by unregulated agricultural trucking is significantly lower than costs of transporting commodities by trucks subject to the usual public utility type federal economic controls. This paper examines the reasons why costs are higher in regulated trucking, and explores the reasons why shippers and operators now not subject to federal transportation controls should wish to continue in this exempt status. This work is a part of a continuing examination of transportation policy alternatives available to the federal government now and in the future. Agricultural trucking, because of its economic importance and unique exempt status, provides suggestive material for future policy considerations in other transportation areas.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236544

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractA new approach to the solution of an optimal path problem which is applicable to the analysis of a process or series of processes with several points of entry and end points is presented. The solution of substantial problems can he done by hand. The process must have a definite flow, but by solution at different flows, long‐run cost curves for the process may be obtained. The example discussed is the handling of hog manure.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1236545

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1964

数据来源: WILEY