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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2008‒11‒11
thirteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Wang, Jinxia; Mendelsohn, Robert; Dinar, Ariel; Huang, Jikun |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a cross sectional method to analyze irrigation choice and crop choice across 8,405 farmers in 28 provinces in China. The findings show that Chinese farmers are more likely to irrigate when facing lower temperatures and less precipitation. Farmers in warmer places are more likely to choose oil crops, maize, and especially cotton and wheat, and are less likely to choose vegetables, potatoes, sugar, and especially rice and soybeans. In wetter locations, farmers are more likely to choose soybeans, oil crops, sugar, vegetables, cotton, and especially rice, and they are less likely to choose potatoes, wheat, and especially maize. The analysis of how Chinese farmers have adapted to current climate, provides insight into how they will likely adapt when climate changes. Future climate scenarios will cause farmers in China to want to reduce irrigation and shift toward oil crops, wheat, and especially cotton. In turn, farmers will shift away from potatoes, rice, vegetables, and soybeans. However, adaptation will likely vary greatly from region to region. Policy makers should anticipate that adaptation is important, that the magnitude of changes depends on the climate scenario, andthat the desired changes depend on the location of each farm. |
| Keywords: | Crops&Crop Management Systems,Climate Change,Rural Poverty Reduction,Common Property Resource Development,Agriculture&Farming Systems |
| Date: | 2008–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4758&r=agr |
| By: | Katsushi S. Imai; Raghav Gaiha; Ganesh Thapa |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:0808&r=agr |
| By: | Eduardo Zegarra; Javier Escobal; Ursula Aldana |
| Abstract: | This paper constructs a baseline and pursues an overall impact evaluation of the PETT (Programa Especial de Titulación de Tierras), an ambitious rural titling program created in Peru in 1992. The general evaluation of impacts on farmers shows a picture of not many positive effects, at least in the short period of the evaluation (2004-2006) and for a limited sample of farmers located in the Coast and Sierra regions. On average, most income variables (and income composition) do not seem to be impacted by titling, and there are no detectable effects on investments (except for permanent pasture in the Sierra) or other outcome variables, such as credit, land markets, or land conflicts. However, this general picture hides important impacts that may occur for some groups of farmers, or for farmers facing different constraints in the pre-intervention stage. Given the limitations, we investigated in more detail two important channels that are behind the potential impacts of rural titling programs: credit access and use of land rental markets. |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:2012&r=agr |
| By: | Harashima, Azusa |
| Abstract: | Burley tobacco production in Malawi was liberalized to permit production by smallholders in the early 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to show which smallholders began producing burley tobacco after liberalization and which smallholders still continue to produce it. Analysis of the characteristics of burley tobacco producers shows that only smallholders who had adequate farm size and adequate funds could start to produce it. With regard to the farm size requirements, only smallholders who had enough acreage to sell tobacco on the auction floors and who had enough acreage to rotate crops could start to produce. With regard to the financial requirements, only smallholders who could procure funds through informal institutions or who possessed their own capital to meet the necessary agricultural expenditures could start. So, it was only the wealthy households which could start to produce tobacco after liberalization and continue to produce it. |
| Keywords: | Malawi, Tobacco, Agriculture, Smallholder, Agricultural income, Liberalization |
| JEL: | D10 Q12 R20 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper170&r=agr |
| By: | Wittenberg, Eric; Wolf, Christopher |
| Abstract: | This report summarizes the financial and production records of 156 dairy farms from throughout Michigan in 2005. To be included, the farms must have produced at least 50 percent of gross cash farm income from milk and dairy animal sales. The records came from Michigan State University's TelFarm project and the Farm Credit Service system in Michigan. The values were pooled into averages for reporting purposes. The farms are larger than would be the average of all dairy farms in Michigan. While considerable variation in the data exists, average values are reported in the summary tables and discussion that follows. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midasp:9307&r=agr |
