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The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse a historic performance-based pay system used in 1803-1810 to reward Marc Isambard Brunel for his innovative engineering designs used in the Portsmouth Block Mills. This was used to ensure that Brunel would continue his work on the project once the design was complete to resolve any problems and make any desirable improvements to the machines and the system as a whole.

This research analyses archived correspondence between the project’s initiators: the Navy Board and Samuel Bentham along with the Admiralty as well as Marc Brunel. Basic financial analyses are applied to the historic cost and investment data.

The scheme was well designed and successfully kept Brunel involved in the implementation and operational phases of the project. However, there were numerous problems that delayed the project’s completion, thereby creating additional work for Brunel and also delaying and reducing his payments. Brunel was alienated by these developments.

This research has exploited the archived data as fully as possible, and although there are no known deficiencies in the records, it would be desirable to have more complete and detailed information on the investment in, and operations of, the factory.

Reward systems should be designed and implemented so that events outside management’s and worker’s control should not disadvantage either group.

Detailed information about the operations and financial performance of an early factory are analysed in depth. These reveal how management and an innovative engineer interacted regularly over several years with numerous insights on their day-to-day relations.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between monetary policy and market interest rates. This paper examines the efficiency of interest rate channel used in monetary regulation as well as implementation of monetary policy under low interest rates. This paper examines and reviews the scientific literature published over the past 30 years to determine primary research areas, to summarize their results and to identify appropriate measures of monetary policy to be used in practice in changing economic environment.

This paper reviews 94 studies focused on the relationship between monetary policy and market interest rates in terms of meeting the goals of macroeconomic regulation. The articles are selected on the basis of Scopus citation and bibliometric analysis. A major feature of this paper is the use of text analysis (data preparation, frequency of terms and collocations use, examination of relationships between terms, use of principal component analysis to determine research thematic areas). Using the method of principal component analysis while studying abstracts this paper reveals thematic areas of the research. Thus, the conducted text analysis provides unbiased results.

First, this paper examines the whole complex of relationships between monetary policy of central banks and market interest rates. Second, this research reviews a wide range of literature including recent studies focused on specific features of monetary policy under low and negative rates. Third, this study identifies and summarizes the thematic areas of all the researches using text analysis (transmission mechanism of monetary policy, efficiency of zero interest rate policy, monetary policy and term structure of interest rates, monetary policy and interest rate risk of banks, monetary policy of central banks and financial stability). Finally, this paper presents the most important findings of the studied articles related to the current situation and trends on the financial market as well as further research opportunities. This paper finds the principal results of studies on significant issues of monetary policy in terms of its efficiency under low interest rates, influence of its instruments on term structure of interest rates and role of banking sector in implementation of transmission mechanism of monetary policy.

The limitation of the review is examining articles for the study period of 30 years.

Central banks of emerging economies should apply the instruments and results of the countries' monetary policies reviewed in this paper. Using text analysis this paper reveals the main thematic areas and summarizes findings of the articles under study. The analysis allows presenting the main ideas related to current economic situation.

The findings are of great value for adjusting the monetary policy of central banks. Also, these are important for people because these show the significant role of monetary policy for the economic growth.

Using text analysis this paper reveals the main thematic areas (transmission mechanism of monetary policy, efficiency of zero interest rate policy, monetary policy and term structure of interest rates, monetary policy and interest rate risk of banks, monetary policy of central banks and financial stability) and summarizes findings of the articles under study. The analysis allows defining the current ideas relevant to the monetary policy of developing countries. It is important for central banks because it examines the monetary policy problems and proposes optimal solutions.

It is found that one unit root, common trend is shared by the quarterly auction price series of five frequently auctioned types of stamps. The common trends analysis provides specific, stationary linear combinations, or cointegrating portfolios, of the auction price levels. The quarterly returns for the system of cointegrated auction prices can be represented by an error correction model using past returns and cointegrating vectors. There is evidence of a positive relationship between changes in the common trend and leading changes in industrial production

This is a theoretical paper in the field of structuralist macroeconomics. The paper focuses on commodity price fluctuation which has emerged as one of the major macroeconomic factors with significant bearing on the relationship between the agricultural and nonagricultural sectors.

The paper develops a dual economy model consisting of an agricultural sector and an industrial sector. The commodity price is subject to the fluctuations due to the fact that stock of primary goods is an asset which is sensitive to speculations. The paper considers a standard methodology of dynamic adjustment process involving change in stock of agricultural goods and price of agricultural goods under perfect foresight. The saddle path properties of the equilibrium are also examined.

The paper shows that the balanced budget fiscal expansion, capital account liberalization and the agricultural expansion lead to expansion of the industrial sector as well as level of employment. The increase in world interest rate may lead to contraction of the industrial sector and depress employment.

We will consider the openness of the economy in explaining how different macroeconomic policies and capital account liberalization generate multiple cross effects on the inter-connectedness between agricultural and the non-agricultural sector. The paper will discuss the issue of employment generation in conjunction with commodity price fluctuation. We depart from the literature by using Taylor rule under which interest rate is fixed by the Central Bank such that money supply becomes endogenous.

Taylorism and scientific management, as significant components of productive relations in the USA during the early twentieth century, have been examined by accounting historians representing the major paradigms that hold sway in contemporary historiography – the Foucauldian, the Marxist (labour process), and the economic rationalist (Neoclassical). The great bulk of this work has assumed that the major tenets of scientific management, such as time study, incentive wage schemes, standard costing, and variance analysis, were in common usage during the first two decades of the current century. This paper intends to set the record straight by demonstrating that theory was running far ahead of practice in that the number of actual adoptions of the new methods were not concomitant with the prevalence of scientific management literature. Subsequently, the paper will endeavour to show how the three major paradigms combine to enhance our understanding of Taylorism. Much of what Taylor wrote can be interpreted within a Foucauldian framework; the negative reaction of organised labour was much in the Marxist tradition; and, finally, the lack of applications in practice reflected economically rational action on the part of entrepreneurs (thereby completing the triangle).

Developing residential units is crucial in the socio-economic development of a country. The investor faces not only uncertain transaction price (price risk), but also uncertainties about the marketing period risk. Predicting when the incurred money is being realized is difficult because of the imperfect nature of the real estate market. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the variables that explain the time on the market (TOM) of housing units, identifying the relationships in-between and the effects on TOM of residential properties.

Following a multi-stage sampling process, a random sample of 120 housing units was selected. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 57 variables that can affect TOM. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to confirm some of the data and information on residential units from the developers. Direct observations were conducted to verify certain physical attributes and, finally, they were comprehensively analyzed using quantitative analysis techniques in SPSS 16.0 Statistical package.

Results confirmed that lesser advertising prices, attractive environment, proximity to the city center and proper shape of lands reduce the TOM. Similarly, higher prices, longer distance to the city center and irregular shape of land increase the TOM. The results strengthen the necessity of a comfortable environment appropriate to live, probably with greenery or water bodies, which is a key influential factor that reduces the TOM in Sri Lanka.

wIn the Sri Lankan context, there are few contributions to the real estate literature in this regard. Many scholars have concentrated on physical and economic characteristics, whereas this research adds the environmental factors. Therefore, this research makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge in this area, as it puts more attention on including several variables, as well as newly introduced variables as determinants. Consumers can apply the research findings to assess the relative importance of housing attributes and services which they perceive most valuable, and then to make their purchase decisions. The findings also contribute to the investigations of the behavior of housing attributes and enable knowing as to what factors are to be promoted and what to be omitted to gain a shorter TOM.

This paper presents a model of long distance telephone demand based on route‐specific short‐haul (intraLATA) calling minutes. The data used in the estimation comes from 2,813 intraLATA long‐distance routes in the state of Florida for 1990. Route‐specific information (mileage, minutes of use, access lines, prices, route‐specific optional calling plans) is matched to socio‐economic data (income, average household size, race, education) obtained in the 1990 census. The results reveal a number of important economic and demographic insights on route‐specific long distance calling. Estimated price and income elasticities of demand are −0.54 and 1.24, respectively.

Studies of the cyclical behavior of real wages have identified monetary shocks and examined the response of real wages and output or employment. A finding that real wages are procyclical in response to a positive monetary policy shock is taken as evidence that prices are stickier than wages. The purpose of this paper is to show that factors other than wage and price stickiness affect the response of real wages to a monetary policy shock.

The authors simulate two prominent dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models under a variety of parameter values and examine the cyclicality of the real wage.

The authors offer robust evidence that the real wage response to monetary policy is affected in important ways by properties of the economy other than stickiness of wages and prices, such as the importance of intermediate goods in the production process and the size of key elasticities. Consequently, the authors cannot appropriately infer the relative stickiness of wages and prices from examining only the response of real wages to a monetary policy shock.

The authors show in this study that examining the response of real wages is not enough to sort out the relative stickiness of prices and wages.

South Dakota is ranked sixth nationally for corn and ethanol production (EP). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corn-EP and corn basis volatility using South Dakota data.

A mixed regression modeling approach was adopted to analyze state EP data, and quarterly corn production and price data for five crop reporting regions in South Dakota (1990-2014).

From 2004-Q4 to 2013-Q4, ethanol and corn production in South Dakota increased by 735.50 million gallons and 228.30 million bushel per year, respectively. Empirical estimates indicate that increased EP narrowed the corn basis by 6.16 cents per bushel, and increased corn basis absolute volatility by 2.25 cents. However, increased corn production widened the corn basis by 27.56 cents per bushel and decreased absolute basis volatility by 4.32 cents. On average, for this period, increased EP offset the effect of rapid corn production on average basis and basis volatility in the State of South Dakota. Empirical evidence presented clarifies how the relationship between EP and corn production variability effects the cash basis and basis volatility in local markets.

Research limitations include the use of statewide EP due to the lack of regional data, and the use of aggregate price data rather than local cash market data.

During normal crop production years, corn production is a predominant driver for impacting corn basis and basis volatility. In this case, EP plays a secondary role and dampens the corn production effect by narrowing the cash basis and increasing volatility. However, when a negative corn production shock occurs, then EP amplifies the effect of reduced corn production. In this case, EP strengthens market forces that are narrowing the cash basis and amplifies the market forces that are increasing the volatility of the cash basis.

Negative corn production shocks occurring in regions where corn production and corn-based EP are dominant agricultural activities will increase basis volatility, reducing hedging effectiveness. Expansion of the ethanol blending wall in the future may exacerbate the market forces that have evolved in local cash corn markets as EP renews its expansion in major corn production regions. As a result, producers and grain elevator managers need to be aware that traditional hedging strategies may become less effective as one consequence of a renewed expansion of EP in the USA.

The literature on the effect of corn-EP on corn basis volatility is limited. This is the first study to apply a mixed modeling approach to the issue of how EP affected corn basis and basis volatility.

This chapter takes as its starting point the proposition that consumers are, by and large, far more rational in their attitudes and behaviour than suggested by most of the people who keep crying out for greater consumer protection, and also by some marketing men who seek to explain away their failures by attributing irrationality to their prospective customers.