Journal of Economic Structures

Reswitching of techniques was shown to be possible in Leontief’s input–output model with flow and stock matrices. The finding is unearthed and related to the capital debate based on Sraffian models.

Public sector projects in Iran are inefficiently carried out for reasons of mismanagement and poor prioritization. This problem may arise from the lack of a generally accepted social discount rate for project appraisal. The value of the social discount rate can have implications for resource allocations. The aim of this paper is to estimate the appropriate value of a social discount rate for Iran using the social time preference rate approach. The overall result indicates that the social discount rate for Iran is 5.8%.

This paper revisits the family of MDP Procedures and analyzes their properties. It also reviews the procedure developed by Sato (Econ Stud Q 34:97–109, 1983) which achieves aggregate correct revelation in the sense that the sum of the Nash equilibrium strategies always coincides with the aggregate value of the correct marginal rates of substitution. The procedure named the Generalized MDP Procedure can possess other desirable properties shared by continuous-time locally strategy proof planning procedures, i.e., feasibility, monotonicity and Pareto efficiency. Under myopia assumption, each player’s dominant strategy in the local incentive game associated at any iteration of the procedure is proved to reveal his/her marginal rate of substitution for a public good. In connection with the Generalized MDP Procedure, this paper analyzes the structure of the locally strategy proof procedures as algorithms and game forms. An alternative characterization theorem of locally strategy proof procedures is given by making use of the new condition, transfer independence. A measure of incentives is proposed to show that the exponent attached to the decision function of public good is characterized. A Piecewise Nonlinearized MDP Procedure is presented, which is coalitionally locally strategy proof. Equivalence between price-guided and quantity-guided procedures is also discussed.

This paper examines the impact of adoption of power factor correction technology on electricity peak demand in Uganda. Specifically, the paper examines the variability of peak electricity demand in the periods before and after the implementation of power factor improvement schemes and assesses the likely impact of power factor improvement schemes on peak demand. Results suggest that power factor correction technology implemented among industries and commercial enterprises increased the power factor in these industries from an average of 0.68 to 0.95 and saved up to 8.04 MVA of demand as at the end of 2014. Results further indicate that the implementation of the power factor correction scheme has reduced the growth rate and abated the variability of both total maximum/peak demand and domestic peak demand. Finally, with the implementation of power factor correction scheme, there is a noticeable reduction in electricity consumption at peak time of use (TOU) and growth in consumption of electricity at nonpeak time TOU, which was not the case before the implementation of the scheme.

Existing study argues that labour market flexibility accompanied by trade liberalisation helped in building complementary relationship between formal and informal sectors in India. However, no direct relation is established between the labour market flexibility and trade liberalisation with respect to inter- and intra-sectoral movement of labour. The present study enquires whether the extent of labour mobility between and within formal–informal sectors affects the formal–informal growth linkages due to the tariff cut on traded goods, as a part of trade liberalisation in India. The findings based on static CGE analysis indicate that in absence of labour market segmentation (i.e. in absence of both wage rigidity and skill specificity) with full mobility of labour, formal sector growth is higher vis-à-vis the growth of those activities under segmented labour market with full mobility of labour. Amongst growing informal sector activities, output growth is lower in absence of segmented labour market with full mobility of labour. Finally, restricted labour mobility leads to largest expansion of formal activities, but further exacerbates the growth of informal activities. The study reveals that improvement in functional income distribution is mixed across households, depending on the degree of labour mobility, which implies labour market adjustment is costly due to structural reforms, that pitches for government intervention.

In the article, we propose a comprehensive methodology of value chain analysis in the international input–output framework that introduces a new measure of value chain participation and an extended typology of value chains, with the novel inclusion of domestic value chain to address the extent of fragmentation of purely domestic production. This allows for the simultaneous analysis of both global and domestic production fragmentation, the complex patterns of their evolution and their impact on economic development. The main contribution of the proposed methodology is conceptual: it permits the measurement of all value chain paths that pass through each country-sector from production to final consumption, whether the path includes downstream linkages, upstream linkages or their combination. Empirical application of this methodology shows the importance of including domestic fragmentation in value chain analysis: The fragmentation of both global and domestic levels of production has a significant positive correlation with economic growth. This implies that the effects of global production fragmentation must be analysed together with the changing structure of the fragmentation of domestic production to obtain the whole picture, one that might provide important information for policymaking and industrial policy.

This paper constructs and uses the global input–output (GIO) table with 35 industries, 29 endogenous countries and 59 exogenous countries, and develops new indices to measure the degree of shock transmission in terms of intermediate goods and value-added embodied in production induced by negative global demand shock to finished goods. After the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008, China did not experience a large decline in economic growth, even though China’s gross exports fell most severely among Asian countries. In contrast, a sharp decrease in Japanese GDP in 2009 is a consequence of a substantial decline in finished goods exports, especially in the transport equipment industry. In Japan, the shock effect tends to be absorbed in its domestic sector and is not transmitted to other foreign countries. An asymmetric pattern of shock transmission between Japan and other Asian countries can explain why Japan was more affected by GFC than other Asian countries.

Farming in India is experiencing a structural change leading to a crisis. The growth rate of agricultural output is steadily declining in recent years. The relative contribution of the farming sector to the total GDP has been decreasing over time increasingly. The present study was conducted in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, India. Total 100 agricultural landholders from 20 villages were selected to identify factors experienced by them for avoiding farming as a livelihood by employing Ex-Post-Facto research design. It is observed that ‘r’ computed between factors to avoid agriculture as a livelihood and age (0.589), education (0.330), farming experience (0.250), occupation (0.446), livestock possession (0.207), annual income (− 0.236) was found to be significant at 0.01 level of significance. It could be observed from regression analysis that the personal factors had a powerful effect (0.730) on avoiding agriculture as a profession, influencing in a positive direction. Followed by this, economic factor (0.291) and social factor (0.229) also influenced positively and significantly. The information on the personal, social, economic, psychological, market, situational, labor and next-generation factors experienced by agricultural landholders is analyzed to have in-depth knowledge of each factor. The analyzed suggestions will help to make agriculture a profitable enterprise and attract the farmers and youths to continue the farming activities. The solution to the problem is not in a few packages and programs but in drastic changes in the present policies related to agriculture need to be focused. Other sector’s growth and development must not be at the cost of agriculture.