| By: | Hazarika, Gautam (University of Texas at Brownsville); Guha-Khasnobis, Basudeb (UNU-WIDER) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the 1995 Malawi Financial Markets and Food Security Survey, this study seeks to discover if women's relative control over household resources or intra-household bargaining power in rural Malawi, gauged by their access to microcredit, plays a role in children's food security, measured by anthropometric nutritional Z-scores. Access to microcredit is assessed in a novel way as self-reported credit limits at microcredit organizations. Since credit limits, that is, the maximum sums that might be borrowed, hinge upon supply-side factors such as the availability of credit programs and the financial resources of lenders, it is plausible they are more exogenous than demand driven loan uptake or participation in microcredit organizations, the common ways of gauging access to microcredit. It is indicated that whereas the access to microcredit of adult female household members improves 0–6 year old girls', though not boys', long-term nutrition as measured by height-for-age, the access to microcredit of male members has no such salutary effect on either girls' or boys' nutritional status. This may be interpreted as evidence of a positive relation between women's relative control over household resources and young girls' food security. That women's access to microcredit improves young girls' long-term nutrition may be explained in part by the subsidiary finding that it raises household expenditure on food. |
| Keywords: | intra-household distribution, bargaining, microcredit, gender, Malawi |
| JEL: | O15 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3793&r=agr |
| By: | Du, Xiaodong (Sheldon); Hayes, Dermot J.; Baker, Mindy |
| Abstract: | Based on a transparent analytical model of multiple markets including corn, ethanol, gasoline, and transportation fuel, this study estimates the welfare changes for consumers and producers resulting from ethanol production and related support polices in 2007. The welfare estimation takes into account the second-best gain from eliminating loan deficiency payments. The results suggest the total social cost is about $0.78 billion for given market parameters. We validate the model’s underlying assumption and test for the results’ sensitivity to assumed parameters. |
| Keywords: | consumer surplus, deadweight loss, ethanol, subsidy, substitution. |
| Date: | 2008–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:13003&r=agr |
| By: | Lindhjem, Henrik; Navrud, Ståle |
| Abstract: | With the current growth in broadband penetration, Internet is likely to be the data collection mode of choice for contingent valuation (CV) and stated preference research in the not so distant future. However, little is known about how this survey mode may influence data quality and welfare estimates. In a controlled field experiment as part of a large national CV survey estimating willingness to pay (WTP) for biodiversity protection plans, we assign two groups sampled from the same panel of respondents, either to an Internet or in-person interview mode. Our design is better able than previous mode comparison studies to isolate measurement effects from sample composition effects. Looking in particular for indications of social desirability bias and satisficing (shortcutting the response process) we find little evidence in our data. We find that the extent of “don’t know”, zeros and protest responses to the WTP question (with a payment card) is very similar between modes. Mean WTP is somewhat higher in the interview sample, though we cannot reject equality on the 10 percent level. We also consider equivalence, i.e. whether the WTP difference is larger than a practically trivial predetermined bound. We can reject that the difference is larger than 30 percent, but fail to reject an equivalency bound of 20 percent on the 10 percent level. Results are quite encouraging for the use of Internet as values do not seem to be significantly different or substantially biased compared to in-person interviews. |
| Keywords: | Internet; contingent valuation; interviews; mode; willingness to pay |
| JEL: | H41 Q51 |
| Date: | 2008–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11471&r=agr |
| By: | Lindhjem, Henrik; Navrud, Ståle |
| Abstract: | The aggregate welfare measure for a change in the provision of a public good derived from a contingent valuation (CV) survey will be much higher if the same elicited mean willingness to pay (WTP) is added up over individuals rather than households. A trivial fact, however, once respondents are part of multi-person households it becomes almost impossible to elicit an “uncontaminated” WTP measure that with some degree of confidence can be aggregated over one or the other response unit. The literature is mostly silent about which response unit to use in WTP questions and in some CV studies it is even unclear which type has actually been applied. We test for differences between individual and household WTP in a novel, web-administered, split-sample CV survey asking WTP for preserving biodiversity in old-growth coniferous forests in Norway. Two samples are asked both types of questions, but in reverse order, followed by a question with an item battery trying to reveal why WTP may differ. We find in a between-sample test that the WTP respondents state on behalf of their households is not significantly different from their individual WTP. However, within the same sample, household WTP is significantly higher than individual WTP; in particular if respondents are asked to state individual before household WTP. Our results suggest that using individual WTP as the response unit would overestimate aggregate WTP, and thus bias welfare estimates in benefit-cost analyses. Thus, the choice of response format needs to be explicitly and carefully addressed in CV questionnaire design in order to avoid the risk of unprofitable projects passing the benefit-cost test |
| Keywords: | Contingent valuation; household; individual; WTP |
| JEL: | H41 Q51 Q57 |
| Date: | 2008–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11469&r=agr |
