IFRS for Small & Medium Entities Literature review

IFRS for Small & Medium Entities - Literature review Example Primarily the objectives of IFRS for SMEs have been to support its accounting and financial reporting system as well as dramatically meet the basic financial requirements of these entities which does not have any public accountability and liability to publish financial statement for its external users (Laptes & Popa, 2009). Contextually, this paper critically evaluates the need of IFRS for SMEs and the challenges in adopting IFRS for SMEs. Aims Behind Applying IFRS For SMEs The primary aim of the IFRS for SMEs is to provide a standard for entities in nations that have no national GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). IFRS for SMEs shall not facilitate in providing accounting framework in certain specific countries for entities that do not have necessary the resources to adopt full IFRS. Another important aim of the application of IFRS is to provide those nations which have already set-up their own national GAAP with IFRS standards, a framework that shall recognise and understand the needs of accounting framework across the territories. In general, the application of IFRS in SMEs aims at providing financial statements and other financial reporting of profit-oriented entities. Accordingly, it is aimed that with the application of IFRS in SMEs shall be directed towards satisfying the common information requirements of an array of users such as shareholders, employees, creditors, and the public at large as well as facilitating single financial st andard for the preparation of financial reporting across the territories (The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, 2009; Madawaki, 2012). In addition to above stated aims, there are certain specific aims that are often being considered while applying IFRS in SMEs. These supplementary aims include reduction of cost for SMEs for preparing financial statements, eliminating complexity and harmonizing financial reporting by SMEs particularly private entities operating across the globe (Aristidou, 2012). Thus, it can be argued that the aims and objectives behind the IFRS implementation in SMEs are indeed wholesome and appreciable both from economic as well as accounting perspectives. Benefits of IFRS for SMEs It has been argued that IFRS for SMEs are the self-contained set of principles that comprises the accounting standards based on the Full IFRS. Additionally, it has been admitted that SMEs applying IFRS will have the significant opportunity to prepare their financi al reporting statements using a set of reliable standards which is truly based on the global financial reporting language. This will further enable SMEs to expand themselves into a new global financial dimension (Samujh, 2007). Additionally, it will also pave the way for SMEs to expand globally and increase their capability to generate greater revenue. Precisely stating IFRS for SMEs are likely to provide following benefits: Understanding the Global Financial Reporting Language: SMEs in jurisdictions where IFRS were not being historically used by those SMEs who wish to apply IFRS will became familiar with the requirement of IFRS. Moreover, the application of IFRS by SMEs will facilitate in

The Poor But Efficient Hypothesis Economics Essay

The Poor But Efficient Hypothesis Economics Essay In Chapter one we set in motion the purpose for this research and explain to the reader the essence of quantifying the amount the household is willing to pay for abating malaria both in the present and in the future. In this chapter we go a step further by reviewing literature in this area. This chapter is important because it provides the reader with a sort of history into this area of research. It also gives the reader an opportunity to understand where our research stands vis-à  -vis other researches in this area. Obtaining a value for the marginal effect of malaria on farmers technical efficiency is one of the live wires on which precise estimates for our Willingness-To-Pay depend. We therefore want to start by reviewing literature in the area of efficiency measurement; afterwards, we will research into literature in the area of Willingness To Pay. Before we go ahead we highlight the purpose of measuring technical efficiency to the reader. Technical efficiency primarily enables one to understand the relationship between input used and the output (total harvested crop). It also enables us to measure the performance of individual farms in an industry as well as provide an index for the average performance of the overall industry. This then leads us to propose policy recommendations that could help shift the production frontier- the maximum attainable harvest from each input- of the farm closer to the industry frontier at the prevailing technology. As we progress in this research the reader will further appreciate this concept and the reason why it is one of the most talked about concepts in development/resource economics. At the moment, our aim is to examine some literature that relates to our area of research. We therefore start Section 2.1 by reviewing literature relating to the poor but efficient hypothesis of Schultz (1964). Section 2.2 reviews some agriculture-based literature on efficiency and health. In doing this we divide the study on inefficiency into two; the Frequentist (Section 2.2.1) and the Bayesian (Section 2.2.2) studies. Using another method of classification, we classify the study of efficiency into single output studies (Section 2.2.3) and multiple output studies (Section 2.2.4). This puts us in good standing to review literature on Willingness-To-Pay in Section 2.4. Productivity/Efficiency Studies in Agriculture The Poor but Efficient Hypothesis The huge volume of research on efficiency in agriculture draws motivation from Schultz (1964) book Transforming Traditional Agriculture. In the book he explains why rural farmers are efficient in the management and allocation of resources. He advances a hypothesis popularly called the poor but efficient hypothesis. Researchers try to verify this hypothesis quantitatively; in doing this, a lot of issues come to the fore, part of which is; the best way to measure productivity. Before the advent of the deterministic measure of productivity pioneered by Aigner and Chu (1968), and, Afriat (1972) researchers attempt to measure efficiency. Of great importance to us in this area are the works of Welsch (1965), Chennareddy (1967) and Lipton (1968) because they specifically test the validity of Schultzs poor but efficient hypothesis. Chennareddy (1967) utilizes the linear regression analysis on a data of one hundred and four rice and tobacco farmers in South India using a Cobb-Douglas production function. His findings were in accord with Schultz hypothesis. He recommends that South Indian farmers should adopt modern technology and extension education in order to move to a higher frontier. Lipton (1986)  [1]  disagrees with this recommendation. He argues that if Schultzs findings are correct then the rural farmers do not need any expert advice to improve their productivity in other words moving to a higher frontier should not be a problem for them. He further queries Schultzs assertion believing that it only works under a neo-classical theory of perfect competition; he affirms that if Schultz uses linear programming to analyse his data his