When comparative advantage is not enough: business costs in small remote economies

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. ALAN WINTERS ◽  
PEDRO M. G. MARTINS
Keyword(s):  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
International Community ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Economies ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Trade Preferences

This paper uses a newly collected dataset on business costs to investigate empirically whether small and remote economies are inherently uncompetitive. Although in theory these economies can overcome their small size by specialising and trading, this may not be enough to generate acceptable incomes because they face a combination of diseconomies of small scale and high transaction costs. We conclude that there are almost certainly some very small economies for which this is true. These economies are likely to become less attractive for commercial activities as globalization proceeds and their current trade preferences are eroded. The policy solution is not protection, however, but proactive policies from the international community.

Fuel Trade: People, Places, and Transformations along the Coal Briquetting Chain

2018 ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Annuska Derks
Keyword(s):  
Impact Dynamics ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cooking Fuel ◽  
Place And Space ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Production Site

This chapter focuses on those who produce, distribute and use an everyday, but increasingly shunned cooking fuel, the beehive coal briquette. It looks in particular at the inter-linkages between people, things and places along the briquetting chain. By tracing the journey of the coal briquette backwards, from the stove to the trolley in which it is transported and to the production site in which it is made, the chapter illustrates how the changing uses and meanings of place and space impact dynamics and networks of small-scale commercial activities in urban Vietnam.

Part-Peasant, Part-Trader: A Study of the Rural Poor in Republican Shanxi

Rural China ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-290
Author(s):  
Aiming Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
Household Labor ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Rural Poor ◽  
Survival Strategy ◽  
Efficient Allocation ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Surplus Labor ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Poor Peasant

Abstract Mixed occupations are a prominent feature of China’s smallholder peasant economy. For poor peasant households with little land, working in multiple occupations is a survival strategy that represents a more rational or efficient allocation of household labor. In central Shanxi in the 1930s and 1940s, the growth of the commercial economy encouraged peasant households to dedicate their surplus labor to small-scale commercial activities (including itinerant trade and shopkeeping apprenticeship), thus leading to the formation of a mixed “part-peasant, part-trader” 半耕半商 economy. This economy was characterized by the following practices: First, many young, able-bodied men farmed during the busy seasons and peddled goods in the slack seasons. Second, other able-bodied men engaged in off-farm commercial activities year-round, while female and elderly dependents did the farming—often with the help of relatives and neighbors. This represented a rational gendered and intergenerational allocation of labor that undercut labor market prices to maximize household income. Third, any surplus income from commerce, after satisfying basic consumption needs, was used to purchase more land as subsistence insurance against the vagaries of the commercial economy. These mixed practices of mutually supporting agriculture and commerce developed into a robust and competitive part-peasant, part-trader economic system.

News wars will not deter Philippines’s Duterte

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Foreign Ownership ◽  
International Community ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Trade Preferences ◽  
The Eu

Significance The SEC in January ordered Rappler to shut down for breaking foreign ownership laws, which Rappler denies. Critics suggest the move was a politically motivated attempt by President Rodrigo Duterte’s government to clamp down on news outlets critical of the government, which Duterte and his administration deny. Impacts The international community, for instance the EU, could decide to halt or cancel trade preferences. Improved Philippine internal security could enhance journalists’ safety, but money shortages will bedevil this effort. Any self-censorship by journalists could undermine public trust in the media and scrutiny of the government. Large Philippine television networks use PDRs and could be at risk if Rappler loses its court appeal.

scholarly journals Effects of transaction costs on mushroom producers’ choice of marketing channels: implications for agricultural market access in Swaziland

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Majola Mabuza ◽  
Gerald Ortmann ◽  
Edilegnaw Wale
Keyword(s):  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Production Capacity ◽  
Marketing Channels ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Agricultural Marketing ◽  
Marketing Environment ◽  
Section Data ◽  
Bargaining Position ◽  
Sub Saharan

Mushrooms are highly perishable agricultural commodities, and as such their marketing is invariably associated with high transaction costs. Despite the mushroom enterprise gaining popularity in a number of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, where production is dominated by rural-based small-scale farmers, no research has been done to study the nature and complexity of transaction costs encountered by these producers in attempting to participate in mainstream supply chains. This study uses cross-section data obtained in 2011/2012 from mushroom producers in Swaziland to study the effects of transaction costs on producers’ choice of marketing channels and the quantity of mushrooms supplied. Having used Cragg’s model for analysis, the results indicate that producers’ decisions of where to sell their mushrooms are significantly affected by household labour endowment, production capacity, access to cooling facilities and market information, and producers’ bargaining position. Meanwhile, the quantities of mushrooms sold are significantly influenced by the difficulty in accessing reliable transport and producers’ level of uncertainty in meeting buyers’ quality requirements. The study concludes by highlighting potential interventions that could minimise marketing and transaction costs and further improve the general agricultural marketing environment in Swaziland.

Transaction Costs of Credit to the Small-Scale Sector in the Philippines

1981 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrine Anderson Saito ◽  
Delano P. Villanueva
Keyword(s):  
Transaction Costs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Small Scale

Looking for “Industrial Confraternity” Small-Scale Industries and Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Paris

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-334
Author(s):  
Claire Lemercier
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Artificial Flower ◽  
Service Firm ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Economic Influence ◽  
Small Scale Industries

This research focuses on luxury and fashion industries, especially artificial flower making. This sector of small businesses was often described as totally unregulated but efficient. A very successful union (in terms of membership), nevertheless, was created in 1858. I investigate the motives of its founders and the reality of its economic influence. It acted as a service firm, allowing small businesses to lower transaction costs, and as a conciliation board. However, to understand its creation, success, and limits, other factors must be taken into account, such as political opportunities and the founders' organizational repertoire.

Micro-Enterprise Development Schemes as Effective Reintegration Assistance Programs for Voluntarily-Repatriated Vietnamese Asylum Seekers

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua B. Nickerson
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
International Community ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Income Generation ◽  
Enterprise Development ◽  
Assistance Programs ◽  
Reverse Migration ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
The Creation

From the creation of the Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) in 1989 through December 1994, about sixty-eight thousand asylum seekers have voluntarily repatriated to Vietnam. In response to this reverse migration, the international community has funded numerous reintegration assistance programs to facilitate the asylum seekers' return. This article examines reintegration assistance programs currently operating in Vietnam and presents an argument that small scale income generation projects constitute the most effective and efficient use of scarce repatriation funding.

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