| By: | Tord Kjellstrom (Australian National University); R. Sari Kovats (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); Simon J. Lloyd (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); Tom Holt (University of East Anglia); Tol, Richard S. J. (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)) |
| Abstract: | Global climate change will increase outdoor and indoor heat loads, and may impair health and productivity for millions of working people. This study applies physiological evidence about effects of heat, climate guidelines for safe work environments, climate modelling and global distributions of working populations, to estimate the impact of two climate scenarios on future labour productivity. In most regions, climate change will decrease labour productivity, under the simple assumption of no specific adaptation. By the 2080s, the greatest absolute losses of population based labour work ability as compared with a situation of no heat impact (11-27%) are seen under the A2 scenario in South-East Asia, Andean and Central America, and the Caribbean. Climate change will significantly impact on labour productivity unless farmers, self-employed and employers invest in adaptive measures. Workers may need to work longer hours to achieve the same output and there will be economic costs of occupational health interventions against heat exposures. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, heat, work, labour productivity |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp260&r=agr |
| By: | Balabanov, Todor (Department of Economics and Finance, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria); Schwarzbauer, Wolfgang (Department of Economics and Finance, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria) |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to identify fuel substitution potential by estimating potential price induced energy substitution and by considering available technological options. We consider the impacts of CO2 taxation on reduction of emissions until 2020, assuming CO2 neutrality of burning fuel wood. We finally address the macroeconomic, environmental and sectoral impacts of enhanced usages of fuel wood for energy. The main assumptions are a 1.5 times increase of fuel wood use by 2020 and achieving a share of renewables of 29.83 %. The main outcome for this scenario is that the Austrian economy could benefit from the double dividend of sustained economic growth and fulfilment of EU targets on renewables and CO2 reduction. The prospects for the energy intensive industries deteriorate – most of them would have to reconsider their technological options and face adverse conditions for their production sites. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable development, Aggregate supply and demand analysis, Demand and supply of renewable resources and conservation |
| JEL: | Q01 Q11 Q21 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:227&r=agr |
| By: | Noureddine Krichene |
| Abstract: | Expansionary monetary policies in key industrial countries and sharply depreciating U.S. dollar exchange rate sent commodities prices soaring at unprecedented rates during 2003-2007. Food prices rose to alarming levels threatening malnutrition and food riots. In contrast, consumer price indices, a leading indicator for monetary policy, were showing almost no inflation and posed a price puzzle insofar their evolution was not responsive to record low interest rates, double digit commodities inflation, and sharp exchange rate depreciation. Commodities prices were shown to be driven by one common trend, identified as a monetary shock. Policy makers may have to face a policy dilemma: maintain monetary policy stance with accelerating commodities price inflation, subsequent world recession, and financial disorder; or tighten monetary policy with subsequent world recession followed by recovery and financial and price stability. |
| Keywords: | Commodity markets , Commodity prices , Inflation , Exchange rate depreciation , Developed countries , Monetary policy , Consumer price indexes , External shocks , |
| Date: | 2008–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/130&r=agr |
| By: | Maurizio Ciaschini (University of Macerata); Claudio Socci (University of Macerata) |
| Abstract: | <p><p> </p></p><p align="left">The increasing relevance of wine sector on the productive structure</p><div align="left">requires additional economic considerations on the economic and social</div><div align="left">impacts of the national and regional policies. Our work tries to analyze</div><div align="left">such policy impacts, by means of a multisectoral approach, in order</div><div align="left">to identify the strength of the links of the wine activity with all the</div><div align="left">other economic activities. Since wine is forwarded for a greater share</div><div align="left">to final demand, it is possible to determine the impacts of changes of</div><div align="left">demand in such activity on the whole economic system. Our analysis</div><div align="left">requires both the construction of an Input-Output table where wine is</div><div align="left">conveniently allocated, and its further extension in a context of Social</div><div align="left">Accounting Matrix, in order to evaluate the effects on the productive</div><div align="left">structure, of shocks, on primary and secondary distribution of income.</div> |
| JEL: | O1 O11 |
| Date: | 2003–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcr:wpaper:wpaper00015&r=agr |