findings would show that the rural farmer is inefficient. Welsch (1965) in his study on Abakaliki rice in Eastern Nigeria makes use of the linear regression to affirm that peasant farmers respond to economic inducement by allocating efficiently among several resources at their disposal. Hence, he supports Schultzs hypothesis. One thing we want the reader to note in the above groups of literature is; the writers who concur with Schultzs assertion use parametric techniques to arrive at their conclusion while Lipton (1968) employs a non-parametric linear programming technique that assumes at least one factor is not fully employed. Just as the argument is about to cease, Sauer and Mendoza-Escalante (2007) involve themselves in it. Their work serves to reconcile these diametrically opposing schools of thought. It puts to use a parametric normalized generalized Leontief (GL) profit function technique to analyse joint production of Cassava flour and maize by small-scale farmers in Brazil. The small-scale farmers are allocatively efficient, they assert, but they show considerable inefficiency in the scale of operation. At this juncture, we remind the reader that our digression is intentional. Our aim is to show how Schultzs assertion has brought an upsurge in the number of efficiency studies in agriculture with special focus on the developing economies of the world. We like to say that the work not only instigates research in development/resource economics but it also prompts research in anthropology and sociology (see Adams, 1986 and the review by Michelena, 1965 pp. 540-541). Proper measure of productivity starts with Aigner and Chu (1968), Afriat (1972) and Richmond (1974) where they propose a deterministic method of frontier measurement. Though their studies are obsolete they however underscore the popularity of the Cobb-Douglas functional form in the early literature to show the relationship between input and output. Aigner, Lovell and Schmidt (1977), Meeusen and van den Broeck (1977), and, Battese and Corra (1977)  [2]  introduce the modern stochastic frontier analysis as we know it today simultaneously. Their model apart from incorporating the efficiency term into the deterministic model it also includes the effect of random shock, hence, the name stochastic. Lau and Yotopoulos (1971) also introduce a dual profit function model to measure efficiency but their method is not as popular in production analysis because it only yields efficiency measures for a group of farms while the frontier method gives efficiency values for individual farms in the industry (Fà ¸rsund et al 1980). The reader should note that the linear regressions of Chennareddy (1967) and Welsch (1965) give the shape of the technology of an average farm in the industry while the stochastic frontier model gives the shape of the technology of the most productive farm in the industry against which the efficiency of every other farm is measured (Coelli 1995). In other words, Chennareddy (1967) and Welsch (1965) use an average response model for their analysis. The specification of a functional form and/or distributional assumption confers on a technique the nomenclature parametric while the non-specification of a functional/distributional form confers on a technique the non-parametric nomenclature. The non-parametric nomenclature means, in the words of Koop (2003), you are letting the data speak. This he says is very difficult to achieve as even in the non-parametric system, just like in the parametric, one need to impose certain structure on a particular problem in order to achieve ones objectives. The use of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) (another technique is the Free Disposal Hull, FDH) overshadows every other technique in the non-parametric class. Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (1978) introduce this technique and gave it the name as we know it today. The data envelopment analysis technique uses the linear programming method to generate a piece-wise envelop over the data points. The technique is widely used in technical efficiency studies but it has the shortcoming of not incorporating randomness in measuring efficiency. Also, the envelop curve is not everywhere differentiable. Our focus in this research is the parametric technique. The parametric technique has progressed so much in the literature that there are now two different econometric schools of thought for estimating efficiency. The first school of thought are the Frequentists who dominate this field since its inception and the second school of thought are the Bayesians into which our research belongs. The Frequentist Studies The first set of Frequentist study is deterministic in nature and use the technological structure of the mathematical programming approach (see Aigner and Chu, 1968; Timmer, 1971; and, Fà ¸rsund and Hjalmarsson, 1979 for exposition on mathematical/goal programming). Richmond (1974) introduces the Modified Ordinary Least Square (MOLS) approach to analyse the efficiency of Norwegian manufacturing industries specifying a Cobb-Douglas production function. Richmond (1974) is a modification of the Corrected Ordinary Least Squares (COLS) approach. Winsten (1957) introduces this model by assuming a distribution (such as half normal or exponential) for the disturbance term. The Corrected Ordinary Least Square technique involves a two step process. The first step involves the use of the Ordinary Least Squares to obtain consistent and unbias estimates of the marginal effect parameters; on the contrary, the intercept parameters are consistent but bias. The second step involves the shifting of t he intercept upwards so the frontier envelops the data from above. Greene (1980) takes Richmond (1974) work a step further as he assumes a gamma distribution for the random error term using the maximum likelihood approach. He uses the data from Nerlove (1963) which is a sample of one hundred and fifty five firms producing electricity in the United States in 1955. Apart from replicating the results of Aigner and Chu (1963), Greene (1980) tries to explain the statistical relevance of his model. The reader should note that Greene (1980)s model is deterministic. One of the early applications of the deterministic frontier were Shapiro and Mà ¼ller (1977), Shapiro (1983), Belbase and Grabowski (1985). Shapiro and Mà ¼ller (1977) attempt to estimate the technical efficiency of forty farms in Geita district of Tanzania. They follow Timmer (1971) method of analysing technical efficiency by applying the linear programming to a Cobb Douglas production frontier. Their result which is similar to that of Chennareddy (1967) shows that the traditional farmer can improve his technical efficiency by adopting modern farming practices through easy access to information. This, they say, will be at the expense of non-economic costs like the farmer being branded unsociable by his community. Shapiro (1983) working in the same district as Shapiro and Mà ¼ller (1977) tries to confirm the poor but efficiency hypothesis but discovers the hypothesis may not be applicable in terms of peasant agriculture in Tanzania because their output could still be increased if all farmers had the same efficiency as the most efficient farmer in the sample. These assertions echo the conclusion of Lipton (1968). He uses the same model and method of analyses as Shapiro and Mà ¼ller (1977). Belbase and