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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒06‒16
fifty-two papers chosen by |
| By: | Bartolini, Fabio; Andreoli, Maria; Brunori, Gianluca |
| Abstract: | The on-farm diversification toward multifunctional activities is perceived as central in the CAP policy reform and in Horizon 2020 strategies, because it strengthen territorial and social cohesion of the rural areas. While relations between farm-household diversification and rural economies are central into the process of multifunctionality and provision of public goods through agricultural activities, on-farm diversification activities could represent a relevant share of farm income. Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology literatures have developed models to explain the determinants of on-farm diversification. In this paper the determinants and the motivations to onfarm diversification toward activities different from crops and animal production are investigated The paper applies a count model to explain the amount of on-farm diversification alternatives that are applied in Tuscany farms. Results confirm that location to main touristic areas and closeness to urban markets are strong determinants of on-farm diversification. Results highlight also, a positive contribution of agricultural policies (both first pillar and second pillar policies) in determining diffusion of on-farm diversification activities. |
| Keywords: | on-farm diversification, multifunctionality, determinants, Tuscany, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Q18, Q10, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149903&r=agr |
| By: | Lazzaroni, Sara |
| Abstract: | This multidisciplinary study considers the impact of short-term weather variations on food consumption of 488 rural households in Uganda. We combine World bank LSMS households panel data with data on rainfall, number of rainy days, maximum and minimum temperatures in the period 2005/06-2009/10. Triangulating the findings of the econometric model with qualitative interviews and the analysis of the agricultural sector recent developments, we argue that households are involved in ex-ante smoothing strategies while land and reduction of non-consumption expenditures seem to partially offset adverse rainfall variations. |
| Keywords: | weather variability, risk, food consumption, Uganda, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, I31, O12, O44, Q12, Q14, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149774&r=agr |
| By: | Kapfer, M.; Kantelhardt, J.; Eckstein, K.; Hübner, R. |
| Abstract: | Agriculture produce commodities and but also influence the environment. However, even if the value of commodities is easy to determine, it is difficult to assess the efficiency of agricultural production at site level. Furthermore, the valuation of environmental impact is complex. Non-parametric approaches such as DEA allow for an assessment of environment and economic performance. We implement a plot-specific approach combining GIS and DEA models. This allows a spatially explicit assessment of agricultural land use for different subjects such as ecology and economy. In a second stage DEA-model, the impact of farm- and site-specific characteristics on efficiency is analysed. |
| Keywords: | agricultural land use, data envelopment, environment-oriented technical efficiency, economy-oriented technical efficiency, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis, Q12, Q26, Q57, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149896&r=agr |
| By: | Brooks, Karen; Zorya, Sergiy; Gautam, Amy; Goyal, Aparajita |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds light on how to harvest the"youth dividend"in Sub-Saharan Africa by creating jobs in agriculture. The agriculture that attracts the youth will have to be profitable, competitive, and dynamic. These are the same characteristics needed for agriculture to deliver growth, to improve food security, and to preserve a fragile natural environment. With higher priority accorded to implementation of well-designed public investments in agriculture, continued progress on regulatory and policy reform, and attention to assure inclusion of young people in Africa's agricultural renaissance, the sector's handsome youth dividend can be collected and widely shared. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Adolescent Health |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6473&r=agr |
| By: | Arata, L.; Sckokai, P. |
| Abstract: | Agri-environmental schemes (AES) of the European Union are the most important measure in terms of share on the public budget for Rural Development. Although the farmers uptake of AES is expected to strongly impact even farmer’s behavior, in the literature the attempts to investigate this impact are scarce. Our study applies a difference-in-differences propensity score matching estimator in order to perform a comparative analyses of the effects of AE measures on farmer’s practises and economic performances across five EU Member States. Results show differences in the AES effects across country as well as differences across farmers of the same country according to what extent the farm income is dependent on the AE payment. Our analyses suggests that the AE payment in Spain is not enough to compensate the large drop of the per hectare income after participation and the AE uptake does not seem to promote effectively environmental-friendly farm practises. In France and Italy the sustainable practises of farmer participants lead to an income foregone that is not fairly compensated by the AE payments. Only in Germany and UK the AE payments seem to compensate the income loss that results from changes in farmers production choices. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental schemes, propensity score matching, difference-in-differences, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, C21, Q15, D22, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149771&r=agr |
