OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE AND ENDOGENOUS QUALITY CHOICE

This paper examines how ownership structure affects quality choice and the subsequent equilibrium outcomes within a duopoly framework. Specifically, investor owned firms and cooperatives are analyzed in a closed market setting where these firms may coexist in the economy. The conditions under which ownership structure matters are identified. We conclude that ownership structure matters if the cost of quality at farm level is fixed or if there is a variable cost exhibiting non-constant returns to scale. Two farm level cost functions, a fixed cost function that is increasing and convex in quality, and a variable cost function that is increasing and convex in quantity are analyzed. The two processing firms play a two-stage game where each of the firms produces either high or low quality goods. In the first stage they decide the level of quality to produce, and in the second stage they compete in prices. In the case of a fixed cost function only cooperatives consider the costs incurred at farm level in the first stage of the game. Hence, investor owned firms produce higher levels of qualities at lower prices and generates a larger consumer surplus than cooperatives. The high quality market share is constant in all scenarios. In the case of a variable cost function at farm level, the cooperative has a cost advantage, as the investor owned processor has to pay farm level marginal cost for all farm inputs. It is found that cooperatives generate higher levels and larger quantities of the high quality good at lower prices. This results in higher profits and a larger market share of the high quality good. The cooperative structure also generates a larger consumer surplus and a higher total welfare than the investor owned structure.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Spatial Competition and Farm Tourism - A Hedonic Pricing Model

Changes in EU agricultural policies towards additional focus on rural development issues raise questions regarding the economic impact of local/spatial competition. Traditionally, farmers have typically been price takers in markets for major agricultural products. This is, however, not necessarily true in the case of local markets for “new enterprises”. This article examines local/and spatial competition for farm tourism services, specifically “Self catering” in Sweden. The results show that spatial dependences exist and have to be considered in the econometric estimation of the hedonic pricing model. Using spatial econometrics it is shown that the price is affected by the average price, the demand for and supply of lodging in the regional market. Notable is that the results indicate that local competition has a positive effect on the price while regional competition has a negative effect. Marketing channels used as well as size and ranking of the service were found to affect the price of lodging. Diversification does not seem to positively affect prices. The findings illustrate the potential importance of local competition for rural developments studies. It also raises questions concerning policies promoting diversification and multifunctionality as a way of revitalizing urban areas.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

ESTIMATING INVESTMENT RIGIDITY WITHIN A THRESHOLD REGRESSION FRAMEWORK: THE CASE OF U.S. HOG PRODUCTION SECTOR

As the U.S. hog production sector becomes ever more specialized, the importance of capital inputs has heightened. Given that it is costly to adjust the capital stock and that the associated adjustment cost function may exhibit cost asymmetries between investment and disinvestment, profit-maximizing producers may find themselves trapped in a situation where it is neither profitable investing nor worthwhile disinvesting. This article addresses two issues related to the employment of quasi-fixed input in the U.S. hog production sector: does an inaction or sluggish regime exist in the demand for quasi-fixed input, and, if so, to what extent has this impeded adjustment in quasi-fixed input stock and, hence, hog output supply toward the long-term equilibrium levels? The conceptual framework is based on the work by Abel and Eberly and allows for the existence of an inaction/sluggish regime, alongside an investment regime and a disinvestment regime. Quarterly data from 1976 through 1999 are used to estimate the three-regime investment demand equation, treating breeding sows as the quasi-fixed input. The threshold estimation procedure recently advanced by Hansen is adopted. To provide a linkage between breeding herd investment and hog output supply, a hog supply equation, specified in part as a function of lagged breeding stock, is estimated by a least squares procedure. The dynamic recursive system of investment demand and hog supply is used to simulate the effects on breeding stock and hog supply of changes in the magnitude of investment rigidities. The econometric results strongly support the three-regime breeding herd investment model. More than 10 percent of the observations fall into the sluggish regime, indicating that this regime has occurred sufficiently often to warrant attention. The estimated rate of adjustment toward the long-run equilibrium breeding stock is 2.7 percent per quarter. The existence of a linkage between lagged breeding stock and hog supply is confirmed. Thus, the results suggest that it is important to account for investment rigidity when estimating breeding herd demand and hog supply. Simulation results indicate that the effects on breeding stock and hog supply of continued specialization in the hog production sector may not be as significant as what the hog production sector has experienced in the past decades. More importantly the simulations suggest that the impact of increasing investment rigidity is rather modest, about 3 percent at most and, thus, no policy intervention appears to be needed. However, the econometric results clearly indicate that estimates will be biased if investment rigidity is not explicitly accounted for when estimating breeding herd demand and hog supply.Livestock Production/Industries,