Grabowski (1985) introduce a technique that is different from the other two stated above. They apply the Corrected Ordinary Least Square (COLS) approach of Winsten (1957) on cross-sectional sample of farms in Nuwakot district of Nepal. They record an average technical efficiency value of 80% for joint production of rice, maize, millet and wheat. The average technical efficiency value for individual frontier calculation for rice and maize is given as 84% and 67% in that order. They find correlation between technical efficiency and other variables which are nutritional level, income and education. Technical efficiency is however not correlated with farming experience. Some studies investigate the impact of certain agricultural policies on productivity. A priori one expects these policies to actually increase productivity but this is not always the case. One of such study; Taylor, Drummond and Gomes (1986) use a deterministic production function and discover the World Bank sponsored credit programme PRODEMATA did not impact positively on the technical efficiency of farmers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Their result shows that there is no difference between the technical efficiency of farmers who participate in the programme and those that did not participate. This paper is one of the few that compare both the results of the Corrected Ordinary Least Square and the maximum likelihood approaches. Unexpectedly, the participant farmers in the PRODEMATA programmes have slightly lesser allocative efficiency than non-participant farmers. The researchers also favour Schultzs hypothesis. We want the reader to note that the deterministic frontier is still popular in the literature for example, Alvarez and Arias (2004) use Lau and Yotopoulos (1971) dual profit function model to measure the effect of technical efficiency on farm size using data from one hundred and ninety-six dairy farms in Northern Spain. They introduce technical efficiency as a parameter to estimate in a simple production function. They observe a positive relationship between technical efficiency and farm size after they control for output prices, input prices and quasi-fixed inputs. Also Amara et al (1999) use the deterministic frontier to discover the relationship between technical efficiency and the adoption of conservation technologies by potato farmers in Quebec. They found that farming experience and the adoption of conservation technologies have positive influence on technical efficiency. Croppenstedt and Demeke (1997) use a fixed-random coefficients regression to analyse data for small-scale farmers growing cereal in Ethiopia. They observe that land size is a major constraint to crop production and large farms are relatively less productive than small farms other things being equal. They note that most of the farms are inefficient. They also observe inefficiency in the use of inputs especially labour and fertiliser. Share cropping is positively correlated to technical efficiency. Karagiannis et al (2002) propose an alternative for separating technical change form time varying technical inefficiency. Their proposition uses the general formulation index to model technical change (Karagiannis et al 2002 cites Baltagi and Griffin 1988). They also model technical change as quadratic function of time. Their proposition does not assume any distributional assumption for the one sided stochastic error term. They then apply their proposition to the United Kingdom dairy sector from 1982 to 1992 using a translog production frontier. They obtain a mean technical efficiency value of about seventy-eight per cent for the dairy industry with this period. One major disadvantage of the deterministic frontier model is that it over-values our inefficiency estimates. For example, Taylor and Shonkwiler (1986) discover the deterministic frontier gives over seventy per cent inefficiency while the stochastic frontier gives twenty per cent value for inefficiency. At present, a lot of papers utilize the stochastic frontier model in their analysis. Coelli et al (2003) makes use of the stochastic frontier to calculate the total factor productivity for a panel data of crop agriculture in Bangladesh. The data contains thirty-one observations collected between 1960/61 and 1991/92 from 16 regions and the result reveals technical change is convex in nature with increase starting about the time of the introduction of the green revolution varieties in the 1970s. Technical efficiency reduces at an annual rate of 0.47 per cent during the period they investigate. This has an effect on the total factor productivity which declines at the rate of 0.23 per cent per annum with the rate of reduction increasing in later years. This, they say, raises questions of food security and increase in agricultural productivity in Bangladesh. They point out the non-use of price data in their analysis which makes their work different from other authors (Coelli et al; 2003 c ites Pray and Ahmed, 1991, and, Dey and Evenson, 1991). Wadud and White (2000) compare the stochastic frontier approach with the data envelopment analysis and discover both methods indicate efficiency is significantly affected by irrigation and environmental degradation. There are a few papers that attempt to analyse technical, allocative and economic efficiencies at once in a single research. Bravo-Ureta and Pinheiro (1997) carry out a frontier analysis using the self-dual Cobb-Douglas production function to analyse farm data from Dominican Republic. They justify the use of the Cobb Douglas production function because the method they adopt requires both the use of the production and cost frontiers. Their research is important because they use the maximum likelihood technique to emphasize the essence of not only estimating the technical efficiency but also, the allocative and economic efficiency. Another paper that follows in this light is that of Bravo-Ureta (1994) who attempts to measure the technical, allocative and economic efficiencies of cotton and cassava farmers in eastern Paraguay. He estimates economic efficiency for cotton and cassava farmers to be around forty per cent and fifty-two per cent respectively. There could be spatial differences in the technical efficiencies of different farms based on ecological differences, farm size and interactions between these two variables. Tadesse and Krishnamoorthy (1997) set out to investigate this in their research on paddy rice farmers in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. They remark that the farmers still have opportunity of increasing their efficiency by seventeen per cent. They observe significant variation in the variation of mean technical efficiency in the four zones that make up Tamil Nadu. They use a two stage approach where the first task is to obtain farm-specific technical efficiency and then use a Tobit model to compare the differences in the technical efficiencies of each region and zone. Wang and Schmidt (2002) note a bias in the results obtained by this process and they went ahead to use the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique to prove that there is serious bias at every stage of the procedure. Chen et al (2009) also examine the technical efficiency of farms in four regions of China. The four regions are North, North-East, East and South-West. They observe that different inputs need to be put to efficient use in the different