bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Mystical Moral Theology
Authors: Keating James
Published: July 2007

The discipline of moral theology is undergoing noticeable self-evaluation. Moral theologians are exploring the connections between moral theology and Scripture, moral theology and virtue ethics, moral theology and Christology, moral theology and Patristics, moral theology and liturgy, and moral theology and spirituality. Moralists are looking for new conversation partners in order to stretch the discipline beyond the now familiar relations that once bore fruit between moral theology and philosophy, and natural law in particular. There are some stirrings to converse again with philosophy, but the noted activity most relevant to the intent of this essay encompasses the explicitly theological.

My own “Moral Theology and” discourse has centred on the theme of prayer. In so doing I am looking to reinvigorate a discipline that seems to be dying pastorally. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to form the conscience is not through formal moral theology courses and all the inner disputations that moralists have with one another. The best way to form the conscience is to teach parishioners to pray, to love God in prayer, to come to know God in prayer and worship. In this I would dispute the thematic ordering of the Catechism: the section on ethics should appear last, after a theology of prayer. In saying this, I am not arguing that moral dilemmas are immediately apprehended and solved in prayer. I am not saying that spirituality delineates specific steps to moral decision-making or that it clarifies a method to be used in such decision-making.
Israel's Historic Suspicion of the Vatican
Authors: Morris Kevin L.
Published: July 2007

It has been remarked that the Israelis have a ‘slightly morbid fascination with things Roman Catholic, especially in relation to the Holy See’. Until 1993 a meeting between the Pope and the Grand Rabbi of Israel was vetoed because the leader of Catholicism was regarded as a ‘source of impurity’. Since Israel is the focus of one of the most combustible problems in the world, it is important to understand every filament of that beleaguered nation’s anxieties, one of which is its anxiety about Catholics. Well-known is its concern about the Church’s role during the Nazi era, and its historic contempt for Jewry. Perhaps less familiar is Israel’s anxiety about the Church’s supposed historic antipathy towards Zionism and the State of Israel. Such amorphous perceptions are the stuff of the Middle Eastern scene, which is a mirage built on sand, an ocean of propaganda, designed to conceal the drive for domination. Are there any grounds for Israeli suspicions that the Church has looked for a greater role in Israel/ Palestine without announcing it, and that it has been hostile to and worked to undermine Israel? Church policy towards Israel can always be presented by the Vatican in terms of true Christian concern; but the question here is: what do Jews see, and how do they see it?
Aquinas and the Academic Life
Authors: Davies Brian
Published: July 2007

In a book on Aquinas and beauty, Fr Armand Maurer starts with an apology. For, so he notes, ‘we look in vain in the immense body of Aquinas’s writings for a detailed and comprehensive treatment of beauty’. In general, says Maurer, ‘Thomas seems to have given short shrift to beauty or to have avoided it altogether’. And I might say something similar when it comes to Aquinas and the academic life. In his writings, the word ‘academic’ occurs in two allusions to St Augustine’s Contra Academicos. Otherwise, it is not to be found at all whether as a noun or as an adjective. There is a common 16th and 17th century English use of ‘academic’ according to which someone academic is a disciple of Plato. But Aquinas is heavily critical of Plato. And he has no treatise on the nature and purpose of centers of higher learning and the like. No work of his remotely corresponds to studies such as Cardinal Newman’s The Idea of a University.

I might add that some famous academics have been throughly skeptical of Aquinas’s own academic value. He is often presented as an important philosopher. But was he? Not, for example, according to Bertrand Russell. As Russell himself put it: ‘There is little of the true philosophical spirit in Aquinas. He does not, like the Platonic Socrates, set out to follow wherever the argument may lead ...
The Role of Affectivity in the Theology of Yves Congar
Authors: Flynn Gabriel
Published: July 2007

Yves M.-J. Congar (1904-1995) was the foremost French theologian of the twentieth century. The severe trials to which he was subjected by Roman Catholic Church authorities, notwithstanding, Congar loved the Church. As he explained to Jean Puyo in 1975: I am of the Church. I love the Church.’ This love is based on a simple yet profound truth that he recognised the Church as the Mother, the hearth and the homeland of his spiritual being. Congar’s love for the Church, motivated by his love for Christ, is situated in the wider setting of his love for humankind. It is difficult to avoid an admiration for his shrewd insistence on the need to locate the maternal and fraternal dimensions of the Church’s nature, seen as perfectly compatible, in a communion ecclesiology. A communitarian, ecclesial milieu is correctly identified as essential for the formation of Christians:

Maternal, the Church is also fraternal. It is a fraternity. The two qualities are perfectly compatible, evangelically speaking, because in the spiritual plan, they are united in communion: as in a text like Matthew 12. 50 (Mark 3. 35; Luke 8. 21). Better: it is the fraternity which exercises here a maternity, as it is said so often by Saint Augustine and many others. This does not take away anything from a particular paternity of priests and pastors who can say with Saint Paul: ‘It is I who, through the gospel, begot you in Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 4. 15). This signifies that if, taken individually, we are sons of the Church, we form collectively or rather as a community, this ecclesial milieu which we have seen is the generator and educator of Christians.
Amartya Sen: “The Conscience of Economics” A Brief Outline of his Thought
Authors: Booth Edward
Published: July 2007

It is impossible to evaluate Sen’s thought in terms of pure economics, because his humanism takes his thought into other domains, including philosophy, political theory, sociology and demography.

