Purchasing power

About: Purchasing power is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2714 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36866 citations. The topic is also known as: adjusted for inflation.

International Comparison of Cost for the Construction Sector: Purchasing Power Parity

Abstract: The importance of the construction sector in national economies around the globe and the global nature of the industry require a prudent international comparison of construction costs. From the view of international construction ventures, cost comparisons have generally been accomplished using published currency exchange rates. Global organizations dealing with development aid and the comparison of the gross domestic product (GDP) of nations have used an approach that has its roots in established econometric theories. This approach is based on the Casselian purchasing power parity (PPP) doctrine that essentially conducts the comparison based on the local purchasing power of currencies, as opposed to exchange rates. The World Bank, which conducts the GDP comparison, uses the PPP-based approach to compare construction sector output. This paper provides an overview of the background and application of PPP and its use for international cost comparisons conducted for various nations. Methods currently used for construction cost comparisons are reviewed. A critical review of domestic construction cost comparison approaches is provided with the intent to identify the key differences between temporal and spatial comparisons. Case studies of construction cost factors are used to demonstrate the importance of PPP-based cost comparisons for construction economics.

The fundholding fandango.

Abstract: General practitioner fundholding allows flexible use of resources at the coal-face, provides incentives to alter practice such as prescribing within cash limits and forces hospitals to be more responsive to general practitioner demands. However, the additional administrative costs both in time and money, the fragmentation of purchasing power compounded by a lack of expertise and experience in contracting, and the poor information and financial systems which exist in the National Health Service are severe constraints. A suggested way forward is to delegate responsibility for running the scheme, including the contracting and billing, to district health authorities offering more flexible budgets to all practices and extending the scheme as local information systems allow. This will reduce fragmentation of purchasing power and administrative costs and re-establish local accountability. It will also give the general practitioner more time to see and treat patients, who will see the system as being fairer.

Rural Marketing in India: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract: In the recent years rural market have acquired significance and attract the attention of marketers as 6884% population of India reside in 6, 38,000 villages and overall growth of economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities Due to green revolution, the rural areas are consuming a large quantity of industrial and manufactured products In this way rural market offers opportunities in the form of large untapped market, increase in disposable income, increase in literacy level and large scope for penetration To take the advantage of these opportunities, a special marketing strategy ‘Rural Marketing’ has emerged This paper tries to understand the rural market, importance of rural marketing and status of rural market The main aim of the study to observe the potentiality of Indian rural markets and find out various problems are being faced by rural marketer

Buyer Beware: How Market Structure Affects Contracting and Company Performance in the Private Military Industry

Abstract: Private military and security companies are integral components of the defense and intelligence operations of some of the world's most powerful states. Despite the increasingly pivotal role of contractors, analysts have yet to develop theories explaining when governments should outsource national security responsibilities or what conditions cause private defense markets to function efficiently. This inquiry addresses this gap in the literature by demonstrating that varying market structures—that is, the quantity of firms providing similar services and the number and purchasing power of those buying these services—have significant effects on costs, oversight, and company performance in the private defense industry. A principal–agent framework is developed to explain variation in the performance of firms in different markets across the industry. Evaluation of three private defense markets yields the surprising conclusion that monopsony, rather than a competitive market, is the ideal structure for go...

STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL TOWARDS SMALLHOLDERS WELFARE : Evidence from Existing Condition of Cocoa Smallholders in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract: This paper deals with institutional development of cocoa smallholders. As widely known that Indonesia is the third largest cocoa producer in the world, of which about 90% of total production is obtained from smallholders. Poverty trap for cocoa smallholders is a result of : ( i) the low quality of human resources, (ii) lack of agricultural assets. (iii) lack of access to social facilities, information and communication, and (iv) lack of income gained in economic activity. All this cannot be separated from the weak role and inter-agency coordination, indicating the weak of smallholders institutional. By employing an Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM), the research objectives are : ( i) identifying the role of institutions in institutional of cocoa smallholders, (ii) assessing the interest of education and training materials in smallholder development. The central point of ISM results show that, ( i) Local Office for Forestry and Estate (Hutbun), (ii) Local Field Extension Officer for Plantation (PPL), and (iii) Marketing Institutions are the key institution actors in strengthening institutional of cocoa smallholders. This leads us to argue that maximizing the role of Hutbun, PPL, and Marketing Institutions could help smallholder institutional development, improving welfare in other words. Similarly. the role of education and training is also needed in helping smallholders. ISM results persuasively revealed that, the materials of ( i) post-harvest management, (ii) marketing, and (iii) 1) The research was funded by the 2012/14 Research Scheme for National Strategic Issue (HIBAHSTRANAS) Project, Directorate-General of Higher Education. Ministry of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia. 2) Visiting Fellow. Fall Semester, 2012/13, Ryukoku University, Kyoto, supported by Scheme for Academic Mobility and Exchange (SAME) Program, Directorate-General of Higher Education. Ministry of Education and Culture, Indonesia (arsyad_uh@yahoo.com ; arsyad@unhas.ac.id) 3) Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture, Muhammadiyah University of Parepare, and Director of Center for Environmental Studies of the university. 4) Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Economic, Muhammadiyah University of Parepare and he has been President of the university since 2007. 72 Vol. 52 No. 1 • 2 the provision of agriculture inputs are the key elements. A major implication of this finding is that, introducing intensively materials of post-harvest management & fermentation, agriculture input provision, and marketing aspects in educating and training the smallholders, could become a potential route to strengthen institutional towards cocoa smallholders welfare in the country. 1. Current Issue and Objectives Although the rapid expansion of Indonesian cocoa production has been mainly contributed by smallholders, the proportion of smallholders whose income is below the poverty line is cyclical. Firstly, the smallholders are originally poor. Secondly, the smallholders were moving out of poverty then fell back into poverty, causing low purchasing power {Arsyad & Kawamura, 2009) impacting poverty severity. In other words, it is very difficult to dream how to increase smallholder welfare without having political will to break out their poverty trap. At the same time, a remaining crucial issue deals with cocoa smallholders welfare is exacerbated by a very weak farming institutional. This is not without clear arguments. Poverty trap of cocoa smallholders is a result of : ( i) the low quality of human resources, (ii) lack of agricultural assets, (iii) lack of access to social facilities, information and communication, and (iv) lack of income gained in economic activity. All this cannot be, however, separated from the weak role and inter-agency coordination creating ego-sector, horizontal and vertical conflicts among institutions, indicating the weak of smallholders institutional. Libecap (2011) gave an important example in agriculture, that the irrigation expansion required investment in infrastructure for capturing, storing, and delivering water, facilitated by institutional adaptation through new water rights and new water supply organizations. Even in theoretical ways, Beckert (1999) identified that, one of the persistent problems facing institutional organization theory has been the question of how to deal with interest-driven behaviour and institutional change. If organizational structures and strategies are shaped by institutional environments, what is the role of 'strategic choice' in the management of organizations? Therefore, there is no doubt as Parada, Nordqvist & Gimeno (2010) depicted that institutional champion bridges the gap between micro-level change [as their case, at the firm level] and the professional association's macro-level discourse. In facts, many institutions are not institutionalized. This becomes a principal reason to identify the role of institutions in strengthening institutional of cocoa smallholders as a puzzling current issue. The issue is also examined by Nuddin (2007) in his research on watersheet institutional that, the main cause of poor performance of the coordination March 2013 STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL TOWARDS SMALLHOLDERS WELFARE: 73 functions between agencies is a very weak cooperation commitment of government official in the region and agency coordination ambiguity. Empirical results conducted by Jari & Fraser (2009) in South Africa persuasively show that, market information, expertise on grades and standards, contractual agreements, social capital, market infrastructure, group participation and tradition significantly influence household marketing behavior. The next important factor in identifying poverty (welfare, in other words) is access to information for the poor. The study conducted by the CRIEC-World Bank (2002) in Indonesia reveals the importance of information availability. It was found that 30% of the households surveyed receive an income just sufficient for food requirements. The poor are usually farmers who lack assets, both land and equipment as well as information (market, technology, capital and business opportunity). The World Bank classified the main factor that determines the gap between the poor and the rich, namely access to information. This is one finding. Another interesting finding is from Kawamura's study (2002) on the causal factor of poverty in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, by using an index "Transportation and Communication". He found that "Radio Communication Access" has no statistically significant path coefficient (/3 weight) in relation to the ''Lowest Income Level" as a poverty proxy in his study, meaning there is no direct impact on poverty. However, "Radio Communication Access'' shows a significant /3 weight in relation to the "Dependency on Agriculture" as one of the intermediate variables in his work. Thus, "Radio Communication Access" will eventually have an indirect impact on "Lowest Income Level" or poverty through the variable "Dependency on Agriculture". The two studies above lead us to clearly state how important information accessibility is (Arsyad & Kawamura, 2009 ; 2010) in bridging smallholder institutional towards their welfare or real income increasing in the future. However, it is also important to emphasize that, the direction and level of changes in real incomes brought about by structural adjustment are determined by a variety of factors, including sources of income (Sahn & Sarris, 1999) both agriculture and non-agricultural economic activities as crucial dimension in improving smallholder social life. Another crucial thing in identifying a possible path to strengthen institutional of smallholders is educating smallholders to have good skill and marketing aspect as well. Therefore, a linkage between smallholders and training for technical aspect of farm management as well as marketing cannot be neglected in the country. A study conducted by Chibanda, Ortmann & Lyne (2009) revealed an interesting result. It centers the impact of institutional and governance factors on the performance of 10 smallholders agricultural cooperatives. They persuasively show that, the performance of the selected smallholder 74 Vol. 52 No. 1 • 2 cooperatives is influenced by institutional and governance problems. Institutional problems give rise to low levels of equity and debt capital, reliance on government funding, low levels of investment, and subsequent loss of members. Governance problems are strongly linked to the absence of secret ballot, low levels of education, lack of production and management skills training, weak marketing arrangements and consequent low returns to members as patrons or investors. It is also facts that with many reasons, education system is not currently supporting the development of agriculture industry (Alam et al, 2009). Therefore, on the job training by providers could become essential way to lead smallholders have good skill in agriculture, provision strategy of input and marketing aspects in rural agriculture. Given the current situation, a weakness of smallholder institutional, less education and important training materials for smallholders becomes serious issue in developing countries as revealed by some studies above, in which Indonesia is no exception. Therefore, it is really necessary to construct the research on institutional smallholders as a current interesting issue in improving smallholder welfare in the country. Two specific purposes of the paper are ; ( i) identifying the role of institutions in institutional of cocoa smallholders, (ii) assessing the interest of education and training materials in smallholder development.