regions. For example, inefficient use of industrial input is the main problem in the East while in the North it is capital. They assert that farms in the North and North-East are relatively more efficient than farms in the East and South-West. They recommend a change in the land tenure system to eliminate land fragmentation in China. Other researchers have used the stochastic production frontiers to investigate the impact of government programmes on farmers efficiency. For example, Seyoum et al (1998) use the Battese and Coelli (1995) stochastic production function to compare between farmers that participate in Sasakawa-Global 2000 project and those who do not in Ethiopia. They collect twenty samples from two different districts (Keresa and Kombolcha) of eastern Ethiopia and show the difference in the levels of production in these two districts by use of a dummy for one district. The data is panel in nature which justifies their use of the Battese and Coelli (1995) model. Battese and Coelli (1995)  [3]  is a panel data extension of the Kumbhakar et al (1991) research work. Seyoum et al (1998) recommend that policy makers should expand the Sasakawa-Global 2000 project as farmers who participated have better output, productivity and efficiency than farmers that did not. Still on the impact of government programmes on efficiency, Abdulai and Huffman (2000) look at the impact of the Structural Adjustment Programme on the efficiency of rice farmers in Northern Ghana using a stochastic profit function. Their results show rice producers in the region are highly responsive to market prices for rice and inputs. They support the introduction of the structural adjustment programme because it makes the farmers more market oriented. Also, Ajibefun and Abdulkadri (1999) find the Cobb-Douglas production function as being adequate to represent the efficiency of Nigerias National Directorate of Employment Farmers Scheme. They reject the half-normal distribution assumption for the inefficiency term. Ajibefun (2002) simulates the impact of policy variables on the technical efficiency of small-scale farmers in Nigeria. He discovers that increase in education level and the farming experience would significantly improve the small-scale farmers technical efficiency. Ama za and Olayemi (2002) investigate the technical efficiency of food crop farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria and arrive at similar mean technical efficiency as Ajibefun and Abdulkadri (1999). However, the difference between the minimum and maximum technical efficiency score for Amaza and Olayemi (2002) is seventy-six per cent while for Ajibefun and Abdulkadri (1999) is about sixty-six per cent. Jara-Rojas et al (2012) look at the impact of the adoption of soil and water conservation practices on productivity and they discover a positive relation between soil and water conservation and technical efficiency. They discover that an enhancement of the technical efficiency also improves the net returns on investment. The use of the stochastic frontier model to estimate the effect of health on farmers efficiency is also very important in the literature. Croppenstedt and Mà ¼ller (2000) take up this challenge when they research into the role of the Ethiopian farmers health and nutritional status on their productivity and efficiency. They find that distance to the source of water as well as nutrition and morbidity affect agricultural productivity. Surprisingly, elasticities of labour productivity regarding their nutritional status are strong. They further affirm that this strong correlation continues with technology estimates and wage equations. However, they record considerable loss in production due to technical inefficiency even after accounting for health and nutrition of workers. Ajani and Ugwu (2008) look at the impact of adverse health on the productivity of farmers living in the Kainji basin of North-Central Nigeria. Their study shows the health variable as being positive, large and statistically significant. They therefore conclude that health capital is an essential input in agriculture. A paper that successfully combined the non-parametric technique of data envelopment analysis and an econometric model is Audibert et al (2003). They use a combination of the data envelopment analysis and the Tobit model to infer on the social and health determinants of the efficiency of cotton farmers in Northern Cà ´te dIvoire. They use the high density of the malaria parasite in the blood of an individual as a proxy for the health of the household. They use a two step process; firstly, they use the data envelopment analysis to arrive at relative technical efficiency values and then they regress this efficiency scores against factors they think will affect efficiency. The high density of malaria parasite in the blood variable enters the model at the second stage. Their results show that malaria greatly reduces farmers technical efficiency. They further conclude that it is intensity of infection by the disease that is important rather than its presence. Our research collects data on the prevalence of the disease in an area rather than just hospital reported cases; this we believe will give further credence to our results. Ajani and Ashagidigbi (2008) use numbers of days of incapacitation as a proxy for malaria incidence in Oyo State, Nigeria. Surprisingly, they ran a normal linear regression to investigate the effects of malaria on agricultural productivity. Their analysis shows that age and days of incapacitation are insignificant statistically. Olarinde et al (2008) explore the factors that affect bee keepers technical efficiency in Oyo state, Nigeria. They observe that the bee keepers are efficient by about eighty-five per cent there is still room for to increase their efficiency by fifteen per cent. They point out that some of the farmers do not take bee-keeping as their main occupation. This, they say, is a major determinant of efficiency. Marital status is also another variable that affects technical efficiency, they note. They observe that a farmer who is single is likely to be more efficient than a married farmer. Mochebelele and Winter-Nelson (2000) examine the effect of migratory labour (to mine fields in South Africa) on farm technical efficiency. They try to establish if migrant labour actually complement farm production or not. They establish that households with migrant farmers have higher production and are more efficient than households without migrant farmers. In the use of the panel data for efficiency estimation, some researchers try to see if differences exist in efficiency values between the fixed effect model and the stochastic frontiers. Ahmad and Bravo-Ureta (1996) use panel data of ninety-six Vermont dairy farms between the periods 1971 to 1984. They carry out statistical tests to investigate the better model between the fixed effect model and the stochastic frontier model. The fixed effect model gave better results than the stochastic frontier model. Hence, they conclude that the fixed effect model needs to be considered in panel data analysis. Reinhard et al (1999) estimate the technical and environmental efficiency of a panel of dairy farms. They assume the production of two outputs dairy and excessive use of Nitrogen. They analyse their efficiencies separately. Their objective involves investigating whether farmers can both be technically and