Born in 1933 into a Hindu academic family in Dhaka, before it became the capital of Bangladesh, he studied at the universities of Calcutta and Cambridge, before teaching in Indian and American Universities, and then at Oxford, before returning to Cambridge on being elected Master of Trinity College. This factual curriculum vitae gives little indication of his taking, from the beginning, a standpoint by which he was perfectly at home in all these settings, creative and judicious in every sphere he entered. In his considerable list of puuheauons, some or modest iength, others originally papers or lectures being quite short, and in innumerable articles, one is conscious of a mind which searches out the roots of questions and their interconnections, expressing them in limpid English prose. Sensitive, though not always formally so, to the philosophical dimensions of the material, the resultant thought has a sapiential quality, in which it approximates, for example, to that of the late Belgium Louvain economist, Fernand Baudhuin. One thinks especially of the latter’s Déontologie des Affaires (Louvain 1960). The latter’s range was primarily Western Europe, with extensions mainly into more Eastern Europe and the United States; Sen’s range is world-wide, equally at home in the problems of developing India, of famine-struck Africa, as with those of Western Europe, North America and Asia. He often uses the human factors which accompany the rise of the post-war Japanese economy as a yard-stick to measure the problems of the aging economies of the older industrialised nations.
The ‘Holy Land’, Zionism, and the Challenge to the Church
Authors: Prior Michael
Published: July 2007

The ‘Holy Land’ is of particular interest to Christians everywhere, an interest intensified whenever they read their Bibles. There God intervened in human history through his dealings with the Israelites, and in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified and raised in, and ascended from Jerusalem, and it was there also that the Holy Spirit descended on the Church.

There has been, of course, an unbroken Christian community in the land from the beginning, and it was those residing there who were the architects of a Christian ‘Holy Land’. But Christians outside also have their interests. Well before Constantine, Palestine was a place of pilgrimage. In the middle of the second century, Melito of Sardis went to establish accurately the books of the Old Testament’, and to examine the relevant places. Others went ‘for the sake of the holy places’, and ‘to trace the footsteps of Jesus’, and pray. Some stayed, living piously near the sites. Nevertheless, however important, the Holy Land never attracted more than a handful of (affluent) pilgrims from abroad, and the practice of pilgrimage was virtually moribund by the end of the eighteenth century. As we shall see, Western interests from then went beyond the religious.
A Plea in Favour of a Vulnerable Peace
Authors: Lascaris Andrew
Published: July 2007

The fall of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11th last year shattered the confidence of many people in the security of modem society. Modern society was supposed to guarantee a safe and happy human existence. It promised solutions of difficult problems through its impressive technological developments, it protected the individual against arbitrary decisions of government through its democratic institutions and kept poverty away thanks to the benefits of the free market economic system. The western world looked like a rather peaceful world, apart from some small pockets of violence such as Northern Ireland, the Basque country and Cyprus, and, at the edge of the western world, Israel and Palestine. Democratic states do not make war against democratic countries. It is difficult to count wars for it depends how one defines a war, but since the Second World War almost all the wars in the world were civil wars.

The destruction of the Twin Towers showed how vulnerable modern society is. Individuals and small groups can terrorize a neighbourhood, a community, or a state by killing key figures in society, by attacking power stations and destroying vital communication systems. In all those cases the use of rather simple weaponry suffices. There is no foolproof protection possible against those who carry a bomb on their body to make it explode on a market place, near a power station or a TV station. While in the 19th century churches often were the target of terrorist attacks and of mob violence, at present banks and large commercial buildings are the sacred places that symbolize the value system of society and thus are attacked.
God's presence in an open society
Authors: Bauer Christian
Published: July 2007

On September 14th a central memorial ceremony was held in the New York Yankee Stadium: a multireligious, patriotic liturgy at whose centre stood the American star-spangled banner. This religious dramatisation of the Stars and Stripes in those days of terror proves that September 11th was at least a matter of religion: a matter of a violence of religious origin, whose trail of blood runs from Manhattan via Kandahar to places which are not yet known. Once religion comes into play, there is a need to criticise its potential malignancy, so that people are able to get out of the vicious cycle of religious violence. One year after September 11th these theological theses would like to contribute to the project of shedding light upon this ‘depraved part’ of all religions by emphasising eight basic differences which constitute religion and cause its characteristic dangers. Therefore current terms are to be used against their everyday usage in a strictly formal sense as instruments for analyzing sacred and profane phenomenons of religion.