| By: | Landi, Chiara; Stefani, Gianluca; Rocchi, Benedetto; Lombardi, Ginevra V.; Giampaolo, Sabina |
| Abstract: | In the last decade Italy has experienced a consistent decline in the number of agricultural firms. Beyond the new definition of agricultural firms, this structural change of farms is characterized by exit of small farms and increasing farm size. This paper aims at analyzing the determinants of the net exit of Tuscan farms from the market during the period 2000 - 2007 both at the farm and the territorial level. The study combines data from two different sources: the 2000 census of Agriculture and three waves (2003 - 2005 - 2007) of the European “Farm and Structure Surveys” (FSS) realized in Italy by ISTAT (the National Institute of Statistics) . The resulting sample of Tuscan farms amounts approximately to 3000 agricultural firms. The exit probability of Tuscan farms from the market is estimated trough a bayesian hierarchical probit model where the group level coefficients correspond to the Local Labour Systems (LLS) i.e. a set of neighboring municipalities in which people live and work. Several variables related to farm, family, and geographical characteristics of the area are used as independent variables to investigate their net effect on the decision to exit. Results show that, among others, farm size, age of the farm operator, type of the holding have played a key role on exit. On one hand, higher farm size and professional nature of the activity lower the probability of exit. On the other hand, exit probabilities are higher for farms in which the farm operator is older nearer to retirement and without young members in his family that can replace him. Likelihood of exit is higher in areas (LLS) characterized by higher population density as the land use competition and possibly the richer labour market associated to these areas increases the exit behaviour. However given the same population density, exit probability is lower in “urban” LLS perhaps because of the proximity to remunerative market outlets for farm products. |
| Keywords: | farm exit, hierarchical probit model, farms and territorial data, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Q12, Q18, C5, R14, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149893&r=agr |
| By: | Vasciaveo, M.; Rosa, F.; Weaver, R. |
| Abstract: | The increasing co-movements between world oil and food prices in the 2000s has prompted interest in the transmission mechanism among markets. This research investigates integration and price transmission of some important agricultural commodities traded in market area that includes United States and Italy for a period spanning from January 1999 to May 2012. The hypothesis of market integration is verified for crude oil and three agri-commodities wheat, corn and soybean in Italy and US. They are selected for their market relevance due to growingly demand diversified in food, feed and fuel; wheat for its higher accounting for much of the world food consumption. It is hypothesized that US and Italy agricultural markets are integrated by a consistent volume of trading and by the recognized role of the CBT price signals transmitted to the Italian agri-commodity markets. This study extends the knowledge about the oil–agricultural commodity price transmission dynamics from international (US) to domestic market (Italy).The time series analysis is used to test the structural breaks, the co-integration and price transmission and the causality. Results suggest: i)t for the US markets the evidence of market integration between crude oil and US agri-commodity prices with non linear causality direction going from oil to agri-commodity prices; ii) the integration between US and Italian agricultural markets, with no clear evidence of causality between oil and Italian agricommodities, while there is the evidence of linear causality going from US to Italian agricultural markets. The conclusion is a presence of causality going from Oil to US agri-markets and from US agri-markets to the Italian ones These information can be useful both for investors and policy makers interested in the knowledge about the nature of price movement in the international arena the close market integration and price transmissions with consequence for co-movement ,inherent dynamic market relationship, speed of adjustment, consequences of t price support policies. The agricultural policies in different countries may be organized to countervail the destabilizing effect of the oil price movement in disrupting the world market equilibrium by arbitraging the market condition to return to a situation of competitive pricing behaviour. |
| Keywords: | price transmission, market integration, agricultural commodity prices, oil price, cointegration, causality, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, C22, Q11, Q13, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149887&r=agr |
