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on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2011‒11‒07
forty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Petrick, Martin; Wandel, Jürgen; Karsten, Katharina |
| Abstract: | Against the rising global concern of how to achieve sustainable output expansion in food, we document the main outcomes of post-Soviet agricultural recovery and restructuring in the Kazakhstan grain region. Together with an expansion of cropland area and increasing capital input, real agricultural value added has almost doubled within the recent decade. Privatisation legislation has allowed private ownership of land. However, access to state land and capital continues to be strongly regulated, and private lenders even turn away from agriculture. There are now three dominant groups of agricultural producers in the region: large agricultural enterprises and smaller individual farms mostly engaged in grain, and tiny household economies focusing on vegetable and live-stock. While agricultural enterprises have been growing more persistently than individual farms in recent years, average land productivity of both farm types is practically identical and wheat yields are even higher in individual farms. Both vertically and horizontally integrated agroholdings have emerged among the agricultural enterprises and have brought outside investment and management to the region. With stable employment in agriculture, nominal consumption spending of rural households has tripled over the last decade and has risen much faster than the costs of living. While North Kazakhstan looks much like a success story, constrained factor markets are likely to dampen further growth. The Kazakh government should improve the legal conditions for a functioning land rental market, avoid driving commercial lenders out of the market, and make sure that future access to qualified labour in agriculture is warranted. -- |
| Keywords: | agricultural productivity, agricultural transition, farm organisation, Kazakhstan |
| JEL: | O13 P32 Q12 Q15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamodp:137&r=agr |
| By: | Chapoto, Antony; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | Smallholder farmersâ access to markets and agricultural support services has been a major concern of Zambian policy makers. As with many governments in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Zambian governmentâs agricultural policies, particularly for maize, have fundamentally been conceived of as a response to perceived market failure and weak access to markets for rural smallholder farmers. However, the conventional wisdom of poor market access is based on extremely limited empirical evidence. This study is motivated by the need to overcome this paucity of empirical evidence and provide policy makers with an up-to-date assessment of smallholder farmersâ market access conditions for maize, the primary food grain in Zambia. |
| Keywords: | Zambia, Maize Markets, Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcwp:116910&r=agr |
| By: | Tschirley, David L.; Dembele, Nango |
| Abstract: | The Feed the Future (FTF) initiative aims to âadvance global stability and prosperity by improving the most basic of human conditions â the need that families and individuals have for a reliable source of quality food and sufficient resources to access and purchase it.â Events in world commodity markets since 2007 threaten to undermine this objective. During 2007 and 2008, the prices of a wide array of energy, food, raw material, and mineral and metal commodities surged to all-time highs. Average grain prices doubled, energy prices nearly tripled, and fertilizer prices more than tripled during this period compared to their preceding 10-year averages. After declining in 2009 and part of 2010 in response to the worldwide financial crisis1, prices surged again from mid-2010 through at least April 2011. Most opinion regarding the cause of these price movements has coalesced around a combination of long-term rises in demand in Asia2, the diversion of grains into the production of biofuel in the U.S.3, increased industrialization of agriculture forging tighter links between prices of agricultural commodities and energy, poor grain harvests in key producing countries, historically low carryover stocks (in 2007/08 but not 2010/11), and commodity market speculation panic buying by some countries in response to export restrictions by large exporters (e.g., India for rice) may also have played a role. |
| Keywords: | Food Price, FTF, Food Security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:116916&r=agr |
| By: | Jayne, T.S.; Chapoto, Antony; Chamberlin, Jordan |
| Abstract: | This note highlights the major challenges facing governments and international agencies in their efforts to strengthen the performance of staple food markets in Eastern and Southern Africa. The analysis synthesizes recent analyses by Michigan State Universityâs Food Security Group.** Our analyses highlight the fact that even in countries that have achieved impressive grain production growth in recent years, such as Malawi and Zambia, this growth has been heavily concentrated among a small proportion of farmers. In most of the countries for which nationwide farm survey data is available, about 75% of the marketed maize output comes from 10% of the farms (Jayne et al 2010). The value of these farmsâ crop and animal product sales is almost as much as the other 90% of farms. Because most poor smallholder farms have limited land and other productive assets, over half of the smallholder population is bypassed by this production growth and remain staple food buyers. For these and other reasons, rural poverty rates have remained stubbornly high even where aggregate grain production has risen dramatically. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Food Market, CAADP, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:116915&r=agr |
| By: | Viju, Crina; Yeung, May T.; Kerr, William A. |
| Keywords: | EU, GMO, trade, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catptp:116853&r=agr |
| By: | Tasso Adamopoulos; Diego Restuccia |
| Abstract: | There is a 34-fold difference in average farm size (land per farm) between rich and poor countries and striking differences in their size distributions. Since labor productivity is much higher in large relative to small farms, we study the determinants of farm-size differences across countries and their impact on agricultural and aggregate productivity. We develop a quantitative model of agriculture and non-agriculture that features a non-degenerate size distribution of farms. We find that measured aggregate factors such as capital, land, and economy-wide productivity cannot account for more than 1/4 of the observed differences in farm size and productivity. We argue that, among the possible explanations, farm-level policies that misallocate resources from large to small farms have the most potential to account for the remaining differences. Such farm-size distortions are prevalent in poor countries. We quantify the effects of two specific policies in developing countries: (a) a land reform that imposes a ceiling on farm size and (b) a progressive land tax. We find that each individual policy generates a reduction of 3 to 7% in average size and productivity. |
