The use of an identity to examine the association between technological changes and aggregate labour utilization in agriculture

The purpose of this article is to examine certain aspects of the interaction between changes in agricultural technology and changes in the aggregate level of labour utilization in agriculture. The first part of the article describes an identity which establishes a relationship between the average output per person in agriculture, the size of the agricultural labour force in relation to the area under cultivation, and the average yield per acre of cultivated land. It also suggests that changes in each of the two latter parts of the identity can be associated with a particular form of technological change. The second part presents the Japanese, Taiwanese and Mexican experiences of agricultural growth in terms of the identity, with supporting data on the nature of the technological changes that have occurred. The final part begins with a summary of the experience of the three countries. Thereafter, it suggests that, in view of the high rate of growth of the labour force in developing countries, there should be a greater appreciation of the ways in which government policies may influence the direction of technological changes and of the possible implications of these changes on aggregate levels of labour utilization in agriculture.

The approach to assessing the impact of technological change that is incorporated in this paper differs in two respects from the approaches of standard literature on the subject (3, pp. 88–101; 4, pp. 709–29; 1, pp. 312–20). ? In the first place, it involves an explicit though partial explanation of the phenomenon rather than an emphasis on measuring its effect. Each of the two forms of technological change—land‐saving and labour‐saving—is identified as the introduction of particular new resources. A more complete explanation would require an additional hypothesis as to why individual entrepreneurs might want to innovate (that is, to introduce new resources); no such hypothesis is included in this study. In the second place, the suggested approach does not require the specification of a production function. The use of an identity has the advantage of allowing useful insights into the process of technological change while avoiding the analytical biases that can be introduced in specifying a production function.     

Interpersonal Relationships and the Development of Behavior Problems in Adolescents in Urban Schools: A Longitudinal Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the trajectories of behavioral problems for a sample of predominately minority adolescents (n = 212, 91% African-American and/or Hispanic, 45% boys, 55% girls) in a large, urban school district and to determine the impact of parental and peer relationships, gender, and risk status on their development during middle and high school. Multi-level growth modeling was the primary statistical procedure used to track internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems across time. Results indicated that behavioral problems as rated by students’ teachers declined significantly for both boys and girls, a finding that is in direct contrast to previous studies of adolescent behavior. The quality of parental relationships was a strong predictor of both types of behavior whereas the quality of peer relationships predicted only internalizing behavioral symptoms. These findings suggest that behavioral trajectories may be somewhat unique for this population underscoring the need for additional research in this area. The findings also have implications for intervening with children and youth who display behavioral problems during critical developmental periods.     

Data hubris? Humanitarian information systems and the mirage of technology

This article looks at the promise of technology to revolutionise humanitarian action, especially in terms of the gathering and use of data. With many heralding a ‘data revolution’, the opportunities and enthusiasm for using social media and SMS data in crisis response are on the rise. The article constructs an analytical framework in order to scrutinise the three main claims made on behalf of technologically advanced humanitarian information systems: that they can access data more accurately, more quickly, and alter power relations in emancipatory ways. It does so in relation to two aspects of digital humanitarianism: visual technology and crisis mapping, and big data. The article is partly informed by a historical perspective, but also by interview and other material that suggests some of the claims made on behalf of technology are exaggerated. In particular, we argue that the enthusiasm for the data is vastly outstripped by the capacity to meaningfully analyse it. We conclude by scoping the implications of the future technological evolution of humanitarianism, in particular by examining how technology contributes to what Duffield terms ‘post-modern humanitarianism’.     

Tim Cook: A Remembrance

Sparse literature exists on the topic of intimacy appeals in political advertising, so in this study Horton and Wohl's para-social theory was applied to explain the “relationship” in Israel between television performers (politicians) and spectators (voters) through the intimacy concept. Altogether, 442 political ads from two Israeli election campaigns (1996 and 1999) were analyzed to test three hypotheses on the use of intimacy appeals across campaigns and political parties. The intimacy appeal measure consisted of five intimacy techniques and was thus characterized as a macro-level variable. These techniques appear in the codebook as five questions that examine whether the spots present words of intimacy, intimate situations, families of politicians, nonverbal expressions, and children. The results indicate that intimacy appeals in political spots are quite popular. Religious and left-leaning parties tended to use intimacy appeals significantly more than nonreligious and right-leaning parties. We conclude that politicians indeed use the same intimacy strategies and techniques as other television performers do; therefore, para-social theory accords with the concept of intimacy in political advertising as much as in other communication settings.     

SELF-DEFENSE,CULPABILITY, AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

This paper has a threefold purpose: to question the adequacy of two familiar proposals for explaining the permissibility of harming others in self-defense, to suggest an alternative explanation, and to answer some objections to this latter explanation. By and large, discussions of the proposals whose adequacy I will question focus on what they imply about the permissibility of self-defense in controversial cases. I will argue here that the proposals themselves contain large and significant theoretical gaps. Accordingly, examining their implications for controversial cases is premature, since they don’t adequately explain permissible self-defense in even the clearest cases—that is, those in which people defend themselves against “culpable attackers”.