environmentally efficient. They also examine the compatibility of these two types of efficiencies. They obtain a mean output-technical efficiency of 0.894 while the input-oriented environment efficiency is 0.441. They remark that intensive dairy farming is both technically and environmentally more efficient than extensive dairy farming. Reinhard et al (2000) examine comprehensive environmental efficiency in Dutch dairy farms. This paper is a continuation of Reinhard et al (1999) paper. In this paper, apart from surplus Nitrogen which they use in their earlier work, they also investigate excess use of phosphate and total energy use of these farms. They compare efficiency scores in the stochastic frontier analysis with the data envelopment analysis. The mean technical efficiency values for the two methods of analysis are different. The stochastic frontier has an output technical efficiency value of eighty-nine per cent while the data envelopment analysis has an efficiency value of seven-eight per cent. There is significant difference between their environmental efficiencies also. The stochastic frontier analysis records a value of eighty per cent while the data envelopment analysis records a value of fifty-two per cent. It is evident from the result of the two efficiencies that the stochastic frontier method over-valu es efficiency scores. Before we close this section we refer the reader to a work by Strauss (1986). The work is important because it attempts to investigate the effect of nutrition on farm labour productivity in Sierra Leone. He uses an average response model to capture this effect. He estimates a Cobb-Douglas production function which accounts for simultaneity in input and calorie choice. His exercise shows calorie intake has significant impact on labour productivity. He, however, places a caveat on this result because individual-level nutrient and anthropometric data are not included in the analysis. His result supports the nutrition productivity hypothesis to a great extent. In the last few pages we attempt to explain to the reader the preponderance of the Frequentist method of analysing the stochastic frontier especially in agriculture. We emphasize the diverse uses of the parametric method of efficiency measurement in agriculture. We believe that other literature in agriculture will fall into one of the categories we peruse above. Next, we take a look at the Bayesian econometrist view. The reader should note how few the literature is compared to the Frequentist method. Also, for a thorough perusal of the literature from the Frequentist perspective we refer the reader to Bravo-Ureta et al (2007) Delete. The Bayesian Studies The works of van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and Steel (1994); Koop, Osielwalski and Steel (1994, 1997); Koop, Steel and Osielwalski (1992), and, Fernà ¡ndez, Osiewalski and Steel (1997) herald the Bayesian technique for estimating the compose-error model. van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and Steel (1994) is a primer for estimating a Bayesian cross-sectional composed-error data. They resolve the problem of choosing the best functional form experienced in classical econometrics by mixing over a number of distributions. They use the Bayesian model averaging to average over the results of the Jondrow et al. (1982) and Greene (1990). In other words van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and Steel (1994) solve the problem of choosing the better distribution between the two. They also carry out predictive inference on their results using the Monte Carlo technique of importance sampling. In continuation of van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and Steel (1994) work; Koop, Osielwalski and Steel (1994) show how to use the Gibbs sampling Monte Carlo method to arrive at estimates for the stochastic cost frontier model. They fit an asymptotically ideal price aggregator, non-constant returns to scale composed error cost frontier. They use Barnett, Geweke, and Wolfe (1991) method for generating the asymptotically ideal price aggregator (Koop, Osielwalski and Steel, 1994 cite Barnett, Geweke, and Wolfe 1999). They caution that care should be taken in the choice of functional form for frontier analysis. We believe the use of the Bayesian model Averaging technique should circumvent this problem. Also, they discover that imposing regularity condition on the price aggregator is found to reduce the spread of the Mà ¼ntz- Szatz expansion. Koop, Steel and Osielwalski (1995) essentially show how to draw the different parameters in the composed-error model using the Gibbs sampler. They provide an algorithm to draw the different parameters of choice in the composed-error model. They show the ease with which this can be done using the Gibbs sampler. They also note the use of 0.875 as an informative prior for the inefficiency value. van den Broeck, Koop, Osielwalski and Steel (1994) propose this value. Fernà ¡ndez, Osiewalski and Steel (1997) introduce the Bayesian method for estimating panel data using a class of non- or partly-informative prior. They assert that using this type of priors for a cross-sectional data will make its posterior inference unreliable and inaccurate. This is because the total number of parameters in the entire model is larger than the sample size. They circumvent this problem in the panel data where the researcher can impose a structure on the inefficiency terms. Koop, Osielwalski and Steel (1997) take Fernà ¡ndez et al (1997)

Elizabeth Rex in comparison to Fiddler On The Roof :: Essays Papers

Elizabeth Rex in comparison to Fiddler On The Roof More specifically, the comparison to be made is between both of Brent Carver’s performances in the aforementioned plays. In Fiddler, Mr. Carver presented us with a humble, lovable and yet poor milkman (Tevye), quite pleased with what he has, but always hoping for a little bit more money in his purse (as he says, â€Å"If I were a rich man†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). What makes his character all the more lovable is his monologues with the Almighty/God (as well as the audience), for this is where the pureness of his heart shines through. For example, he stops to think and speak with God when he sees his daughter Tzeitel in love with Motel. The two had made a pledge to marry one another, but Tzeitel became betrothed to a butcher named Lazar Wolf. In this brief (and musical) contemplation, Tevye weighs the two choices he has, and finally comes to the conclusion that marrying Motel would be mouch better for his daughter, ultimately scoring points with the audience. In Elizabeth Rex, however, Carver brought to life an entirely different character with Ned: a homosexual confined to playing women’s roles and cursed to die from a pox given to him by his lover. Ned is also a heartwarming character at times, showing his companionship with the other characters and with his pet bear, but at other times, he challenges both the audience and the queen of England. The first indication that Ned was much more than any other character usually seen on stage was his entrance. He ran up on stage yelling obscenities (â€Å"Shit! Shit! You rutting bitch!†) and throwing his shoes because one of his fellow actors had flubbed a line. But when the queen appeared, his attitude became more grim and clever. He dared her to stop playing the man for once and be true to herself.