In their everyday life, people experience the power of the Holy as something extraordinary, that magically attracts them and repels them at the same time—but never lets them go. It is precisely this inescapable difference which constitutes religion, at the centre of which, according to Rudolf Otto’s classic definition, there is the mysterious experience of a ‘mysterium fascinosum, tremendum et augustum’. September 11th revealed this constitutive ambivalence of the Holy, because it unveiled the double face of religion: the face of mighty violence, embodied by the pilots of death, and the face of powerless hope, embodied by the New York firemen.
How theology can be made simpler
Authors: Norman Ralph
Published: July 2007

When we theologians interpret the great teachings of traditional Christianity — the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the two natures of Christ, for example — it often appears that our task is a very difficult one. What I mean is that when we think about the three-in-oneness of God we tend to presuppose that this three-in-oneness is a mathematical absurdity, and when we think about the two natures of Christ we almost instinctively presuppose that we are thinking about a self-contradictory nonsense. This is because whereas it is normal to say that 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, we seem to be saying something that contradicts this when we say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are God. Absurdly, we insist that ‘these three are one’. And whereas we know that squares cannot be circles, we seem to be saying something like this when we say that Jesus Christ is simultaneously God and man. Such doctrines confront us as difficult riddles that need to be solved, problems that need to be cracked. We presuppose that Christian doctrine is, in one sense or another, intellectually outrageous; we think that it is essentially paradoxical, and we think that it provides a challenge to human reason. And because theology spends its time dealing with confusing and bewildering paradoxes it seems appropriate that theology itself is understood to be something that is very difficult to do.
A Heart Close to Cracking: Preachers Resurrecting the Body in a Roman Catholic Crisis of Plausibility
Authors: Heille Gregory
Published: July 2007

On 6 January 2002, the Boston Globe revealed that the Archdiocese of Boston (since 1980) and its archbishop Cardinal Bernard F. Law (since 1984) had repeatedly reassigned the priest John J. Geoghan from parish to parish, in spite of numerous complaints and reports and repeated psychological treatment for sexually abusing children.1 This essay invites theological reflection on the themes of sexuality and power as they pertain to the ecclesiastical crisis that this story represents and on resurrection preaching at a time of ecclesiastical implausibility.

Sexuality, Power, and a Crisis of Plausibility

As clear as we must be that paedophilia and ephebophilia are about power (“power over”) at least as much as they are about sex, we must also be clear that the crisis of plausibility on the part of the Catholic bishops in the United States, as they presently are perceived by both civil society and the believing church, is also about power. For some twenty years, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has surrendered its internal authority to the controlling authority of the Roman Curia over a wide spectrum of issues ranging from liturgical practice, to the role of women and laity in Church governance and ministerial practice, to a Catholic understanding of sexual anthropology and theology. What twenty years ago could be characterized as a collegial relationship of priests and people with bishops might often be described today as an adversarial relationship.
Compatibilism Irrational
Authors: O'Neill J. C.
Published: July 2007

That the two theses of compatibilism (free will; determinism) are incompatible is hard to show. However, compatibilists always incorporate three irrational moves into their arguments, by committing an endless regress, by begging the question, by asserting without evidence. Each of these moves can be shown to be tolerable in the short run, but their persistence raises the probability that the arguments in which they are employed are unsound.

The supposed contradiction which incompatibilists charge compatibilists with holding is extremely difficult to discover. In the form:

1. x could have not done A

2. x could not have not done A

the contradiction holds. However, when we state the two positions more informally as

3. A person could have done other than what that person did;

4. A person’s doing what that person did is the determined result of all history combined with all the natural laws

it seems possible to formulate aspects under which both propositions hold.

The purpose of this paper is not to make yet another attempt to show that these two sentences are contradictory. The purpose is to show that compatibilism entails

(a) a vicious regress;

(b) the begging of the question of the originating power of animate beings;

(c) the assertion without evidence of the unity of physical nature according to the model of the movement of the sun and the planets.

(a) Vicious Regress

The Free Will Thesis: Causality according to the laws of nature is not the only causality needed to account for all events in the world; to understand them and to take purposive action in the face of more than one possible action, for each of which we can possibly be held responsible, we need also to assume a causality through freedom.
Integrity and Realism: Assessing John Milbank's Theology
Authors: Richardson Graeme
Published: July 2007

