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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2011‒05‒14
33 papers chosen by |
| By: | Kassie, Menale; Zikhali, Precious; Pender, John; Köhlin, Gunnar |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from household- and plot-level surveys conducted in the highlands of the Tigray and Amhara regions of Ethiopia to examine the contribution of sustainable land-management practices to net values of agricultural production in areas with low- and high-agricultural potential. A combination of parametric and nonparametric estimation techniques is used to check result robustness. Both techniques consistently predict that minimum tillage is superior to commercial fertilizers—as are farmers’ traditional practices without use of commercial fertilizers—in enhancing crop productivity in the low-agricultural potential areas. In the high-agricultural potential areas, by contrast, use of commercial fertilizers is superior to both minimum tillage and farmers’ traditional practices without commercial fertilizers. The results are found to be insensitive to hidden bias. Our findings imply a need for careful agroecological targeting when developing, promoting, and scaling up sustainable land-management practices. |
| Keywords: | agricultural productivity, commercial fertilizer, Ethiopia, low and high agricultural potential, minimum tillage, propensity score matching, switching regression |
| JEL: | C21 Q12 Q15 Q16 Q24 |
| Date: | 2011–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-11-05-efd&r=agr |
| By: | Anil Kumar K |
| Abstract: | The paper presents some empirical data from the Pradhan Tribe of Andhra Pradesh which highlights the community's indigenous agricultural knowledge and the changes over time. These custodians of indigenous knowledge and world view practices play a very important role in agricultural development. The study was conducted in the year 2008 at different times. The Pradhans are still subsistence farmers, who primarily depend on agriculture. Subsistence economy and food security of the Pradhans depends mainly on cultivation in the fields and kitchen gardens. [Working Paper No. 81]. URL:[http://www.cess.ac.in/cesshome/wp/W P_81.pdf] |
| Keywords: | subsistence farmers, pradhan, Adilabad District, agriculture, cultivation, fields, kitchen gardens, community, indigenous, knowledge, development, agricultural, farmers, Andhra Pradesh, land-owning families, animal husbandry, developing societies, tribes, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3947&r=agr |
| By: | Ernesto Valenzuela (Centre for International Economic Studies, School of Economics, University of Adelaide); Kym Anderson (Centre for International Economic Studies, School of Economics, University of Adelaide) |
| Abstract: | Recent analyses of the possible adverse effects of climate change on agriculture in developing countries have raised food security concerns, especially for farm households who comprise most of the worldÂ’s poor and whose crop productivity is expected to fall. The present study uses a global economy-wide model to assess the expected (in some cases positive) effects on temperate zone crop productivity and the upward pressure on farm product prices from yield falls in developing countries. Also modelled is an expected adverse effect of higher temperatures and humidity in the tropics on the productivity of unskilled workers in developing countries. The net effect of those combined shocks on the agricultural sectorÂ’s competitiveness in any developing country is an economy-wide empirical matter, since unskilled workers are employed in nonfarm as well as farm activities. Given the degrees of uncertainty about plausible effects of climate change, our modelling accounts for a range of yield productivity and labor shocks. The results provide a range of consequences for international agricultural prices and for national food consumption, net farm income and economic welfare. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, crop and labour productivity growth, global economy-wide model projections |
| JEL: | D58 F17 Q17 Q24 Q54 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:cieswp:2011-02&r=agr |
| By: | Ferreira, Francisco H. G.; Fruttero, Anna; Leite, Phillippe; Lucchetti, Leonardo |
| Abstract: | Food price inflation in Brazil in the twelve months to June 2008 was 18 percent, while overall inflation was 5.3 percent. This paper uses spatially disaggregated monthly data on consumer prices and two different household surveys to estimate the welfare consequences of these food price increases, and their distribution across households. Because Brazil is a large food producer, with a predominantly wage-earning agricultural labor force, our estimates include general equilibrium effects on market and transfer incomes, as well as the standard estimates of changes in consumer surplus. While the expenditure (or consumer surplus) effects were large, negative and markedly regressive everywhere, the market income effect was positive and progressive, particularly in rural areas. Because of this effect on the rural poor, and of the partial protection afforded by increases in two large social assistance benefits, the overall impact of higher food prices in Brazil was U-shaped, with the middle-income groups suffering larger proportional losses than the very poor. Nevertheless, since Brazil is 80 percent urban, higher food prices still led to a greater incidence and depth of poverty at the national level. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Markets and Market Access,Regional Economic Development,Food&Beverage Industry |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5652&r=agr |