Strategy Synthesis for Autonomous Agents Using PRISM

We present probabilistic models for autonomous agent search and retrieve missions derived from Simulink models for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and show how probabilistic model checking and the probabilistic model checker PRISM can be used for optimal controller generation. We introduce a sequence of scenarios relevant to UAVs and other autonomous agents such as underwater and ground vehicles. For each scenario we demonstrate how it can be modelled using the PRISM language, give model checking statistics and present the synthesised optimal controllers. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations when using probabilistic model checking and PRISM in this context and what steps can be taken to overcome them. In addition, we consider how the controllers can be returned to the UAV and adapted for use on larger search areas

Sustainability assessment of economic, environmental and social impacts, feed-food competition and economic robustness of dairy and beef farming systems in South Western Europe

The objective of this study was to evaluate the sustainability of cattle systems in South Western Europe by combining life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) with assessment of feed-food competition and economic robustness. We studied three cattle systems using different proportions of semi-natural pasture, and producing either only beef or milk and beef, i.e. a dairy system with Holstein breed in the lowlands of France with 85% of the total land used being semi-natural pastures (ParSy). The functional unit for LCSA was 1000 kg protein of animal origin and the system boundary was from cradle to farmgate. The cattle production systems were assessed using 27 indicators (LCSA, feed-food competition and robustness). The results indicated that MonSy performed less well for 10 and ParSy for 14 out of the 27 indicators researched when compared to HolSy, the reference case. HolSy was less sensitive to a support payment decrease and had lower social impacts on farmers than the other two systems. MonSy had lower impacts on some environmental indicators, lower life cycle costs, lower social impacts on society, lower human edible feed conversion ratio (i.e. less feed-food competition) for fat and less sensitivity to a meat price decrease than the other two systems. ParSy had lower terrestrial and freshwater ecotoxicity, lower human edible feed conversion ratio and land use ratio for protein, lower social impact for the local community, and a higher internal rate of return than the other systems. ParSy had less sensitivity to feed and energy price increases, and increased rented land and loan interest costs than the other systems. Producing both meat and milk at the same farm increased vulnerability to economic changes. Semi-natural pasture based dairy in highland Europe needs support payments to keep the farm economically afloat in times of economic changes e.g. due to shocks

Folkets val

Denna kvantitativa teoriprövande uppsats undersöker hur ekonomisk röstning påverkar utfallet av svenska riksdagsval. Fokus ligger främst på val efter kriser eftersom det är här som ekonomin borde påverka valen mest. Undersökningar om väljarpreferenser från SOM-institutet ligger till grund för denna analys. Statistiken har sedan tabellerats och analyserats utifrån två dimensioner: samhällsmotiv kontra plånboksmotiv och retrospektiva kontra prospektiva perspektiv på ekonomin. Det mesta av den tidigare forskningen har varit på makronivå och analyserat väljarbeteende utifrån t.ex. arbetslöshet, BNP/capita och tillväxt. Vi har valt att gå ner på individnivå för att tillföra mer forskning på en nivå närmare väljarna. Vi finner att både samhällsmotiv och plånboksmotiv ligger bakom väljarnas preferenser men att det är samhällsmotiven som väger tyngst. Vi finner också att tiden före valet påverkar väljarna mer än vad de tror komma skall. Detta ligger i linje med tidigare forskning. Uppsatsen når slutsatsen att den ekonomiska röstningsteorin kan tänkas förklara valresultaten i Sverige 1994 och 2010, men att den är alldeles för enkel för att kunna förklara dagens allt mer komplexa, globaliserade ekonomi

