bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A delicate managerial challenge: how cooperation and integration affect the performance of NPD teams
Authors: Kratzer Jan , Leenders Roger Th.A.J. , Van Engelen Jo M.L.
Published: March 2004

Multifunctional teams have become commonplace in new product development (NPD) endeavors. Knowledge on the functioning of such teams, however, remains little. In this article two major principles about how these teams function are investigated, team cooperation and team integration. A theoretical discussion indicates that there is not a clear‐cut way to manage team cooperation and team integration in order to achieve high performance. The management of these principles in NPD teams is rather a delicate managerial challenge. These theoretical considerations are statistically examined then. The results show that both team cooperation and team integration are inversely U‐shaped related to NPD team performance. In managerial terms the results imply that creating the right level of team cooperation and team integration managers have to balance their actions between two extremes. The article finishes by presenting opportunities how to do so.
Organizational culture, group diversity and intra‐group conflict
Authors: Chuang You‐Ta , Church Robin , Zikic Jelena
Published: March 2004

Past research on group diversity tends to overlook organizational contextual and group process variables. Although recent studies have revealed the main effects of group diversity on intra‐group conflict, it is important to examine the contextual factors reducing or facilitating those effects on intra‐group conflict. This paper presents a conceptual analysis and research proposals that build on past research on intra‐group conflict and organizational culture to examine the relationships between organizational culture, intra‐group conflict, and group diversity. The paper proposes that organizational cultural intensity and content have direct impact on intra‐group conflict and moderate the relationship between group diversity and intra‐group conflict, depending on the degree of value congruence and the value content shared among group members.
Team building and team working
Authors: Stewart Bob , Powell Sarah
Published: March 2004

Presents an interview with Bob Stewart, an independent consultant specializing in courses and lectures on leadership, motivation, ethics, crisis management, negotiation, planning and tactics. Drawing on his military experience, covers such areas as the most significant attributes of an effective leader, the need for flexibility and the challenges posed in terms of leading and motivating teams. Finally, discusses his role within Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs Corporate Division and the Foundation of The Leadership Backbone.
Using information to create business value: City of London legal firms, a case study
Authors: Broady‐Preston Judith , Williams Tegwen
Published: March 2004

This paper reports the results of a research project undertaken in 2002, examining the degree to which organisations use information to create business value in a sample of law firms in the City of London. A range of small, medium and large firms were surveyed and managers with strategic responsibility for information flow were interviewed. Results indicate that information is perceived as a valuable asset by law firms, although few could offer hard evidence to support such assertions.
The quality assurance of Healthinfo4u: a Web‐based Internet resource for the lay public
Authors: Beard Jill , de Vekey Jane
Published: March 2004

Describes how the British Library Co‐operation and Partnership Programme and a consortium led by Bournemouth University funded a research study to work with public libraries to enhance access to quality‐assured health information for the lay public. The study ran between July 2001 and March 2003. The resulting demonstrator product was Healthinfo4, a unique Web‐based resource developed and designed specifically for the lay public. Focuses on how the internal and external quality assurance and evaluation of the research study was achieved
A Waste of Space? Towards a Critique of the Social Production of Space…
Authors: Unwin Tim
Published: March 2004

This paper outlines a framework for a critique of Henri Lefebvre's notion of the social production of space, undertaken around five intersecting themes: language and meaning, the separation of space and time, the processes of production and construction, empowerment and value, and space and place.
Proletarianization in the Industrial Revolution: Regionalism and Kinship in the Labour Markets of the British Coal Industry from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries
Authors: Langton John
Published: March 2004

Were labour markets highly segmented or well integrated in the past?  Do they become better integrated over time as modem economic growth unfolds?  These are important questions.

(Hatton and Williamson 1993, 89)

Profits depend on successful responses to prices in commodity and factor markets, which did not exist before capitalism. Entrepreneurs are most likely to succeed if they operate in perfect markets. In the labour market this requires flexibility: the capacity to treat labour like a commodity, hiring and firing atomized individuals in numbers and at wages appropriate to prices in other markets. Flexible labour supplies characterized periods of rapid economic growth in history. However, labour proletarianization was historically and geographically varied. Even in principle, because labour is not a true commodity, the market on which it is supplied must be imperfect. In practice, imperfections were massive in the coal industry in the industrial revolution because pre‐existing workers' cultural traits survived and evolved. A range of examples shows that this ensured wide regional variations in the responses of heavily segmented labour markets as coal output grew, which ramified into other segments of regional labour markets. A more detailed case study shows that south‐west Lancashire colliers controlled recruitment through family labour groups and kinship networks; labour was not available in atomized units. Women miners made the region's labour market distinctive, with marked cultural and political effects beyond the coal industry and that region. Because it brought rapid demographic growth, family labour recruitment aided the expansion of production. It ensured a large reserve army if growth slowed, even if demand for labour was rising outside mining. Although it did not promote technological innovation and therefore increased wages and profits in the long run, this imperfect labour market initially benefited development by providing a particular kind of labour‐market flexibility in the coal industry.
Geographical Scale, the ‘Feel‐Good Factor’ and Voting at the 1997 General Election in England and Wales
Authors: Tunstall H , Rossiter D J , Pattie C J , MacAllister I , Johnston R J , Dorling D F L
Published: March 2004

Many analysts associate voting patterns in Great Britain with electors' evaluations of the state of the economy, whereby those who think it has improved recently are likely to vote for the government's return to power, whereas those who think it has worsened are more likely to vote for an opposition party. Most of these studies consider the national economy only, but data derived from the 1997 British Election Study cross–sectional survey show strong relationships between votes and evaluations of recent changes in the electors' (self‐defined) home areas. This paper relates those evaluations, and the resultant voting patterns, to the ‘objective circumstances’ in the respondents' home areas, using unemployment rates as an indicator of local economic well‐being. Using specially devised data for ‘bespoke neighbourhoods’ around each respondent's home, we show that the probability of a vote against the government was a function of both ‘objective conditions’ and ‘subjective evaluations’, and that there were significant scale effects in this: people apparently reacted to very local variations when making their voting decisions.
Governmentality and the Spatialized Discourse of Policy: The Consolidation of the Post‐1989 NHS Reforms
Authors: Moon Graham , Brown Tim
Published: March 2004

There have been few studies of spatialized discourse within contemporary healthcare policy‐making. This paper addresses this omission, focusing on the governmental presentation of the little‐studied measures that consolidated the post‐1989 reforms of the NHS in England and Wales, and culminated in the Health Authorities Act 1995. A short section places these measures in context and outlines their main components. An analysis of key documents and parliamentary exchanges is then used to show how spatialized language was central to the presentation of policy and its debate in parliament. In particular, the paper demonstrates how nuanced conceptions of space‐ and territorially‐led service management provide a flexible basis for presenting notions of power and control. This ‘spatio‐linguistic strategy’ is located theoretically within the concept of governmentality.
Witness Intimidation, Forced Migration and Resettlement: A British Case Study
Authors: Fyfe Nicholas R , McKay Heather
Published: March 2004

Situated within the context of geographical research on forced migration, this paper focuses on the experiences of prosecution witnesses who have had to flee their homes because of life‐threatening intimidation. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with witnesses, it examines the nature of the threat they were under, their decision to leave home, their life in temporary accommodation and their experiences of permanent resettlement away from the danger area. The paper highlights the impact of intimidation and forced migration on witnesses' personal geographies and, in particular, their sense of ontological security and self‐identity.
A River Runs Through It: Morphological and Landowner Sensitivities Along the Upper Missouri River, Montana, USA
Authors: Darby Stephen E , Thorne Colin R
Published: March 2004

Landowners along the Missouri River in Montana believe that the operation of Fort Peck Dam has initiated bank erosion, thus threatening agricultural development within the region. Their concerns have been heightened by proposals to increase discharge in order to enhance fisheries and wildlife interests. Geomorphological evaluation indicates that bed degradation and bank erosion have declined since construction of the dam, and the channel is now approaching dynamic equilibrium; public sensitivity to the proposed change is greater than the morphological sensitivity of the river. Sustainable management of the Missouri is now based on strategies that place more emphasis on partnership with local citizens.
Organizing European Labour: Governance, Production, Trade Unions and the Question of Scale
Authors: Sadler David
Published: March 2004

This paper addresses two main debates: the recent geographical literature on trade union strategy and structure, and contemporary accounts of European labour market governance. Geographers have begun to take notice of organized labour just as it has faced a series of unprecedented challenges, which are partly derived from ongoing changes in the organization of production. In interpreting these debates I focus on the process of scaling – the ways in which the politics of labour market governance are constituted in, and are at the same time constitutive of, one geographical scale or another. These issues are explored through two key recent developments: the changing status of the European Trade Union Confederation, and the creation of European Works Councils. The ETUC and EWCs are particularly significant because they pose a challenge to existing arrangements, and potentially enable a re‐configuration of the relation between capital and labour at different scales. I conclude that further exploration of European labour geography could re‐connect the diversity of forms of organization of production with the scope and potential of trade union strategy; and that thinking in terms of scale is useful because it highlights the significance of both political and relational issues.
Disease, Social Identity, and Risk: Rethinking the Geography of AIDS
Authors: Craddock Susan
Published: March 2004

