Showing papers in "Research Papers in Economics in 1971"

The Economics of Discrimination

Abstract: This second edition of Gary S. Becker's The Economics of Discrimination has been expanded to include three further discussions of the problem and an entirely new introduction which considers the contributions made by others in recent years and some of the more important problems remaining. Mr. Becker's work confronts the economic effects of discrimination in the market place because of race, religion, sex, color, social class, personality, or other non-pecuniary considerations. He demonstrates that discrimination in the market place by any group reduces their own real incomes as well as those of the minority. The original edition of The Economics of Discrimination was warmly received by economists, sociologists, and psychologists alike for focusing the discerning eye of economic analysis upon a vital social problem—discrimination in the market place. "This is an unusual book; not only is it filled with ingenious theorizing but the implications of the theory are boldly confronted with facts. . . . The intimate relation of the theory and observation has resulted in a book of great vitality on a subject whose interest and importance are obvious."—M.W. Reder, American Economic Review "The author's solution to the problem of measuring the motive behind actual discrimination is something of a tour de force . . . . Sociologists in the field of race relations will wish to read this book."—Karl Schuessler, American Sociological Review

Politics and the Stages of Growth

Abstract: In The Stages of Economic Growth, for which he is known around the world, W. W. Rostow distinguished five basic stages of growth experienced by societies as they change from a pre-industrial state to full economic maturity. In this book the analysis is continued but the focus is shifted, from economic growth to politics. Professor Rostow see politics as an eternal triangle of competing imperatives - of security, welfare, and constitutional order. Using this concept, he examines the political meaning and content of each of the stages as experienced by eight countries; Great Britain, France, China, Japan, Russia, Turkey, Mexico and the United States. He goes on to consider, in the heart of the book, a uniquely political stage: the search for quality which is possible in an age of high mass consumption. Special attention is given the United States. Professor Rostow also examines the character of politics in the developing nations of today, and makes explicit what he sees to be the lessons of history and the contemporary world for these nations. He concludes by using his analysis to speculate on possibilities for peace in the global community.

The economics of property taxes and land values

Abstract: Abstract Land values are explained by diminishing returns to a variable factor, structure, added to fixed land. The total cost minimizing structural density determined by land value, occurs where the marginal cost of increased density equals the average cost of structure plus land. Structural demand prices equal marginal costs in equilibrium determining land demands. A general equilibrium land price establishes the uses, prices and densities of structures. A simple method of calculating structure supply elasticity and the incidence and deadweight loss of property taxes is developed. Differing property tax rates are found to be efficient.

Survey of Multiple Cropping in Less Developed Nations

Abstract: In evaluating prospects for increasing or improving world food output, emphasis is traditionally placed on two dimensions: (1) expanding area, and (2) improving yield of individual crops. Peculiarly, little has been said about a third possible dimension: time. It is possible to make fuller use of time by multiple cropping-the practice of growing more than one crop on the same piece of land in a year. Multiple cropping makes possible both an increase in area cultivated per year as well as an increase in total yield per unit of area per year

Quarterly Models of Wage Determination: Some New Efficient Estimates

Abstract: The concept of stable Phillips curves and their economic implications have been the subject of a series of disputes in recent years. Since Phillips introduced his simple disequilibrium model,empirical research in the field of wage determination has indicated a wide spectrum of explanatory variables which expands and contracts almost randomly in published studies. Apart from this difficulty in specification, the intertemporal instability of estimated coefficients for Phillips curve variants is particularly disturbing. In addition, the theoretical bases for many of these variants are unclear, and several economists have participated in a neo-classical counter-attack on the existence and stability of Phillips curves from a theoretical viewpoint. The objectives of this paper are to examine the consequences of certain invalid statistical procedures which are employed in many of these studies and to provide some empirical evidence of their effect. In particular, we focus attention on the implications of the aggregate procedure which provides the basis for the use of a "four quarter overlapping change" representation of the dependent variable in quarterly studies of wage determination and, also, for the use of moving averages of explanatory variables.

Pathogenic Specialization in Cereal Rust Fungi, Especially Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici: Concepts, Methods of Study, and Application

Abstract: Pathogenic specialization in cereal rust fungi, especially Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici: concepts, methods of study, and application , Pathogenic specialization in cereal rust fungi, especially Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici: concep... , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing

Abstract: It is by now incontrovertible that increases in per capita income cannot be explained simply by increases in the capital-labor ratio. Though doubtless no economist would ever have denied the role of technological change in economic growth, its overwhelming importance relative to capital formation has perhaps only been fully realized with the important empirical studies of Abramovitz [1] and Solow [l 1]. These results do not directly contradict the neo-classical view of the production function as an expression of technological knowledge. All that has to be added is the obvious fact that knowledge is growing in time. Nevertheless a view of economic growth that depends so heavily on an exogenous variable, let alone one so difficult to measure as the quantity of knowledge, is hardly intellectually satisfactory. From a quantitative, empirical point of view, we are left with time as an explanatory variable. Now trend projections, however necessary they may be in practice, are basically a confession of ignorance, and, what is worse from a practical viewpoint, are not policy variables.

Market allocation under uncertainty

Abstract: This paper discusses the interpretation and implications of the analysis of efficient resource allocation under uncertainty initiated by Arrow in “The Role of Securities in the Optimal Allocation of Risk-Bearing” Arrow's model and results are reviewed It is shown that prices for contingent claims to a numeraire commodity have all the formal properties of a probability measure on the states, but still reflect the relative scarcities under alternative states as well as the probabilities of these states Some implications of the analysis for asset prices, portfolio selection, and investment criteria are mentioned

Modern Economic Growth: Findings and Reflections

Abstract: Lecture to the memory of Alfred Nobel, December 11, 1971(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)