| By: | Marconi, V.; Raggi, M.; Viaggi, D. |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is the main source of nitrogen loading (EEA, 2012) and is the sector with the largest remaining emission reduction potential (Sutton et al., 2011). Furthermore, surpluses of nitrogen are forecast to grow in the next decade (FAO, 2008). The objective of this study is to evaluate the determinants of the use of nitrogen inputs in agriculture, and the effects of RDP implementation in Emilia-Romagna on preventing nitrate pollution through a spatial econometric regression model. Firstly, we carried out an estimation of both inorganic and organic nitrogen input in agriculture at the municipality scale for year 2000 and 2010..Secondly, we performed a Moran’s statistics and a LISA (Local Indicators of Spatial Association; Anselin, 1995) analysis in order test the data for local spatial autocorrelation. Finally, in order to provide a quantitative evaluation of the application of the agri-environmental measures on the impact of farming systems on water quality, we constructed two spatial regression models: INORGANIC AND ORGANIC. Spatial dependence was included to the regressions (OLS) through spatial lag and spatial error. The INORGANIC model explains more than 70% of the dependent variable and suggest that participation to the measure 214 is not likely to be important for explaining the reduction of the Inorganic Nitrogen in the municipalities of Emilia Romagna. Significant variables are farm’s size, population density, location in NVZs and share of certified organic surface on the UAA. The same regressors could not explain the dependent variable in the case of the ORGANIC model. The availability of better estimation of changes in nitrogen inputs, such as the calculation at the farm scale, would be an important component to allow for a more robust use of spatial econometrics in RDP evaluation related to Nitrogen reduction. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental scheme, nitrogen, policy analysis, spatial econometric, rural development plans., Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149913&r=agr |
| By: | Tiberti, M. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates production costs of soft wheat by applying the FACEPA cost of production model to the Italian data (RICA) for 2005-2009. Estimates are obtained by carrying out a SUR, allowing for correlated errors between the set of equations and for imposing constraints to coefficients The main aim of this study is to provide a robust analysis of the cost, per hectare and per quintal, of soft wheat in order to analytically support a negotiation bargain on the contractual price for soft wheat within the industrial bread marketing chain. Since RICA, unlike EU FADN, reports some costs related to specific production processes (i.e. related to specific farm outputs), this study reports results of an alternative estimation strategy: the GECOM is carried out by taking into account only those costs that are not ascribed for the specific farm output, but are related to the whole production process. Estimates, per hectare and per quintal, related to such input costs are combined with those costs that are directly observed by farmers, so that we obtain a “hybrid” estimation. This method is carried out in order to confirm results obtained with the “complete” estimation. Outcomes of both methods are reported for Italy and for macro-regions. Costs related to machinery and buildings upkeep represent the most important costs, although a remarkable decline is observed from 2005 onwards. Expenditure in land rent and taxes on land and buildings shows a similar trend, but with smaller values. As a whole, there was a shift expenditure patterns: in 2005-2007 fixed costs prevailed, while in 2008-2009 variable costs became predominant. Anyway, estimates reveal that there are important differences, at geographical level, in production costs. |
| Keywords: | multi-output, outlier detection, production costs, seemingly unrelated regression, soft wheat, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, C39, Q12, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149898&r=agr |
| By: | Giannoccaro, Giacomo; Bartolini, Fabio; Raggi, Meri; Viaggi, Davide |
| Abstract: | Despite a large literature about energy production from renewable resources, the specific interplay between farm characteristics, market, local regulation and the CAP in the adoption of energy-related technologies by farmers is still poorly studied. This paper aims at analyzing the farmers’ intentions towards the on-farm adoption of energy crops or technologies for renewable energy production under alternative policy scenarios. The analysis is based on the econometric analysis of adoption intentions by a sample of more than 2,300 farm-households interviewed in nine European countries. Stated intentions towards the willingness to adopt energy crops/technology for renewable energy production, are expressed firstly under a scenario with the current CAP post 2013 (Baseline) and secondly under a scenario with the complete abolishment of the CAP support (No CAP). The study confirms that the CAP influences farmers’ decision on the adoption of energy crops/technologies for renewable energy production in the next years. Other relevant variables are farm typology specializations, size of owned and rented land and farmer’s education and advices. Moreover, scenario effects seem to be uneven among European States likely due to the interconnected effects with national renewable energy market and regulation. |
| Keywords: | Common Agricultural Policy, renewable energy, technology adoption, farmer’s behavior, econometric analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Q18, Q10, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149914&r=agr |