On the acknowledgements page of Theology and Social Theory John Milbank thanks, rather abruptly, ‘Rowan Williams, who taught me theology’. No other teacher is recognised. The formal teaching was at Westcott House, Cambridge, in the mid-70s; but there is evidence enough that the current Archbishop of Canterbury has been an abiding influence on the whole of John Milbank’s theological career. In the crowded Metro of Milbank’s footnotes, it is rare to see a face more than once; but Williams appears five times in The Word Made Strange, speaking variously of Barth, Arius, Lossky and Gregory of Nyssa. And often, Milbank’s ideas seem closely related to those of his teacher. The concept of poesis in Milbank’s ‘A Critique of the Theology of Right’ (1989) - ‘the ceaseless re-narrating and ‘explaining’ of human history’, a self-exceeding act — is clearly the twin of Williams’ ‘generative revelation’ — ‘events or transactions in our language that break existing frames of reference and initiate new possibilities of life’ — in his essay ‘Trinity and Revelation’ (1986). But this example serves not just as a demonstration of Williams’ influence on Milbank; it also shows how Milbank overtakes his teacher, tackling on a grand scale ideas that are in Williams rather tentative. For Milbank, the idea that somehow Christian experience generates its own momentum of truth contributes to the overthrow of Kantian transcendentalism; for Williams, the same sort of idea provides ‘a way of thinking’ about the Spirit’s work in the church. Milbank’s theological ambition seems much greater than Williams’.
“Haloes even in Hell”: Chesterton's Own Private “Heresy”
Authors: Schall James V.
Published: July 2007

“Philosophy is merely thought that has been thought out …. What do modern men say when apparently confronted with something that cannot … be naturally explained? Well, most modern men immediately talk nonsense. When such a thing is currently mentioned, in novels or newspapers or magazine stories, the first comment is always something like, ‘But, my dear fellow, this is the twentieth century.’ It is worth having a little training in philosophy if only to avoid looking so ghastly a fool as that. It has on the whole rather less sense or meaning than saying, ‘But, my dear fellow, this is Tuesday afternoon.’ If miracles cannot happen, they cannot happen in the twentieth century or in the twelfth. If they can happen, nobody can prove that there is a time when they cannot happen.”

G. K. Chesterton, “The Revival of Philosophy – Why?”

The Common Man (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1950). 177.

“When I fancied that I stood alone, I was really in the ridiculous position of being backed up by all Christendom. It may be, heaven forgive me, that I did try to be original; but I only succeeded in inventing all by myself an inferior copy of the existing traditions of civilized religion. The man from the Yacht thought he was the first to find England; I thought I was the first to find Europe. I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.”

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy.

Collected Works (San Francisco: Ignatius, [1908] 1986), I, 214. Italics added.
From Head‐trip to the Virtues
Authors: Bishop Jordan
Published: July 2007

The modern tradition in ethics has been under attack since the publication of Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue.’ One of the more fascinating aspects of all this is that the demise of virtue ethics, in the sense discussed by Professor MacIntyre, had relegated ethics to a peripheral question discussed by Aristotle in Book VII of the Nicomachean Ethics.

It is there that Aristotle considers what most translators have rendered as “continence” and “incontinence”, enkrateia and akrasia, although one can also describe the enkratic man as disciplined. Mostly applied to question of temperance, enkrateia involves imposing the judgement of reason on unruly passions. Aristotle notes “we must now discuss incontinence and softness (or effeminacy) and continence and endurance; for we must treat each of the two neither as identical with virtue or wickedness, nor as a different genus.” (Bk. VII, Ch. 1: 1145a35). If we are tempted, as people used to say, to do something foolish or wicked, but realize that it is foolish or wicked and overcome the impulse by the imposition of reason, we are enkratic. Reason has prevailed. Yet this is not, according to Aristotle, a question of virtue. It is something less.
Language and Theology in a Postmodern Age
Authors: Danaher James P.
Published: July 2007

The scientific mentality that demands warrant for all our beliefs permeates all of modem thinking. Of course, at the base of all those beliefs for which we demand evidence are more fundamental beliefs that are simply acquiesced in because they are part of our culture. They are the things that few of us scrutinize, but they have enormous influence upon the beliefs and doctrines that we do scrupulously think about.

This is especially true in the area of theology where theological doctrines are greatly affected by more fundamental notions of things like good and evil, sin, love, happiness, etc. We spend time debating and developing our theological doctrines but take for granted that we have correct ideas of what is good or evil — that we know what sin or love is — but do we? In fact, the notions most of us have of such things are simply unreflectively acquired through our experience as individuals and members of a language community and culture. My language community and culture taught me to understand such things in certain ways, and then my individual experience moulded my understanding without much reflection. But, although acquired unreflectively, these basic notions which have such an enormous influence upon our theology are philosophically loaded concepts. Although we take them for granted and treat them ‘as if’ they were somehow God-given, they in fact represent the philosophical views of the culture we were born or educated into.
On the representation of evil in modern literature
Authors: Horne Brian
Published: July 2007

