Fair income tax with endogenous productivities and a fresh start

This paper considers a model in which agents have heterogeneous preferences over labour and consumption. Additionally, they also differ in their earning skills, which are a function of both an innate ability and an early investment decision. In this framework we axiomatically derive a social ordering function that, besides compensating agents for their unequal productivities, grants a fresh start to those who regret their initial choices. Next, by assuming a second-best context we characterise the income tax scheme that satisfies this social ordering. This analysis permits us to present an explicit criterion for the assessment of social welfare under different tax policies. We obtain that the optimal scheme aims to compensate those endowed with the lowest marginal productivity. More importantly, on account of the forgiveness ideal positive social marginal weights are assigned to those who earn the lowest income levels, something that induces a progressivity tendency at the bottom of the earnings distribution.

When Do Firms Trade Patents?

Drawing on the Coase theorem, we consider a firm’s decision to transfer patent ownership to another firm in the markets for innovation. We deem that the proximity of a patent’s technology structure to that of a firm’s patent portfolio will generally result in greater marginal productivity of the patent, leading to enhanced prospects for the firm’s economic return. We thus predict that firms are more likely to trade patents when the technology structure of a patent is closer to the technology stock of a potential buyer compared with that of its original assignee. However, such a relationship will be weaker when a potential buyer and the original assignee have greater product-market overlap or when the assignee has superior technological capability. We test these predictions by employing a dyad-level analysis of transactional decisions during the 1987–2016 period on 40,110 U.S. patents assigned to 57 major biopharmaceutical firms. Our study provides novel insights on factors that facilitate or inhibit patent trade in the markets for innovation.

A Simple Course in Capital Theory: A Misunderstood Debate

This short paper is a demonstration of the difficulty with the textbook production function which uses the notion of capital as a factor of production. Because, this notion is logically incompatible with the other notion of the money value of capital needed for distribution theory. Theories of production and distribution become incompatible. Outside a one commodity world, this leads to insurmountable circular reasoning. The value of capital cannot be measured without first knowing its distributional parameters (e.g. real wage or the profit rate) and if they are known the marginal productivity theory based on the notion of the relative scarcity of capital as a factor of production is not only superfluous but meaningless. The scarcity of something which cannot be measured even in theory cannot be defined.

Productivity of Unorganised Manufacturing Enterprises in India

Since unorganised manufacturing enterprises (UMEs) provide employment to a huge mass in India therefore its growth and productivity is a matter of concern. Thus, through this paper the growth and productivity of Indian UMEs are shown with the help of NSSO Data (67th and 73rd Rounds). This paper reveals that the number of UMEs increased significantly in India during 2010-11 to 2015-16. The average productivity of labour increased over time. Using the Cobb-Douglas production function it was further found that the marginal productivity of labour is much higher than the marginal productivity of capital. Productivity is found to be positively and significantly influenced by male ownership, own account enterprises, enterprises do not face problem, expanding status of growth, government assistance, registration of enterprises and capital intensity.

Development and Rural–Urban Migration

Economic development is associated with rural–urban migration. Low rural wages provide a supply push to move to urban areas, while higher urban wages act as a demand pull attraction. Lewis believed that the marginal productivity of many workers employed in agriculture was near zero, so that workers could leave agriculture and hold down urban wages while the remaining farmers maintained the supply of food, justifying government neglect of agriculture in favor of industry. Todaro emphasized that high urban wages encouraged rural residents to move to cities without guaranteed jobs. Schultz argued that the best government policy was to improve education and health care in rural areas to ensure that rural residents are productive whether they stay in rural areas or move to cities. Most countries agricultural systems obey 80–20 rules: 80 % of farms are small and account for 20% of farm output, while 20% of farms are large and account for 80 % of farm output.

Valorisation de quatre accessions de souchets (Cyperus esculentus L.): une bonne option de diversification de culture pour les producteurs de la localité de danay-vokgora (Mayo-danay) en zone soudano-sahélienne du Cameroun

