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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2010‒07‒10
fourteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Zapilko, Marina; Klein, Agnes; Menrad, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Paper prepared for presentation at the Fourth International Conference on Coexistence between Genetically Modified (GM) and non-GM based Agricultural Supply Chains (GMCC) Melbourne (Australia), 10th to 12th November 2009 |
| Keywords: | Genetic engineering, Consumer behaviour, Germany, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, M39, R20, |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwtscp:91302&r=agr |
| By: | Menrad, Klaus; Gabriel, Andreas; Gylling, Morten |
| Abstract: | Paper prepared for presentation at the Fourth International Conference on Coexistence between Genetically Modified (GM) and non-GM based Agricultural Supply Chains (GMCC) Melbourne (Australia), 10th to 12th November 2009 |
| Keywords: | Genetic engineering, GMO, Food industry, Co-existence, Agricultural and Food Policy, L51, O32, |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwtscp:91301&r=agr |
| By: | Tschirley, David; Flores, Luis; Mather, David |
| Abstract: | Performance of the agricultural sector in developing countries is fundamental to ensuring robust and equitable economic growth and broad-based food security. Yet donor support to agricultural development in developing countries has declined continuously for 30 years. This same period saw dramatic deterioration in developing countriesâ institutional capacity to provide services to their agricultural sectors. These trends may now be changing, due in part to the global food price crisis of 2007 and 2008 and concerns that it unleashed about the worldâs ability to feed its poorest inhabitants. This paper reports on the results of a two week trip to Guatemala and Nicaragua made by Michigan State Universityâs Food Security Group. The purpose of the trip was to assess two aspects that form the foundation for applied agricultural and food security policy analysis and outreach: (a) the organizations involved in research and outreach on these topics, and (b) existing data sets and processes for continued generation of data sets useful in such analysis and outreach. The team also explored the extent to which policy makers and designers of public programs solicit empirical data and analysis for the design and implementation of local food security programs and policies. |
| Keywords: | Food Security, Guatemala, Nicaragua, food policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, q12, q17, q18, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midiwp:90991&r=agr |
| By: | Bellemare, Marc F. |
| Abstract: | What is the impact of participation in commodity chains on producer welfare? Contract farming – wherein a processing firm delegates its production of agricultural commodities to growers – is often viewed as a means of increasing grower welfare in developing countries. Because the nonrandom participation of growers in contract farming has so far not been dealt with convincingly, whether participation in contract farming increases welfare is up for debate. This paper uses the results of a contingent valuation experiment to estimate willingness to pay to enter contract farming, which is then used to control for actual participation in contract farming. Using data from Madagascar, results indicate that contract farming entails a 12- to 18-percent increase in income; a 16-percent decrease in income volatility; a two-month decrease in the duration of the hungry season; and a 30-percent increase in the likelihood that a household receives a formal loan. |
| Keywords: | Contract Farming; Welfare; Grower-Processor Contracts; Outgrower Schemes |
| JEL: | L23 O13 L24 Q12 O14 |
| Date: | 2010–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23638&r=agr |
| By: | Giannis Karagiannis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece); Vangelis Tzouvelekas (Department of Economics, University of Crete, Greece) |
| Abstract: | The present paper extents the existing literature providing a theoretically consistent framework for decomposing TFP growth taking into account the indirect effect of pesticides use on farm production. The theoretical framework for modeling the effect of damage control agents is based on Fox and Weersink output damage approach which allows for both increasing and decreasing returns on pesticide use while, on the other hand, it provides consistent econometric estimates of the production technology when pesticides are applied in a preventive way. The model is extended accounting for spillover effects in damage control input use as well as on changes in abatement technology per se. The empirical model is applied to a panel of 60 olive-growing farms in Crete, Greece during the 1999-03 period. The results suggest that Cretan farmers enjoyed significant TFP growth stemming mainly from technological improvement in farming technology. Further, improvement of farmer�s know-how seems to account for a significant part of TFP growth. The damage-control effect is present accounting for the 5.0% of the observed TFP improvements in the surveyed farms. |
| Date: | 2010–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crt:wpaper:1007&r=agr |
| By: | Raúl Serrano (Department of Business Administration, Facutad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza); Vicente Pinilla (Department of Applied Economics, Facutad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza) |
| Abstract: | The proliferation of regional trade agreements in the last decades of the 20th century has intensified the debate about the different processes of regional integration. This study contributes to this debate by analysing the principal determinants of the growth in trade flows of the countries making up the European Union. The work analyses EU agri‐food trade from a disaggregated perspective, by products, imports and exports, from 1963 to 2000. An extended gravity equation model is estimated employing Prais‐ Weistein estimation and fixed effects in order to improve on the results reported in previous studies. The results of the present study show that in EU countries the growth of per capita income stimulated exports and reduced imports. Specifically, its exports were positively influenced by the presence of the home market effect, while its imports were strongly influenced by the effects of the liberalisation of intra‐EU trade, as also occurred in the case of intra‐EU trade flows. |
| Keywords: | International Agricultural Trade, Economic History of the European Union, Gravity equation |
| JEL: | N74 N54 Q F10 F14 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1007&r=agr |
| By: | Christopher J. Ruhm |