In a society such as our own (I am thinking particularly of Western European society) that sees little need for postulating the existence of God and no longer lives by specifically religious rules and rituals, it would seem that human intention and action could be quite adequately explicated in the language of ethics rather than theology : the opposite of good, consequently, is not evil, it is bad, that is to say, bad in the sense of being wrong morally, of willing and acting in ways that are in opposition to an accepted moral standard. The fact that it may be difficult to establish widely accepted moral standards does not invalidate the principle. When the word evil is used—and, of course, it is used—its semantic content is vague, or, if clear, then reductive, by which I mean that, more often than not, it acts merely as a kind of intensifier—so that, when one wants to express extreme outrage at an action of gross immorality, the word one reaches for is the word evil; but there would be no qualitative difference between a wrong action or intention and an evil action or intention. Given the nature of the relationship between art and its cultural context it would not be unreasonable to expect the literature of our own era to reflect this situation and, indeed, it would be surprising if it did not. We should expect the representation of evil in modem literature to take on an extremely etiolated and reductive form. But does it?
Cooperation of two carotene desaturases in the production of lycopene in Myxococcus xanthus
Authors: Iniesta Antonio A. , Cervantes María , Murillo Francisco J.
Published: July 2007

In Myxococcus xanthus, all known carotenogenic genes are grouped together in the gene cluster carB–carA, except for one, crtIb (previously named carC). We show here that the first three genes of the carB operon, crtE, crtIa, and crtB, encode a geranygeranyl synthase, a phytoene desaturase, and a phytoene synthase, respectively. We demonstrate also that CrtIa possesses cis‐to‐trans isomerase activity, and is able to dehydrogenate phytoene, producing phytofluene and ζ‐carotene. Unlike the majority of CrtI‐type phytoene desaturases, CrtIa is unable to perform the four dehydrogenation events involved in converting phytoene to lycopene. CrtIb, on the other hand, is incapable of dehydrogenating phytoene and lacks cis‐to‐trans isomerase activity. However, the presence of both CrtIa and CrtIb allows the completion of the four desaturation steps that convert phytoene to lycopene. Therefore, we report a unique mechanism where two distinct CrtI‐type desaturases cooperate to carry out the four desaturation steps required for lycopene formation. In addition, we show that there is a difference in substrate recognition between the two desaturases; CrtIa dehydrogenates carotenes in the cis conformation, whereas CrtIb dehydrogenates carotenes in the trans conformation.
Consumer's Responses to the Potential Use of Bovine Somatotrophin in Canadian Dairy Production
Authors: Kuperis P. A. , Veeman M. M. , Adamowicz W. L.
Published: July 2007

The responses of a random sample of consumers to the use of recombinant somatotrophin (rBST) in milk production were elicited using a stated preference methodology. A conditional logit model of consumer choice was developed and tested to analyze consumers' choices of milk with varying characteristics of fat content, price, freshness and rBST treatment. Welfare calculations for a representative consumer indicate welfare losses with the introduction of rBST. Welfare losses were slightly less for a male than a female household food purchaser and were less for food purchasers with higher levels of income and education. There was a small welfare gain when the representative food purchaser was offered a full range of “rBST” and “wn‐rBST” milks. The resiilts suggest that making appropriately labelled “rBST‐free” milk available to consumers could decrease consumer welfare losses associated with the introduction of rBST in Canada.

Nous avons évalueé par une méthodologie des préférences déclarées les réponses d'un panel de consommateurs choisis au hasard envers l'utilisation de somatotropine bovine recombinante (rBst) dans la production laitière. Un modèle logit conditionnel des choix du consommateur est testé pour analyser les choix à la consommation à l'égard de laits de divers niveaux de teneur en matière grasse, de prix et de fraîcheur et provenant ou pas de vaches traitées à la rBst. Les coûts sociaux pour le consommateur représentatif font voir des pertes éonomiques avec l'introduction de la rBst. Ces pertes étaient légèrement moins importantes lorsque l'acheteur d'aliments pour le ménage était un homme plutôt qu'une femme ou que son niveau d'éducation et de revenu était plus élevé. On observait un léger avan‐tage économique lorsque le pourvoyeur du ménage représentatif avait accès à toute la gamme des laits avec et sans rBst. Il ressort de ces observations qu'une indication Claire de l'absence de rBst dans le lait sur l'étiquette des produits offerts à la consommation pourrait diminuer les pertes économiques résultant pour le consommateur de l'introduction de la rBst au Canada.
Implications of Realization Uncertainty on Random Utility Models: The Case of Lottery Rationed Hunting
Authors: Akabua Kojo M. , Adamowicz Wiktor L. , Phillips William E. , Trelawny Peter
Published: July 2007

Conditional multinomial logit (MNL) models are often used to estimate the value of nonmarket resources under the assumption that consumer choices will be realized with certainty. The conditional MNL may not be appropriate when choices made may not be realized with certainty, such as when rationing mechanisms are used as a means of managing nonmarket resources. Two models that address this issue, developed by Boxall (1995) and Rouwendal (1989), are compared here to estimate welfare measures for moose hunting in Newfoundland. The results from these two models differ significantly from the results of a simple conditional MNL model.