Proctor reluctantly Essay

This powerful line comes in act 4 when Proctor reluctantly confesses to seeing the devil. He is now passionate about making sure his name doesn’t get put up on the church door. This is the line that starts the incredible build up of emotion and frustration leading to the dramatic climax of the play. Saying it ‘with a cry of his whole soul’ shows how much his name means to him. There isn’t a more emotional way he could say it than with his whole soul. John Proctor would rather give up his life than his name. The exclamation mark at the end and the word ‘cry’ shows he should shout the words with a lot of emotion and passion. I can imagine the actor looking very angry and yelling the line with his arms spread and his fists clenched in rage at the prospect of losing his dignity and reputation. I think when he says the line the other charactors will be silenced and be shocked by his flood of emotion. This abrupt line would surprise the audience and it might make them sympathize with Proctor. In Act 2 John is asked by Hale to repeat the Ten Commandments and remembers all but thou shalt not commit adultery and has to be reminded of it by Elizabeth. It is ironic that Proctor forgets this sin because of the affair he had with Abigail. Adultery was seen as a terrible sin in the Puritan society and adultery was taken very seriously. From Elizabeth’s perspective this would make her feel uncomfortable as she is wounded by her husband’s affair: ‘Proctor (as though a secret arrow had pained his heart): Aye. ‘ The description Miller uses to show how Proctor should say the line is very dramatic and the simplicity of just using the word ‘Aye’ will also have dramatic impact. I can imagine the actor almost whispering the word, dropping his head in shame and with a crack in his voice. This might have the effect of generating sympathy from the audience for both Elizabeth and John. It also adds to the build up of tension creating an expectant atmosphere. Arthur Miller is very good at making the audience feel very involved. One of the ways he does this is by using a technique called dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when there is contradiction between what a character thinks and what the audience knows to be true. For example in Act 3 Proctor confesses to the court that he had an affair with Abigail. He tells them that Elizabeth knew about the affair and this is why his wife put Abigail out of the house. Danforth sends for Elizabeth and orders that no one is to speak to her and Proctor to turn his back. She is asked about the affair. Not knowing that Procter has confessed and trying to protect Proctor, she lies and denies all knowledge of the affair between John and Abigail. She realizes too late that she should have told the truth and she is led away. During this most tense scene the audience would feel very frustrated with Elizabeth and be willing her to tell the truth. The audience would feel sorry for Elizabeth as she lied to protect Proctor even though it was about his affair, which deeply hurt Elizabeth. At this point in the play I felt desperate for Elizabeth to tell the truth. Arthur Miller uses very powerful stage directions in The Crucible. He uses them for several reasons. One of the reasons is to describe a movement or action of a character. He directs this line at Mary Warren. His wife has just been arrested on suspicion of witchcraft after a poppet is found in her house, which Mary made. This movement prepares us for the dialogue, which is to follow: ‘Proctor (moving menacingly towards her): You will tell the court how that poppet came here and who stuck the needle in. ‘ This shows the mood that Proctor is in. Proctor is furious at Mary and wants to scare her into telling the court. The movement would draw everyone’s attention towards the actor. I think the word ‘menacingly’ would mean that the actor would walk purposely with an edge of threat towards the girl. He would tower over Mary ready for the dialogue. By this point the audience would be anticipating though his actions what would be going to happen next. In Act 4 Proctor is losing control and is confused about his decision of confessing to seeing the devil: ‘(He moves as an animal, and a fury is riding in him, a tantalized search)’. This stage direction would enable the actor to behave in a dramatic, inhuman manner. I can imagine the actor pacing and his eyes searching for answers. It would give the actor the opportunity to take centre stage and exploit this important twist of the play. This would add dramatic tension and a feeling of anticipation of what Proctor was going to do next. I think the actor would pace up and down the stage quickly with his body quite tensed up. I think Arthur Miller was successful in creating tension in The Crucible. He does this through a variety of methods. Firstly his use of dark, forbidding sets. This gives the idea of tension before the scenes have even begun and the characters have started speaking. His use of dramatic dialogue and stage directions build up the tension and help the actors relate to the character and perform the play with more emotion towards the characters. Through dramatic irony he involves the audience and manages to maintain their interest throughout the play. Miller portrays the characters in an intense way. The relationships between them are very close, with the stifling intimacy of their lives adding to the slow build up of hysteria in the play. I found the most dramatic moment in the play was when Proctor confessed to his affair. Elizabeth was then asked if she knew about the affair but she denied all knowledge of this. This was a particularly tense moment because anxiety and frustration was high; the characters along with the audience wanted her to tell the truth, fearing the consequences of a lie. This had the affect of making me feel nervous that something could go wrong and also involved because I knew about Proctor’s confession. I felt that Abigail’s character was especially strong and influential in the play. She was the root of all the troubles. I felt pity for Elizabeth because of Abigail; her affair with Proctor and her accusations about Elizabeth’s involvement in witchcraft destroyed her life. Miller has the ability to pull the audience into the lives of the characters by his use of dramatic devices and theatrical techniques, which maintain interest and participation throughout the play. Miller made me feel nervous and frustrated in The Crucible. He made me feel sympathy, fear and anxiety towards the characters. For example I felt great empathy for Elizabeth Proctor as her husband betrayed her and then she was accused of being a witch. Miller uses the other characters to portray Elizabeth as a cold person but through our knowledge of her as the play progresses we become emotionally involved with her and come to realize what a strong courageous woman she is. With Elizabeth, as with many other characters, Miller allows us to make up our own minds about their honesty and strength as we are drawn into the characters lives and we begin understand the double standards and different tensions that are operating throughout The Crucible.