| By: | Holden, Stein (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Mangisoni, Julius (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | After six years with a large scale Farm Input Subsidy Program that enhanced national and household food security high costs resulted in a cut-back of the program in 2011/12 at the same time as the country was hit by a more serious drought in form of a dry spell in the rainy season. This study used household and farm plot level data combined with choice experiments to assess the impacts of the cut-back of the program and the drought on maize production and the performance of different maize varieties. The demand for improved maize seeds and adoption constraints were investigated and so was the knowledge and use of conservation technologies that in recent years have been introduced by a national level extension program. One of the effects of the cut-back is that the standard package is split and shared by two or more households. The drought resulted in a reduction in maize yields of 400 kg/ha. Many of the most commonly used hybrid maize varieties performed significantly better than local maize with yields about 600 kg/ha higher than local maize. About 4.3% of the maize plots were planted with the new ZM523 drought tolerant maize variety but it did not perform better than the hybrid maize varieties and has not yet become one of the popular varieties that are in high demand. About 35% of the households stated that they failed to obtain the most preferred maize variety and these were among the most commonly grown varieties, showing that there is scope for increased adoption of such varieties. Cash constraints and high prices for improved maize and fertilizer are limiting adoption, however, and continue to be a challenge for sustainable intensification of the maize-based production system. Newly introduced conservation technologies appear promising as one way to reduce the vulnerability to drought and enhance the fertilizer use efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Improved maize varieties; drought; drought tolerance; input subsidies; leakage of input subsidies; targeting of subsidies; maize yields; conservation technologies; demand for maize seeds |
| JEL: | Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2013–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2013_007&r=agr |
| By: | Esposti, R.; Pagliacci, F.; Sotte, F.; Camaioni, B.; Lobianco, A. |
| Abstract: | Although RDP 2007-2013 expenditures represent less than 20% of total CAP expenditures, this policy is supposed to support rural areas in facing new challenges. Actually, EU rural areas are going through major transformations. Due to the very different development processes that rural areas have lately undertaken, the urban-rural divide is now almost outdated (OECD, 2006): rural regions in central EU regions can benefit from the improvements in transportation systems and in ICT, in touristic flows and in the development of SME systems (ESPON, 2005); conversely, more peripheral rural areas still face major development issues (e.g., depopulation and land abandonment). According to this framework, the paper first computes a comprehensive index of rural-peripherality (RP index) based on major rural features. The higher this index is, the more rural and peripheral a given region is. On this basis, the paper then provides taxonomy of rural areas across Europe. Methodology follows a multivariate statistical approach: principal component analysis and cluster analysis are applied to the NUTS 3 regions in the EU-27. Although this type of analysis is not new in literature this work takes into account both socio-economic indicators and other relevant geographical characteristics, such as land use, potential accessibility, geographical distance from major EU cities. Moving from this regional taxonomy, the paper then assesses existing correlations between the intensity of Rural Development Policy expenditures (expressed per unit of agricultural land, per unit of labour force, per agricultural gross value added) and different profiles of rural-peripherality, According to these results, the analysis can help in better defining the consistency of the EU policy-makers’ decisions with the real characteristics of EU rural areas. |
| Keywords: | peripherurality, rural development policy, cluster analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Farm Management, O18, R11, R58, Q01, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149900&r=agr |
| By: | Gutierrez, L.; Piras, F. |
| Abstract: | Food commodity prices fluctuations have important impacts on poverty and food insecurity across the world. Conventional models have not provided a complete picture of recent price spikes in agricultural commodity markets, while there is an urgent need for appropriate policy responses. Perhaps new approaches are needed in order to better understand international spill-overs, the feedback between the real and the financial sectors and also the link between food and energy prices. In this paper, we present results from a new worldwide dynamic model that provides short and long-run impulse responses of wheat international prices to various real and financial shocks. |
| Keywords: | global dynamic models, price analysis, wheat market, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, G14, Q14, C12, C15, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149760&r=agr |
| By: | Rizov, Marian; Pokrivcak, Jan; Ciaian, Pavel |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of subsidies from the common agricultural policy on the total factor productivity of farms in the EU. We employ a structural, semi-parametric estimation algorithm, directly incorporating the effect of subsidies into a model of unobserved productivity. We empirically study the effects using samples from the Farm Accountancy Data Network for EU-15 countries. Our main findings are clear: subsidies had a negative impact on farm productivity in the period before the decoupling reform was implemented; after decoupling the effect of subsidies on productivity was more nuanced, as in several countries it turned positive. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:148&r=agr |