Les modèles logit multinomiaux conditionnels (MNL) sont souvent utiliés pour calculer la valeur de ressources non marchandes, dans une hypothèse de départ voulant que les choir du consommateur sont assurés d'être réalisés. Ce genre de modèle peut toutefois ne pas convenir lorsque les choix fait ne sont pas assurés d'être pleinement réalisés, comme dans les cas où des mécanismes de rationnement sont imposés comme moyen de gérer ces ressources non marchandes. Nous comparons deux modèles conçus et mis au point, l'un par Boxall (1995), l'autre par Rouwendal (1989), pour estimer les mesures des effets socio‐économiques d'une réglementation de la chasse de l'orignal a Terre‐Neuve. Il apparaêt que ces deux modèles aboutissent à des résultats significativement différents de ceux obtenus par un modèle MNL conditionnet simple.
Genetically Modified Foods: Consumer Issues and the Role of Information Asymmetry
Authors: Hobbs Jill E. , Plunkett Marni D.
Published: July 2007

Consumer attitudes towards genetically modified foods (GMFs) differ widely, particularly between North America and Europe. Information asymmetry, incomplete information and uncertainty arise as a result of concerns over GMFs. This paper explores the evolution of consumer attitudes towards genetically modijed foods in Europe and in North America and discusses a number of private market and public policy solutions to the problems of imperfect information and uncertainty. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research.
Public Policy in the 21st Century: Is Prairie Agriculture Becoming Like Any Other Industry? Does it Matter?
Authors: Stabler Jack C. , Olfert M. Rose
Published: July 2007

The question addressed in this paper is whether Prairie agriculture has become “like any other industry”. The implication is that a positive response would lead to the conclusion that it should therefore be treated “like any other industry” rather than being accorded the special status that it has enjoyed for more than a century

We show that, as net farm incomes have declined over the past 35 years, Prairie farmers have responded by seeking other (non‐farm) sources of income. At the time of the 1996 census, net farm income accounted for only 31 percent of farm family income (down from 75 percent in 1967). By 1999, the contribution of net farm income was even lower than in 1996

In spite of the dwindling contribution of net farm income to farm family income, average farm family income in Saskatchewan has exceeded average provincial household income for all but two years between 1971 and 1998, Under these circumstances, it is necessary to ask why it is in the public interest to subsidize an activity which, in recent good times, produced 31 percent of the income of a subset of the population whose household incomes were 10–15 percent above the provincial average

Based on income levels, it is probably no longer necessary to accord farm families special status in the public policy arena. However, other policy considerations (immobility of resources, the role of agriculture in the rural economy, environmental considerations, food safety and security, for example) remain, differentiating agriculture from other industries
Twenty‐three Centuries of Chinese Trade
Authors: Calkins Peter H.
Published: July 2007

One cover of the Economist magazine in November, 1999 proclaimed “China Opens Up”. This paper argues that that assertion is most likely wrong, and not for the first time. In fact “China Closes Down” would be a more representative title for most of the last twenty‐three centuries. For China, international commerce has always been less important than geopolitical influence; and self‐sufficiency has meant avoiding reliance on outsiders to save face. These tendencies are as true today as they have been throughout history. Therefore, one should not overestimate the trade impacts of China's possible inclusion in the World Trade Organization. For China, entry into the WTO would be primarily a diplomatic victory in the “two‐China” context with Taiwan, much along the lines of mainland China's membership in the United Nations. China will thus likely continue to strive for maximum self‐sufficiency, particular in foodgrains
Adoption of Biotechnology in Thailand and the Threat of Intellectual Property Piracy
Authors: Kerr William A. , Yampoin Revadee
Published: July 2007

The King, upon a representation from His Subjects in the West Indies, that the introduction of the Bread Fruit Tree among them would be a Universal good to constitute an article of food…

I was therefore directed to sail forthwith … for the Society Islands …

And there … to procure of the Natives as many Plants as I could stow on board Ship.

… I was to proceed … to St Vincent, one of the Windward Islands, and depositing One Half of my Plants there, I was to go immediately to Jamaica.

William Bligh

Captain of HMS Bounty, 1789
A Transaction Cost Primer on Farm Organization
Authors: Allen Douglas W. , Lueck Dean
Published: July 2007

Agricultural economists, with their knowledge of farming, are well positioned to take advantage of the fertile ground of economic organization. The transaction cost paradigm is particularly useful in addressing such questions and is outlined in this paper. The overriding theme in the transaction cost approach is that patterns of ownership and contracts are chosen to mitigate transaction costs, which result from attempts to establish and maintain property rights. In agriculture, transaction costs are heavily influenced by Mother Nature. Nature's uncertainty, via weather and pests, leads to moral hazard and seasonal forces impose constraints on production cycles that are not often found in the production of most other commodities. Applications in land contracts, asset control, and business organization are discussed.
Prose, Psychopaths and Persistence: Personal Perspectives on Publishing
Authors: Pannell David J.
Published: July 2007

The process of attempting to publish a paper in a refereed journal can be rather stressful. This paper presents a number of personal reflections on the publishing process, with the aim of helping aspiring journal authors to appreciate the nature of the challenge, and some of the requisites for success. The challenges in dealing with referees include the element of luck involved in securing sympathetic referees, the poor quality of the reports prepared by some referees, and the slowness of the review and editorial process. A number of examples from my experiences in agricultural economics journals are presented. These reveal that one of the most important characteristics that a journal author needs is persistence.

