5,162 research outputs found
Price support at any price? Costs and benefits of alternative agricultural policies for Poland
No full textThe author argues that Poland must choose an agricultural policy that promotes efficiency, structural change, and adjustment to the new market environment and eventual membership in the European Union. That policy must take into account both the needs of, and the financial constraints on, Polish agriculture. Results of simulation experiments performed with the use of the computable general equilibrium model of the Polish economy suggest that Common Agricultural Policy-type price supports are not the most efficient agricultural policy for Poland. The author discusses alternative policies and scenarios. Rather than discuss whether the relationship between farmers'incomes and average Polish wages is fair, the author analyzes whether medium- and long-term development trends in the Polish economy may cause this relationship to deteriorate, and what policies will counteract those trends. Rapid growth in the nonagricultural sectors combined with real appreciation of domestic currency (caused either through good current account performance or significant capital inflows) may jeopardize farmers'relative income position. And such developments are probable if positive projections for economic development and membership in the European Union are realized. The agricultural sector can defend its relative income only by becoming more efficient. Price supports improve farmers'relative income but at a high cost to taxpayers and consumers and to macroeconomic efficiency. To meet these costs, Poland must put in place firm quantity controls. But the author thinks that the best strategy would be to avoid price supports until the moment of joining the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. In the interim, policies aimed at reducing farm employment seem most appropriate. The author discusses two such policies: encouraging older farmers to retire and promoting jobs in rural areas. He also proposes two feasible scenarios for integrating Polish agriculture with that of the European Union by 2005-10.Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Markets and Market Access,Access to Markets
Biomarkers for cardiovascular risk prediction in people with type 2 diabetes
No full textIntroduction: Type 2 diabetes continues to be one of the most common non-communicable
diseases worldwide and complications due to type 2 diabetes, such as cardiovascular disease
(CVD) can cause severe disability and even death. Despite advances in the development and
validation of cardiovascular risk scores, those used in clinical practice perform inadequately
for people with type 2 diabetes. Research has suggested that particular non-traditional
biomarkers and novel omics data may provide additional value to risk scores over-and-above
traditional predictors.
Aims: To determine whether a small panel of non-traditional biomarkers improve prediction
models based on a current cardiovascular risk score (QRISK2), either individually or in
combination, in people with type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, to investigate a set of 228
metabolites and their associations with CVD, independent of well-established cardiovascular
risk factors, in order to identify potential new predictors of CVD for future research.
Methods: Analyses used the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study (ET2DS), a prospective
cohort of 1066 men and women with type 2 diabetes aged 60-75 years at baseline.
Participants were followed for eight years, during which time 205 had a cardiovascular event.
Additionally, for omics analyses, four cohorts from the UCL-LSHTM-Edinburgh-Bristol
(UCLEB) consortium were combined with the ET2DS. Across all studies, 1005 (44.73%)
participants had CVD at baseline or experienced a cardiovascular event during follow-up.
Results: In the ET2DS, higher levels of high sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnT) and N-terminal
pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and lower levels of ankle brachial
pressure index (ABI) were associated with incident cardiovascular events, independent of
QRISK2 and pre-existing cardiovascular disease (odds ratios per one SD increase in
biomarker 1.35 (95% CI: 1.13, 1.61), 1.23 (1.02, 1.49) and 0.86 (0.73, 1.00) respectively).
The addition of each biomarker to a model including just QRISK2 variables improved the c-statistic,
with the biggest increase for hs-cTnT (from 0.722 (0.681, 0.763) to 0.732 (0.690,
0.774)). When multiple biomarkers were considered in combination, the greatest c-statistic
was found for a model which included ABI, hs-cTnT and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase
(0.740 (0.699, 0.781)).
In the combined cohorts from the UCLEB consortium, a small number of high-density
lipoprotein (HDL) particles were found to be significantly associated with CVD:
concentration of medium HDL particles, total lipids in medium HDL, phospholipids in
medium HDL and phospholipids in small HDL. These associations persisted after adjustment
for a range of traditional cardiovascular risk factors including age, sex, blood pressure,
smoking and HDL to total cholesterol ratio.
Conclusions: In older people with type 2 diabetes, a range of non-traditional biomarkers
increased predictive ability for cardiovascular events over-and-above the commonly used
QRISK2 score, and a combination of biomarkers may provide the best improvement.
Furthermore, a small number of novel omics biomarkers were identified which may further
improve risk scores or provide better prediction than traditional lipid measurements such as
HDL cholesterol
SAFEX maize price volatility scrutinised
No full textCommodity prices in general are known to have a high volatility. This is in fact what attracts speculators. The South African futures exchange (SAFEX) is not immune to this volatility. Volatility increases the risk of paying higher prices for a specific commodity, and it also makes the use of derivative instruments to hedge against price risk more expensive. Given the importance of South Africa as a regional supplier of maize and price discovery mechanism, investigations into the volatility of the maize price are not only important, but also indispensable if all parties involved are to manage this risk. The question therefore is whether the SAFEX maize price volatility can be explained by using fundamental factors or whether this volatility is unexplainably high.Derivative, price volatility, call option, hedging, food risk, SAFEX, CBOT, Demand and Price Analysis,
Factors associated with selling price of cattle at livestock marts
No full textpeer-reviewedThe objective of this study was to determine the factors associated with selling price of animals at livestock marts around Ireland.
