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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2011‒12‒05
seventeen papers chosen by |
| By: | Jonathan Brooks; Mateusz Filipski; Erik Jonasson; J. Edward Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the Development Policy Evaluation Model (DEVPEM), a new simulation model which captures four critical aspects of rural economies in developing countries: (1) the role of the household as both a producer and a consumer of food crops; (2) high transaction costs of participating in markets; (3) market linkages among heterogeneous rural producers and consumers; (4) the imperfect convertibility of land from one use to another. The results of simulations for six country models show that no untargeted agricultural policy intervention is pro-poor within the rural economy. While agricultural policy instruments are less efficient at raising rural incomes than direct payments, the degree of inefficiency of some market interventions, notably input subsidies, is not inevitably as high as observed in developed OECD countries. |
| Keywords: | general equilibrium, agricultural policy, welfare, household analysis |
| Date: | 2011–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:50-en&r=agr |
| By: | Karine Daniel; Nejla BEN ARFA; Sylvain AMISSE; Fanny FONTAINE |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we attempt to ascertain to what extent the clusters identified in the agricultural and agri-food space rely on a spatial dynamic involving real agricultural and agri-food activities in the relevant geographic area. We use explanatory spatial data analysis (ESDA) to detect the spatial structure and dynamics of agri-food activities and to connect them to the competitiveness clusters’ locations. Results show that the six clusters specifically studied have different profiles because of their proximity to dynamic areas of agricultural and agri-food production and because of their collaborations with other clusters. Keywords: French Competitiveness Clusters, spatial analysis, inter cluster collaboration. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1848&r=agr |
| By: | Weslem Faria; Alexandre Almeida |
| Abstract: | The Brazilian Amazon is a large piece of land that hosts only 12% of Brazilian population. Even this low figure and people mostly living in urban areas, the overexploitation of the forest resources driven by economic activities seems to be out-of-control. In the 1970s, abundant government subsidies/incentives for mining, crop and beef production, and gigantic road projects provided infra-structure to the new settlers coming from other parts of the country. For the last decades, frontier regions of Amazon have been a major scene of land conflicts between farmers, squatters, miners, indigenous group and public authorities. Furthermore, from the openness of economy in the 1990s, we also find some evidence that the very attractive demand of international markets for timber, and recently, the attractive international prices of agricultural commodities are determinants that have been also pushing to more deforestation through the conversion of forest to new agricultural areas. The main objective of this paper is to investigate how international trade has affected the dynamics of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The analysis also focuses on the expansion of crop and cattle activities, and other determinants such as gross domestic product, demographic density and roads. To achieve such goal, we combine standard econometrics with the spatial econometrics in order to capture, across the space, the socio-economic interactions among the agents in their interrelated economic system. The data used in this study correspond to a balanced panel for 732 counties from 2000 to 2007 totalizing 6,256 observations. The main findings suggest that the openness to trade indicator used--export plus import over GDP--goes up, the result is more deforestation. We also find that beef cattle and the production of soybeans, sugarcane and cotton are pushing to more deforestation in the region. The extraction of firewood and timber had both a positive and significant in impact on deforestation, as expected. Moreover, as the GDP goes up, it pushes to more deforestation as well. On the other hand, as the square of GDP goes up indicate less deforestation, supporting, to some extent, the environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1013&r=agr |
| By: | Marte Bjørnsen; Gudbrand Lien; Timo Sipiläinen |
| Abstract: | Dairy production has long been the most important production line in Finnish and Norwegian agriculture. Prior to Finland joining the EU, farm structure as well as national agricultural policy was very similar in the two countries. In this paper, we explore development and differences in productivity and efficiency trends in the two countries before and after 1994 when Finland joined the EU. The challenge is to isolate the effect of EU-membership from other events like introduction of milk quotas, and more generally, changes in agricultural policy and macro-economic factors. We model productivity growth by means of standard production efficiency frontier models on twenty-year panels of Finnish and Norwegian farm accounts data. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p793&r=agr |
| By: | Yoji Kunimitsu |
| Abstract: | Agricultural public facilities for irrigation and drainage play an important role in Japanese agriculture, especially in paddy production. However, the budget for renovation of old facilities was drastically cut in 2010. For prolonging life time and decreasing lifecycle costs of public facilities, the asset-management measures (AMMs), which reinforce old facilities in stead of reconstruction, have started. This study analyzes effects of the AMMs by the recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Simulation results demonstrated that, firstly, the AMMs increased not only agricultural production but also food production via reallocation of production factors and prices. Second, the increase in GDP improved consumption and private investment via an increase in labor income, and decreased the general price of goods and service. Third, consumer price went down and consequently Hicksian Equivalent Variation value, which shows social and economic effects, increased. In this sense, the AMMs bring about positive ripple effects to economies. The dynamic CGE model can also measure such long-term comprehensive effects and is useful for policy analysis. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1056&r=agr |
| By: | Carlos Azzoni; Eduardo Haddad |
| Abstract: | An integrated approach projects the economic impacts from climate change and adaptation and mitigation policies, explicitly considering the various territorial scales in Brazil (macro-regions, states, micro-regions, and networks of cities). A computable general equilibrium (GCE) model was used to simulate two climate change-free scenarios regarding the future of Brazil’s economy that are consistent with the global economic development trends under IPCC’s scenarios A2 and B2. Climate shocks, captured by the model through impacts on the agricultural/ livestock and energy sectors, were applied to these scenarios. The socio-economic trends of the scenarios with and without global climate change were reviewed in terms of benefits and costs for Brazil and its regions. The models interact with the agricultural/livestock and energy sector studies through variables such as energy generation and consumption for different sectors and regions, replacement of sources of energy in the production process and consumption by the residential sector, agricultural yields and land use, etc. These, in turn, are dependent on climate variables, future water supply and other economic factors. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p410&r=agr |
| By: | Alex Almeida; Boris Bravo-Ureta |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of off-farm labor supply by heads of household and their spouses in Nicaragua. Using a three-year balanced panel dataset, we refine the approach introduced by Jacoby (1993) and Skoufias (1994) to estimate shadow wages and shadow income, and we also apply the semiparametric approach developed by Kyriazidou (1997) to panel data which mitigates biases not only from some key individual and farm time-invariant characteristics but also from sample selection. The main findings suggest that the shadow wages and shadow income of household heads and their spouses play a major role in the supply of labor to off-farm activities. When the marginal productivity of agricultural households goes up, there is a reduction in hours allocated to off-farm activities. We also find that education, age, remittances, household size, and whether sons and daughters work are related to off-farm labor supply, with significant differences between their effect on heads and their spouses. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p508&r=agr |
| By: | Elena Gissi; Giuseppina Siciliano |
| Abstract: | Renewable energy sources, such as biomass can make a positive impact on climate change phenomenon by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels. The use of biomass energy is directly linked to the use of the land, from which biomass feedstock is obtained, such as farm land and forests, and its ecosystem services. The biomass production and the use of land and ecosystem services are usually associated with a wide range of environmental and social impacts, depending on what choices are made regarding what types of biomass are used, as well as where and how they are produced. Choosing management practices that minimize negative impacts and complement planning policies and energy production objectives is often associated with land-use conflicts among both different institutional levels, local, national and European, and different social actors. Yet, European Directive 2009/28/CE establishes that the energy production from renewable energy by 2020, as well as from biofuel, defined for each member state (Annex 1), must be achieved through a “sustainable†production. Such definition is assigned to national and local contexts, arising issues in policy making, conflicts analysis and methodologies. The present paper discusses on the recent acknowledgment of the above mentioned EU directive in several Italian Regions, such as Puglia and Marche, which have defined regulations/guidelines regarding their potential contribution to the national objectives of production and consumption of energy from renewable sources (EFR). Moreover, the present paper confronts such regulations with results found in literature. Several analyses have been done on the energy production from biomass based on technical and economic aspects of the problem. However, few studies have applied integrated approaches able to take into consideration crucial aspects such as biodiversity conservation and landscape fragmentation, as required by EU Directive 2009/28/CE, side by side with the economic and social dimensions. This paper aims at filling this gap proposing the application of an integrated framework of analysis, based on multi-criteria approaches able to take into consideration socio-economic, environmental and landscape criteria, as well as institutional and social conflicts linked to the biomass production. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1413&r=agr |
| By: | Julien Frayssignes |
| Abstract: | Our proposal is linked with an European cooperation project bound to Mediterranean agriculture. The paper aims to develop a partially renewed approach of the district concept as a development model for rural areas, applied to the organization of the agroenergy sector. Originally developed by Marshall, the concept of district was reactualized by Italian researchers in the 70's (Beccatini). In France, the concept of Industrialized Productive System was notably developed by Courlet and Pecqueur (1992) to analyse local dynamics of development based on the cooperation between small firms, R&D institutions and public local authorities. Our paper aims to discuss the relevance of the concept of district in the implementation of an agroenergy activity at local scale: -to what extent this concept can contribute to strengthen the collective capacity of local stakeholders? (organization of an agroenergy chain), -to what extent the concept can bring answers to stakes bound to agroenergy sector? (competitivity of rural areas, employment, farmers income, preservation of natural resources, climate change, cohesion and standard of living), -to what extent the concept can encourage a development based on local resource valuation (spatial and social proximity between stakeholders) and avoid the drifts bound to competition between food and agroenergy productions? In this perspective, the ambition of the paper is also to illustrate the territorial anchoring of an agroenergy district, in particular through: -the Mediterranean dimensions of the regions involved in the project (natural and social aspects), -the public policies supporting agroenergy sector, and notably the role of regional institutions in the implementation of such districts. This analysis will bring us to mobilize the theoretical model of territorial footing developed during our Ph.D in Geography dedicated to the link between origin labeled products and rural development. Finally, the objective is to promote an operational methodology able to help local actors to implement a Sustainable Mediterranean Agroenergy District (SMAD). This initiative is an opportunity for the development of rural areas and the elaboration of agroenergy strategies able to conform to the sustainability criteria evoked in the European directive bound to renewable energies. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p318&r=agr |
| By: | Timothy K.M. Beatty (University of Minnesota Institute for Fiscal Studies); Laura Blow (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Thomas F. Crossley (Koç University , University of Cambridge and Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | We merge detailed household level expenditure data from older households with historical local weather information. We then test for a heat or eat trade off: do households cut back on food spending to finance the additional cost of keeping warm during cold shocks? For households who cannot smooth consumption over time, cold weather shocks are equivalent to income shocks. We find evidence that the poorest of older households are unable to smooth spending over the worst temperature shocks. Statistically significant reductions in food spending are observed in response to winter temperatures two or more standard deviations colder than expected (which occur about one winter month in forty) and reductions in food expenditure are considerably larger in poorer households. |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1133&r=agr |
| By: | Mehmet Kucukmehmetoglu |
| Abstract: | Allocation of transboundary water resources involves not only the competing parties divided by geographic and administrative boundaries (regional, national and local boundaries) but also takes place among various sectors (agricultural, urban, and industrial etc.) and various time periods (monthly, seasonal, annual). This study uses the Inter-Temporal Euphrates and Tigris River Basin Model (ITETRBM), which is a linear programming model maximizing net economic benefit derived from energy generation, agricultural and urban uses after conveyance costs. While optimally allocating water resources, The ITETRBM enables to pursue various sensitivity analyses in order to measure the impacts of annual changes in the energy and water demand over the countries (Turkey, Syria, Iraq) and sectors (agriculture, urban) in the Euphrates and Tigris River Basin (ETRB). The results present that i) energy and agriculture are two different sectors potentially compete each other, and ii) that competition opens a wide spectrum of water and energy policies in the basin among all countries. The spectrum of policies may cover the issues of a) time preferences of energy generation via hydroelectric power plants especially in the relatively cold upstream countries and b) utilization of alternative energy recourses and their preferential uses in upstream and downstream countries. While managing agriculture and energy sectors, an integrative approach potentially brings a superior allocation solution that provides higher welfare to the basin countries. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1183&r=agr |
| By: | Jonathan Brooks; Mateusz Filipski; Erik Jonasson; J. Edward Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper provides technical documentation of the Development Policy Evaluation Model (DEVPEM model). It contains a discussion of the theoretical building blocks of the model; an overview of the data sources used for the simulations; and explanations of how household groups are categorized and how the model is calibrated. Finally it describes the design of the agricultural policy simulations that are examined in the accompanying policy paper. |
| Keywords: | general equilibrium, agricultural policy, welfare, household analysis |
| Date: | 2011–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:51-en&r=agr |
| By: | Frederic Wallet; Andre Torre |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to shed light on territorial development and rural development issues, and to review the links and differences between. Indeed, everything points to reach those dimensions that have long seemed disconnected. On the one hand, rural policies incorporate explicitly the territorial dimension, even though the rural-urban distinction is increasingly blurred. At the same time, decentralization, subsidiarity, the regionalization of agricultural production, but also short circuits or local foods deal with the generalization of an urban model. Finally, regional science pays attention to agricultural and rural dimensions, even though research on rural areas is opening to territorial issues. The first part of the paper is devoted to a presentation and a critical attempt to define the concepts of development, territory and rural. The second part addresses the issues of regional and territorial development with a presentation of the major theories and key public policies, and concludes with a reflection on the ways for reconciliation between theory and policy. The third part follows the same pattern applied to the issue of rural development, from theoretical analyses to concrete policies. Keywords: regional development, territorial development, rural development, rural areas, public policy |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1609&r=agr |
| By: | Laura Mørch Andersen (Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Thomas Bøker Lund (Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to investigate how sub markets with different degrees of maturity develop during a period of general organic growth, and how different consumer segments behave on these sub markets. The paper uses actual purchasing behaviour of six consumer segments with different attitudes towards food in general and organic production and products in particular. The data is from the Danish market for organic foods, which is one of the most mature markets in the world. The segmentation splits consumers into a positive and a non-positive half, each half consisting of three different segments. The estimations show that the development in general organic consumption varies between segments, and that their behaviour varies between sub markets. The positive half of the population has driven the overall growth in organic budget share at the Danish market over the period 2005 to 2007, while the other half have not changed their consumption significantly. The results indicate that for the most dedicated organic consumers, the organic budget share may be approaching a saturation point for some types of food, but also identifies other types of food which still have a growing organic budget share, even among the most dedicated consumers. The combination of attitudes and actual behaviour for a large number of consumers is new, and the results provide a valuable contribution to the ongoing investigation of organic consumers, and provide new nuances to the understanding of the latest organic growth. |
| Keywords: | organic budget shares, organic consumers, consumer segments, latent class analysis, demand |
| JEL: | D12 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2011_15&r=agr |
| By: | Mark Partridge |
| Abstract: | Abstract: Rural areas across the developed world have long been recipients of policies aimed to improve their well-being at great expense to public treasuries. Most of these policies are aimed at the agriculture sector as well other natural resource based industries. With productivity growth and consolidation, agriculture and natural resource based sectors employ relatively few workers in rural areas, leading to criticisms that these narrow sectoral based policies are misguided if their true aim is broad-based rural development. Others argue that rural policy is obsolete as formally rural communities have increasingly become part of urban-centered mega regions. These rural areas are now in an interdependent relationship with their urban neighbors in which urban areas are the primary drivers of economic activity in a knowledge economy, while rural residents are the stewards of the environment and natural resources. Others instead argue the globalization and technological change make regional policy obsolete and rural policy just slows needed adjustments toward cities or productive areas. After decades of rural placed based policy, this study will assess whether sectoral-based rural policy still makes sense and whether movements to a regional orientation will improve socioeconomic performance for rural residents and urban taxpayers. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p186&r=agr |
| By: | Martin Balej; Pavel RaÅ¡ka; Jiřà Anděl; Jaroslav Koutský; Petra OlÅ¡ová |
| Abstract: | The detection and evaluations of land cover changes represent the major task for landscape transformation studies in post-communistic countries. The results of such evaluation are, however, highly influenced by spatial delimitation of monitored units as natural or administrative regions. Moreover, the objective quantitative assessment of land cover changes and their typologies in different types of regions can be hardly done by traditional map-interpretation approach. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the differences in results of land cover changes in the Czech Republic detected in natural (93 geomorphological units) and administrative (77 districts) regions using multivariate statistics. To analyse land cover (LC) changes we used STATISTICA 9 software. The application of principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA) and cluster analysis (CA) reveals the main overall trends in land cover changes in the Czech Republic. We applied PCA, CA and FA to land cover data from CORINE projects in 1990, 2000 and 2006. We analyzed LC changes in geomorphological units of Czechia as a whole. We made our calculation based on standardised data for land cover classes. The final number of variables (LC classes) used in the study was 11, drawing upon generalisation of only those land cover classes that are present in Czech landscape. For both sets of territorial units (i.e. natural and administrative), we calculated the Euclidean distance (full connections) between the cases (territorial units). The k-means method and hierarchical clustering were used for clustering. Based on these methods we set the typology of land cover changes in natural and administrative units. Finally, we assessed the differences between these typologies as regards statistical distribution of regions among the individual types. The factors influencing differences between these typologies are discussed, concluding in considerations on a role of spatial delimitation in land cover changes studies. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p768&r=agr |
| By: | Coro Chasco; Julie Le Gallo |
| Abstract: | Air quality is one of the major concerns in big cities. It is therefore of interest to evaluate properly air pollution. Specifically, this paper aims at measuring how air quality is incorporated in transaction prices in downtown Madrid. For that purpose, we use multilevel models since our sample is hierarchically organized into 3 levels. Our first-level consists of 5,080 house prices. The second level consists of 759 census tracts while the third level consists of 43 neighbourhoods. We have variables available for each level, individual characteristics for the first level and various socio-economic data for the other levels. The outline of the paper is as follows. First, we combine a set of noise and air pollutants measured at a number of monitoring stations available for each census tract. Second, we apply kriging to match the monitoring station records to the census data. Third, we estimate hedonic models in order to measure the marginal willingness to pay for air quality in downtown Madrid. While the conventional approach to estimate hedonic models is to use ordinary least squares, we exploit the hierarchical nature of our data and estimated multilevel models instead. These allow for a more reliable statistical inference. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p168&r=agr |