Publier un article dans un périodique scientifique s'avère parfois une tâche éprouvante. L'auteur nous fait part de ses réflexions sur le monde de l'édition, le but étant d'aider les auteurs en herbe à apprécier la nature du défi et de comprendre certaines conditions préalables au succès. Trailer avec un comité de lecture anonyme suppose une certaine intervention du hasard. En effet, il faut non seulement dénicher des lecteurs bienveillants mais aussi composer avec la piètre qualité de certains comptes rendus et la lenteur du processus de lecture et de correction. Suivent maints exemples tirés de périodiques d'économie agricole. Ces exemples révèlent qu'une des principales qualités des auteurs d'articles pour périodique scientifique est la ténacité.
Cost Minimization and Managing Soil Nutrient Loading: Conflict or Compromise?
Authors: Stokes Jeffrey R. , Tozer Peter R.
Published: July 2007

The consolidation of agricultural operations over time has led to fewer, larger farms. For livestock operations, this consolidation has also led to higher animal concentrations and a greater incidence of production externalities. While nitrogen leaching problems are relatively well documented, phosphorus runoff is fast gaining attention as the next big nutrient‐related environmental problem associated with large, highly concentrated livestock operations. One approach for managing soil nutrient loading on dairy farms is for farm or feed mill operators to better manage what they feed livestock. The results suggest that, at typical feed prices, slight reductions in nitrogen loading and significant reductions in phosphorous loading can be accomplished with minimal increases in the cost of dairy rations. An important implication of these results is that the model can be used as a performance standard to help producers and feed millers determine the cost and level of nutrient reduction that are possible. The approach also suggests which ingredients could be most problematic relative to nutrient excretion goals.

Avec le temps, la consolidation des activités agricoles a donné naissance à des exploitations plus vastes mais moins nombreuses. Dans le secteur de l'élevage, cette consolidation a aussi débouché sur une plus grande densité de la population animale et une incidence plus marquée des coûts de production externes. Si l'on possède une documentation relativement abondante sur la lixiviation de l'azote, celle du phosphore attire de plus en plus l'attention, car on y voit le prochain problème majeur de pollution associé aux grands élevages à forte concentration d'animaux. Une façon d'aborder la surcharge des sols en éléments nutritifs dans les fermes laitières consiste à amener les producteurs ou les fabricants d'aliments du bétail à prêter une plus grande attention à ce qu'ils donnent aux animaux. Les résultats de l'étude laissent croire qu'au prix typique des aliments pour animaux, on pourrait réduire légèrement la charge d'azote et sensiblement celle de phosphore en majorant de façon minime le prix des rations pour bovins laitiers. Ces résultats impliquent notamment qu'on peut se servir du modèle comme norme de rendement afin d'aider les producteurs et les fabricants d'aliments àétablir la réduction de la concentration des éléments nutritifs réalisable et son coût. Cette méthode indique aussi quels ingrédients soulèveraient le plus de difficultés en regard des objectifs d'excrétion des éléments nutritifs.
Can Normality of Yields Be Assumed for Crop Insurance?
Authors: Atwood Joseph , Shaik Saleem , Watts Myles
Published: July 2007

Normality of crop yield residuals pooled to the state and regional level is examined using a procedure that accounts for trend and heteroscedasticity. Normality tests are conducted using farm‐level yield data from over 200,000 producers of six crops in seven U.S. states. The results indicate consistent non‐normality of crop yields. The effects of assuming normality on insurance premium rates are examined. Assuming normality is found to generate premiums that can differ substantially from premiums derived using data‐based empirical distributions.

Montana Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series No. 2001‐7. The Risk Management Agency, USDA, also provided support for this research. The views expressed herein are the authors' and do not necessarily represent those of Montana State University or the Risk Management Agency.

Les auteurs ont analysé la normalité du rendement résiduel des cultures à l'échelon de l'État et à l'échelon régional au moyen d'une méthode tenant compte des conjectures et de l'hétéroscédasticité. Ils ont utilisé les données sur le rendement fournies par plus de 200 000 cultivateurs produisant six cultures dans sept États américains pour effectuer des tests de normalité. Les résultats révèlent l'anormalité constante des rendements. Les auteurs s'interrogent sur les conséquences d'une normalité hypothétique sur les primes d'assurance. En supposant des rendements normaux, on obtient des primes sensiblement différentes de cedes calculées avec une distribution empirique des données.
Television Advertising and Beef Demand: Bayesian Inference in a Random Effects Tobit Model
Authors: Benson Jeremy T. , Breidt F. Jay , Schroeter John R.
Published: July 2007

A number of recent empirical studies have generated skepticism about the effectiveness of generic advertising for beef. One of these studies, Jensen and Schroeter (1992), examines data collected from a panel of households in a carefully designed experimental test of television advertising. The present paper undertakes a reexamination of the Jensen and Schroeter data with two significant improvements in method. First, the analysis disaggregates beef purchases into three product types (ground beef steaks and roasts) and assesses advertising's impact on the demand for each type separately. Second, the present analysis uses an improved econometric method: Bayesian inference in a random effects Tobit model. Inference is based on simulations of a posterior distribution using Gibbs sampling and data augmentation. As far as advertising's effects are concerned, the results of this analysis reaffirm the Jensen and Schroeter finding: The experimental television advertising campaign was not effective in increasing household purchases of beef.