| By: | Catherine Moreddu |
| Abstract: | Agricultural production and support in Canada, the United States, and the European Union are highly concentrated on larger farms, which have higher income levels than the average of all farms. Smaller farms, though, are more dependent on support (in particular, payments) which accounts for a larger share of their gross receipts. As payments to farmers are more equally distributed than production, government support reduces income inequality by farm size and farm type. This study, carried out in the context of the OECD Network for Farm Level Analysis, concludes that improved efficiency and equity of policies will require better targeting of income support and, in turn, better information on the income and wealth situation of the agricultural population. |
| Keywords: | income distribution, agricultural policy, agricultural support, distribution of support, farm wealth, equity, targeting |
| JEL: | D31 Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:46-en&r=agr |
| By: | James P Walsh |
| Abstract: | Food prices are generally excluded from measures of inflation most closely watched by policymakers due either to their transitory nature or their higher volatility. However, in lower income countries, food price inflation is not only more volatile but also on average higher than nonfood inflation. Food inflation is also in many cases more persistent than nonfood inflation, and shocks in many countries are propagated strongly into nonfood inflation. Under these conditions, and particularly given high global commodity price inflation in recent years, a policy focus on measures of core inflation that exclude food prices can misspecify inflation, leading to higher inflationary expectations, a downward bias to forecasts of future inflation and lags in policy responses. In constructing measures of core inflation, policymakers should therefore not assume that excluding food price inflation will provide a clearer picture of underlying inflation trends than headline inflation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural commodities , Commodity price fluctuations , Consumer price indexes , External shocks , Inflation , Low-income developing countries , Prices , |
| Date: | 2011–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:11/71&r=agr |
| By: | Roger Martini |
| Abstract: | Agricultural policies have undergone reforms in most OECD countries, each choosing a different path to replace policies historically based on market price support with other forms of support deemed superior in achieving differing policy objectives. This report looks at the results of this reform in six OECD regions and concludes that while every region has seen progress, results have been uneven. The key to reform that delivers effective results is keeping the focus on reducing market price support. Reforms moving from one form of land-based payment to another offer relatively little scope for improving the impact of the overall policy set. Recent reductions in market price support are at risk of reversal if the current trend towards higher commodity prices does not continue, as much of recent progress reflects market developments and not underlying policy change. |
| Keywords: | trade, protection, indicators, agricultural policy, policy reforms |
| JEL: | Q14 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:45-en&r=agr |
| By: | Dorothée Boccanfuso (Département d’économique and GRÉDI, Université de Sherbrooke); Massa Coulibaly (GREAT -- Groupe de recherche en économie appliquée et théorique); Govinda R. Timilsina (The World Bank); Luc Savard (Département d’économique and GRÉDI, Université de Sherbrooke) |
| Abstract: | A biofuels race has been observed around the world with rising cost of oil and the increasing concerns over climate change. Unfortunately, this growth is associated with rising food prices, which is a major concern in developing countries like Mali. The development of biofuels in Mali should contribute to reducing dependency on imported fossil fuels and avoiding competing for land used for food production. This study carries out an economic and distributional impact analysis with a microsimulation and CGE model of the prospects of large-scale expansion jatropha to produce biofuels in Mali. We also investigate the impacts of promoting biofuels through a tax-subsidy scheme. Our results reveal that macro effects are slightly negative or weakly positive but generate reductions in poverty at the national level and for rural households. The pro-poor analysis does not reveal a clear trend with proportional, progressive and regressive outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, agriculture, computable general equilibrium model, micro-simulation, distributional analysis. |