| Keywords: | aggregate productivity, agriculture, farm-size distortions, misallocation |
| JEL: | O11 O13 O4 E0 |
| Date: | 2011–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-441&r=agr |
| By: | Nay Myo Aung |
| Abstract: | This paper try to analyze unique data set for rice producing agricultural households in some selected areas of Bago and Yangon divisions to examine the households' profit efficiency and the relationship between farm and household attributes and profit inefficiency using a Cobb-Douglas production frontier function. The frequency distribution reveals that the mean technical inefficiency is 0.1627 with a minimum of 3 percent and maximum of 73 percent which indicates that, on average, about 16% of potential maximum output is lost owing to technical inefficiency in both studied areas. While 85% of the sample farms exhibit profit inefficiency of 20% or less, about 40% of the sample farms is found to exhibit technical inefficiency of 20% or less, indicating that among the sample farms technical inefficiency is much lower than profit inefficiency. |
| Keywords: | Myanmar, Rice, Farmers, Agricultural economies, Household, Efficiency, Production frontier function |
| JEL: | Q12 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper306&r=agr |
| By: | Ji, Yueqing; Zhong, Funing; Yu, Xiaohua |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the linkages between farmers' machinery investment decision and off-farm employment in China. Both the theoretical model and the empirical results based on a survey of 453 households in Anhui Province indicate that agricultural labor input and small-size machinery investment are gross complements rahter tha substitutes when machinery service is available in the market. Consequently, farmers with small machinery are more likely to reduce their off-time employment time. -- |
| Keywords: | Small-size Machinery,Off-Farm employment,Complements,China |
| JEL: | Q12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:5&r=agr |
| By: | Prishchepov, Alexander V.; Radeloff, Volker C.; Müller, Daniel; Dubinin, Maxim; Baumann, Matthias |
| Abstract: | Socio-economic and institutional changes may accelerate land-use and land-cover change. Our goal was to explore the determinants of agricultural land abandonment within one agro-climatic and economic region of post-Soviet European Russia during the first decade of transition from a state-command to market-driven economy (between 1990 and 2000). We integrated maps of abandoned agricultural land derived from 30 m resolution Landsat TM/ETM+ images, environmental and socioeconomic variables and estimated logistic regressions. Results showed that post-Soviet agricultural land abandonment was significantly associated with lower average grain yields in the late 1980s, higher distance from the populated places, areas with low population densities, for isolated agricultural areas within the forest matrix and near the forest edges. Hierarchical partitioning showed that average grain yields in the late 1980s contributed the most in explaining the variability of agricultural land abandonment, followed by location characteristics of the land. While the spatial patterns correspond to the classic micro-economic theories of von Thünen and Ricardo, it was largely the macro-scale driving forces that fostered agricultural abandonment. In the light of continuum depopulation process in the studied region of European Russia, we expect continuing agricultural abandonment after the year 2000. -- |
| Keywords: | agricultural land abandonment,institutional change, land use change,spatial analysis,logistic regression,remote sensing,Russia |
| JEL: | Q15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:1&r=agr |
| By: | Tschirley, David L. |
| Abstract: | Rising urban populations and per capita income growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are creating major opportunities for local farmers by driving growth of 5%-6% per year in domestic and regional market demand for food â implying a doubling of demand in little more than 10 years. Fresh fruits and vegetables stand to be an important winner in this growth, due to their high income elasticity of demand and multiple opportunities to add value. |
| Keywords: | Horticulture, Africa, Poverty, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:116914&r=agr |
| By: | Caballero, Jorge; O'Connor, Ernesto; Amado, Blanca |
| Abstract: | Latin America is becoming the fastest growing agricultural production region and Brazil has by far the fastest growing agricultural sector. China from being a small agricultural importer (1.4% of world imports in 1990/01), became the fifth largest importer at 5.4% of world imports in 2006/07. China's overall trade with Latin America has expanded substantially during the last two decades -the rate of growth has been greater than any other region in the world since 2005. Most exports from Latin America to China are primary products while Chinese exports to Latin America are mostly industrial products. The Chinese demand for agricultural products is concentrated in food products such as grains and oilseeds. Countries specialised in those commodities -eg. Brazil and Argentina-exhibit a strong orientation on the Chinese market. In turn, growing subsectors in China, like fruits and vegetables, are posing strong competition to some world supplier countries in Latin America such as Chile and Peru. Since China is promoting structural reforms of its agricultural sector, aimed at increasing productivity and improving food security, and is expanding their direct investments overseas to secure provision of raw materials, Latin American governments need to pursue long-run strategic public policies. They need to optimize trade results and promote production efficiency that on one hand contribute to take advantage of the current market situation but at the same time assure the protection of the natural resources and preserve the production capacity and the agricultural diversity. -- |
| Keywords: | Latin America,China,trade,agriculture,soybean,agricultural policies |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:20&r=agr |
| By: | Pangaribowo, Evita Hanie; Tsegai, Daniel W. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to analyze the demand responses of Indonesian households to food prices, income changes and other socioeconomic factors. The underlying assumption here is that inadequate information on household food expenditure patterns which vary across income groups and regions may have its contribution to the persistence of food insecurity. We use the Indonesian Family Life Survey data and methodologically we employ an extended form of the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model which includes demographic and regional factors. Results reveal the well known pattern that food demand behavior varies significantly between urban and rural households as well as income groups. The poorest households consume relatively more staple food as well as alcohol and tobacco goods while the richest households consume relatively more meat, snack and dried food. It is shown that the poorest householdsâ expenditure elasticity on alcohol and tobacco is high implying that the poorest households transfer their extra resources on alcohol and tobacco goods instead of more nutritious food items. Results also show that price and expenditure elasticities have changed across time (1997-2007). Own price elasticities have increased for most food items implying that people have become more responsive to changes in prices. In contrast, the expenditure elasticity has declined for most food items (except for âalcohol and tobacco goodsâ) which would imply welfare improvement since the 1997 crisis. |
| Keywords: | food demand, QUAIDS, Indonesia, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D11, D12, |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:116748&r=agr |
| By: | Mulenga, Brian P.; Richardson, Robert B.; Mapemba, Lawrence; Tembo, Gelson |
| Abstract: | Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) play an important role in supporting rural livelihoods and food security in Zambia. NTFP-dependent households are poorer, have younger household heads with lower levels of education, and are located closer to district towns than other rural households are. NTFPs are a particularly important source of income in Luapula, Northwestern and Western provinces. ⢠Income from woodfuel represented the greatest share of income for households that participated in NTFPs, and it was the most commonly reported business activity, with 68% of NTFP households reporting income from charcoal and firewood. NTFPs contribute an average of 32% to total household income among participants, with the poorest being more dependent on these sources. ⢠Given the widespread demand for woodfuel and other forest products, it is likely that rural households will continue to engage in the extraction and trade of NTFPs as a business activity. However, charcoal production, if left unchecked, could compromise the integrity of forests and adversely affect the availability of other NTFPs. In order to reduce householdsâ reliance on charcoal/firewood as an income source, outreach efforts could promote other NTFPs such as wild honey, ants, and mushrooms as business activities. Mushrooms, ants, and caterpillars may particularly be important activities for femaleheaded households, as more female-headed households derived income from these sources. |
| Keywords: | NON-TIMBER FOREST, ZAMBIA, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:116906&r=agr |
| By: | Amikuzuno, Joseph |
| Abstract: | Cross-border trade in food commodities within sub-regional economic blocks in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) is believed to be faster, cheaper, more convenient and welfare-enhancing than overseas trade between SSA countries and the USA, EU and the BRIC countries. The difficulty of commodity arbitrage across international borders SSA is however a fundamental constraint to price transmission, market integration and the realisation of the welfare enhancing role of cross-border trade in Africa. This study examines the impact of border and distance on price transmission between tomato markets in Ghana and Burkina-Faso. Theanalysis applies a regime-switching vector error correction model to estimate semi-weekly, wholesale prices of tomato in four tomato markets in Ghana and a production centre in Burkina-Faso. Estimated parameters of price transmission contain evidence of border and distance effects. This is expected since high transfer costs, including cross-border tariffs are incurred by traders in moving tomato across the border. Moreover, the perishable nature of tomato, and the poor quality of roads and transportation facilities may imply additional costs of risks to arbitrageurs. The findings have both theoretical relevance and practical implications for facilitating cross-border trade in West Africa, especially for trade between landlocked countries like Burkina-Faso and coastal ones like Ghana. -- |
| Keywords: | Price Transmission,Border,Tomato,Ghana,Burkina-Faso |
| JEL: | C32 Q11 Q13 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:9&r=agr |
| By: | Nakuja, T.; Akhand, M.; Hobbs, J. E.; Kerr, W. A. |
| Abstract: | The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) which was signed into law in January, 2011 represents a major initiative to improve food safety in the US. The legislation mandates the US Food and Drug Administration with developing a regulatory system to implement the Act. As yet, the full effect of the Act cannot be evaluated because the regulatory requirements are yet to be developed. There is little doubt, however, that those firms, both domestic and foreign, that wish to supply US consumers with food will face a considerable increase in regulatory costs. This paper outlines the major requirements of the FSMA and suggests how the regulatory burden may fall on foreign versus US domestic suppliers. Areas where Canadian firms may be disadvantaged relative to US firms are outlined. Opportunities that may arise from the FSMA for Canadian agri-food firms are discussed, as are the areas where the FSMA may not conform with the international trade commitments of the United States. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness, food safety, regulatory burden, SPS, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpcp:116847&r=agr |
| By: | Tian, Xu; Yu, Xiaohua; Holst, Rainer |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a payment card approach to reveal consumers' willingness to pay for green food in China. We first present a brief introduction of the payment card approach and introduce several methods to estimate the WTP with payment cards, which we subsequently use to estimate WTP values regarding green vegetables, green meat and green eggs in China. Our results indicate that consumers in big cities are willing to pay a higher premium for green food and that WTP values are relatively higher for more expensive food than for cheaper food. In addition, the ratios of premium to price range mainly between 25% and 50% and WTP values obtained from interval midpoint approach are relatively higher than those calculated by other approaches. -- |
| Keywords: | WTP,Payment card,Green food |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:23&r=agr |
| By: | Ron Sandrey; Cecilia Punt; Hans Grinsted Jensen; Nick Vink |
| Abstract: | This report provides an overview of policy changes in South African agriculture over the past three decades, and of some of the associated impacts on output, trade patterns and employment. In agriculture, the story is one of widespread substitution of labour for capital. While the sector has shed more than a million jobs over the past four decades, the paper highlights its continuing role as an employment creator in rural areas, albeit mainly in low-wage occupations. As for its principal analytical contribution, this paper considers future trade liberalisation in the agricultural sector. Using two different economic models, we find a remarkably consistent pattern whereby agricultural trade liberalisation in the region is predicted to increase agricultural employment. |
| Keywords: | trade, employment, wages, inclusive growth |
| JEL: | F16 |
| Date: | 2011–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:130-en&r=agr |
| By: | Kuteya, Auckland N.; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | 1. Compared to the general price of goods and services as measured by the consumer price index, the prices of retail roller and breakfast maize meal have declined by between 34 and 51% in the major urban markets of Zambia between 1994 and 2010. 2. Inflation-adjusted wholesale maize grain prices have also declined over this period but by a smaller amount. 3. Inflation-adjusted marketing margins between the wholesale price of maize grain and the retail prices of roller and breakfast meal have declined from 41% to 64% since the early 1990s when the market liberalization process began. Since the early 1990s, there has been substantial new investment in commercial maize milling as well as by the informal hammer milling industry. Enhanced competition at this stage in the maize value chain appears to have conferred important food security benefits to urban consumers. |
| Keywords: | Zambia, maize, grain prices, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:116908&r=agr |
| By: | Nakuja, T.; Akhand, M.; Hobbs, J. E.; Kerr, W. A. |
| Abstract: | The FSMA appears to be a major undertaking with a very large responsibility placed on the FDA. It would seem that bottlenecks to exporting are bound to appear which will be very frustrating for Canadian firms. It is important for Canadian firms and Canadian policy makers to work hard to ensure that temporary bottlenecks do not become permanent inhibitors of trade. The Canadian government needs to understand industry concerns and use any mechanisms â including those in the NAFTA â to initiate consultations with the US. Given the likely lags in implementation, North American food markets are likely to exhibit considerable disequilibrium over the near term. Trade flows will be affected. As the implementation programs of the FSMA become more transparent, more sophisticated analysis into its effect on Canadian competitiveness in the US market can be undertaken. |
| Keywords: | food, safety, competitiveness, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catptp:116852&r=agr |
| By: | Shaik, Saleem |
| Abstract: | The returns to scale for nineteen South Asian countries are estimated using window and cumulative rolling stochastic frontier regression analysis. The stochastic frontier analysis accounts for technical inefficiency of Hicks non-neutral technology production function in the estimation of the returns to scale. The window rolling regression and cumulative rolling regression allows the estimation of short and long run time-varying returns to scale, respectively. Empirical application to Asian agriculture sector using Food and Agricultural Organization data from 1961-2008 indicates returns to scale are under (over) estimated by the traditional panel models in the short (long) run time-varying estimation. The time-varying estimates of returns to scale indicate decreasing trend in the short run compared to long run analysis. -- |
| Keywords: | Asian agriculture sector,stochastic frontier analysis,window and cumulative time-varying input elasticities and returns to scale,one-way fixed effect,1961-2008 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:11&r=agr |
| By: | Sharma, Harsh |
| Abstract: | The paper seeks to explore the opportunities created by climate change and mitigation efforts in agriculture sector in India for creating more, newer and better jobs. These new jobs which are termed as green jobs are not always going to be decent jobs and there is also uncertainty about the number of jobs so created vis-à-vis number of jobs destroyed in traditional fossil fuel based economy. Pivotal role played by agriculture in developing country's economy makes it ideal sector to study in this context. There is growing consensus that organic, sustainable agricultural practices can provide synergistic benefits that include adaptation and mitigation of climate change with addressing concerns like livelihood, employment and working conditions. In an emerging country like India, sustainable agriculture can help in meeting twin challenges of food security and job creation. This so called Double Dividend can positively affect the thinking of policy makers and public at large towards contributing to meeting of mitigation and adaption challenge with respect to climate change. However, this requires close integration of agricultural, environmental and labour policy. The present study is based on extensive literature survey and expert interaction. Paper seeks to integrate these varied factors and it is argued that emphasis on sustainable/organic farming will create more and better jobs in India and help in poverty reduction and improving life standards. -- |
| Keywords: | Agriculture,Green Jobs,India |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:4&r=agr |
| By: | Goel, Veena |