The emergence of new diseases and the re‐emergence of ‘old’ diseases necessitates a relook at what shapes vulnerability to ill health. A framework is proposed that combines a realist approach to mapping vulnerability with feminist and post‐structural approaches that focus more attention upon the role of social identities and cultural framings of disease. Too often investigations of disease focus either upon structural determinants of risk such as political policy and the economy, or on discursive definitions of disease that impact its experience. A combination of these approaches would result in a more effective framework for evaluating vulnerability, and subsequently for generating effective disease prevention strategies. The social, economic, political, and cultural context of HIV/AIDS in Malawi is given as an illustration of this framework.
A Critique in Search of a Corpus: Re‐visiting Governance and Re‐interpreting Urban Politics
Authors: Ward Kevin G
Published: March 2004

One of the most profound changes of the last two decades has been in the form and the function of local government. Its role as part of the local state has been challenged through the re‐scaling and re‐configuration of many of its aims. This paper examines the growth of business sector involvement and the ascendancy of the partnership model in urban development, as part of an analysis of the changes and the continuities that stretch across the local government – local governance conceptualization of political relations. I start the paper with a discussion of the main issues in the local governance literature as a precursor to a commentary onImrie and Raco's (1999) recent paper, ‘How New is the New Local Governance? Lessons from the United Kingdom’. The wider literature is drawn upon to discuss some of the theoretical approaches used to analyse this much‐vaunted transformation and three key themes are used to structure the remainder of the paper. I argue that Imrie and Raco caricature the work of other academics in order to make their claims over omissions from the literature. In doing so, they ignore or under‐play how state restructuring and the logic of capital has often been the object of analysis, rather that the voluntarist incorporation of business élites into the local governing apparatus. Using empirical examples from three English cities I argue that while, on the one hand, their examples are revealing and serve to sensitize current debates around governance, the state and regulation, on the other hand, there is still a need to interpret these ‘local’ politics within a broader and more scale‐sensitive framework and in more abstract terms. This demands a clear distinction between local governance as a concept, and its investigation in an empirical way.
Geographies of Industrial Convergence: The Case of Retail Banking
Authors: Leyshon Andrew , Pollard Jane
Published: March 2004

This paper considers the relationship between space, place and the convergence of industrial structures and organizational forms by way of an analysis of the retail banking industry in the USA and the UK. The paper examines this process from two theoretical positions. It does so firstly by viewing the process of convergence through the analytical lens of political economy, which looks for explanation in broad structural forces, such as changes in regulatory space and pressures on profitability. The paper then goes on to draw attention to some of the limitations of interpretations of this kind by drawing attention to the importance of place‐based evolutionary economic change, and the ways in which conventions of industrial restructuring are transmitted over space. By way of illustration the paper focuses upon the organizational and practical implications of the implementation of two banking technologies: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) and telephone banking. In doing so, the paper calls for accounts of economic change to pay attention to the rich histories of industrial sectors and for a more active account of economic change which pays attention to the ways in which outcomes are produced through the mixing and borrowing of technologies and practices through space and over time.
Demutualization and the Remapping of Financial Landscapes
Authors: Martin Ron , Turner David
Published: March 2004

Over the past two decades, financial landscapes everywhere have undergone intense change. Together, deregulation, technological innovation and globalization have transformed financial markets, institutions and products, creating new geographies of money in the process. This paper examines one particular aspect of this remapping, namely the demutualization of building societies in the United Kingdom. Born out of the friendly society movement of the nineteenth century, building societies have traditionally been quintessentially local, non‐profit organizations taking interest‐bearing deposits from, and providing long‐term mortgage loans to, their local members. Their mutual status derived from this ‘ownership by members’. As the British Conservative governments of the 1980s pushed through their programme of financial deregulation, so the opportunities were created for the building societies to ‘demutualize’, that is to abandon their traditional ‘member‐owner’ status, to float themselves on the Stock Market, and to convert to banks. Since 1989, five of the largest building societies (with assets rivalling those of the major banks) have demutualized. Our aim in this paper is to examine this demutualization process, its impacts and its tensions. In many ways it is an inherently geographical phenomenon, not only by virtue of the different membership geographies of the societies that have floated, but also because of its implications for the localized nature of the building society movement as a whole. Adopting an institutionalist perspective, we trace the regulatory and financial developments that created the opportunities for demutualization. We then move on to show how demutualization has shifted the ownership of the societies away from localized memberships to institutions based in London. By allocating free shares to their members, demutualization created a potentially important mechanism for spreading share‐ownership across the population and regions, but the evidence suggests that this impact has been more limited than perhaps expected, and that significant numbers of shares have been transferred into London‐based financial institutions. The paper concludes by tracing the potentially destabilizing impact of demutualization on the remainder of the local building society movement.
Offshoreness, Globalization and Sovereignty: A Postmodern Geo‐Political Economy?
Authors: Hudson Alan
Published: March 2004

