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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒01‒26
28 papers chosen by |
| By: | Ye, Liming; Tang, Huajun; Wu, Wenbin; Yang, Peng; Nelson, Gerald C.; Mason-D'Croz, Daniel; Palazzo, Amanda |
| Abstract: | Food security in China affects the livelihood and well-being of one-fifth of the world population. Climate change is now affecting agriculture and food production in every country of the world. Here the authors present the IMPACT model results on yield, production, and net trade of major crops (wheat, rice, and maize) in China, and on daily calorie availability as an overall indicator of food security under climate change scenarios and socio-economic pathways in 2050. The obtained results show that wheat, maize, and rice yields will increase by 17%, 45%, and 15%, alongside price increases of 60%, 100%, and 40%, respectively, during 2010-2050. Crop production is projected to increase by 23%, 70%, and 3% reaching 123, 240, and 125 million tons for wheat, maize, and rice, respectively, in 2050. The results also show that China will remain a major importer of maize at 20 million tons per year, but turn from a net importer of rice (5 million tons per year in 2010) to a net exporter in 2020 (5-9 million tons per year by 2050), while becoming a self-sufficient consumer of wheat by 2050. The outcomes of calorie availability suggest that China will be able to maintain a level of at least 3,000 kilocalories per day through 2010-2050. Climate change has relatively little effect on calorie availability within a pathway scenario.The authors conclude that Chinese agriculture is relatively resilient to climate change. Chinese food security by 2050 will unlikely be compromised in the context of climate change. The major challenge to food security, however, will rise from increasing demand coupled with regional disparities in the adaptive capacity to climate change. -- |
| Keywords: | Climate change,food security,scenario,adaptation,mitigation,policy |
| JEL: | Q56 Q18 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:20132&r=agr |
| By: | Foreman, Linda F. |
| Abstract: | Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data for 2007 highlight the production\r practices and costs related to the cotton enterprise, as well as the characteristics of\r U.S. cotton farm operations. Combining ARMS data with ERS cost-of-cotton production\r estimates for 2007 provides a 1-year snapshot of cotton producers. For instance, low-cost producers reported higher yields and lower levels of major inputs per planted cotton acre than mid- and high-cost producers in 2007. Southwest producers accounted for a larger share of the smaller U.S. cotton crop in 2007 due to their lower cotton production costs and lack of alternative crops. Most U.S. cotton is produced on very large diversified farm\r operations, with cotton often constituting a small share of these operations’ total acres. In contrast, producers with larger cotton enterprises in 2007 relied more on their cotton crop, making them vulnerable to changes in cotton prices or yields. These producers, however, were also more likely to offset greater risks by purchasing revenue insurance on cotton. |
| Keywords: | cotton, operator characteristics, production costs, production practices, cost/r, variation, Agricultural Resource Management Survey, ARMS, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:142358&r=agr |
| By: | Revoredo-Giha, Cesar; Leat, Philip M.K.; Renwick, Alan W.; Lamprinopoulou-Kranis, Chrysa |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with innovation in supply chains and discusses the effects that its organisation (e.g., bargaining power along the chain) might bring on innovation and ultimately to the sustainability of the chain. The analysis was carried out considering the case of the UK potato sector and by comparing three case studies: the first two consider the situation of a supply chain that sells fresh potatoes to retailers (one in South England and another in Scotland), whilst the third one consists of a supply chain that produces potatoes to be further processed. The results indicate that the supply chain leader plays an important role in both in the organisation of the chain and in the initialisation, management and success of the innovation |
| Keywords: | Innovation, agri-food supply chains, potato sector, UK agriculture, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saclwp:142544&r=agr |
| By: | Revoredo-Giha, Cesar; Zuppiroli, Marco |
| Abstract: | The instability of prices and the hypothesis that speculative behaviour was one of its sources has brought renewed interest in the futures markets. In this paper, we concentrate on the European wheat futures markets (feed and milling) and the CBOT’s wheat contract as a comparison. The purpose of the paper is to study whether those markets still allow substitution price risk for basis risk. This implicitly is a test of whether the increasing presence of speculation in futures market have made them divorced from the physical markets, and therefore, not useful for commercial entities. We study two aspects: efficiency and hedging effectiveness and our results indicate that there are still a good connection between physical and futures markets, and therefore, hedging can still play an important role protecting commodity handlers against price volatility. |