Four P’s in Foreign Policy Essay

By analyzing the war on Iraq using the 4 P’s framework given by Bruce W. Jentleson in his Book American Foreign Policy, it seems that the US national interest goal cannot be simultaneously satisfied in most of the cases. Iraq became a US threat in 1990 when former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, led the invasion of Kuwait. US, supported by the United Nations and many other countries, went to war for the first time against Iraq. The US troops expelled the Iraqi troops out of Kuwait and reestablished order in that country. This did not mean that the threat was over; Saddam Hussein became an â€Å"enemy† of the United States. After the terrorist attacks in the United States, President George Bush started a war on terror, a war which main purpose is to finish any kind of threats all over the world. According to President Bush, Saddam Hussein with his anti-American sentiment and the â€Å"possession† of biological and chemical weapons was one of these threats. The proposal of a new war against Iraq came from George Bush. This war was supposed to be based on the core goals of American Foreign Policy (The 4 P’s). Power: Iraq was considered as one of the biggest enemies of the United States, more than the country itself; the enemy was its leader, Saddam Hussein. An active threat could not only harm US allies in the Middle East but also other countries in the world, even America. The risk was too big and some actions should be taken. America should protect itself and its interests. Peace: Iraq could also deter world peace as it did before. Saddam Hussein’s greed and power could result in another invasion to a Middle Eastern country. The United States had also a big responsibility in this aspect, as one of the most powerful countries in the world, it was necessary an US intervention in order to preserve the world’s peace. Even though the United States was breaking the peace by going to war against Iraq, this war was necessary to avoid a bigger disaster. Prosperity: The economic national interest was also involved in this war. Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world, but also Iraq’s  neighbors, like Kuwait, are important oil providers to the US. Since the safety of these countries was in danger America should protect them, and at the same time protect its own economical interests. Principles: Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who committed mass murder against his own people. There were no civil rights in Iraq, repression and tortures were common denominators in the country. George Bush also wanted to bring freedom to the Iraqi people and all the rights that were taken from them. After the war was over some of these goals were not achieved, totally. The main reason to start this war was Saddam Hussein’s possession of biological chemical weapons. These weapons or any proof that they existed have not yet been found. Peace was also broken, and even months after the war is over and Saddam Hussein has been captured, there still is not peace in Iraq. Many innocent people died during this war, and today people are still dying as a consequence of that war. The United States violated several provisions established by the United Nations. The US was supported by some countries but it was not the same number of supporters as in the first war against Iraq. The UN and countries like France did not give all their support to this war. On the other hand, prosperity and principles goals were achieved or are on the road to be achieved. The US provides more security to many oil producers in the Middle East and it will also gain a new provider, Iraq (This is the reason which I believe the war started). Also democracy is on its way to be established in Iraq; people are recovering many of their rights and freedom. As Jentleson explained in his book sometimes some goals have to be sacrificed in order to achieved the others.

Free Essays on The Mentally Challenged

When one looks at the world around, what is it that one notices? The way people walk? The way people act? What about those that don't walk, talk, or even look like most people? Everyone, regardless of who that person may be, needs to be reminded of the saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover." A lack of understanding is what leads to prejudice. The prejudices are not only against people with different skin tones, ages, or sexes, these prejudices also extend to judgments made against the physically and mentally challenged. Through my experience at the centre for the mentally challenged, I have learnt further about and understood these people. The Mentally Challenged express themselves in a pure clear way; they may rock their bodies to and fro, flick fingers in front of their face, make odd noises or have difficulty relating themselves to space, making one feel uneasy but it’s not like they can help it. One must understand that they have poor motor and speech development; t hey are only trying to express themselves, just like us. The mentally challenged require one step directions, all instructions and steps should be broken down as understanding and following more than one thing at a time is very difficult. Everyone is capable of learning; it’s just that some people learn slower. I remember trying to explain the simple game of â€Å"Memory† to the mentally challenged; they could not understand how the game was played. In the end, the cards had to be flipped over and the game was changed into a game of just matching, the mentally challenged had to be constantly shown how to play until only some got it. The mentally challenged require demonstration in concrete form, have a short attention span and short-term memory. Though they have poor memory recall, I noticed that they can carry on repetitive routine tasks without being reminded, such as going for lunch and packing up after playing. The passing of time, along with the education o... Free Essays on The Mentally Challenged Free Essays on The Mentally Challenged When one looks at the world around, what is it that one notices? The way people walk? The way people act? What about those that don't walk, talk, or even look like most people? Everyone, regardless of who that person may be, needs to be reminded of the saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover." A lack of understanding is what leads to prejudice. The prejudices are not only against people with different skin tones, ages, or sexes, these prejudices also extend to judgments made against the physically and mentally challenged. Through my experience at the centre for the mentally challenged, I have learnt further about and understood these people. The Mentally Challenged express themselves in a pure clear way; they may rock their bodies to and fro, flick fingers in front of their face, make odd noises or have difficulty relating themselves to space, making one feel uneasy but it’s not like they can help it. One must understand that they have poor motor and speech development; t hey are only trying to express themselves, just like us. The mentally challenged require one step directions, all instructions and steps should be broken down as understanding and following more than one thing at a time is very difficult. Everyone is capable of learning; it’s just that some people learn slower. I remember trying to explain the simple game of â€Å"Memory† to the mentally challenged; they could not understand how the game was played. In the end, the cards had to be flipped over and the game was changed into a game of just matching, the mentally challenged had to be constantly shown how to play until only some got it. The mentally challenged require demonstration in concrete form, have a short attention span and short-term memory. Though they have poor memory recall, I noticed that they can carry on repetitive routine tasks without being reminded, such as going for lunch and packing up after playing. The passing of time, along with the education o...