Processes of globalization rework sovereignty as the ordering principle of the international political economy, creating new geographies of power. Such a reworking is most apparent offshore, a site where sovereignty is unbundled. The principle of sovereignty is maintained in the offshore financial centres' legal sovereignty but relinquished in terms of their fiscal powers. This unbundling articulates the state system and the capitalist economy. Such an unbundling is possible because sovereignty is based upon property rights. Changes in the practices and understandings of property rights change the meaning of sovereignty, altering the principle of differentiation which shapes the international political economy. In this way, the paradoxical marginality and centrality of offshoreness to the dynamics of the international political economy is explained.
Feminism and the Spaces of Transformation
Authors: Robinson Jenny
Published: March 2004

Feminist political theory draws on particular spatial imaginations in elaborating a politics of transformation. This paper establishes this in relation to two familiar accounts of feminist transformation – those of Judith Butler and Luce Irigaray. Respectively I read their work as suggesting that transformation of gender relations takes the form of ubiquitous revolution, taking place everywhere, or a distant dream of an (im)possible future – elsewhere. The paper then turns to discuss the work of Julia Kristeva, often dismissed as not feminist and conservative. I read her work politically, within the frame of feminist theory. She offers a different, heterogeneous account of transformation, as both possible in the present and also limited by the existence and need for social and symbolic orders. In exploring the heterogeneous spatial imagination of her work, the paper suggests that the spatialities of abjection are diverse and productive. Abjection is not simply about devising territories and borders. Moreover, dominant spatialities cannot be described as simply masculine. Finally, drawing links with Lefebvre's account of representational spaces, I argue that Kristeva's work can be extended to inform our understanding of how spaces themselves can be transformed.
Towards the Geographies of the 2001 UK Census of Population
Authors: Martin David
Published: March 2004

A single geographical base has traditionally been created for each census of population in the United Kingdom, aimed primarily at organizing the enumeration task. The subsequent use of this enumeration geography for diverse purposes has been problematic but unavoidable. This paper examines how new digital spatial data and GIS technology are making possible the creation of separate geographies of the 2001 Census for data collection, validation, output, specification and use. The paper explores the implications of these changes for the development of a national spatial data infrastructure and for geographical research involving the census more generally.
Of Vines and Policy Vignettes: Sectoral Evolution and Institutional Thickness in the Languedoc
Authors: Jones Alun , Clark Julian
Published: March 2004

We argue that the search for rural regimes in particular localities can be usefully advanced through the deployment of a sensitive and suitably nuanced conceptualization of institutional thickness. Empirical validation of this theoretical framework with reference to Languedoc viticulture offers substantial evidence of the interdependency between regime building maintenance and stability, and local institutional integrity. The theoretical framework developed here, based on the notions of consensus and concrete institutions, also provides an analytically rigorous approach for understanding the complex rescaling of the political economy of rural governance, not least by offering some indication of the scalar rationale for consensus compatibility and partnership building between elites situated at different politico‐geographic scales. We contend that an understanding of this shared logic of action among local and extra‐local administrative and political elites is crucial to the restructuring process unfolding in European rural regions.
Mutuality, De‐Mutualization and Communities: The Implications of Branch Network Rationalization in the British Building Society Industry
Authors: Marshall J N , Willis R , Coombes M , Raybould S , Richardson R
Published: March 2004

The paper examines the withdrawal of branches from local communities by financial institutions. It assesses whether mutually owned building societies are more adept than the former societies that have converted to public limited companies (plcs), or the high street banks, in serving disadvantaged communities. The paper shows that during the mid‐1990s: mutual building societies were more likely than former societies that have converted to plcs to maintain their branch network; mutual societies were less likely than banks to withdraw from socially deprived locations and more likely to open branches in such places; differences between mutual societies and convertors are less marked, but mutual institutions appear less likely than convertors to close branches in deprived communities. Among the remaining mutual building societies there are differences of perspective, with more commercially‐minded societies less positive than socially‐concerned mutuals about the need to maintain or even expand branches in disadvantaged areas.
Transpennine: Imaginative Geographies of an Interregional Corridor
Authors: Hebbert Michael
Published: March 2004

The Pennine Chain is the most significant physical constant in the economic and administrative geography of England. It is crossed perpendicularly by the densely urbanized belt lying between the estuaries of the Mersey and Humber. The paper attempts to conceptualize this transpennine space in terms of a shared textile history, a common upland heart, a transport corridor, an axis of solidarity in the economic geography of the north‐south divide, a European trade route, an environmental artwork. The paradox that European INTERREG funding has facilitated transpennine thinking at a time when institutional factors are reinforcing the watershed, leads to a conclusion which looks forward.
One Europe or Many? Reflections on becoming European
Authors: Hudson Ray
Published: March 2004