| Keywords: | Futures prices, commodity prices, volatility, wheat, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saclwp:142546&r=agr |
| By: | Celero Treminio, Alfonso Jesus |
| Abstract: | Thesis for the degree of Master in Sustainable Local Development |
| Keywords: | backyard economy, Malmquist indices, sustainable local development, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Political Economy, Productivity Analysis, D:24, P:16, P:51, |
| Date: | 2013–01–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nauntg:142464&r=agr |
| By: | Beghin, John C.; Disdier, Anne-Celia; Marette, Stephan |
| Abstract: | We formally investigate the effects of an inspection system influencing safety of foreign and domestic food products in the domestic market. Consumers purchase domestic and imported food and value safety. Potential protectionism à la Fisher and Serra (2000) can arise: inspection frequency imposed on foreign producers set by a domestic social planner would be higher than the corresponding policy set by a global social planner treating all producers as domestic. The domestic social planner tends to impose most if not all of the inspection on foreign producers, which improves food safety for consumers and limits the production loss for domestic producers. Despite this protectionist component, inspections address a potential consumption externality such as health hazard in the domestic country when unsafe food can enter the country undetected. We then calibrate the analytical framework to the U.S. shrimp market incorporating key stylized facts of this market. Identifying protectionist inspection requires much information on inspection, safety, damages, and costs. We also investigate how to finance the inspection policy from a social-planner perspective. Financing instruments differ between the domestic and international welfare-maximizing objectives. |
| Keywords: | Food safety, non-tariff measures, inspection, protectionism, HACCP, seafood, shrimp., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Q17, Q18, Q22, F14, |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iatrwp:142502&r=agr |
| By: | Hermine Mitter (Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna); Mathias Kirchner (Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna); Erwin Schmid (Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna); Martin Schönhart (Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna) |
| Abstract: | Climate change affects agriculture differently due to the heterogeneity in bio-physical and economic conditions in Austria. Therefore, stakeholder and expert knowledge is required in regional vulnerability assessments to address region specific challenges and develop compatible adaptation strategies. In a transdisciplinary research project, a working group consisting of regional stakeholders and agricultural experts identified the effects of uncertain future precipitation on soil water erosion as well as the effectiveness of selected soil conservation measures as the most crucial knowledge gap. Consequently, potential sediment losses on cropland have been simulated with the RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) methodology for several climate change scenarios using the bio-physical process model EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate) in an Austrian alpine foreland region. The model predicts an increase in sediment yield with higher precipitation sums for 2040 on average. However, reduced tillage and cultivating winter cover crops have been identified as effective adaptation options. The stakeholders have provided local knowledge in crop management and validated the model results according to their clarity, comprehensiveness, and meaningfulness. They confirmed its usefulness to inform farmers and support the public debate on regional climate change adaptation in agriculture. |
| Keywords: | transdisciplinary regional vulnerability assessment, soil water erosion, EPIC, soil conservation measures, Austria |
| JEL: | Q18 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sed:wpaper:542013&r=agr |
| By: | Lars Gårn Hansen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Laura Mørch Andersen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | All previous studies of organic food demand that investigating substitution focus on specific food submarkets and have to assume separability from other food consumption. However, consumers typically associate attributes such as e.g. healthiness and environment friendliness with organic variants of most types of food. If such general organic attributes are important for consumer behaviour then separability may not hold because the general attribute obtained from one type of organic food may be a close or even perfect substitute for the same attribute obtained from other types of organic food. In this paper we utilize a unique Danish micro panel where all food demand is registered on a disaggregated level with an organic/non-organic indicator to estimate a general food demand system with organic variants. We clearly reject the usual separability assumption and find that the behaviour of Danish consumers is consistent with them perceiving such general organic attributes. In addition estimation of a general demand system makes calculation of economy wide organic price elasticities and other insights into the structure of organic food demand possible. |