Plusieurs études empiriques récentes ont soulevé le doute quant à l'efficacité de la publicité générique sur le bœuf. Celle de Jensen et Schroeder (JS), notamment, portait sur les données recueillies auprès d'un groupe de ménages dans le cadre d'une expérience bien conçue sur la publicitéà la télévision. Les auteurs réexaminent les données de cette étude en apportant deux améliorations majeures à la méthode utilisée. En premier lieu, leur analyse désagrège les achats de bœuf en trois (viande hachée, biftecks et rôtis) et évalue l'impact de la publicité sur la demande de chaque produit. Deuxièmement, l'analyse repose sur une meilleure méthode économétrique, à savoir l'inférence bayésienne dans un modèle Tobit à effets aléatoires. L'inférence s'appuie sur la simulation d'une distribution postérieure par échantillonnage de Gibb et enrichissement des données. En ce qui concerne l'incidence de la publicité, cette nouvelle analyse confirme les constatations de l'etude JS, soit que la campagne expérimental de publicitéà la télévision n'entraîne pas une hausse des achats de bœuf par les ménages.
Relationship Between the −374T/A Receptor of Advanced Glycation End Products Gene Polymorphism and Peritoneal Solute Transport Status at the Initiation of Peritoneal Dialysis
Authors: Maruyama Yukio , Numata Miwako , Nakayama Masaaki , Matsuo Nanae , Nordfors Louise , Hosoya Tatsuo , Lindholm Bengt
Published: July 2007

Abstract:  An increased peritoneal solute transport rate (PSTR) at baseline is well known to be associated with decreased patient and technique survival in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). Recently, angiogenesis has been recognized to be associated with PSTR and peritoneal deterioration. To investigate genetic variations in genes related to angiogenesis, 30 incident PD patients were studied. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and the receptor for advanced glycation end product (RAGE) were analyzed by the pyrosequencing method. The dialysate‐to‐plasma ratio of creatinine (D/P Cr) obtained from a peritoneal equilibrium test (PET) during the first 12 months after initiation of PD was used for a marker of PSTR. The D/P Cr was assessed both as a continuous and as a categorical variable including high (H), high‐average (HA), low‐average (LA), and low (L). Baseline D/P Cr was 0.645 ± 0.083. The RAGE −374 TA genotype had a significantly lower prevalence of the H/HA transporters than the TT genotype (20% vs 63%; P = 0.03). Genetic polymorphisms of the VEGF and eNOS were not associated with initial peritoneal transport type. The RAGE polymorphism may have a considerable effect on the basal PSTR. Further studies will be needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Evaluation of the Hemodialysis‐induced Changes in Plasma Glucose and Insulin Concentrations in Diabetic Patients: Comparison Between the Hemodialysis and Non‐hemodialysis Days
Authors: Abe Masanori , Kaizu Kazo , Matsumoto Koichi
Published: July 2007

Abstract:  Often, well‐controlled plasma glucose levels but high hemoglobin A1c levels have been observed at prehemodialysis in diabetic patients. The present study aimed to evaluate this difference between fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c levels. We investigated hemodialysis‐induced alterations in the plasma glucose and insulin levels. Based on their glycemic control level at inclusion, subjects were divided into poor control (hemoglobin A1c≥7.0%; n = 8) and good control groups (hemoglobin A1c <7.0%; n = 8). We measured their plasma glucose and immunoreactive insulin levels at arterial and venous sites at three time points (predialysis, 2 h and 4 h after starting dialysis); we also studied their daily plasma glucose profiles. In both the groups, the V‐site plasma glucose and immunoreactive insulin levels were significantly decreased compared to the A‐site levels at each time point. The A‐site plasma immunoreactive insulin levels 4 h after dialysis were significantly decreased compared to the levels 2 h after dialysis. Comparison between hemodialysis and non‐hemodialysis days revealed that the plasma glucose levels decreased significantly during hemodialysis and significantly increased between predinner and bedtime in the poor control group. The present study confirmed that hemodialysis decreased the plasma glucose and immunoreactive insulin levels. In the poor control group, hyperglycemia appeared posthemodialysis; this was attributed partly to the hemodialysis‐induced decrease in the plasma immunoreactive insulin levels. These results suggest that although diet therapy has been effective in diabetic hemodialysis patients, hemodialysis caused hyperglycemia by absolute or relative plasma immunoreactive insulin deficiency.