Definition and Examples of Tmesis

Definition and Examples of Tmesis Tmesis is the separation of the parts of a compound word by another word or words, usually for emphasis or comic effect. The adjective form is  tmetic. Related to tmesis is synchesis, the jumbling of word order in an expression. Etymology:  From the Greek, a cutting Pronunciation:  (te-)ME-sis Also Known  As:  infix,  tumbarumba  (Australia) Examples and Observations Abso-friggin-lutely! I said triumphantly as I mentally crossed my fingers. (Victoria Laurie, A Vision of Murder. Signet, 2005)Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester bloody Square. (James Marsters as Spike in Becoming: Part 2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1998)Whoopdee-damn-doo, Bruce thought. At most newspapers, general assignment reporters were newsroom royalty, given the most important stories. At the East Lauderdale Tattler, they were a notch above janitors, and burdened with lowly tasks . . .. (Ken Kaye, Final Revenge. AuthorHouse, 2008)To persuade people to keep watching [the television program Zoo Quest], [David] Attenborough gave the series an objective, a rare animal to pursue: picarthates gymnocephalus, the bald-headed rock crow. He doubted this creature would be alluring enough, but when his cameraman Charles Lagus was driving him down Regent Street in an open-top sports car and a bus driver leaned out of his cab and asked, in a neat piece of tmesis, if he was ever going to catch that Picafartees gymno-bloody-cephalus, he knew it had lodged itself in the public mind. (Joe Moran, Armchair Nation. Profile, 2013) This is not Romeo, hes some other where. (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)In what torn ship soever I embark,That ship shall be my emblemWhat sea soever swallow me, that floodShall be to me an emblem of thy blood. (John Donne, Hymn to Christ, at the Authors Last Going Into Germany)Most often, tmesis is applied to compounds of ever. Which way so ever man refer to it (Milton); that manhow dearly ever parted (Troilus and Cressida 3.3.96); how heinous eer it be,/To win thy after-love I pardon thee (Richard II 5.3.34). However, the syllable of any word can be separated: Oh so lovely sitting abso-blooming-lutely still (A. Lerner and F. Lowe, My Fair Lady). Or See his windlilycockslaced (G.M. Hopkins, Harry Ploughman). Tmesis is also commonly used in terms of British slang, such as hoo-bloody-ray. (A. Quinn, Tmesis. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition, ed. by T. Enos. Taylor Francis, 1996)Its a sort of long cocktailhe got the formula off a barman in Marrakesh or some-bloody-where . (Kingsley Amis, Take a Girl Like You, 1960) I did summon up the courage to poke a camera through Terry Adamss front gate last year, only to be met with a minders greeting: Why dont you leave us a-f-ing-lone. I wonder if the brute was aware of his use of tmesis, the insertion of one word into another? (Martin Brunt, How Terror Has Changed the Crime Beat. The Guardian, Nov. 26, 2007)old age sticksup KeepOffsigns) youth yanks themdown(oldagecries NoTres) (pas)youth laughs(singold agescolds Forbidden StopMustnt Dont) youth goesright ongrowing old(E.E. Cummings, old age sticks)Gideon [Kent] knew [Joseph] Pulitzer, of course. He admired the publishers insistence that his paper never become the captive of any group or political party. Indegoddamnpendent was Pulitzers unique way of putting it. (John Jakes, The Americans. Nelson Doubleday, 1980) Tmetic Rhythms When you insert a word for emphasis- be it fricking, bleeping, something ruder, or something less rude- you cant just stick it any old where. We know this because abso-freaking-lutely is fine but ab-freaking-solutely or absolute-freaking-ly is not. Whether its in a word, a phrase, or a name- you stick the emphatic addition right before a stressed syllable, usually the syllable with the strongest stress, and most often the last stressed syllable. What were doing, in prosodic terms, is inserting a foot. . . . When it comes to sticking these extra feet in, we normally break the word or phrase according to the rhythm of what were inserting. To be or not to be, that is the question is thought of as iambic pentameter, but you wont break it between iambs if your interrupting foot is a trochee: To be or not to bleeping be, not To be or not bleeping to be . . . But if its an iamb? To be or not the heck to be, not To be or not to the heck be. Look, these are rude, interrupting words. Theyre breaking in and wrecking the structure. Thats the freaking point. But they still do it with a rhythmic feeling. (James Harbeck, Why Linguists Freak Out About Absofreakinglutely. The Week, December 11, 2014) The Split Infinitive as Tmesis A split infinitive has been elsewhere defined as a type of syntactic tmesis in which a word, especially an adverb, occurs between to and the infinitival form of a verb. Different labels have been used to name this particular ordering of English, spiked adverb or cleft infinitive among others, but the term split infinitive has eventually superseded all its predecessors (Smith 1959: 270).  (Javier Calle-Martin and Antonio Miranda-Garcia, On the Use of Split Infinitives in English. Corpus Linguistics: Refinements and Reassessments, ed. by Antoinette Renouf and Andrew Kehoe. Rodopi, 2009)