| Keywords: | Organic consumption, crowding out, separability, AIDS model, home scan data |
| JEL: | D12 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2013_2&r=agr |
| By: | Mare Sarr and Mintewab Bezabih |
| Abstract: | To the extent that diversifying income portfolio is used as a strategy for shielding against production risk, both individual risk preferences and weather uncertainty could affect crop diversification decisions. This paper is concerned with empirically assessing the effects of risk preferences and rainfall variability on farm level diversity. Unique panel data from Ethiopia consisting of experimentally generated risk preference measures combined with rainfall data are employed in the analysis. The major contribution of this study is its explicit treatment of individual risk preferences in the decision to diversify, simultaneously controlling for environmental risk in the form of rainfall variability. Covariate shocks from rainfall variability are found to positively contribute to an increased level of diversity with individual risk aversion having a positive but less significant role. We find that rainfall variability in spring has a greater effect than rainfall variability summer—the major rainy season. This finding is in line with similar agronomic-meteorological studies. These results imply that in situ biodiversity conservation could be effective in areas with high rainfall variability. However, reduction in risk aversion, which is associated with poverty reduction, is likely to reduce in situ conservation. |
| Keywords: | Crop diversity, Experimental risk preferences, Rainfall, Uncertainty |
| JEL: | Q57 Q56 C33 C35 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:322&r=agr |
| By: | Assa, Maganga |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the role of participating in poultry production on household income and rural poverty in Mzimba district, Malawi. The study utilizes cross-sectional farm level household data collected in 2011. The paper computes income-based poverty measures and investigates their sensitivity to the use of different poverty lines. Robust poverty comparisons across the poultry and non-poultry farmers reveal that poverty is in fact higher for the non-poultry compared to the poultry farmers. Thus, participating in poultry production has a significant positive impact on household income and poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | FGT; Poverty; Small-scale poultry production; stochastic dominance |
| JEL: | I32 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43964&r=agr |
| By: | Lin, Biing-Hwan; Guthrie, Joanne F. |
| Abstract: | Food prepared away from home (FAFH)—whether eaten in restaurants, fast-food and\r other locations, or as take-out or delivery to be eaten at home—is now a routine part of the diets of most Americans, accounting for 41 percent of food expenditures and 32 percent of caloric intake. This report analyzes data on individuals 2 years of age and older from two national food consumption surveys (one conducted in 1977-78 and another in 2005-08) to assess changes in the consumption and nutritional quality of FAFH versus food prepared at home (FAH). In the past three decades, FAH has changed more in response to dietary guidance, becoming significantly lower in fat content and richer in calcium, whereas FAFH did not. In 2005-08, FAFH was also higher in saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol and lower in dietary fi ber than FAH. The increased popularity and lower nutritional\r: quality of FAFH is prompting new health promotion strategies, such as menu labeling. |
| Keywords: | food away from home, food at home, food consumption, diet quality, Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, NFCS, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:142361&r=agr |
| By: | Dennis Tao Yang; Xiaodong Zhu |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a two-sector model that illuminates the role played by agricultural modernization in the transition from stagnation to growth. When agriculture relies on traditional technology, industrial development reduces the relative price of industrial products, but has a limited effect on per capita income because most labor has to remain in farming. Growth is not sustainable until this relative price drops below a certain threshold, thus inducing farmers to adopt modern technology that employs industry-supplied inputs. Once agricultural modernization begins, per capita income emerges from stasis and accelerates toward modern growth. Our calibrated model is largely consistent with the set of historical data we have compiled on the English economy, accounting well for the growth experience of England encompassing the Industrial Revolution. |
| Keywords: | long-term growth, transition mechanisms, relative price, agricultural modernization, structural transformation, the Industrial Revolution, England |
| JEL: | O41 O33 N13 |
| Date: | 2013–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-472&r=agr |
| By: | Xiong, Bo; Beghin, John C. |
| Abstract: | Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) on pesticides and veterinary drugs in plant and animal products are established to promote food safety and animal and plant health. In practice, however, they are often accused of creating unnecessary trade barriers. The controversy is more prominent when a given MRL is stricter than the corresponding international standard developed by Codex. Using the score indices constructed by Li and Beghin (2012), we empirically assess the implications of stringency in MRLs in plant and animal products, relative to Codex levels, for Canadian and U.S. trade performance. We find little evidence that U.S. imports are influenced by domestic stringency or those imposed by its trading partners. However, U.S. exports are negatively affected by stringency in destination markets. Canada’s stringent MRLs facilitate its exports of plant and animal products and these exports do not seem to be impeded by MRL stringency in destination markets. Canada’s imports do not appear to be systematically influenced by either its own or its trading partners’ MRL stringency. We draw implications for the potential harmonization of MRLs between the two countries. |
| Keywords: | Maximum Residue Limit, MRL, standard, protectionism, non-tariff measures, non-tariff barriers, competitiveness, gravity, US, Canada, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Q17, Q18, F13, |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iatrwp:142384&r=agr |
| By: | Saraly Andrade de Sá (ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Charles Palmer (London School of Economics); Salvatore Di Falco (Universite de Geneve, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | The expansion of a given land use may affect deforestation directly if forests are cleared to free land for this use, or indirectly, via the displacement of other land-use activities from non-forest areas towards the forest frontier. Unlike direct land conversion, indirect land-use changes affecting deforestation are not immediately observable. They require the linking of changes occurring in different regions. This paper empirically assesses the possible indirect effects of sugarcane expansion in Brazil’s state of São Paulo, on forest conversion decisions in the country’s Amazon region. Further, it examines the evidence for a mechanism through which these effects might materialize, namely a displacement of cattle ranching activities from São Paulo state to the Amazon. The results suggest a positive relationship between sugarcane expansion and deforestation. This indirect land-use effect is shown to be a dynamic process materializing over 10 to 15 years. |
| Keywords: | Indirect land-use changes; Dynamic effects; Biofuels; Deforestation |
| JEL: | Q15 Q24 Q42 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:13-170&r=agr |
| By: | Miguel Martín-Retortillo (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain); Vicente Pinilla (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this work is to analyze the evolution of agricultural production in Europe after World War Two. To study the evolution of production, we want to find the causes of its growth. We will start with the role played by the factors of production. We will also want to estimate the contribution to output growth from improvements in efficiency, for which we will calculate the total factor productivity growth. Preliminary results show three possible patterns to explain the evolution of agricultural production. The first one which included Western countries and Germany based their growth in the raised efficiency and a higher use of capital. The opposing model is that of the countries with centrally planned economies. In this group of countries the use of capital was crucial. The efficiency of the system improved, but by considerably less than in the rest of Europe. The intermediate situation is that of the lesser developed countries in the southern European periphery and the Nordic countries, but in distinction to those of the Soviet bloc, they tended to converge much earlier with the model of the Western countries. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural productivity, European agriculture, European economic history |
| JEL: | N50 N54 Q10 Q11 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1302&r=agr |
| By: | Nord, Mark |
| Abstract: | The statistical measures used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 1995 to monitor the food security of the Nation’s households—the extent to which they can consistently acquire adequate food for active healthy living—are based on a single-parameter logistic latent-trait measurement model (the Rasch model). A panel convened, at USDA’s request, by the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) of the National Academies in 2003-06 recommended that USDA explore five potential technical enhancements to that model. USDA has adopted one CNSTAT panel recommendation, which corrects the methods used to model the frequency-of-occurrence followup questions in the food security scale. This study examines the implications of that change and assesses the other four potential enhancements and the extent to which they would affect USDA’s published food security statistics. The study findings suggest that introducing the more complex statistical models would improve measurement of food security little, if at all, while making results and methods more difficult to explain to policy officials and the public. |
| Keywords: | food security, food security measurements, food insecurity, Rasch model, item response theory, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uerstb:142549&r=agr |
| By: | Baez, Javier E.; Kronick, Dorothy; Mason, Andrew D. |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that climate change poses two distinct, if related, sets of challenges for poor rural households: challenges related to the increasing frequency and severity of weather shocks and challenges related to long-term shifts in temperature, rainfall patterns, water availability, and other environmental factors. Within this framework, the paper examines evidence from existing empirical literature to compose an initial picture of household-level strategies for adapting to climate change in rural settings. The authors find that although households possess numerous strategies for managing climate shocks and shifts, their adaptive capacity is insufficient for the task of maintaining -- let alone improving -- household welfare. They describe the role of public policy in fortifying the ability of rural households to adapt to a changing climate. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Climate Change Economics,Regional Economic Development,Science of Climate Change,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases |
| Date: | 2013–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6326&r=agr |
| By: | Steven Van Passel (Hasselt University, Faculty of Business Economics, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Agoralaan, Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies); Emanuele Massetti (Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Robert Mendelsohn (Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies) |
| Abstract: | This research estimates the impact of climate on European agriculture using a continental scale Ricardian analysis. Data on climate, soil, geography and regional socio-economic characteristics were matched for 37 612 individual farms across the EU-15. Farmland values across Europe are sensitive to climate. Even with the adaptation captured by the Ricardian technique, farms in Southern Europe are predicted to suffer sizeable losses (8% -13% per degree Celsius) from warming. In contrast, agriculture in the rest of Europe is likely to see only mixed impacts. Increases (decreases) in rain will increase (decrease) average farm values by 3% per centiliter of precipitation. Aggregate impacts by 2100 vary depending on the climate model scenario from a loss of 8% in a mild scenario to a loss of 44% in a harsh scenario. |
| Keywords: | Ricardian Analysis, Climate Change, European Agriculture, Climate Change Economics |
| JEL: | Q54 Q51 Q15 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2012.83&r=agr |
| By: | Grant, Jason H. |
| Abstract: | The proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has motivated a significant number of ex post econometric studies investigating their agricultural trade impacts. The general conclusion is that RTAs increase members’ trade by as much as 150 percent, on average. In this article, we demonstrate that previous empirical work likely misrepresents the impact of RTAs because of considerable heterogeneity in the depth of economic integration pursued by these agreements. Contrary to previous studies, the results reveal that RTAs are not universally trade creating, and some agreements appear to provide very little benefit. “Deep integration agreements”, on the other hand, are largely responsible for the impressive agricultural trade flow increases reported in the literature. Testing the hierarchy of RTAs largely confirms the theory: the benefits of regionalism are an increasing function of the depth of economic integration. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural trade, regional trade agreements, customs unions, free trade agreements, partial scope arrangements, gravity equation, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpwp:142374&r=agr |
| By: | Agustin del Prado; Karlos Mas; Guillermo Pardo; Patricia Gallejones |
| Abstract: | There is world-wide concern for the contribution of dairy farming to global warming. However, there is still a need to improve the quantification of the C-footprint of dairy farming systems under different production systems and locations since most of the studies (e.g at farm-scale or using LCA) have been carried out using too simplistic and generalised approaches. A new modelling approach in order to estimate the C footprint from milk in the Basque Country has been developed. This working paper provides a description of the model and shows a case study for a set of dairy farms in the province of Bizkaia. |
| Keywords: | farm-model, GHG, dairy, burden, C-footprint |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcc:wpaper:2013-02&r=agr |
| By: | MARC BADIA-MIRO; ENRIC TELLO (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We present a model of vine-growing specialization in the municipalities of the province of Barcelona in the mid-19th century that explains how a comparative advantage arose through a process deemed to be one of the starting points for Catalan industrialization. The results confirm the roles played by the Boserupian population-push on land-use intensification and the Smithian market-pull in a growing demand from the Atlantic economy. They also stress the conditioning function of agro-ecological endowments and socio-institutional settings related to income inequality. Vineyard planting gave rise to less unequal rural communities until 1820, but inequality grew again afterwards. |
| Keywords: | rental-wage ratios, population push, rural inequality, vine-growing, grapevines suitability, agricultural specialization, market integration, catalonia |
| JEL: | I39 N33 N53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2013290&r=agr |
| By: | Toma, Luiza; Madureira, Livia Maria Costa; Hall, Clare; Barnes, Andrew P.; Renwick, Alan W. |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the impact that European Union (EU) farmers’ and rural population’s awareness of biotechnology innovations and access to/trust in information on these issues (amongst other a priori determinants) have on their perceptions of risks and benefits of the applications of biotechnology innovations, and attitudes towards their implementation in practice. We employ structural equation models (SEM) with observed and latent variables. SEM is a statistical technique for testing and estimating relationships amongst variables, using a combination of statistical data and qualitative causal assumptions. We use an Eurobarometer dataset (2010) about awareness/acceptance of biotechnology innovations and run SEM models for ten EU countries, which include older and newer Member States. The variables included are socio-demographics, access to biotechnology information, trust in information sources on biotechnology innovations, attitudes towards the importance and impact of science and technology on society, perceptions of the risks and benefits of the applications of biotechnology innovations and attitudes towards their implementation in practice. Results between the different EU countries are comparable and, alongside other determinants, trust in information sources will significantly impact perceptions of risks and benefits of the applications of biotechnology innovations, and attitudes towards their implementation in practice. This underlines the importance of information and knowledge to acceptance of biotechnology innovations, which should be a key point on policy-makers’ agenda of developing the economic and environmental efficiency in the agricultural sector and rural sustainability in Europe. Increasing awareness of biotechnology innovations that safeguard people and the environment in order to enable informed debate and decisions will help enhance sustainability of rural areas. |
| Keywords: | biotechnology innovations, farmers and rural population, European Union, information and knowledge, biotechnology attitudes, structural equation models, Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saclwp:142545&r=agr |
| By: | Borraz, Fernando; Pampillon, Nicolas Gonzalez; Olarreaga, Marcelo |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to explore the impact of Uruguay's privatization and subsequent nationalization of water services on network access and water quality. The results suggest that although the early privatization of water services had little impact on access to the sanitation network, the subsequent nationalization led to an increase in network access at the bottom of the income distribution as well as an improvement in water quality. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water and Industry,Water Conservation,Infrastructure Regulation |
| Date: | 2013–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6318&r=agr |
| By: | Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo (Departamento de Economía Aplicada II. Universidad de Valencia); Juana Castillo (Departamento de Economía Aplicada II. Universidad de Valencia); Mercedes Beltrán-Esteve (Departamento de Economía Aplicada II. Universidad de Valencia) |
| Abstract: | The impact of economic activity on the environment is a matter of growing concern for firm managers, policymakers, researchers and society as a whole. Building on previous work by Kortelainen [Kortelainen, M., 2008. Dynamic environmental performance analysis: A Malmquist index approach. Ecological Economics 64, 701-715], we contribute an approach to assessing dynamic ecological- economic performance, or simply dynamic eco-performance, and its two determinants, ecologicaleconomic efficiency change and technical change, at specific-environmental-pressure level. In doing so, we use Data Envelopment Analysis techniques, directional distance functions and Luenberger indices. Our approach is employed to assess dynamic eco-performance in the emission of greenhouse gases in the European Union-27 over the period 1990-2010. The main result is that eco-performance has been boosted by technical change rather than by increases in eco-efficiency. Accordingly, policy measures aimed at enhancing eco-efficiency are recommended to improve eco-performance in European countries regarding greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic eco-performance; directional distance functions; Data Envelopment Analysis; greenhouse gases emissions; European Union |
| JEL: | C61 O44 Q01 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1304&r=agr |
| By: | Fernández-de-Pinedo, Nadia (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | During the nineteenth century Spain did not import the majority of Cuban tobacco, nor was most of it consumed in Spain. Spain neither consumed nor re-exported Cuban tobacco. Cuban tobacco, due to its high quality, was too expensive to be able to compete with tobacco of lesser quality which was, therefore, cheaper. The Spanish tax office preferred to take in huge amounts of money by taxing consumption in general rather than promoting Cuban tobacco. For this reason, Spain imported tobacco of mediocre and poor quality and taxed it through the government-licensed tobacconists. However, Cuban tobacco was successful as it could be exported freely in exchange for lower customs duties, thus allowing an increase in production as well as the possibility of reaching, on the international market, prices matching its quality. This paper attempts to discern how Spain grew in its colonies the world's best tobacco but did not consume it nor re-exported it. The analysis of Cuban tobacco exports reveals the most relevant aspects that influenced the consolidation of these circumstances. |
| Keywords: | Tobacco, Commerce, Fiscal System, Cuban Economic History, Consumption, Spain |
| JEL: | H20 L66 L81 N46 N56 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpapeh:201301&r=agr |
| By: | Kusmin, Lorin D. |
| Abstract: | Rural America At A Glance, 2012 Edition highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. This year's edition focuses on the U.S. rural economy, including employment trends, poverty, and population trends. |
| Keywords: | Rural indicators, population, employment, rural unemployment, nonmetropolitan, nonmetro, rural economy, metro, rural America, census data, population growth, poverty, recession, demographics, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uerseb:142548&r=agr |
| By: | Marcella Veronesi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Fabienne Chawla (Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology); Max Maurer (Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology); Judit Lienert (Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | Climate change scenarios predict an increase of extreme rain events, which will increase the risk of wastewater flooding and of missing legal water quality targets. This study elicits the willingness to pay to reduce ecological and health risks from combined sewer overflows in rivers and lakes, and wastewater flooding of residential and commercial zones under the uncertainty of climate change. We implement a discrete choice experiment on a large representative sample of the Swiss population. Swiss households strongly value the protection of water bodies, and mostly, the avoidance of high ecological risks and health risks for children related to combined sewer overflows in rivers and lakes. Our findings also show that climate change perception has a significant effect on the willingness to pay to reduce these risks. These results are important to support policy makers’ decisions on how to deal with emerging risks of climate change in the water sector and where to set priorities. |
| Keywords: | choice experiment; climate change; ecological risk; health risk; wastewater |
| JEL: | D61 D81 I10 Q25 Q51 Q54 Q57 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:01/2013&r=agr |
| By: | Ravallion, Martin |
| Abstract: | Alternative scenarios are considered for reducing by one billion the number of people living below $1.25 a day. The low-case,"pessimistic,"path to that goal would see the developing world outside China returning to its slower pace of growth and poverty reduction of the 1980s and 1990s, though with China maintaining its progress. This path would take another 50 years or more to lift one billion people out of poverty. The more optimistic path would maintain the (impressive) progress against poverty since 2000, which would instead reach the target by around 2025-30. This scenario is consistent with both linear projections of the time series data and non-linear simulations of inequality-neutral growth for the developing world as a whole. |
| Keywords: | Achieving Shared Growth,Inequality,Regional Economic Development,Rural Poverty Reduction,Services&Transfers to Poor |
| Date: | 2013–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6325&r=agr |