| JEL: | D58 D31 I32 Q17 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shr:wpaper:11-08&r=agr |
| By: | Bandyopadhyay, Subhayu; Bhaumik, Sumon; Wall, Howard |
| Abstract: | This paper explores optimal biofuel subsidization in the context of a general equilibrium trade model. The focus is on biofuels such as corn-based ethanol, which diverts corn from use as food to use as an intermediate input in energy production. In the small-country case, when a Pigouvian tax on conventional fuels such as crude is in place, the optimal biofuel subsidy is zero. When the tax on crude is not available as a policy option, however, a second-best biofuel subsidy (or tax) is optimal. In the large-country case, a biofuel subsidy spurs global demand for food and confers a terms-of-trade benefit to the food-exporting nation. In the absence of beggar-thy-neighbor trade policy tools due to WTO rules, the twin objectives of pollution reduction and term-of-trade improvement justify a combination of crude tax and biofuel subsidy for the food exporter. If the food importer also uses a biofuel subsidy (or tax), we have a Johnson (1953) type Nash equilibrium augmented by pollution considerations. If biofuel subsidies reduce global crude use, then in a Nash equilibrium, the food-exporting nation must use a subsidy, while a food-importing nation will impose a subsidy if and only if the pollution-reduction effect dominates the terms-of-trade effect. |
| Keywords: | Optimal Biofuel Subsidy; Pigouvian Tax; Terms-of-Trade; Pollution Externality |
| JEL: | O1 H2 F1 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30760&r=agr |
| By: | Bruce A. Babcock (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)) |
| Abstract: | Expanded mandates under the Renewable Fuel Standard provide ethanol and biodiesel producers a guaranteed future market at volumes that exceed what they have produced in the past. Despite having these mandates in place, biofuel producers continue to support tax credits and ethanol import tariffs. An examination of how the new mandates will be implemented shows that biofuel producers will receive little or no additional benefit from tax credits. Ethanol import tariffs will continue to provide U.S. corn ethanol producers a cost advantage over imported Brazilian sugarcane ethanol until at least 2013 when the demand for sugarcane ethanol to meet the noncellulosic advanced biofuel mandate starts to increase. |
| Keywords: | biodiesel, biofuel tax credit, biofuels mandates, corn ethanol, ethanol import tariffs, fuel subsidies, sugarcane ethanol, Renewable Identification Numbers. |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:fpaper:10-pb1&r=agr |
| By: | Poon, Kenneth; Alfons, Weersink |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors affecting the relative variability in farm and off-farm income for Canadian farm operators. Previous attempts have been limited by the lack of available data combining both farm and off-farm income levels for farm operations over time. Statistic Canadaâs Farm Micro-Longtidinal Dataset of 17,000 farm operators from 2001 to 2006 allowed such an analysis. The coefficient of variation (CV) in farm income is significantly greater than that for off-farm income but both measures are inversely related to the permanence of the income source to the operation. The greater the reliance on farm income and the greater the labour demand within the farm, the lower (greater) the relative variability in farm (off-farm) income. Larger commercial operations tend to experience larger farm income volatility either because they are less risk averse and/or have the ability to manage more risk. Diversification and off-farm employment appear to be substitute for risk management strategies for commercial operations. Pension and lifestyle farms have lower coefficient of variation for both farm and off-farm income compared to business-focused farms since they are possibly more risk averse and benefit from a permanent stream of off-farm revenue. Government payments have mixed effects on the relative variability of both income sources, which may be due the lag between the time of the income reduction and the time at which the aid is received. |
| Keywords: | Relative variability, farm and off- farm income, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:102064&r=agr |
| By: | Claire Schaffnit Chatterjee |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to review the main considerations around food price movements. It includes a discussion on the impact of speculation. URL:[https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR _INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000270746.p df]. |
| Keywords: | inflation, food prices, speculation, OECD, supply, demand, UN, rising incomes, globalisation, consumption, developing countries, food items, substitution, production, urbanisation |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3770&r=agr |
| By: | Lota D., Tamini; Bruno, Larue; West, Gale E. |
| Abstract: | An input distance function (IDF) is estimated to empirically evaluate and analyze the technical and environmental efficiencies of 210 farms located in the Chaudière watershed (Quebec), where water quality problems are particularly acute because of the production of undesirable outputs that are jointly produced with agricultural products. The true IDF is approximated by a flexible translog functional form estimated using a full information maximum likelihood method. Technical and environmental efficiencies are disaggregated across farms and account for spatial variations. Our results show that there is a significant correlation between technical and environmental efficiencies. Farms that are technically efficient tend to be environmentally efficient. We used the cumulative Malmquist productivity index and the Fisher index to measure changes in technology, profitability, efficiency, and productivity in response to the adoption of 2 selected best management practices (BMPs) whose objective is to reduce water pollution. We found significant differences across BMPs regarding the direction and the magnitude of their effect on profitability, efficiency and productivity. |
| Keywords: | Environment efficiency, distance function, phosphorus rumoff, productivity, profitability, technical efficiency, Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:102067&r=agr |
| By: | Gervais, Jean-Philippe; Lambert, Remy |
| Keywords: | Hogs, marketing, vertical coordination, auctions, Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2010–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:102014&r=agr |
| By: | Bonnet, Céline; Réquillart, Vincent |
| Abstract: | Healthier food diet is likely to prevent numerous non communicable diseases. Then there is a growing interest in evaluating the impact of food price taxation on food consumption. However, strategic reactions of both manufacturers and retailers are missing in empirical analysis. Rather, passive pricing is assumed. We develop a structural econometric model, to analyze vertical relationships between the food industry and the retail industry. We apply this model to the beverage industry and consider taxation of sugar. After selecting the ’best’ model of vertical relationships, we simulate different taxation scenarios. We consider excise tax as well as ad valorem tax. We find that firms behave differently when facing an ad valorem tax or an excise tax. Excise tax is overshifted to consumer prices while ad valorem tax is undershifted to consumer prices. We find that an excise tax based on sugar content is the most efficient at reducing soft drink consumption. Our results also indicate that ignoring strategic pricing by firms leads to misestimate the impact of taxation by 15% to 40% depending on the products and the tax implemented. |
| Keywords: | excise tax, ad valorem tax, vertical contracts, strategic pricing, differentiated products, soft drinks |
| JEL: | H32 L13 Q18 I18 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:24074&r=agr |
| By: | Pouliot, Sebastien; Larue, Bruno |
| Abstract: | A supply management system governs Canadaâs poultry sector. Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs), with prohibitive above-quota tariffs and low in-quota tariff, mimic import-quotas limit international competition in Canadaâs poultry market. The quota part of the TRQs is a minimum access commitment under international trade agreement that is defined as a fraction of domestic production. We show in a 3-stage game involving negotiations between retailers and processors and between processors and farms that increasing minimum access commitment under current trade agreements can produce Metzler effects with larger price increases observed at the farm and processing levels. Simulations based on 2008 data support the Metzler paradox and shed light on import license allocations between retailers and poultry processors in Canada. |
| Keywords: | Metzler paradox, tariff-rate quotas, chicken, negotiations, Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, F13, Q17, |
| Date: | 2011–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:102651&r=agr |
| By: | R S Deshpande; D K Marothia; Khalil Shah |
| Abstract: | The main objectives of the study were to analyze the role of non-timber forest products in poverty alleviation in Chhattisgarh; to examine the system of governance, institutional framework and programs for community based management practices in nontimber forest products of Chhattisgarh; and to examine the leasing policy for common rural water bodies, its positive/negative impact in terms of conflict among different stakeholders in Orissa. URL: [http://www.isec.ac.in/Managing%20Common %20Pool%20Resources.pdf]. |
| Keywords: | eastern india, tribal areas, orissa, poverty, chhattisgarh, rural water, forest products, non-timber, harvest, stakeholders, ecological balance, SHGs, CULTURE FISHERIES,farmers, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3774&r=agr |
| By: | Zhu, Ying; Barry, Goodwin; Ghosh, Sujiit |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to evaluate and model the yield risk associated with major agricultural commodities in the U.S. We are particularly concerned with the nonstationary nature of the yield distribution, which primarily arises because of technological progress and changing environmental conditions. Precise risk assessment depends on the accuracy of modeling this distribution. This problem becomes more challenging as the yield distribution changes over time, a condition that holds for nearly all major crops. A common approach to this problem is based on a two-stage method in which the yield is first detrended and then the estimated residuals are treated as observed data and modeled using various parametric or nonparametric methods. We propose an alternative parametric model that allows the moments of the yield distributions to change with time. Several model selection techniques suggest that the proposed time-varying model outperforms more conventional models in terms of in-sample goodness-of-fit, out-of-sample predictive power and the prediction accuracy of insurance premium rates. |
| Keywords: | Crop Insurance, Model Comparison, Time-Varying Distribution, Financial Economics, |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:102048&r=agr |
| By: | Dionysis Latinopoulos (Department of Spatial Planning and Development, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki); Eftichios Sartzetakis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia) |
| Abstract: | A great challenge facing future agricultural water policy is to explore the potential for transition from the current myopic competitive (common) exploitation of groundwater resources to a long-term efficient and sustainable allocation. A number of economic and/or command and control instruments can be used by the relevant water authority in order to deal with the economic and environmental problems generated by competitive exploitation. However, according to previous experience in both developed and developing countries, tradable permits seem as one of the most effective and efficient instruments, especially under conditions of limited water availability. On this account, the aim of the current study is to explore the feasibility and implementation of a tradable permit system in irrigated agriculture. To this end, two distinct optimization models are applied and compared: (a) an individual farmer’s model (representing the myopic non-cooperative exploitation of groundwater) and (b) a social planner’s model (representing the cooperative and sustainable allocation). The deviation of their results shows the rationale for using a tradable permit system, while the final allocation of the social planner’s model, solved as an optimal control problem that maximizes the social welfare under specific water policy objectives, denotes the equilibrium state of this system. The two models are then applied in a typical rural area of Greece where groundwater is the only source of irrigated agriculture. The derived time paths for water consumption and water availability illustrate the significant environmental benefits from the future implementation of a tradable permit system. |
| Keywords: | Tradable Water Permits, Sustainable Water Use, Irrigated Agriculture |
| JEL: | Q15 Q25 Q28 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.26&r=agr |
| By: | Martin, Will; Anderson, Kym |
| Abstract: | For individual countries, variable trade barriers can be used to reduce the volatility of domestic relative to world prices. If this is done by countries accounting for a large share of the market, its effect is offset by increases in world price volatility. This study shows the nature of the resulting collective action problem, with the policy being ineffective on average in stabilizing domestic prices while increasing the volatility of the income transfers from terms-of-trade changes. A simple approach to assessing the contribution of insulation to the price increases is developed and used with new estimates of agricultural distortions to assess its contribution to the price spikes in 1972-74 and 2006-08 for rice and wheat. The analysis suggests that 45 percent of the increase in rice prices in 2006-08, and 30 percent of the increase in wheat prices, was due to insulating behavior. One sign of progress since 1972-74 was a substantial reduction in the extent of price-insulating behavior by the industrial countries. This provides little stabilizing benefit in the rice market because countries not classifying themselves at the World Trade Organization as developing account for only 3 percent of world rice consumption. But it does offer some benefit for the wheat market where non-developing countries account for 27 percent of consumption. |
| Keywords: | Markets and Market Access,Emerging Markets,Access to Markets,E-Business,Commodities |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5645&r=agr |
| By: | Jaud, Melise; Kukenova, Madina |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between export survival of agri-food products and financial development. It tests the hypothesis that financial development differentially affects the survival of exports across products based on their need of external finance. The authors test whether exports of products that are relatively more reliant on external capital survive longer when initiated in more financially developed countries. The results suggest that agri-food products that require more external finance indeed sustain longer in foreign markets if the exporting country is more financially developed. |
| Keywords: | Food&Beverage Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Labor Policies,Debt Markets |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5649&r=agr |
| By: | Francesca MARCHETTA |
| Abstract: | The households who live in the rural areas of Northern Ghana base their subsistence on natural resources, which are threatened by the progressive desertification and increased frequency of extreme weather events in the region. We draw on a field work and on extensive secondary data sources to analyze how the rural population successfully adapted its livelihood strategies to cope with the economic, institutional and environmental changes which occurred over the last two decades. The field work evidences significant differences across communities in the adaptation strategies, which depend closely on the available portfolio of assets. The analysis evidences serious concerns about the environmental consequences of some of the observed changes in livelihood strategies, strengthening the case for public policies aimed at promoting a sustainable development in the region. |
| Keywords: | Livelihood Strategies, agriculture, Non Farm Activities, Internal migration, sustainable development, Rural Areas |
| JEL: | Q15 O55 O18 I31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1259&r=agr |
| By: | Gonul Sengul; Murat Ungor |
| Abstract: | In the first quarter of 2008, along with the beginning of the crisis, the employment share of agriculture in Turkey deviated from its long-run trend and started to rise. Both the timing and the direction of the change caused a public debate for an explanation of this phenomenon. Less to the attention of the debate, labor productivity in agriculture has been declining since that quarter. How much of the increase in agricultural employment can be explained by the secular changes in its productivity? We use a multi-sector general equilibrium model, in which employment share in agriculture is determined solely by the subsistence constraint and labor productivity in agriculture, where sectoral productivity growth rates are treated as exogenous to answer this question. The model accounts for more than 90 percent of the decline in the agricultural employment share between 2000 : Q2 and 2010 : Q3. The model is also able to generate the increase in agricultural employment since 2008 : Q1, although it slightly overpredicts the agricultural employment share. The model also predicts the sectoral allocations of labor in non-agricultural activities during the sample period. A detailed analysis of the driving forces of the agricultural productivity growth is needed as it is at the heart of the secular changes in employment shares in Turkey. |
| Keywords: | Sectoral productivity differences, reallocation of labor, Turkey. |
| JEL: | O11 O41 O57 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1105&r=agr |
| By: | Abebe Damte (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Steven F. Koch (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the role of local level institutions and property right regimes on the forest-poverty link, with respect to non-wood forest products, using data from a random sample of rural households in Ethiopia. Households in the sample derive approximately 8.7% of their income from these products. The determinants of forest dependency were examined separately for different types of forest property right regimes. The findings suggest that forestry management devolution enhances resource use by the poor, while reducing dependency among the rich. Our estimation results, which are consistent across the different measures of forest dependency, also suggest that local level institutions are not significant factors in determining the use of non-wood forest products, a result that differs from the analysis of timber and other woody materials. From the study results, we conclude that generalizations of the forest-poverty link are not possible, as the link depends on the type of forest management and the specific characteristics that prevail in the area. |
| Keywords: | Property rights, forest dependency, local institutions, Ethiopia |
| JEL: | Q12 Q23 Q28 Q56 R14 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201111&r=agr |
| By: | Muhammad Akmal; Muhammad Usman Abbasi |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to verify the widespread perception that general price level tends to rise due to the month of Ramadan in Pakistan. For this purpose, the ARIMA methodology (simple and extended form), along with simple graphical and scenario analysis, has been applied on the monthly data for overall, food and non-food indices of consumer prices in Pakistan from July 1991 to December 2008. URL:[http://www.sbp.org.pk/publications/ wpapers/2010/wp32.pdf] |
| Keywords: | pakistan, ramdan, data, government activism, price level, monthly data, food, non-food, indices, consumer prices, economic time series, ramadan, ARIMA methodology, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3937&r=agr |
| By: | Pedro D. Henriques (CEFAGE-UE and Department of Economics, University of Évora); Vanda Narciso (Independent Researche); Manuel Couret Branco (NICPRI and Department of Economics, University of Évora) |
| Abstract: | Natural ecosystems and traditional land use systems have an important role in the life and well being of the rural population of Timor-Leste. The land itself is the support of natural ecosystems and subsistence agriculture of rural populations of East Timor and is the main focus of this research. This paper is part of work in progress. Our research, located in rural Timor-Leste focuses on land tenure, rural family income and the mechanisms that will induce changes in the rules of traditional society organisation. The main objectives of this paper are: 1) to identify the different land use patterns of Timor-Leste; 2) to identify the goods and services produced by them and 3) to relate the services produced by land use patterns with the well-being of Timor-Leste rural population. This paper is based on a multidisciplinary approach incorporating contributions from several fields of knowledge, and uses documentary sources, direct observations made in various periods in the field and interviews conducted in 2003, 2009 and 2010. We identify as the main land use patterns in Timor-Leste the following ones: natural and semi-natural ecosystems, subsistence agriculture, sacred, housing and basic infrastructures and Industries and services. For Timor-Leste rural communities the above land use patterns produce a set of goods and services, which can be classified as supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural goods and services, and those are essential for their survival and well-being. The conceptual framework used to examine the above mentioned issues is the human rights approach to development within which human rights are considered as means and objectives of development as much as economic purposes. |
| Keywords: | Timor-Leste, land use patterns, ecosystems goods and services, well-being. |
| JEL: | Q15 Q23 Q24 Q26 Q57 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2011_08&r=agr |
| By: | Diether W. Beuermann (Office of Evaluation and Oversight, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, USA) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of access to information and communication technologies on agricultural profitability and child labor among isolated villages in rural Peru. We exploit an intervention that provided at least one public (satellite) payphone to 6,509 rural villages that did not previously have any kind of communication services (either landlines or cell phones). We show that the timing of the intervention was uncorrelated with baseline outcomes and exploit it using a panel dataset of treated villages. Consistent with theoretical expectations, we find that profitability increased by 19.5 percent. Moreover, this income shock translated into a reduction in the likelihood of child market work of 13.7 percentage points and a reduction in child agricultural work of 9.2 percentage points. Overall, the evidence suggests a dominant income effect in the utilization of child labor. |
| Keywords: | Information technology, rural development, child labor, Peru, Latin America |
| JEL: | Q12 Q16 H43 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:ovewps:0211&r=agr |
| By: | Bruce A. Babcock (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)) |
| Abstract: | The next few weeks should bring some clarity to the future of the 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol tax credit and the 54-cent-per-gallon import tariff because both are scheduled to expire on December 31. Although the arguments in support of and against their extension have changed little since the summer, the economic situation in the corn, livestock, and ethanol industries has changed dramatically. |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:fpaper:10-pb3&r=agr |
| By: | Tauber, Ramona; Anders, Sven; Langinier, Corinne |
| Abstract: | The debate over the âright wayâ of protecting geographical indicators (GIs) has resulted in a growing body of literature investigating the welfare effects of GI policies using economic modelling approaches. This paper presents a synthesis of a small yet growing number of analytical studies on GIs. We find that modelling results and related policy conclusions hinge on different assumptions regarding consumer preferences, quality differentiation and weights attributed to producer or consumer welfare measures. Inconclusive results regarding a pareto-optimal design of GI policy leave several unresolved issues to researchers and policy makers assigned with the welfare implications of GI-based market interventions. |
| Keywords: | geographical indications, consumer preferences, welfare, policy, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:103262&r=agr |
| By: | International Rivers Network IRN |
| Abstract: | With 11 large hydropower dams proposed to block the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream, the future of the river lies at a crossroads. To inform decision-making, in October 2010, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) published a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) report that offers a critical appraisal of the dam plans. The report evaluates future economic benefits from power-generation against a wide-range of environmental costs and impacts to riverside communities and their local economies. As these dams threaten to irreversibly undermine the ecology of the Mekong River and will place at risk the livelihoods and food security of millions of people who depend upon the river’s resources, the main recommendation of the SEA report is that decisions on whether to proceed with the mainstream dams should be deferred for a period of ten years until further studies can be conducted to ensure that decision-makers are fully informed of the risks. With so much at stake, it is crucial that the Mekong region’s decision-makers endorse and adopt the SEA’s recommendations before it’s too late.URL:[http://www.internationalrivers .org/files/SEA%20Factsheet_Eng.pdf]. |
| Keywords: | mekong, region, decision makers, security, people, dams, river resources, hydropower, lower mekong, environment assessment, plans, environemental costs, riverside, communities, local econmies, ecology, livelihoods, food security, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3851&r=agr |
| By: | Nicola Doni (Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Università di Firenze); Giorgio Ricchiuti (Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Università di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how the interaction between green consumers and responsible firms affects the market equilibrium. The main result is that a higher responsibility by both producers and consumers can have different impacts on the efficiency of the firms’ abatement activity, depending on the nature of the cleaning costs. When the abatement costs are fixed, the efficiency of the clean-up effort is always increasing in their degree of responsibility. On the other hand, when the abatement costs are variable, a higher level of responsibility may reduce social welfare. Finally, the first best allocation is never reached, even in the presence of the highest credible level of responsibility of both consumers and producers. |
| Keywords: | Green Consumers, Corporate Social Responsibility, Vertical Differentiation |
| JEL: | D62 L13 L21 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.33&r=agr |
| By: | Georg Zachmann |
| Abstract: | In its third phase (2013-20) the European Union's emissions trading system (ETS) will issue allowances for around two billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year. The emission rights are valued at around Â?30-35 billion at current prices, between one-half and two-thirds of the amount the EU spends on the Common Agricultural Policy. The redistributive effects of the allocation of emission allowances are therefore potentially significant. Quantitative indicators for the relative degree to which individual countries will be affected by the ETS suggest that economic consequences for the member states will be quite different. In this policy brief, Georg Zachmann finds that countries with less favourable initial conditions are eventually largely compensated. Click here to download the ETS indicators by country |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:polbrf:493&r=agr |
| By: | Stergios Athanassoglou (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change); Anastasios Xepapadeas (Athens University of Economics and Business and Beijer Fellow) |
| Abstract: | The precautionary principle (PP) applied to environmental policy stipulates that, in the presence of physical uncertainty, society must take robust preventive action to guard against worst-case outcomes. It follows that the higher the degree of uncertainty, the more aggressive this preventive action should be. This normative maxim is explored in the case of a stylized dynamic model of pollution control under Knightian uncertainty. At time 0 a decision-maker makes a one-time investment in damage-control technology and subsequently decides on a desirable dynamic emissions policy. Adopting the robust control framework of Hansen and Sargent [10], we investigate optimal damage-control and mitigation policies. We show that optimal investment in damage control is always increasing in the degree of uncertainty, thus confirming the conventional PP wisdom. Optimal mitigation decisions, however, need not always comport with the PP and we provide analytical conditions that sway the relationship one way or the other. This result is interesting when contrasted to a model with fixed damage-control technology, in which it can be easily shown that a PP vis-a-vis mitigation unambiguously holds. We conduct a set of numerical experiments to determine the sensitivity of our results to specific functional forms of damage-control cost. We find that when the cost of damage-control technology is low enough, damage-control investment and mitigation may act as substitutes and a PP with respect to the latter can be unambiguously irrational. |
| Keywords: | Risk, Ambiguity, Robust Control, Precautionary Principle, Pollution Control |
| JEL: | C61 D80 D81 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.18&r=agr |