Data consisted of four distinct maturity categories: calves (2 to 84 days of age, n553 838); weanlings (6 to 12 months of age,
n519 972); post-weanlings (12 to 36 months of age, n593 081) and cows (.30 months to 12 years of age, n594 839); sold through livestock marts between 2000 and 2008. Factors associated with animal price were determined within each maturity
category separately using mixed models; random effects were mart, date of sale nested within mart, and herd of origin nested
within year of sale. Mean selling price was h157, h580, h655 and h592 for calves, weanlings, post-weanlings and cows,
respectively. The greatest prices were paid for singleton crossbred male calves, weanlings and post-weanlings from older dams.
With the exception of the Aberdeen Angus, beef breeds and their crosses consistently received higher prices than their dairy
counterparts across all four maturity categories; increased proportion of Belgian Blue and Charolais was associated with greater prices compared with other beef breeds. When live-weight was included in the multiple regression models the association
between price and all factors regressed toward zero but most factors remained associated with price. The highest price was
recorded in the spring months for calves, post-weanlings and cows, and in the autumn months for weanlings. Results from this
study may be used to help farmers make more informed management decisions, as well as provide information for bio-economic
models for evaluating alternative production systems or estimating economic values
Price-Level Targeting–A Real Alternative to Inflation Targeting?
No full textThis paper reviews price-level targeting in the light of current theoretical knowledge and past practical experience. The authors discuss progress in the economic debate on this issue, starting with the traditional arguments discussed in the early 1990s and ending with the most recent literature from the beginning of the new millennium. They devote special attention to the issues of the zero interest rate bound, time consistency, and communication. Practical experience from Sweden in the 1930s and Czechoslovakia in the first few years after WWI is used to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of price-level targeting. Finally, the similarities of price-level and inflation developments with hypothetical outcomes under price-level targeting are investigated in selected inflation-targeting countries.price-level targeting, deflation, zero bound, communication, time inconsistency
Business Model Innovation of JF Logistics Company
No full text摘要 随着全球化经济的发展，市场竞争变得越来越复杂。信息时代使得物流供应链管理已上升到企业的战略管理高度。在这样的背景下，本文应用翁君奕老师的介观商务模式创新观点，对JF物流公司所处行业现状进行剖析，重新审视了外部客户市场以及内部自身情况，找出了JF物流公司自身的优势，并结合外部市场客户的需求，提出了“为客户提供个性化的集物流、资金流、信息流于一体的供应链物流服务”这一价值主张，并在此基础上，重新定位客户市场，创新服务产品，理顺内部管理架构和业务流程以支撑和保持这一价值主张。文中同时以例证来说明依据新价值主张所创新的服务产品给JF物流公司所带来的变化，以此说明通过商务模式创新来实行自身的战略...Abstract With the development of the global economy, the competition in market becomes more complicated. In the era of information, logistics and supply chain management is regarded as important as part of the company strategy. Under such background , the author of this essay uses the concept of “JieGuan Business Model Innovation” proposed by Professor Weng Junyi of Xiamen University, and analy...学位：管理学硕士院系专业：管理学院高级经理教育中心（EMBA项目）_管理经济学学号：X200615614
Related Securities, Allocation of Attention and Price Discovery: Evidence from NYSE-Listed Non-U.S. Stocks
No full textIn this paper we explore how the composition of a market maker's portfolio and allocation of attention across securities in the portfolio affect pricing. We analyze whether more attention devoted to similar securities enables a market maker to extract information relevant to a stock from order flow to related securities and consequently whether it leads to improved price discovery of the stock. We base on the recent literature on allocation of attention in share trading (Corwin and Coughenour, 2008; Boulatov et al., 2009) and define the prominence of a security as the proportion of its dollar volume in the total volume of the specialist portfolio it belongs to. Our empirical tests are focused on New York Stock Exchange specialists and the U.S. share in price discovery of 64 British and French companies cross-listed on the NYSE. We define related securities as stocks from the same country, the same region or other foreign stocks. We find strong evidence that an increase in the prominence of related stocks in the specialist portfolio leads to a higher U.S. share in price discovery of our sample stocks. We interpret our findings as evidence that concentrating market makers in similar stocks reduces information asymmetries and improves the information environment. To support our argument, we show that an increase in the prominence of other foreign stocks in the specialist portfolio significantly reduces the adverse selection component of the bid-ask spread.NYSE specialists, cross-listing, related stocks, price discovery
Temporal and spatial variability in speakers with Parkinson's Disease and Friedreich's Ataxia
No full textSpeech variability in groups of speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and with Friedreich's ataxia was compared with healthy controls. Speakers repeated the same phrase 20 times at one of two rates (fast or habitual). A non-linear analysis of variability was performed which used some of the principles behind the spatio-temporal index (STI). The STI usually employs variation in lip displacement over repetitions of the same utterance and a linear analysis of such signals is conducted to represent the combined variation in spatial and temporal control. When working with patients, audio measures (here we used speech energy) are preferred over kinematics ones as they are minimally disruptive to speech. Non-linear methods allow spatial variability to be estimated separately from temporal variability. The results are tentatively interpreted as showing that PD speakers were distinguished from healthy control speakers in spatial variability and ataxic speakers were distinguished from controls in temporal variability. These findings are consistent with the speech symptoms reported for these disorders. We conclude that the non-linear analysis using the speech energy measure is worth investigating further as it is potentially revealing of the differences underlying these two pathologies
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