Social life cycle assessment of Swedish organic and conventional pork production

Purpose Sustainable animal food systems are increasingly important to society. Yet for pork, the most consumed meat product in Europe, there is no social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) in the literature. The breath and complexity of social issues and lack of data makes the task challenging. This study examines the risk of negative social impacts in Swedish pork production systems and includesworkers,farmers,consumers,local community,society, andpigsas stakeholders. Methods The objective was to assess the risk of negative social impacts for the production and consumption of 1000-kg pork (fork weight-bone free meat including cooking losses) originating from two different systems: organic and conventional pork production. Relevant social sustainability issues for pork production systems were identified through a literature search and a consultative workshop with experts. A life cycle inventory was conducted to collect data for activity variables and compute Social Risk (SR), a measure of the risk of negative social impacts related to a reference (here the average European social conditions). Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) was used to obtain weights for subcategories. The SR scores and the weights were used to calculate Social Risk Time (SRT) that relates the Social Risk to the functional unit by considering the 'exposure' to the risk, and the Social Hotspot Index (SHI), which relates the SRT to the worst possible situation for that system. Results and discussion The conventional pork system had 42% of inventory indicators with SR > 0.5 and the organic pork system had 32%. For all stakeholders, thepig farmhad the largest SRT in both production systems except forworkersin the organic pork system where the soybean farmhad the largest SRT. In the conventional pork system,societyas well asfarmersat thepig farmhad SHI > 0.5 slightly, meaning performing the same as European average. In the organic pork system, SHI < 0.5 for all stakeholders and subsystems. Conclusion Swedish pork production has lower risk of negative social impacts than the average European social conditions for most of the stakeholders:workers,pigs,local community, andconsumers.Farmersandsocietyat the subsystempig farmhave the same risk of negative social impacts as the average European social conditions. Due to the dependence of the results of the chosen reference level, the reliance on certification, and the indicators included, results should be interpreted and used with care

Collaborative models for autonomous systems controller synthesis

Funding: UK EPSRC grants EP/N508792/1, EP/N007565 and EC/P51133X/1.We show how detailed simulation models and abstract Markov models can be developed collaboratively to generate and implement effective controllers for autonomous agent search and retrieve missions. We introduce a concrete simulation model of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). We then show how the probabilistic model checker PRISM is used for optimal strategy synthesis for a sequence of scenarios relevant to UAVs and potentially other autonomous agent systems. For each scenario we demonstrate how it can be modelled using PRISM, give model checking statistics and present the synthesised optimal strategies. We then show how our strategies can be returned to the controller for the simulation model and provide experimental results to demonstrate the effectiveness of one such strategy. Finally we explain how our models can be adapted, using symmetry, for use on larger search areas, and demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Estilos, Estrategias y Enfoques de Aprendizaje en Estudiantes Universitarios de Buenos Aires

Learning styles, learning strategies and learning approaches are concepts useful to analyze cognitive and metacognitive processes employed by students when they have to deal with learning activities. The learning of contents of each major in college is enabled when the proper cognitive processes required in the field are set in motion. Thus, the analysis of learning styles, strategies and approaches used by students from diverse majors in different moments of their academic pathways arises a matter of interest. 413 college students from Buenos Aires between 17 and 36 years (55.4% males; 44.6% females) participated in the study. They were attending majors such as Psychology, Physics, and Industrial Engineering. From the total sample, 203 students were freshmen whereas 210 were sophomores. Data were gathered using the locally adapted versions of Honey-Alonso’s Questionnaire of Learning Styles (CHAEA for its Spanish acronym), the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI), and The Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F). Data were analyzed by means of a MANOVA test, which showed statistically significant differences in almost every style, strategy and approach, by major. Besides findings report that freshmen use more frequently the Pragmatic Style and the Surface Approach than sophomores from the same major. An interaction between major and the degree of advance in the academic pathway on the dependent variables was observed as well. In sum, differences in cognitive and metacognitive processes by major and by degree of advance in the academic pathway of students accounts evidence in this case. This information appears to be useful for universities, educational specialists and psychologists, leading to the design of special programs such as adapting teaching methods to the requirements and necessities detected, special training for students in terms of styles, approaches and strategies, and tutorial systems to improve learning in college. Estilos, estrategias y enfoques de aprendizaje son constructos que posibilitan conocer los procesos cognitivos y metacognitivos que utilizan los estudiantes para aprender. El aprendizaje de los contenidos de cada carrera universitaria se ve facilitado cuando se emplean los procesos cognitivos requeridos por la disciplina. Se torna así relevante conocer los estilos, estrategias y enfoques de los estudiantes de distintas carreras en diferentes momentos del ciclo académico. Participaron 413 alumnos universitarios de Buenos Aires entre 17 y 36 años (55.4% varones; 44.6% mujeres) de las carreras de Psicología, Física e Ingeniería Industrial. De ese total, 203 se encontraban cursando el ciclo inicial mientras que 210 se hallaban en instancias avanzadas de las carreras. Los datos fueron recogidos mediante las versiones adaptadas localmente del Cuestionario Honey-Alonso de Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA), el Inventario de Estrategias de Aprendizaje y Estudio (LASSI), y El Cuestionario de Procesos de Estudio Revisado 2 Factores (R-SPQ- 2F), y analizados mediante la aplicación de una prueba MANOVA que mostró diferencias estadísticamente significativas en casi todos los estilos, estrategias y enfoques de aprendizaje según carreras. También se halló que los estudiantes del ciclo inicial empleaban más frecuentemente el Estilo Pragmático y el Enfoque Superficial que sus pares avanzados en la carrera. Además se observó una interacción entre la carrera y el momento de cursado académico sobre las variables dependientes. Se concluye que existen diferencias en los procesos cognitivos y metacognitivos según carrera y momento académico en los estudiantes que se encuentran cursando. Esta información resulta de utilidad para las universidades y profesionales psicólogos del ámbito educativo, posibilitándoles planificar acciones pedagógicas y adaptar la metodología de enseñanza a los requerimientos y necesidades detectadas, así como también entrenar a los estudiantes en el empleo de estilos, enfoques y estrategias que mejoren sus aprendizajes.

Estilos e Estratégias de Aprendizagem em Estudantes Universitários de Buenos Aires

Los estilos y las estrategias de aprendizaje describen las preferencias de los estudiantes en actividades de aprendizaje -incorporar y conciliar exitosamente información novedosa con la preexistente-. Participaron en la investigación 438 estudiantes universitarios de diferentes carreras, entre 19 y 36 años. Se hallaron diferencias significativas en algunas dimensiones de estilos y estrategias según variables sociodemográficas y académicas, así como asociaciones significativas entre algunas estrategias y la cantidad de recursos tecnológicos que emplean los alumnos. Se verificó influencia de determinadas estrategias y estilos sobre el rendimiento académico. Estilos y estrategias varían en los estudiantes según características académicas y sociodemográficas. Se han aislado algunos estilos y estrategias que afectan significativamente el rendimiento de todos los educandos analizados.Learning styles and learning strategies describe students’ preferences while they are developing learning activities—grasping and transforming experience—, successfully integrating new and previous information—. 438 college students between 19 and 36 years old participated. Significant differences by sociodemographic and academic variables were verified both in styles and strategies in several dimensions, as well as significant associations between some strategies and the number of technological resources employed by students. Findings report the influence of specific strategies and styles on academic achievement, whereas styles and strategies vary in students according to academic and sociodemographic features. However certain styles and strategies significantly influencing academic achievement in students composing the whole sample were identified.Os estilos e as estratégias de aprendizagem descrevem as preferências dos estudantes em atividades de aprendizagem —incorporar e conciliar com sucesso informação nova com a preexistente—. Participaram na investigação 438 estudantes universitários de diferentes carreiras, com idades entre 19 e 36 anos. Acharam-se diferenças significativas em algumas dimensões de estilo e estratégias segundo variáveis sociodemográficas e académicas, tanto como associações significativas entre algumas estratégicas e a quantidade de recursos tecnológicos empregados pelos alunos. Checou-se a influência de determinadas estratégias e estilos sobre o rendimento académico. Estilos e estratégias variam nos estudantes conforme as características académicas e sociodemográficas. Foram isolados alguns estilos e estratégicas que afetam significativamente o rendimento dos alunos analisados.Fil: Freiberg Hoffmann, Agustín. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ledesma, Ruben Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez Liporace, Maria Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentin