Ferdaus Hossain

Economic reform and inequality: evidence from Lithuania

Economic reforms in former socialist societies caused massive reallocation of resources, rapid increases in prices and severe erosion in real income and wages with potentially important distributional consequences. Using the Lithuanian Household Budget Survey, this study estimates an expenditure-based inequality index to evaluate the effects of price liberalization policy on inequality. Empirical results suggest that during the early years of reforms, inequality within society showed very little sign of increase. However, since 1994 inequality has increased rapidly: further, inequality has increased at a faster rate among households without children than those with children.

The Role of the Federal Government in the Provision of Agricultural Market Information: Results from a Policy Survey

ABSTRACT Information technology is perhaps the most pervasive technology in U.S. agriculture. Despite such pervasiveness, the federal government continues to play a crucial role in providing agricultural market information that may be obtained from several sources, including private vendors. Results from a policy survey suggest that seventy-five percent of farmers want the government to continue to play that role. Further results from a logistic regression examine the determinants of that role by examining the influence of several socio-economic variables such as education, membership in agricultural organizations, land tenure and income.