摘要:

Postmodernism has extended far beyond its origins in French literary criticism in the 1960s to provide a major challenge to orthodox intellectual ideas and ways of working. Its influence has so far been felt less in the social sciences than in the arts or humanities, and hardly at all in economics; yet because it is beginning to emerge within disciplines parallel to agricultural economics, such as human geography and rural sociology, it is prudent to attempt some anticipation of the impact of its trenchant critique on agricultural economics. Accordingly, a minimum set of the ideas, attitudes and implications of the phenomenon of postmodernism necessary to orient the unfamiliar are summarised, and related to contemporary concerns. The challenge which it might offer to mainstream economics is also considered, in terms of methodology and of understanding. In relation to rurality, postmodern emphases on the particular, the local and the diverse are examined as potential solutions to contemporary social, economic and environmental problems. Examples are drawn from model‐building, permacultural ethics, GIS and rural tourism to illustrate both the critique and the new approach that it involves. Postmodernism's ambivalence in relation to equality and social and economic justice is raised as a difficulty for a discipline which has traditionally had a focus on (and an ethical concern about) spatial inequalit

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00667.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00668.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Off‐farm income has become an increasingly important source of farm household income in the past twenty years. While research has examined farm households' decision to work off‐farm, our understanding of how a region's economic structure influences the off‐farm labour decision is not strong. This manuscript uses Huffman's conceptual model for farm households' level of off‐farm earnings. Results show that higher relative employment in sectors which offer more flexible work schedules is strongly associated with higher off‐farm labour

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00669.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A new, single stage model for estimating technical inefficiencies of production in a stochastic frontier production function is applied in the analysis of panel data on wheat farmers in selected districts of Pakistan. The technical inefficiency effects are highly significant, implying that the traditional production function model is inadequate for the analysis of wheat production of the four districts involved. In the district of Faisalabad, for example, technical inefficiencies of production tend to be smaller for older farmers and those with greater formal schooling. In addition, the levels of wheat production for farmers in Faisalabad tend to approach their potential frontier production levels over time, although there is no evidence of technical change. The technical efficiencies of the wheat farmers show considerable variation over time within each district, such that the mean technical efficiencies range from 57 per cent to 79 per cent in the four districts.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00670.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The article reviews the relevant concepts in assessing sustainability at the sector level for British agriculture and forestry. It notes that the use of reproducible capital is not sustainable in the sector as depreciation has exceeded gross fixed capital formation for some years, although that retrenchment may, however, be an appropriate response to expected lower farm prices and increased efficiency in the use of capital. It then exemplifies the problems of measuring the sustainability of use of natural capital by reference to specific problems, namely the release of global pollutants from agriculture and forestry, the economic cost of soil erosion and the economic cost associated with damage to Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). On the basis of a wider review of the context of these changes, it is concluded that the sustainability of primary land use, as currently practised, must await substantial research before positive claims can be made for its overall sustainability.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00671.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Unfavourable macro‐economic conditions are often blamed for the failure of devaluation and liberalisation policies to correct the bias against agricultural exports in Sudan. A general equilibrium model, with an endogenous money creation mechanism, is constructed and econometrically estimated to analyse macro‐economic linkages to agriculture in Sudan. Stronger economic performance is achieved when exchange rate adjustments and liberalisation are supported with fiscal and monetary control and less indirect taxat

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00672.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper analyses the decision facing Community farmers of whether or not to participate in the voluntary rotational set aside scheme. For each individual producer, an “indifference price” for cereals can be identified at which the expected profit from either opting in or out of the scheme is identical. An expected utility model is used to investigate the influence of various factors on the level of indifference price and hence the uptake of set aside. Empirical analysis, based on FBS farm level data, suggests that this price is relatively insensitive to the uncertainty faced by the farmer and the farmer's attitude to risk. It is, however, sensitive both to the key policy variables and to the farm's cost structure and yield. The results presented help explain the initial high take up of set aside in Engl

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00673.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper uses Capital Asset Pricing Models to analyse the relationship between returns and risks for agricultural assets in England and Wales. The study also compares this relationship with those of non‐agricultural assets such as ordinary shares, government bonds, and commercial and industrial properties. The results show that the estimated market risks associated with agricultural assets are low and tenant‐type agricultural assets have earned much lower returns than other assets with similar market ri

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00674.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This note reports a ranking for agricultural economics journals, based on citation data for the years 1986 and 1991. The rankings are generated using data envelopment techniques, and form part of a wider evaluation of economics journals. The results indicate that the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Journal of Agricultural Economics and Land Economics are consistently ranked highly, irrespective of time period or citation measure used. They also indicate that the performance of the agricultural economics journals considered is broadly comparable with other applied economics journals.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00675.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1996.tb00676.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY