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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2006‒07‒02
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Leonardo Becchetti (Economics Department, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”); Marco Costantino (FORMEZ, Rome) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the impact of Fair Trade (FT) affiliation on monetary and non monetary measures of well-being on a sample of Kenyan farmers. Our econometric findings document significant differences in terms of price satisfaction, monthly household food consumption, (self declared) income satisfaction, dietary quality and child mortality for Fair Trade and Meru Herbs (first level local producers organisation) affiliated with respect to a control sample. Methodological problems such as the FT vis à vis Meru Herbs relative contribution, control sample bias, FT and Meru Herb selection biases are discussed and addressed. After reconstructing the dynamics of human capital investment in the observed households we show that affiliation to the younger vintage FT project is associated to a significantly higher schooling investment. |
| Keywords: | impact analysis, child labour, fair trade, monetary and non monetary wellbeing |
| JEL: | O19 O22 D64 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2006-41&r=agr |
| By: | Mansuri, Ghazala |
| Abstract: | Temporary economic migration is undertaken largely in response to resource constraints. This is evident in the volume of remittances sent back by migrants to their families of origin. In agricultural settings, where those left behind are likely to face considerable exposure to uninsured income risk, such resource flows should translate into better risk bearing capacity. In this paper the author takes up this question by asking whether economic migration allows households to avoid costly risk coping strategies. She focuses on early child growth since there is considerable epidemiological evidence that very young children are particularly vulnerable to shocks that lead to growth faltering, with substantial long-term health consequences. The data come from rural Pakistan, where, as in the rest of Asia, son preference is substantial and there are large gender gaps in most developmental outcomes. As such, the interest is in examining also whether migration-induced resource flows allow households to extend better nutrition and health care protection to girls. Recent work on the intra-household allocation of resources and risk has also shown that gender differences in the relative burden of risk may be important and that the allocation of resources to daughters is often one margin along which poor households adjust to uninsurable transitory income shocks. After accounting for selection into migration, the results indicate that migration has a substantially larger positive impact on growth outcomes for young girls. And the growth advantage is sustained among older girls, suggesting potential intergenerational benefits of averting nutritional and other health shocks for girls in early childhood. These results are further validated by restricting the sample to migrant households and comparing the growth outcomes of siblings before and after migration. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring & Evaluation,Anthropology,Youth and Governance,Gender and Development,Adolescent Health |
| Date: | 2006–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3946&r=agr |
| By: | Gabriela Inchauste |
| Abstract: | Recognizing that intrahousehold inequalities exist, this study focuses on the distribution of resources toward children across household types. A bargaining framework is used to test whether it matters who has control over resources. Results show that control over resources matters, as well as the characteristics of family members. The policy implication is that the education of mothers is important to improve child welfare, over and above the benefits of cash transfer schemes. Parental education campaigns should accompany child welfare programs, particularly among indigenous families. Children fare better when mothers are educated, both parents are present, and there are fewer children. |
| Keywords: | Resource allocation , Bolivia , Education , Economic models , |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:01/57&r=agr |
| By: | Shuichi Ohori (Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the environmental tax and trade liberalization in a mixed duopolistic market wherein environmental damage is associated with consumption. In particular, we consider the effect of privatization on environmental tax and the effect of trade liberalization on the environment in an importing country. The results show that the optimal environmental tax in a mixed duopoly is higher than the Pigouvian level and the optimal tax in a pure duopoly. Furthermore, trade liberalization does not alter the environment. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:622&r=agr |
| By: | Patrick Gaulé (Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the extent to which patent pools (agreements where patent holders agree to license their intellectual property as a package) could be used as an institution to facilitate technology transactions in biotechnology. Patent pools have been used with success in the consumer electronics and other sectors but they are untested in biotechnology despite their transaction cost reducing potential. We suggest two explanations for the fact that patent pools have not been used in this industry. The first is that the current antitrust requirements are difficult to meet in biotechnology. The second is the availability of simpler alternatives that will often be more profitable to patent holders: aggregation of rights by one party and cross-licensing. |
| Keywords: | patent pools, licensing, intellectual property management, biotechnology |
| JEL: | O32 O34 K11 K21 |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmi:wpaper:cemi-report-2006-010&r=agr |
| By: | Dwayne Benjamin; Loren Brandt; John Giles |
| Abstract: | We explore the relationship between the level of village inequality in 1986, and the subsequent growth of household incomes from 1986 to 1999. Using a detailed household-level data set from rural China, we find robust evidence that initial inequality is negatively related to subsequent household income growth. We are able to address a number of econometric issues that affect the use of aggregate data for this exercise, especially measurement error and aggregation: Our results strongly suggest that village inequality has an external adverse impact on household-level income trajectories. However, once we account for possibly fixed village-level unobserved heterogeneity, we find no evidence that changes in inequality are correlated with household income growth: Whatever factor drives the inequality-growth relationship only operates in the “long run.” We explore several possible avenues by which initial inequality – or an unobserved variable correlated with it – affects household income growth. While we do not find the precise mechanism, our findings point toward a class of explanations based on collective choice (like the provision of public goods or determination of local taxes), and away from credit-market based explanations. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; Growth; Rural China; Panel Data |
| JEL: | O12 O15 P20 |
| Date: | 2006–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-237&r=agr |
| By: | van den Berg, Caroline; Nauges, Celine |
| Abstract: | In many countries water supply is a service that is seriously underpriced, especially for residential consumers. This has led to a call for setting cost recovery policies to ensure that the tariffs charged for water supply cover the full cost of providing for the service. Yet, the question arises on how consumers will react to such price increases. The authors illustrate the impact of price increases on consumption of piped water through a study of the demand for water of piped and non-piped households using cross-sectional data from 1,800 households in Southwest Sri Lanka. The (marginal) price elasticity is estimated at -0.74 for households exclusively relying on piped water, and at -0.69 for households using piped water but supplementing their supply with other water sources, with no significant differences between income groups. Those households that depend on non-piped water sources have a time cost elasticity (as a proxy for price elasticity) of only -0.06. The authors discuss the implications of these results in terms of pricing policy. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water Conservation,Water Use |
| Date: | 2006–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3941&r=agr |