| Abstract: | Study indicated that the entry of corporate sector in the Punjab State is both in retail and wholesale trade of the fruits & vegetables sub sector. At the organized retail stores these companies have provided its consumers a single window service for the various product assortments while within the fruits & vegetables category (have minuscule scales) widened the product selection choices. Corporate entry in wholesale trade has linked several product specific production belts with medium to high income consumers through various market segments such as organized stores, traditional wholesale/retail markets and the food service. These companies have also provided product variety through imports while opportunities for crop diversification towards higher value crops through exports. In the fruits & vegetables sub sector companies engaged in the retail trade have adopted for short to medium while those in wholesale trade for medium to long-term more sustainable approaches for the sourcing of supplies to build up competitive advantages. This has started generating growth in the Punjab state that has manifested in terms of higher incomes for as the partner farmers and creation of employment for the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled manpower throughout the supply chain. As the market sizes of these companies expand and diversify in the domestic/global markets it shall enhance growth thereby magnify its impacts. -- |
| Keywords: | Fruits & vegetables trade,corporate groups,growth |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:24&r=agr |
| By: | Bojnec, Štefan; Fertő, Imre; Fogarasi, József |
| Abstract: | Agro-food trade between the BRIC countries has increased. Brazil and China contributed to the rapid increase of agro-food trade. The Russian Federation experienced the stagnating and the most volatile agro-food trade over time. The composition of agro-food trade for the BRIC countries varies by the BEC agro-food trade categories and over time. The prevailing in the composition of agro-food trade are BEC122 and BEC111 for Brazil and the Russian Federation, and BEC122 and BEC112 for India and China. Brazil and India have strengthened their market shares in agro-food trade between the BRIC countries, while the Russian Federation has experienced the most severe deterioration. The number and the share of trading partners that have traded every year vary between the BRIC countries and the BEC agro-food trade categories over time. Agro-food trade between the BRIC countries is positively associated with the GDP size and population size in importing countries, but negatively associated with the GDP size and population size in exporting countries as well as with distance. Mixed results are found for border effect, institutional quality and institutional similarity depending on the BEC agro-food trade categories. -- |
| Keywords: | agro-food trade,BRIC countries,adapted gravity model,institutions |
| JEL: | F14 Q17 C23 O57 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:19&r=agr |
| By: | Mauricio Cortez Reis |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2009:220&r=agr |
| By: | Yamagata, Tatsufumi; Asuyama, Yoko |
| Abstract: | Green innovation, which enables us to extract energy from food crops, caused a food shortage in 2008. Countries suffering severe damage started to reconsider their agricultural policy with the aim of becoming more autonomous. The food price hike of the time looks like a reversal of the celebrated Singer-Prebisch thesis proposed in the 1950s. This paper examines the consequences of this trend on the comparative advantages and development strategies of developing countries. For that purpose, first, trends and short-run fluctuations in the prices of fuel and bio-energy crops are investigated. It is shown that the price series of fuels and the crops are synchronized only after the fuel extracting technology came into effect. Second, the reversal of the Singer-Prebisch thesis is underpinned by the generic form of an endogenous growth model developed by Rebelo (1991). It is shown that as an economy grows, appreciation of the non-reproducible, such as mineral resources and raw labor, over the reproducible, such as capital goods, is the norm rather than an anomaly. Third, the consequences of the food price hike and underlying capital accumulation on the development strategies of labor-abundant and low-income countries are explored. It is concluded that the impact of the food price hikes on the alteration of a development strategy is only incremental, without reinforcement from raw-labor-saving innovation. A case study of inventions by JUKI Corporation, a world-leader in the sewing machine market exemplifies the fact that, of all the major inventions the company have made, raw-labor-saving inventions have not dominated, although JUKI's machines are sold to one of the most raw-labor-intensive industries. |
| Keywords: | Developing countries, Food problem, Prices, Agricultural policy, Energy resource, Bio-energy, Singer-Prebisch thesis, Directed technical change, Development strategy |
| JEL: | O13 O33 O40 Q16 Q32 Q42 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper300&r=agr |
| By: | Kym Anderson (School of Economics, University of Adelaide); Markus Bruckner (School of Economics, University of Adelaide) |
| Abstract: | To what extent has Sub-Saharan Africa's slow economic growth over the past five decades been due to price and trade policies that have discouraged production of agricultural relative to non-agricultural tradables? This paper uses a new set of estimates of policy distortions to relative prices to address this question econometrically. We first test if these policy distortions respond to economic growth, using rainfall and international commodity price shocks as instrumental variables. We find that on impact there is no significant response of relative price distortions to changes in real GDP per capita. We then test the reverse proposition and find a statistically significant and sizable negative effect of relative price distortions on the growth rate of Sub-Saharan African countries. Our fixed effects estimates suggest that, during 1960-2005, a one standard deviation increase in distortions to relative prices reduced the region's real GDP per capita growth rate by about half a percentage point per annum. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth, Trade restrictions, Agricultural incentives |
| JEL: | F14 F43 N17 O13 O55 Q18 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:wpaper:2011-32&r=agr |
| By: | Rico, Ihle; Rubin, Ofir D. |
| Abstract: | Imposing military security measures as a consequence of violent conflict may lead to depressing economic effects for all parties involved. One implication is the limited ability to conduct trade, which in turn brings about welfare losses to the economic agents involved and may threat livelihoods and food security. This paper focuses on the consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as a prominent example, on bilateral agricultural trade and price dynamics. For this purpose, we consider high-frequency wholesale price data and data on movement restrictions (complete closures) which were imposed by the Israeli Defense Forces in the West Bank between May 2007 and December 2008. In particular, we study the price dynamics of cucumbers and apples, two crops which play an important role for bilateral trade. The spatial and temporal price relationships are assessed using a cointegration framework. Specifically, we use a novel multivariate exogenous regime-switching vector error correction model and employ a recently developed extension of Johansenâs cointegration estimation method. We find the wholesale markets of cucumbers and apples in Hebron and Tel Aviv to be integrated. For both products, the price differentials between both markets quickly adjust to short run deviations from the long-run price equilibria. The regime-dependent model suggests that the movement restrictions effectively cut off both markets from each other temporarily. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural trade, cointegration, Israel, regime-dependent error correction, price transmission, Palestinian territories., International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:huaedp:117021&r=agr |
| By: | Karel Janda (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Ladislav Kristoufek (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); David Zilberman (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a general overview of the social, environmental, and economical issues related to biofuels and a review of economic modeling of biofuels. The increasing importance of biofuels is driven primarily by government policies since currently available biofuels are generally not economically viable in the absence of fiscal incentives or high oil prices. Also the environmental impacts of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels are quite ambiguous. The literature review of the most recent economic models dealing with biofuels and their economic impacts provides a distinction between structural and reduced form models. The discussion of structural models centers primarily on computable general equilibrium models. The review of reduced models is structured toward the time series analysis approach to the dependencies between prices of biofuels, prices of agricultural commodities used for the biofuel production and prices of the fossil fuels. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels; Ethanol; Biodiesel; Prices; Time-series |
| JEL: | Q16 Q42 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2011_33&r=agr |
| By: | Vysotskyi, Taras |
| Abstract: | In this article we investigate how to integrate the experience and knowledge of local agricultural experts in order to facilitate more objective-oriented use of the agricultural support funds. For this purpose we apply the Linear Programming methodological approach. Within this approach the model for calculating the optimum allocation of agricultural budget is developed. The evaluations criterions, which are used in the modeling, are derived during the interviews with agricultural experts who work at the Zdolbuniv district agricultural department in Ukraine. The outcomes show that the agricultural support should have been redistributed in a slightly different way from the district perspective. However, the calculated changes in most cases match with the overall development directions in the Ukrainian agricultural support policy. Furthermore, the developed model has proved to be a useful and, at the same time, quite simple in application support tool, which could have been used by the agricultural decision-makers in the process of agricultural support distribution. -- |
| Keywords: | Agricultural support,impact assessment,Linear Programming. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:8&r=agr |
| By: | Bathla, Seema |
| Abstract: | Is Indian agriculture resilient to external shocks? This question has assumed considerable importance ever since macroeconomic reforms were implemented from the early nineties. As a result, the agricultural sector was exposed to sudden disturbances caused not just by the demand and supply conditions within the country, but also by volatility in world market price, exchange rate and surge in imports. This paper aims to evaluate the magnitude of sensitivity of agriculture to these factors and other changes, and explores policy options that may neutralize their adverse effects, maintain price incentives and stability. The analysis is based on three important tradable commodities. A structural econometric model is applied to each, separately under the exportable and importable scenarios from 1980-81 to 2002-03. Broad findings reveal agriculture to be increasingly driven by an incentive structure based on its linkages with world market price, exchange rate and other factors. Counterfactual simulation experiments indicate that due to trade and price policies, commodity prices and output tend to be much more resilient to various shocks compared to the exports and imports. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:14&r=agr |
| By: | Tsunehiro Otsuki (Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the response of Japanese consumersf demand for poultry meat to the food safety regulations at the border using the almost ideal demand system (AIDS) with a particular focus on the maximum residue limits (MRL) on pesticides and veterinary drugs. The AIDS model allows for differing demand response to the food safety regulations across goods from different origins as consumers tend to rearrange their consumption within a product category. The results indicate the asymmetry of the demand response to a change in MRLs and avian-influenza bans. Tightening the MRLs reduces domestic demand for poultry meat as well as demand for imports from China and the US, and increases demand for imports from Brazil. Thus, the assessment of the impact of regulatory policies needs to take consumersf flexible rearrangement of bundles into account. |
| Keywords: | Poultry meat trade, food safety regulations, the AIDS model |
| JEL: | D18 F10 Q11 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:11e007&r=agr |
| By: | Haq, Zahoor; Meilke, K. D.; Cranfield, John |
| Abstract: | and this is a problem when estimating log-linear gravity equations. This has caused many researchers to either ignore the zero trade flows or to replace the zero with a small positive number. Both of these actions bias the resulting parameter estimates of the gravity equation. In this study we correct for this misspecification by using the Heckman selection model to estimate bilateral trade flows for 46 agrifood products, for the period 1990 to 2000, for 52 countries. In our sample, selection bias rarely affects the signs of variables but often has a substantial effect on the magnitude, statistical significance and economic interpretation of the marginal effects. Hence, treating zero trade flows properly is important from both a statistical and an economics perspective. |
| Keywords: | Gravity model, selection bias, Agrifood Trade, Heckman Selection Model, marginal effects, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpwp:116851&r=agr |
| By: | Kurosaki, Takashi |
| Abstract: | This paper presents estimates for agricultural production data in areas currently in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh from 1901/02 to 2001/02. A salient feature of these estimates is that they correspond to current international borders. The British Empire of India, which was broken up in 1947 (in the so-called “Partition” of the Indian subcontinent), covered areas of what are now India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Although a rich accumulation of statistical documents is available from the colonial period, there has been no rigorous attempt to compile statistics corresponding to the current borders during a period that includes years prior to 1947. This is because the Partition broke up the Empire of India not only at the provincial level (for which data are readily available) but also at the district or lower levels of administration. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap, focusing on production in crop farming in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Since neither the states of Pakistan and Bangladesh nor the concept of such nations existed during the early decades of the twentieth century, this exercise is hypothetical to some extent. Nevertheless, because farming activities are carried out on the soil of a region irrespective of its political designation, the estimates presented in this paper could shed new light on agricultural development in the three countries over the long term. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:primdp:6&r=agr |
| By: | José Maria Ferreira Jardim da Silveira; Izaias de CarvalhoBorges; Andrea Leda de Oliveira Ojima |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2009:195&r=agr |
| By: | VLADMIR FERNADES MACIEL (UPM); CIRO BIDERMAN (FGV) |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2010:216&r=agr |
| By: | CASSIANO BRAGAGNOLO (ESALQ/USP); HUMBERTO FRANCISCO SILVA SPOLADOR (ESALQ/USP) |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2010:194&r=agr |
| By: | Luca MARCHIORI (Central Bank of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, and IRES, Université catholique de Louvain); Jean-François MAYSTADT (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington); Ingmar SCHUMACHER (Central Bank of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, and Department of Economics, École Polytechnique, Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of weather anomalies on migration in sub-Saharan Africa. Theoretically, we show how weather anomalies induce rural-urban migration that subsequently triggers international migration. We distinguish two transmission channels, an amenity and an economic geography channel. Empirically, based on annual, cross-country panel data for sub-Saharan Africa, our results suggest that weather anomalies increased internal and international migration through both channels. We estimate that temperature and rainfall anomalies caused a total displacement of 5 million people in net terms during the period 1960-2000, i.e. a minimum of 130’000 people every year. Further weather anomalies, based on IPCC projections on climate change, could lead to an additional annual displacement of 11 million people by the end of the 21st century. |
| Keywords: | International migration, urbanization, rural-urban migration, weather anomalies, sub-Saharan Africa. |
| JEL: | F22 Q54 R13 |
| Date: | 2011–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2011034&r=agr |
| By: | Ramanovich, Mikhail; Ndambi, Asaah; Hemme, Torsten |
| Abstract: | Milk production is a very important element of the whole dairy chain. The BRIC countries are among the top 6 milk producing countries and produce nearly one third of the world's total milk volume. A large number of dairy animals and a relatively low milk output per animal show a great potential of the BRIC for a further growth of production. In the same time the BRIC countries comprise 42% of world's population. Expected population and prosperity growth will lead to a further growth in milk demand. The BRIC countries have a competitive level of milk production cost in international comparison. The success of the BRIC counties in the international milk market will depend on the contribution of all stakeholders in the dairy chain: farmers, processors, supporting industries and policy makers. -- |
| Keywords: | Dairy sector,BRIC,Brazil,Russia,India,China,IFCN |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:12&r=agr |
| By: | Marcelo de Oliveira Torres |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2009:189&r=agr |
| By: | Kurosaki, Takashi |
| Abstract: | Village-level aggregate shocks such as droughts and floods cannot be perfectly insured by risk sharing within a village. Then, what type of households are more vulnerable in terms of a decline in consumption when a village is hit by such natural disasters? This question is investigated in this study by using two-period panel data for the years 2001 and 2004 from rural Pakistan. We propose a methodology to infer the theoretical mechanisms underlying the heterogeneity of households in terms of their vulnerability, and focus on the difference between the across-household-type difference in marginal response to aggregate shocks and that in marginal response to idiosyncratic shocks. The empirical results obtained indicate that the sensitivity of consumption changes to shocks differs across household types, depending on the type of natural disasters. Moreover, land and credit access are effective in mitigating the ill-effects of various types of shocks. Household heads who are educated or elderly and households with a greater number of working members bear a larger burden of the village-level shocks; however, they are not vulnerable to idiosyncratic health shocks. It is revealed that these patterns may be explained by the coexistence of unequal access to credit markets and risk sharing among heterogeneous households in terms of risk tolerance. |
| Keywords: | natural disaster, consumption smoothing, risk sharing, self-insurance, Pakistan |
| JEL: | O12 D12 D91 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:primdp:8&r=agr |
| By: | Daniel H. Cooper; Byron F. Lutz; Michael G. Palumbo |
| Abstract: | Income inequality has risen dramatically in the United States since at least 1980. This paper quantifies the role that the tax policies of the federal and state governments have played in mitigating this income inequality. The analysis, which isolates the contribution of federal taxes and state taxes separately, employs two approaches. First, cross-sectional estimates compare before-tax and after-tax inequality across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Second, inequality estimates across time are calculated to assess the evolution of the effects of tax policies. The results from the first approach indicate that the tax code reduces income inequality substantially in all states, with most of the compression of the income distribution attributable to federal taxes. Nevertheless, there is substantial cross-state variation in the extent to which state tax policies compress the income distribution attributable to federal taxes. Cross-state differences in gasoline taxes have a surprisingly large impact on income compression, as do sales tax exemptions for food and clothing. The results of the second approach indicate that there has been little change since the early 1980s in the impact of tax policy on income inequality across almost all states. |
| Keywords: | Income distribution ; Taxation |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbpp:11-7&r=agr |
| By: | Maurício J. S. B. Moura; Rodrigo De Losso S. Bueno |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2009:203&r=agr |
| By: | Michelle R. Garfinkel (Department of Economics, University of California-Irvine); Stergios Skaperdas (Department of Economics, University of California-Irvine); Constantinos Syropoulos (Department of Economics and International Business, Drexel University) |
| Abstract: | We augment the canonical neoclassical model of trade to allow for interstate disputes over land, oil, water, or other resources. The trade regime in place has important implications for the costs of such disputes in terms of arming. Depending on world prices, free trade can intensify arming incentives to such an extent that the additional security costs swamp the traditional gains from trade and thus render autarky more desirable for one or both rival states. Furthermore, contestation of resources can reverse a country's apparent comparative advantage relative to its comparative advantage in the absence of conflict. And, where such con ict is present, comparisons of autarkic prices to world prices could be inaccurate predictors of trade patterns. |
| Keywords: | Trade openness; Property rights; Interstate disputes; Conflict; Security policies |
| JEL: | D30 D70 D72 D74 F2 F10 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irv:wpaper:111201&r=agr |
| By: | Gocht, Alexander; Roeder, Norbert |
| Abstract: | The modelling and information system RAUMIS is used for policy impact assessment to measure the impact of agriculture on the environment. The county level resolution often limits the analysis and a further disaggregation at the municipality level would reduce aggregation bias and improve the assessment. Although the necessary data exists in Germany, data protection rules (DPR) prohibit their direct use. With methods such as the Locally Weighted Averages (LWA), and with aggregation singling production activities into larger groups of activities, the data at the municipality level can be made publicly available. However, this reduces the information content and introduces an additional error. This paperâs aim is to investigate how much information is necessary to satisfactorily estimate Germany-wide production activity levels at the municipality level and whether the data requirements are still in compliance with the DPR. We apply Highest Posterior Density (HPD) estimation, which is easily able to include sample information as prior. We tested different prior information content at the municipality level. However, the goodness of the developed estimation approach can only be evaluated having knowledge about the population. Because the real population is not known to us, we took advantage of the special situation in Bavaria and derived a pseudo population for that region. This is used to draw information conforming to DPR for our estimation and to evaluate the resulting estimates. We found that the proposed approach is capable of adequately estimating most activities without violating the DPR. These findings allow us to extend the approach towards the Germany-wide municipality coverage in RAUMIS. |
| Keywords: | Highest Posterior Density estimator (HPD), RAUMIS, locally weighted average (LWA), Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi10:93975&r=agr |
| By: | Rivera Aedo, Edinson; Lakner, Sebastian; Brümmer, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | The reform-process towards a higher world-market orientation has a long tradition in Chile, with all its strengths and weaknesses. The food processing industry is highly competitive on the worldmarket. The following paper investigates the technical efficiency of the Chilean food processing industry between 2001 and 2007. We used a data-set from the 5,941 of firms in food processing industry. The observations are taken of the 'Annual National Industrial Survey'. The method of stochastic frontier analysis is applied; the heteroscedasticity-model is used in order to analyze the determinants of technical efficiency. We included variables capturing different effects before and after the introduction of a liberalization policy in 2004. Raw materials and labor have to largest impact on the output. We could show that technical efficiency is different in the periods before and after 2004. The region with the highest level of efficiency is the metropolitan region around Santiago de Chile. -- |
| Keywords: | Technical Efficiency,Food Processing Industry,Chile |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamo11:10&r=agr |
| By: | Shimizu, Tatsuya |
| Abstract: | Production and consumption of broiler meat has expanded rapidly in Peru since the 1990s. This rapid expansion was possible due to technological changes in production as well as integration of various stages of production, such as breeding farms, hatcheries, feed mills and grow-out farms by so-called broiler integrators. However, there are some distinguishing characteristics in Peruvian broiler integration that differ from those in developed countries. One is the truncated scope of integration, in which the slaughtering and processing stages are not integrated. The other is that not slaughtering and processing companies, but grow-out farms have become the principal broiler integrators. This paper analyzes the factors associated with these characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Peru, Poultry, Broiler, Integration, Contract |
| JEL: | L14 L23 L66 N16 N56 Q12 Q13 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper298&r=agr |