Europe is being re‐defined as a result of the combined effects of a complex set of processes. What sort of Europe is emerging from them? What criteria are being deployed to define Europe, Europeans and Europeanness and their respective boundaries? Such questions are considered via exploring a number of themes about and through Europe. They centre on the ways in which, and criteria by which, geo‐political and economic spaces in Europe have been defined and divided. These practical cartographic processes are linked to changes in systems of, and the construction of new scales of, governance and regulation. As both supra‐nationalism and the emergence of an EU ‘super‐state’ and sub‐nationalisms challenged the authority of the national state, new multi‐scalar complex systems of governance and regulation resulted. These in turn are related to questions of singular and multiple identities, discussing these in the context of the possibilities for the emergence of a European civil society. Recognizing that the future map of Europe will not be determined by Europeans alone, the legacies of the division within Europe between NATO, the Warsaw Pact and neutral states and implications of the neo‐imperialist geo‐political ambitions of the USA state and military‐industrial complex are then explored. Finally, some conclusions are drawn.
Myth of the Triad? The Geography of Trade and Investment ‘Blocs’
Authors: Poon Jessie P H , Thompson Edmund R , Kelly Philip F
Published: March 2004

The notion that the world is increasingly divided into a triad of economic regions based on North America, the European Union and Japan has become a form of conventional wisdom across a range of disciplines. However, despite the near ubiquitous use of the idea of a triadized world, it remains a somewhat normative assertion, the empirical existence of which has yet to be demonstrated. By using the intramax method to analyze the intensity of international trade and foreign direct investment flows during 1985 and 1995, we examine the changing shape of trade and investment ‘blocs’ globally. We find that while international trade is increasingly organized around fewer world regions, the presumed outcome of a triad‐based world economy remains questionable. We further show that investment intensity patterns do not currently conform to any bloc‐like formation, but exhibit instead, globally diffused network regions.
Reconstructing the Space‐Time Structure of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic for the Countries of Western Europe
Authors: Thomas Richard
Published: March 2004

This paper applies a compartmental epidemic modelling system to the estimation of HIV infection transfers between the nations of Western Europe for the period 1973–98. This multiregional model imitates the formation of disease contacts by both local and international travel, where the latter is assumed to have the lower sensitivity to the effects of spatial separation. This system is calibrated in two stages: first, disease parameter sets are found to best fit the timing of recorded AIDS incidence in each nation; and second, these sets are entered into a multiregion setting to identify the travel parameters that support the lags between these series. The outputs include estimates for the first year of HIV incidence in each country and the subsequent pathways of infection transfer that connect these dates. The results indicate the contrasting roles of the southern and northern countries within the continental epidemic and point to national variations in the recent delaying effects on AIDS incidence of drug combination therapies.
The Scale of Dissimilarity: Concepts, Measurement and an Application to Socio‐Economic Variation Across England and Wales
Authors: Voas David , Williamson Paul
Published: March 2004

The paper considers the scale – the measure, extent, and dimension – of uneven distributions in space for a wide range of census variables. While the traditional ‘index of dissimilarity’ is affected by random as well as social factors, a solution presented here allows the index to be calculated even for very small populations. Small areas across England and Wales tend to be fairly similar demographically but quite diverse on ethnic and socio‐economic measures. Differences between areas become more noticeable as we move from districts, to wards, to enumeration districts, but the rate of differentiation depends heavily on the variables considered.
Pension Exclusion in Grey Capitalism: Mapping the Pensions Gap in Britain
Authors: Sunley Peter
Published: March 2004

The switch in Britain's pension policy towards private funded schemes and a liberal style of state regulation have exposed variations in individuals’ ability and willingness to undertake pensions saving. This paper focuses on the patterns of exclusion and the geographies of pension consumption created by this reform. It argues that there are new patterns of pension provision which have important but neglected spatial dimensions. First, it shows that widening inequality among current pensioners involves a North‐South divide in income and benefit take‐up. Second, private second tier pension coverage, especially the take‐up of personal policies, is found to be lower in areas with lower levels of income among existing pensioners. The paper considers whether the Government's new stakeholder pensions are likely to be able to fill this pensions gap.
Space Against Time: Competing Rationalities in Planning for Housing
Authors: Murdoch Jonathan
Published: March 2004

