The Supply Chain Management for Perishables Products : A Literature Review

In recent years, food loss has emerged as a global concern, with research indicating that between 20% to 60% of total production is lost within the food supply chain. Consequently, both researchers and practitioners have increasingly directed their attention towards maximizing the availability of food products for society. As a result, researchers have employed various operations research tools to optimize the food supply chain and facilitate decision�making processes. This paper aims to provide a literature review of modeling and optimization approaches in perishable supply chain management, with a specific focus on minimizing losses throughout the supply chain. Our primary emphasis is on perishable foods, and we analyze selected research papers based on their objectives, employed models, and solution approaches. Through our research analysis, we identify potential avenues for future research in the field of perishable products supply chains, with the overarching goal of reducing losses along the entire supply chain

Do better journals publish better estimates?

Are estimates typically closer to the true parameter value when those estimates are published in highly-ranked economics journals? Using 14,387 published estimates from 24 large literatures, we find that, within literatures, the mean and variance of parameter estimates have little or no correlation with journal rank. Therefore, regardless of what the true parameter value is that a literature is attempting to estimate, it cannot be that estimates in higher-ranked journals are on average noticeably closer to it. We discuss possible explanations and implications

A Short History of the Great Depression in Bulgaria

The paper aims to synthesize the causes and factors that have given specific shape to the Great Depression in Bulgaria, its manifestation in the country (Part 1), its phases and forms (Part 2), as well as the subsequent structural change and trajectory of the Bulgarian economy and society (Part 3). We present the major economic ideas as well as the debates that accompanied them. We argue that the overall dynamic of the causes, phases, and consequences of the Great Depression has an internal logic and causal consistency

Policy Design from a Network Perspective: Targeting a Sector, Cascade of Links, Network Resilience

Drawing on input-output data, a computational methodology is proposed to: (i) characterize the upstream and/or downstream network of a targeted (or prioritized) sector i, (ii) uncover the cascade of layers of links in the network constructed, and (iii) measure the degree of network resilience using edge betweenness centrality measure of edges between communities. These objectives are accomplished through three complementary algorithms. The implementation of the algorithms is illustrated using Turkiye’s 2018 input-output production network. Ways to design policies are discussed from a network perspective. The key findings are three-fold. First, in network-based policy design, it is highly critical to consider the interdependencies of regulated and seemingly competitive sectors. Efficiencies gained in liberalized markets via pro-competitive PMR can easily be wasted before final consumers benefit from them as regulated industries may exercise their market power to confiscate part of the efficiency gain created in competitive markets. Improved competition in a single market may not generate the desired outcome even if competition policies perfectly support that market because benefits from competition may not spread over the rest of the network due to disruptions in the cascade of interdependencies concerned. Second, a network-based policy design should start with the identification of the “dominant” source and the “subordinate” sink sector(s), and those in between. The source−sink structure of Turkiye’s manufacturing network illustrates that the manufacturing sector is the most dominant, whereas telecommunications and transport, energy and construction sectors are the potential sinks where large chunk of input flow ends up. Agriculture, finance and oil extraction-mining seem to be interactive sectors. Third, the cascade of three layers of links are identified, and the upstream network of the manufacturing sector is found to have a mediocre level of resilience against the complete disruption of the intermediate layer of the network

Monetary Approach to Balance of Payments: Empirical Evidence from ECOWAS Countries

The study primarily presents a critical and imperative analytical framework, accentuating the intricate interplay between the demand for money and the supply of money in shaping the economic equilibrium of the balance of payments (BOP). The focal point of this paper involves a meticulous examination of the monetary perspective regarding the BOP within the ECOWAS countries spanning the temporal domain from 2005 to 2019. This investigation is accomplished through the adept utilization of the second-generation unit root tests, namely the Common Augmented Dickey-Fuller (CADF) test and the Cross-sectional Augmented IPS (CIPS) test, alongside the comprehensive Westerlund cointegration test to ascertain the enduring nexus existing within the examined series. By adopting the dynamic homogeneous panel estimator, this study conducts an exhaustive scrutiny of both the short-term and long-term dynamics. The empirical findings, gleaned from the Pooled Mean Group analysis, unveil the pivotal role of monetary variables in determining BOP. In the medium and extended temporal spectra, ameliorations in domestic credit within the ECOWAS region are juxtaposed with a concomitant decline in net foreign assets, thus manifestly contributing to the deterioration of the BOP milieu in the aforementioned zones. Furthermore, a parallel analysis divulges a counteractive relationship between economic growth and inflation with net foreign assets in the short run, while this association transforms a synergistic correlation over the long haul. Conversely, the money supply engenders a positive and consequential influence on net foreign assets, evinced across both the transient and enduring periods. Essentially, the research findings substantiate the veracity of the monetary approach within the purview of the zones under contemplation. Consequently, monetary variables wield substantial and pronounced impacts on the BOP, with an escalating BOP, forth as a harbinger of enhanced equilibrium within the zones' balance of payments framework. Concerning policy implications, the underlying study underscores the monetary approach as an adept and fitting strategy, elucidating the notion that an outsized BOP deficit could potentially foster an environment conducive to the propagation of excessive domestic credit. Knowledge obtained from this research will go a long way in helping policy formulation and will also help the region in ensuring smooth developments in the external sector especially during the implementation of monetary policy

Economic anthropology insight: Narratives of livelihood exploration from fieldwork experience in Goderich-Sierra Leone

This research, which was qualitatively pursued through means of participant observation study has made it possible for thought-provoking views to be explored as a way of understanding the reason(s) for people adopting livelihood diversification strategies. Field exercise pursued in Goderich has provided a simplified narrative of its historicity and concerns about diversity and risk associated with livelihood choices. The study outcome shows that the pursuit of exploring livelihood choices can have a detrimental impact on the environment owing to voracious activities like sandmining and stone-quarrying people utilise to sustain lives. The study concludes, with proffered suggestions about the need for efforts in building transforming structures through effective regulations or policies to minimise environmental landscape degradation, which also has implications for climate change. The study outcome also recommends the embracement of strategies to improve well-being, incorporating various attributes aimed at combating vulnerabilities associated with the depletion of livelihood assets in Goderich

The effects of deferred action for childhood arrivals on labor market outcomes.

I study the effects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) on labor market outcomes among potentially eligible immigrants. DACA allowed undocumented immigrants to participate in the labor market without fear of deportation, which might be expected to increase the probability of working and allowing workers to move to higher-skilled occupations. However, using a regression discontinuity design, I find very little to no effects on the probability of working and the likelihood of working in high skilled jobs among DACA-eligible immigrants. The confidence intervals permit modest effects on these variables, but rule out large ones. Overall, my results suggest that temporary legal status had limited effects for DACA-eligible individuals

Constructing a house price misalignment indicator: revisited and revamped

This paper replicates and augments a multiple indicator approach of Schneider (2013) and Lenarčič and Damjanović (2015) of the aggregate house price misalignment indicator with the intention of showing the under- and over-valuation in house prices in Slovenia with respect to economic fundamentals. The updated indicator incorporates a subset of underlying indices that better appropriate the post-Covid period. The main findings are that during the 2004-2008 economic boom period the aggregate misalignment indicator clearly indicates a significant over-valuation in house prices in Slovenia. Similarly, another boom(-ish) period is also observed from 2020 on until the present day, but not to the same extent as before. On the other hand, during the second phase of the global financial crisis there was an abrupt correction in house prices

Estimating Madagascar economic growth using the Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) approach

In this document, we introduce a forecasting model for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to estimate the economic growth of Madagascar in 2022. Normally, important macroeconomic variables are reported at different frequencies. For instance, GDP and foreign trade figures are typically provided on a quarterly and monthly basis respectively. However, traditional econometric models necessitate data to be harmonized to a common frequency by aggregating at the highest available frequency, which is known as temporal aggregation. Nonetheless, this approach has a disadvantage of losing information. Consequently, we propose the Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) method as an alternative

Cognitive Aging and Labor Share

Labor share, the fraction of economic output accrued as wages, is inexplicably declining in industrialized countries. Whilst numerous prior works attempt to explain the decline via economic factors, our novel approach links the decline to biological factors. Specifically, we propose a theoretical macroeconomic model where labor share reflects a dynamic equilibrium between the workforce automating existing outputs, and consumers demanding new output variants that require human labor. Industrialization leads to an aging population, and while cognitive performance is stable in the working years it drops sharply thereafter. Consequently, the declining cognitive performance of aging consumers reduces the demand for new output variants, leading to a decline in labor share. Our model expresses labor share as an algebraic function of median age, and is validated with surprising accuracy on historical data across industrialized economies via non-linear stochastic regression