Since the seminal work of Adam Smith, markets have been considered an efficienttool for co-ordinating the behaviour of economic agents. The basic characteristicof a market economy is that the complex system of interaction amongindividuals is not centrally coordinated. Under the assumption of...

The objective of this study is to determine if there are important size and industry effects on financial performance of cooperatives. The analysis of a sample of 43 cooperatives over the period 1970-1987 indicates that large cooperatives are more efficient in utilization of their assets, while...

This study is aimed to analyze Russian corporate farms technical efficiency using DEA and allocative efficiency basing upon VMP calculations. The estimations are carried out on three aggregation levels: total farm, sectors (livestock and crops production) and selected commodities (grain,...

The five countries of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – became independent states in 1991-1992 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union (see Map 1). Immediately after assuming independence, the Central Asian countries embarked, together with...

This research examines the effect of risk on the proportion of equity held by agricultural cooperatives. The measured components of risk are business risk and the financial risk that is dependent on the proportion of debt in the cooperative's capital structure. The empirical results indicate the...

A comparison of regional dairy cooperatives with investor-owned dairy firms from the period 1976-87 produced empirical findings that are at variance with the hypotheses suggested by the theory of cooperatives. The cooperatives in the sample performed significantly better than the IOFs when...

Cooperative enterprise has appeal as a means of filling gaps in the economic institutions of the rural sectors of the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. But in addition to problems that have faced cooperatives in the West because of their inherent...

Cooperative enterprise has appeal as a means of filling gaps in the economic institutions of the rural sectors of the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. But in addition to problems that have faced cooperatives in the West because of their inherent...

Many Nicaraguan peasants remain members in agricultural production cooperatives despite the change in the policy environment that now supports parcellation of cooperative lands into individual holdings. Institutional factors, such as uncertainty of land ownership rights and difficulties with...

Sources and uses of funds in agricultural cooperatives are examined and compared to the aggregate of nonfinancial corporations for the period 1973-1987. Cooperatives are observed to finance nearly half their growth with equity. The equity financing proportion of cooperatives is statistically...