| Abstract: | The combination of economic and biological factors is likely to result in overeating, in the current environment of cheap and readily available food. This propensity is shown using a “dual-decision” approach where choices reflect the interaction between two parts of the brain: a “deliberative” system, operating as in standard economic models, and an “affective” system that responds rapidly to stimuli without considering long-term consequences. This framework is characterized by excess food consumption and body weight, in the sense that individuals prefer both ex-ante and ex-post to eat and weigh less than they actually do, with dieting being common but often unsuccessful or only partially successful. As in the standard model, weight will be related to prices. However, another potentially important reason for rising obesity is that food producers have incentives to engineer products to stimulate the affective system so as to encourage overeating. Data from multiple waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys are used to investigate predictions of the dual-decision model, with the evidence providing broad support for at least some irrationality in food consumption. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16149&r=agr |
| By: | Michaud, C.; Llerena, D.; Joly, I. |
| Abstract: | The supply and demand of products associated with environmental characteristics have grown considerably over the last decade. We propose to study how consumers value the environmental attributes of a product when no private health benefits are at stake. Individual willingness to pay for roses are measured by means of an economic experiment using the discrete choice frame and real economic incentives. The estimates from a mixed logit model show that consumers are willing to pay not only for an eco-label certifying environmentally sound cultivation practices but also for a lower carbon footprint.Classification-JEL: D12;C25;C91 |
| Keywords: | CONSUMER;GREEN PRODUCT;WILLINGNESS TO PAY;CHOICE EXPERIMENT;EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS;MIXED LOGIT |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:201002&r=agr |
| By: | Bellemare, Marc F. |
| Abstract: | There is an important literature on the causal relationship between the quality of institutions and macroeconomic performance. This paper studies this link at the micro level by looking at the productivity impacts of land rights. Whereas previous studies used proxies for soil quality and instruments to control for the endogeneity of land titles, the data used here include precise measures of soil quality, which allow controlling for both the heterogeneity between plots and the endogeneity of land titles. Results indicate that de jure rights (i.e., titles) have no impact on productivity and de facto rights have heterogeneous productivity impacts. Productivity is higher for plots on which landowners report having the right to plant trees, but lower for plots on which landowners report having the right to build a tomb and the right to lease out. Moreover, while the right to lease out increases both the likelihood that the landowner has the intention to seek a title for her plot and her willingness to pay to do so, whether her children will enjoy similar rights on the plot has the opposite effect. |
| Keywords: | Institutions; Property Rights; Land; Productivity |
| JEL: | Q15 K11 O12 |
| Date: | 2010–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23639&r=agr |
| By: | Bonroy, O.; Lemarié, S. |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the economic consequences of labeling in a setting with two vertically related markets. Labeling on the downstream market affects upstream price competition through two effects : a differentiation effect and a ranking effect. The magnitude of these two effects determines who in the supply chain will receive the benefits and who will bear the burden of labeling. For instance, whenever the ranking effect dominates the differentiation effect, the low quality upstream firm loses from labeling while all downstream actors are individually better off. By decreasing the low quality input price, the label acts then as a subsidy which assures an increase of the downstream market welfare. This analysis furthers our understanding of the economic consequences of the public labeling in cases like restaurants or GMOs. |
| Keywords: | LABEL;IMPERFECT CONSUMER INFORMATION;VERTICAL PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION;VERTICAL RELATIONS;REGULATION |
| JEL: | L15 L50 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:201001&r=agr |
| By: | Cardenas, Juan-Camilo; Rodriguez, Luz Angela; Johnson, Nancy |
| Abstract: | The dilemma of collective action around water use and management involves solving both the problems of provision and appropriation. Cooperation in the provision can be affected by the rival nature of the appropriation and the asymmetries in the access. We report two field experiments conducted in Colombia and Kenya. The Irrigation Game was used to explore the provision and appropriation decisions under asymmetric or sequential appropriation, complemented with a Voluntary Contribution Mechanism experiment which looks at provision decisions under symmetric appropriation. The overall results were consistent with the patterns of previous studies: the zero contribution hypotheses is rejected whereas the most effective institution to increase cooperation was face-to-face communication, and above external regulations, although we find that communication works much more effectively in Colombia. We also find that the asymmetric appropriation did reduce cooperation, though the magnitude of the social loss and the effectiveness of alternative institutional options varied across sites. |
| Keywords: | Collective Action, Watersheds, Field Experiments, Colombia, Kenya, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Q0, Q2, C9, H3, H4, |
| Date: | 2009–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:91169&r=agr |
| By: | Bellemare, Marc F. |
| Abstract: | While most studies looking at the consequences of tenurial insecurity on land markets in developing countries focus on the effects of tenurial insecurity on the investment behavior of landowners, this paper studies the hitherto unexplored relationship between tenurial insecurity and contract choice in land tenancy. Based on a distinct feature of the interaction between formal law and customary rights in Madagascar, this paper augments the canonical model of share tenancy by making the strength of the landlord’s property right increasing in the amount of risk she chooses to bear within the contract. Sharecropping may thus emerge as the optimal contract even when the tenant is risk-neutral. Using data on landlords’ subjective perceptions of tenurial insecurity in a rural area of Madagascar, empirical tests strongly support the hypothesis that insecure property rights drive contract choice while offering little support in favor of the canonical hypothesis that risk sharing considerations drive contract choice. |
| Keywords: | Sharecropping; Property Rights; Tenurial Insecurity; Subjective Expectations |
| JEL: | D86 O13 Q15 K11 O12 |
| Date: | 2010–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23640&r=agr |
| By: | Dobson, William D. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwmbdp:91364&r=agr |
| By: | Dobson, William D.; Jesse, Edward V. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwmbdp:91363&r=agr |