Foucault's understanding of government as the ‘conduct of conduct’ is adopted in order to investigate how the state ‘governs at a distance’ across space and through time. Rationalities and techniques of governance are identified as the main means by which the state establishes ‘networks’ across the domains to be governed. The effort required to keep the networks in place is emphasized and it is indicated that conflict can emerge around the rationalities and techniques that underpin governmental networks. A case study examining how conflict unfolds is outlined drawn from the planning‐for‐housing sector in England. It is shown that governmental rationalities associated with ‘developmentalism’ are coming into conflict with those associated with ‘sustainable development’. It is argued that a new rationality of government is thus beginning to recast the networks of planning and that this rationality privileges space over time.
Incentive‐Compatible Pollution Control Policies under Asymmetric Information on Both Risk Preferences and Technology
Authors: Peterson Jeffrey M. , Boisvert Richard N.
Published: March 2004

This article proposes a method to accommodate asymmetric information on farmers' risk preferences in designing voluntary environmental policies. By incorporating stochastic efficiency rules in a mechanism design problem, the government can find incentive‐compatible policies by knowing only the general class of risk preferences among farmers. The model also accounts for hidden information on technology types and input use. The method is applied empirically to simulate a pollution control program in New York. Results suggest that participation incentives would be inadequate for many risk‐averse producers if the government does not account for the diversity in risk preferences.
Revealing Preferences for Leisure Time from Stated Preference Data
Authors: Larson Douglas M. , Shaikh Sabina L. , Layton David F.
Published: March 2004

When consumer choice is constrained by time as well as money, willingness to pay can be defined with respect to either numeraire. The two measures can be related formally within a utility‐consistent model of choice subject to two constraints. Furthermore, when information is collected on both, the respondent's marginal value of time can be identified. A system of willingness to pay time and money and the marginal value of leisure time is estimated jointly in an application to California whalewatching and whale stock enhancement. The empirical approach can be applied with only minor additions to survey techniques for nonmarket valuation.
Productivity and Land Enhancing Technologies in Northern Ethiopia: Health, Public Investments, and Sequential Adoption
Authors: Ersado Lire , Amacher Gregory , Alwang Jeffrey
Published: March 2004

The adoption of more efficient farming practices and technologies that enhance agricultural productivity and improve environmental sustainability is instrumental for achieving economic growth, food security, and poverty alleviation in sub‐Saharan Africa. Our research examines the interaction between public investments, community health, and adoption of productivity and land enhancing technologies by households in the northern Ethiopian state of Tigray. Agricultural technology adoption decisions are modeled as a sequential process where the timing of choices can matter. We find that time spent sick and opportunity costs of caring for sick family members are significant factors in adoption. Sickness, through its impact on household income and labor allocation decisions for healthcare and other activities, significantly reduces the likelihood of technology adoption. Our findings suggest that agencies working to improve agricultural productivity and land resource conservation should consider not only the financial status of potential adopters, but also their related health situation.
A Composed‐Error Model for Estimating Pest‐Damage Functions and the Impact of the Western Corn Rootworm Soybean Variant in Illinois
Authors: Mitchell Paul D. , Gray Michael E. , Steffey Kevin L.
Published: March 2004

We describe a composed‐error model for estimating pest‐damage functions. The composed‐error model, originally developed to account for statistical noise when estimating technical efficiency, removes the effect of experimental errors when estimating the variance of yield loss from pest damage. As a result, the estimated variance of yield loss is often less than for a conventional model, which has economic implications when the analysis incorporates risk aversion. We find that, depending on the level of risk aversion, the western corn rootworm soybean variant reduces farmer certainty‐equivalent returns 16–26% more with a conventional model than with the composed‐error model.
Risk and the Value of Bt Corn
Authors: Hurley Terrance M. , Mitchell Paul D. , Rice Marlin E.
Published: March 2004

A conceptual model is developed to evaluate the effect of Bt corn on risk. Results highlight the importance of distinguishing between marginal and aggregate risk effects and demonstrate that the effect of Bt corn on risk depends crucially on the price paid for the technology. Empirical results show that, depending on the price, Bt corn can be marginally risk increasing or decreasing and can either increase or decrease corn acreage. Also, depending on the price, Bt corn can provide a risk benefit to farmers, even when Bt corn is risk increasing.
Optimal Sharing of Foodborne Illness Prevention between Consumers and Industry: The Effect of Regulation and Liability
Authors: Roe Brian
Published: March 2004

Consumers and the food industry can both prevent foodborne illness. Two questions are explored: what is the socially optimal level of preventative effort by each and can tort and regulatory instruments induce such behavior? Analysis is complicated by two aspects of food safety technology: one party's effort can affect the marginal effectiveness of the other party's effort and damage functions can be nonconvex. Previous analysis of accidents under torts and regulation fails to consider these generalizations. Indeed, results concerning the ability of tort and regulatory instruments to induce first‐best and second‐best behavior often contradict previous results in the literature.
The Cost Effectiveness of the U.S. Export Enhancement Program Bonus Allocation Mechanism
Authors: Wang Humei , Sexton Richard J.
Published: March 2004

The U.S. Export Enhancement Program is evaluated from the perspective of the cost effectiveness of its bonus allocation mechanism. The current mechanism resembles a discriminatory‐price, common‐value auction. However, auction theory suggests that a discriminatory auction may not be optimal in this setting for several reasons. This article evaluates the current format relative to an alternative, uniform‐price auction. Estimation results reveal evidence of strategic bidder behavior under the current format and simulations suggest that adopting a uniform‐price auction format for bonus allocation may yield considerable savings to the Treasury by eliminating incentives to pad bids and increasing participation in the auction.
Experimental Auction Procedure: Impact on Valuation of Quality Differentiated Goods
Authors: Lusk Jayson L. , Feldkamp Ty , Schroeder Ted C.
Published: March 2004

Despite increased use of experimental auctions, a myriad of different procedures are being employed without formal consideration of how the procedures might affect results. This study investigates the effect of several procedural issues on valuation estimates from experimental auctions. Results indicate the second price auction generates higher valuations than English, Becker—DeGroot—Marschak (BDM), and random nth price auctions, especially in latter bidding rounds, and that random nth price auction yields lower valuations than English and BDM auctions. We find that endowing subjects with a good prior to eliciting bids can have an impact on valuations, but the effect varies across auction mechanism.
Crop Insurance Valuation under Alternative Yield Distributions
Authors: Sherrick Bruce J. , Zanini Fabio C. , Schnitkey Gary D. , Irwin Scott H.
Published: March 2004

Considerable disagreement exists about the most appropriate characterization of farm‐level yield distributions. Yet, the economic importance of alternative yield distribution specifications on crop insurance valuation has not been well documented. The results of this study demonstrate that large differences in expected payouts from popular crop insurance products can arise solely from the parameterization chosen to represent yield distributions. The results suggest that the frequently unexamined yield distribution specification may lead to economically significant errors in crop insurance policy rating and assessment of expected payouts from policies.
Aggregation in Area‐Yield Crop Insurance: The Linear Additive Model
Authors: Ramaswami Bharat , Roe Terry L.
Published: March 2004

Previous analyses of area yield crop insurance have used a linear additive model (LAM) to express the relationship between individual and area yield. However, the theoretical foundations of the LAM are unknown. This shortcoming is addressed by establishing two conditions linking microvariables and LAM parameters. The conditions relate to the interaction of risks in individual technologies and the extent of aggregation. If systemic and individual risks are additive in individual yields, and if the law of large numbers hold, then the LAM obtains. This article also shows how departures from these conditions affect the results derived from a LAM analysis.
Fractional Integration in Agricultural Futures Price Volatilities
Authors: Jin Hyun J. , Frechette Darren L.
Published: March 2004

This article tests whether the volatility of agricultural futures prices exhibits fractional integration. Volatility series were constructed for fourteen agricultural futures price series with over 5,300 observations per series. The volatility series exhibit strong long‐term dependence, which is an indicator of fractional integration. A fractional integration model, FIGARCH(1, d, 1), performs significantly better than a traditional volatility model, GARCH(1,1), in modeling agricultural futures price volatility.
Consistency in Mixed Demand Systems: Contingent Valuation and Travel Cost Data
Authors: Cunha‐e‐Sá Maria A. , Ducla‐Soares Maria M. , Nunes Luís C. , Polomé Philippe
Published: March 2004

In contrast to previous literature, we propose a consistency test that does not impose any particular common functional form for the preference structure underlying the travel cost (TC) and contingent valuation (CV) models. We derive testable consistency conditions between TC and CV data in the context of mixed demand systems when valuing changes in environmental quality. These conditions are a subset of the rationality conditions. The proposed consistency tests are implemented combining TC and CV data. The empirical results show that it is possible to combine stated TC and CV, but not revealed TC and CV data.
A Diagrammatic Exposition of Weak Complementarity and the Willig Condition
Authors: Smith V. Kerry , Banzhaf H. Spencer
Published: March 2004

This article provides a graphical explanation for one of the most important restrictions to utility functions used in revealed preference approaches for measuring the demand for public goods and product quality—weak complementarity. It also describes how the Willig condition is an important element along with weak complementarity in measuring Hicksian consumer surplus for changes in public goods or quality using Marshallian demand curves.
Are Choice Experiments Incentive Compatible? A Test with Quality Differentiated Beef Steaks
Authors: Lusk Jayson L. , Schroeder Ted C.
Published: March 2004

This study compares hypothetical and nonhypothetical responses to choice experiment questions. We test for hypothetical bias in a choice experiment involving beef ribeye steaks with differing quality attributes. In general, hypothetical responses predicted higher probabilities of purchasing beef steaks than nonhypothetical responses. Thus, hypothetical choices overestimate total willingness‐to‐pay for beef steaks. However, marginal willingness‐to‐pay for a change in steak quality is, in general, not statistically different across hypothetical and actual payment settings.
How Productive Is Infrastructure? A New Approach and Evidence from Rural India
Authors: Zhang Xiaobo , Fan Shenggen
Published: March 2004

There have been competing arguments about the effect of public infrastructure on productivity. Level‐based and debate‐based regressions often lead to different estimates. To help reconcile this difference, this article applies the GMM method to first test for causality to check for length of lagged relationships and the existence of reverse causality before specifying a final model and deciding the estimation procedure. This approach is illustrated using a panel data set for India. The results show that infrastructure development in India is productive, providing supporting evidence to reverse the trend of declining investment in rural infrastructure.
Family Composition and Off‐Farm Participation Decisions in Israeli Farm Households
Authors: Kimhi Ayal
Published: March 2004

This article studies the relationship between the off‐farm participation behavior of farm operators and their spouses and the demographic composition of the household. We focus on farm families without parents, siblings or partners, and examine the effects of the existence of elderly children of the farm couple. We find that both the father and the mother tend to reduce their participation in off‐farm work as the number of elderly children rises. This result holds even after controlling for observed characteristics. We also find that the effect of elderly children stems from considerations related to both farm production and household production.
Renewable Resources with Endogenous Age Classes and Allocation of Land
Authors: Salo Seppo , Tahvonen Olli
Published: March 2004

It is shown that if it is optimal to allocate all land to forestry, the long‐run stationary state is a cyclical solution around an equilibrium with an even timber flow. The equilibrium cycles vanish when it is optimal to allocate some fraction of land outside forestry. We present numerical examples on the transitional dynamics and long‐ and short‐run timber supply. When land conversion is costly, the cycles do not vanish and the long‐run equilibrium between forestry and agriculture is represented by a continuum.
Optimal Feedback Controls: Comparative Evaluation of the Cod Fisheries in Denmark, Iceland, and Norway
Authors: Arnason Ragnar , Sandal Leif K. , Steinshamn Stein Ivar , Vestergaard Niels
Published: March 2004

The economic efficiencies of the Danish, Icelandic, and Norwegian cod fisheries are examined. For this purpose, nonlinear aggregate models of these fisheries are constructed. Comparing the calculated optimal harvest and biomass quantities with the actual fisheries provides a measure of the degree of efficiency in these fisheries. The comparisons confirm that the cod harvesting policies of these countries have been hugely inefficient in the past. It appears that inefficiency has been increasing over the last three to four decades, even after TAC regulations replaced open access, indicating that the management policies adopted by all three countries have failed to cure overfishing.
Expression of β‐defensins in gingival health and in periodontal disease
Authors: Bissell John , Joly Sophie , Johnson Georgia K. , Organ Connie C. , Dawson Deborah , B. McCray Paul , Guthmiller Janet M.
Published: April 2004

Background:  Human β‐defensins (HBDs) are epithelial‐derived antimicrobial peptides. The expression of three HBDs (HBD‐1, HBD‐2, and HBD‐3) has been reported in oral mucosa, gingiva, and salivary glands. However, their role in protection against oral infections is not well understood. This study examined the expression of HBD‐1, HBD‐2, and HBD‐3 mRNAs in gingival health and periodontal disease.

Methods:  Gingival tissue discarded from periodontal procedures was obtained from 20 periodontally healthy and 29 periodontally diseased sites. Total RNA was isolated, and expression of β‐defensins was analyzed by both 35‐cycle and semiquantitative (25‐cycle) reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). The level of expression was assigned ordinal scores of no expression, low expression, or high expression. mRNA expression was compared between healthy and diseased groups using exact tests of homogeneity and Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel tests; associations among the variables were assessed using exact tests and Kendall's tau‐b statistic.

Results:  All 49 samples demonstrated basal mRNA expression of HBD‐1, HBD‐2, and HBD‐3. Significantly higher levels of HBD‐3 (P = 0.012) expression were found in the healthy tissues as compared to the diseased ones. There was also a suggestion of higher expression of HBD‐2 in the healthy tissues (P = 0.12). Levels of HBD‐1, HBD‐2, and HBD‐3 mRNA expression were correlated with one another (P < 0.001).

Conclusions:  High levels of HBD‐3 mRNA expression in healthy tissues suggest a potentially important protective role for defensins in the host immune response to infection by periodontal pathogens.