This paper presents a principal components methodology (based on Ram (1982) and Srinivasan (1994)) for determining the weights for a set of indicators in a composite index of development. The procedure is applied to a 36 variable data set consisting of 1990 data for 19 Latin American countries...

This study considers the conflict between farmers and cattle raisers over the fencing of animals and crops in Kansas during the 1870s. At that time, Kansas counties were given the option to retain the traditional fence laws (requiring crops to be fenced in) or to adopt the herd laws (requiring...

This paper has a dual purpose. At the technical level, it updates the work of Gitanjali Joglekar and Andrew Zimbalist (1989) on the use of factor analysis to estimate per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Cuba. At the analytical level, it questions the validity of this approach when the...

This paper tries to define the position of the exiled Cuban community with regard to the return of Cuban properties expropriated by the Castro regime. Since the exiled community is made up of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds who have experienced life in several countries and...

This paper challenges the conventional view that where there is a political elite, economic development will proceed along lines that sacrifice future generations for the benefit of the current ruling class. We find that shortfalls in the balance of payments will cause those in authority to...

Many countries have large regions, often arid and semi-arid, which are perennially subject to severe local variability in environmental conditions such as drought, floods, fires, insect and disease infestations and so on. Much of the work on changes in environmental conditions has been on...

Few national economic policies have been mired in policy gridlock as deeply and for as long a period of time as grazing fees and other issues with respect to the use of public lands. The purpose of this paer is to provide an economic framework for analyzing grazing fees and other public land...