La valorisation de certaines espèces sous-utilisées constitue des moyens palliatifs de la diversification des cultures dans certaines localités de l’Extrême-Nord. Plus spécifiquement, l’absence des connaissances sur les méthodes culturales de la culture de souchet (Cypérus esculentus L.) constitue un frein de sa production. Face à cette situation, une étude été menée dans la plaine du Mayo-Danay (Danay-vokgora) afin de transférer le paquet technologique (itinéraire technique) de production de cette culture aux producteurs en vue de substituer les cultures sensibles à la variabilité et au changement climatique. Une parcelle de démonstration (Champ Ecole Paysan (CEP)) de quatre accessions de souchet (Cyperus esculentus L.) a été mise en place. Les opérations culturales ont été mise en oeuvre dans le dispositif en split plot comprenant les blocs de placettes complètement randomisées. La densité de semis et les accessions comportant quatre modalités chacun et répétées quatre fois ont été appliquées et contrôlées. L’issu des résultats révèlent qu’il n’existe pas des effets des densités de semis sur les rendements moyens en t/ha de souchet au seuil de 5% de signification. Par contre, les accessions « c= glazay » et « d= wéchéché » se sont différenciées avec les meilleurs rendements moyens en t/ha. Bien que l’accession « c= glazay » fasse l’objet du choix de préférence des bénéficiaires de ladite localité, la comparaison des quantités nécessaires et des productivités marginales des inputs de production de souchet (Cyperus esculentus L.) ont montré qu’il serait avantageux de produire avec l’accession « d= wéchéché », car avec la meilleure combinaison des inputs de production, sa productivité marginale (73,09 FCFA) serait plus profitable pour l’unité additionnelle relative au coût de location de la parcelle. De ce fait, il est important d’évaluer cette pratique culturale pour mieux apprécier le degré d’adoption de l’innovation relative à l’itinéraire technique de la culture de souchet dans la localité de Danay-vokgora.Mots clés: Valorisation, Souchet, Rendement, Danay-vokgoro, Soudano-sahélienne. English Title: Valorization of four accessions of tigernut (Cyperus esculentus L.): a good option of cultural diversification for the producers of the locality of danay-vokgora (Mayo-danay) in sudano-sahelien zone CameroonThe development of some underutilized species is a palliative means of crop diversification in some communities in the Far North. More specifically, the lack of knowledge about the cultivation methods of Tigernut culture (Cyperus esculentus L.) is a hindrance to its production. Faced with this situation, a study was conducted in the Mayo-Danay plain (Danay-vokgora) in order to transfer the technological package (technical practice) of production of this crop to producers in order to replace crops sensitive to variability and climate change. A demonstration plot (Field School Peasant (CEP)) of four accessions of Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus L.) has been set up. To do this, the implementation of the operations was conducted in the experimental split plot including randomized completely block design. Seedling density and accessions with four modalities each and repeated four times were applied and controlled. At the end of study, the results show that at 5% level of the significance, the effects of planting densities do not influence on average yields in t/ha of Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus L.). On the other hand, "c = glazay" and "d=wéchéché" accessions of Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus L.) differed by presenting best average yields in t/ha. While "c = glazay"accession is subject to the choice of preference beneficiaries to Danay-vokgora locality (Mayo-Danay), but the comparison of quantities needed and the marginal productivity of the production of the accessions of the Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus L.) has shown that it would advantageous to produce with the "d=wéchéché" accession, because with the best combination of inputs, her marginal productivity would be more profitable for an additional unit of 73.09 FCFA for the renting cost of the parcel. Therefore, it is important to evaluate this farming practice to better appreciate the degree of adoption of innovation related to the technical practice of Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus L.) culture in the locality of Danay-vokgora.Keywords: Valorization, Nutgrass, Yield, Danay-vokgoro, Sudano-sahelien.

Effects of Households’ Fertilization Knowledge and Technologies on Over-Fertilization: A Case Study of Grape Growers in Shaanxi, China

Over-fertilization has caused serious environmental problems and high agricultural production costs at the household level in China. This study attempts to analyze the effects of grape growers’ fertilization knowledge and technologies on their over-fertilization behavior. Using survey data collected from 235 grape growers planting a particular grape (the “Hutai No. 8” grape) in Shaanxi, the marginal productivity of the chemical fertilizer (CF) as well as the effect of fertilizing knowledge and technologies on households’ over-fertilization behavior were examined, using the loss control production function and examining a two-part model, respectively. The results show that the average marginal productivity of the CF is 0.46 and that more than 75% of the participants were overusing CFs, with the probability and intensity of over-fertilization being lower when households have richer knowledge on how to determine the accurate fertilization time and match fertilizers with nutrient needs. The identification of nutrient deficiency symptoms has no significant effect on the over-fertilization behavior of households. In addition, the adoption of water and fertilizer integration technology (WFIT) can reduce both the probability and intensity of over-fertilization, while the adoption of the soil testing and formulated fertilization technique (STFFT) helps to reduce only the intensity of over-fertilization by households, but does not have a significant impact on the probability of over-fertilization. Therefore, policies aimed at reducing over-fertilization may focus on increasing households’ fertilization knowledge and adopting advanced technologies on fertilizer management.