Participation, Incentives and Social Norms in Partnership Arrangements Among Farms in Sweden

In this study, farmers´ participation in partnership arrangements involving labour and machinery collaboration is analyzed. Potential gains from partnership arrangements include lower capital costs and increased possibilities for farmers to specialize in different tasks. A potential cost is the incentive to shirk in effort or to overuse or misuse shared inputs (the moral hazard problem). Factors that mitigate the problem of moral hazard in team production have been suggested in the literature and include peer pressure and social norms (Barron and Gjerde, 1997; Kandel and Lazear, 1992) and dynamics (Radner, 1982). In this study, a theoretical framework for analyzing partnerships among farmers developed by Allen and Lueck (1998) is extended to consider presence of social norms. It is illustrated that social norms imply higher exerted effort levels among the partners. When inputs are shared among farmers, it is shown that the incentive to misuse or overuse capital is reduced in the presence of social norms. Predictions from the theoretical models are analyzed using survey data for Swedish farms. Results from the empirical analysis suggest that perceived moral hazard problems are non-existing or very small and that there is a high degree of mutual trust in existing partnerships.Farm Management,

Social Capital and Economic Performance: some lessons from Farm Partnerships in Sweden

The social capital literature usually perceives social capital as dues ex machine for economic performance. In this paper we use existing social capital theory to develop a conceptual framework to explain; (i) the importance of organizational capital as the ‘missing link’ between social capital and economic performance, and (ii) the phenomenon of ‘complementarity’ of different forms of capital (i.e. Physical, Financial, Human, Social, Organizational and Economic Capital) as a prerequisite for economic performance. The conceptual framework is applied to Swedish farm partnerships involving machinery- and labour sharing. Our study suggest that (i) social capital combined with other forms of capital, such as financial, human, physical and organizational leads to greater economic outcomes and (ii) the creation of organizational capital can explain higher economic performance.Social Capital, Organizational Capital, Farm Partnerships, Economic Performance

Technical Efficiency among Organic and Conventional Farms in Sweden 2000-2002: A Counterfactual and Self-Selection Analysis

Technical efficiency and its determinants among organic and conventional farms in Sweden are analyzed for time-period 2000-2002. In addition, we address the issues that arise when comparing performance measures among the two groups of producers (conventional and organic) due differences in their technologies and the potential presence of self-selection in the farmer's choice of using conventional or organic production methods. If the choice of production method is based on, or at least in part based on, the farms expected productivity in organic and conventional farming respectively there is self-selection present that must be considered. We apply an endogenous switching regression model suggested by Lee (1978) to compare efficiency measures between the two groups that also allows for testing for the presence of self-selection. The results suggest that organic producers have a lower average technical efficiency which is expected because they use a more restricted technology. Moreover, the results suggest that the organic farmers are on average more efficient in organic production than the average conventional would have been in organic production.technical efficiency, self-selection, organic farming, Farm Management, O390, Q120,

Does vertical integration reduce investment reluctance in production chains? An agent-based real options approach

This paper uses an agent-based real options approach to analyze whether stronger vertical integration reduces investment reluctance in pork production. A competitive model in which firms identify optimal investment strategies by using genetic algorithms is developed. Two production systems are compared: a perfectly integrated system and a system in which firms produce either the intermediate product (piglets) or the final product (pork). Simulations show that the spot market solution and the perfectly integrated system lead to a very similar production dynamics even with limited information on production capacities. The results suggest that, from a pure real options perspective, spot markets are not significantly inferior to perfectly integrated supply chains.real options, supply chain, agent-based models, genetic algorithms, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Productivity Analysis,

The Evolution of the System of Long and Short Adjectives in Old Russian

The present study is a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the system of long and short adjectives in Old Russian, a profound language change to which very little previous research has been devoted. It is generally assumed that in prehistoric Slavic, the system was purely grammatical with the long form denoting definiteness and the short form denoting indefiniteness. The present study finds, on the basis of evidence collected from Old Russian chronicle texts, that even the earliest of these sources display a substantially transformed system no longer reflecting the opposition between definiteness and indefiniteness, but governed by parameters of information structure

Off-farm income and farm capital accumulation: a farm-level data analysis

Replaced with revised version of paper 06/30/06.Farm Management,

Undervisning i kritisk tenkning: Autonomi til å bruke billedbøker til undervisning i småskolen og på mellomtrinnet.

This project addresses whether in-service teachers and pre-service teachers feel they have the agency to utilize picture books to promote critical thinking, with a particular focus on 4th and 5th grade. A total of six interviews were conducted; a small group of pre-service teachers and a pair of teachers were interviewed three times. Each interview featured a different picture book with a different theme, but they also included more general questions, ranging from teacher agency to defining critical thinking. The results indicate that the use of picture books is currently somewhat limited in the English classroom, while elements of critical literacy was more often included. The pre-service teachers also had a more positive attitude towards teaching critical thinking, while the teachers equally emphasised the importance of vocabulary and grammar, noting that elements of critical thinking were already implicitly present in many aspects of their normal teaching practice. While previous research also suggests that the use of picture books can motivate learners to share viewpoints on meaningful issues, this study suggests that the use of picture books can be an inclusive entryway to learning the necessary vocabulary to discuss the themes within the books in light of critical thinking

Spenningsfeltet mellom nytte for bedriften og frirom for studenten: et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom skole og arbeidsliv for gjensidig påvirkning og ønske om forandring

Samarbeid mellom høgskole og arbeidsliv, høgskolens tredje oppgave, (Brulin 1998) gir store utfordringer i forhold til hvordan gjennomføre ”løpende dialog” om innhold i studieprogrammer og undervisningsopplegg. Det er ikke lenger ensidig bestilling fra næringslivet, som NHO-lederen påpeker i sin kronikk i Aftenposten (Bernander 2010). Spenningsforholdet mellom ”nytte for bedriften” og ”lærings- og frirommet for studenten og medarbeideren” er en av de sentrale utfordringene for utdanningsinstitusjoner som ønsker å være relevante partnere for kompetanseutvikling i arbeids- og næringslivet (Nielsen 1996, Schwencke 2006a og 2006b, Eikeland 2008). Samtidig ser vi at samarbeidet påvirkes av fleksibilitet og kontinuerlige endringer i arbeidslivet utenfor bedriften (Nielsen m.fl. 2010). Organisasjonsforhold, arbeids- og læringsmiljø, de ansattes faglige utvikling og yrkesstolthet påvirkes av disse grunnleggende endringene i arbeidslivet og i samfunnet forøvrig. Endringene i samfunnet fører også til at nye krav stilles til læringsformer både i yrkesutdanningen og i arbeidslive