FUNCTIONAL FORM AND U.S. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION ELASTICITIES

Because so much agricultural policy analysis utilizes estimates of supply and demand elasticities, it is crucial to obtain the most reliable estimates possible. Where reliability cannot be adequately assessed, the sensitivity of elasticities to equally plausible a priori specifications should at least be ascertained. In this article, the sensitivity of U.S. output supply and input demand elasticities to choice of functional form. Considerable sensitivity is found to choice of functional form. Although most frequently used, the translog is generally the outlier and is the least preferred among the alternatives.Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis,

Supporting siblings of children with a special educational need or disability : an evaluation of Sibs Talk, a one‐to‐one intervention delivered by staff in mainstream schools

A group often overlooked for specific supports in schools are siblings of children with a disability, special educational needs or a serious long‐term condition (SEND). In this article we review the current sibling research and identify a lack of literature on interventions, particularly within a school context. We then present a description of Sibs Talk, an example of a new school‐based intervention to support siblings. Sibs Talk is a ten‐session, one‐to‐one intervention approach for schools to complete with Key Stage 2 children who have a brother or sister with SEND. Finally, we present an initial evaluation of the effectiveness of Sibs Talk, using a pre and post evaluation format with a sample of 55 children from 11 schools. The data presented in this evaluation indicate that Sibs Talk may have contributed to positive outcomes for participating children

Making The Cut - A dynamic Malaysian finds her niche with a yellow rectangle

MOK Choy Lin a two time winner of the Best Documentary prize at the Asian TV Awards never envisioned a career in television production

Excellent score for 18 varsities

Eighteen higher education ibstitutions achieved Tier Five or "excellent" status in the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education 2009(Setara)

'Excellent' score for 18 universities

Eighteen higher education institutions achieved Tier Five or 'excellent' status in the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education 2009 (Setara)

Personal financial literacy among high school students in New Zealand, Japan and the United States

Personal financial literacy is becoming increasingly important in the modern world, especially for young people. In this paper we compare financial literacy of high school students in Hamilton, New Zealand, with samples from Japan and the United States. We compare not only overall financial literacy, but also literacy across five dimensions (or ‘themes’) of financial literacy, and across three cognitive levels. We find that financial literacy is poor overall in all three countries, but is substantially worse in New Zealand and the United States than in Japan. The performance is similar across themes and cognitive levels for U.S. and New Zealand students, but Japanese students perform better mostly in terms of their greater knowledge of terminology and definitions, rather than better comprehension and ability to apply their knowledge. This suggests that all three countries should work harder to develop the financial literacy of their high school students