| By: | Michael Kopsidis (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and East-ern Europe (IAMO)); Ulrich Pfister (University of Muenster) |
| Abstract: | The characteristics of regional paths of industrialization had a deep impact on agricultural development during early industrialization in Germany. From 1840 rising incomes in the course of a “high wage-low energy cost” industrialization based on coal and steel and a rapid urbanization triggered a demand driven agricultural revolution in Northwest Germany. In contrast, Saxony’s early industrialization c. 1800-1860 followed a “low wage-high energy cost” trajectory based on textile production and slow urbanization. The low level and slow growth of income meant that up to 1830 the adaptation of agricultural innovations neither followed demand impulses transmitted through markets, nor did they facilitate inter-regional specialization according to comparative advantage. Rather, regional agriculture ac-commodated to population growth by expanding the cultivation of subsistence crops, mainly potatoes, probably at the detriment of animal husbandry. Whereas the increase of sown area indicates an intensification of land use yield ratios remained at best stable between the early 1790s and the late 1820s. Hence, local supply could barely cope with population growth, and since grain market integration did not evolve over time imports did not com-pensate for the shortcomings of domestic production. Our evidence of a deteriorating food standard goes a long way toward explaining the decline of the biological standard of living during Saxony’s early industrialization. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture and industrialization, regional specialization, Agricultural Revolution |
| JEL: | N93 O13 Q11 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0039&r=agr |
| By: | Feichtinger, Paul; Salhofer, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Against the background of the current discussion about the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2013, the question of the impact of government support on land prices is crucially important. Validation of the CAP’s success also hinges on a proper assessment of a choice of policy instruments. This study therefore has the objective of investigating on a theoretical basis the effects of different government support measures on land rental prices and land allocation. The different measures under consideration are the price support, area payments and decoupled single farm payments (SFPs) of the CAP. Our approach evaluates the potential impact of each measure based on a Ricardian land rent model with heterogeneous land quality and multiple land uses. We start with a simple model of one output and two inputs, where a Cobb-Douglas production technology is assumed between the two factors of land and non-land inputs. In a second step, an outside option is introduced. This outside option, as opposed to land use of the Ricardian type, is independent of land quality. The results show that area payments and SFPs become fully capitalised into land rents, whereas in a price support scheme the capitalisation depends on per-acreage productivity. Moreover, in a price support scheme and a historical model, the capitalisation is positively influenced by land quality. Both area payments and price supports influence land allocation across different uses compared with no subsidies, where the shift tends to be larger in an area payment scheme than in a price support scheme. By contrast, SFPs do not influence land allocation. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:149&r=agr |
| By: | Larson, Donald F. |
| Abstract: | In the Middle East and North Africa, food security and water security are tightly entwined. In particular, choices about the extent to which food security policies rely on trade rather than domestically produced staples have stark consequences for the region's limited water resources. This paper builds on previous modeling results comparing the cost and benefits of policies to protect consumers against surging international wheat prices, and expands the analysis to consider the consequences of the policies for water resources. A self-sufficiency policy is analyzed as well. Results suggest that trade-based food security policies have no significant effect on the sustainability of water resources, while the costs of policies based on self-sufficiency for water resources are high. The analysis also shows that while information about the water footprint of alternative production systems is helpful, a corresponding economic footprint that fully measures the resource cost of water is needed to concisely rank alternative policies in economic terms that are consistent with sustainable outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Food&Beverage Industry,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water Supply and Systems |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6464&r=agr |
| By: | Moro, D.; Guastella, G.; Sckokai, P.; Veneziani, M. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the extent to which agricultural subsidies are capitalised into land rental price. By using Italian data at the farm level the analysis proposed in this paper innovates with respect to existing studies in different ways. Thanks to the long time span available in the FADN database it is possible to compare the two time periods, before and after the 2005 CAP reform, to test whether any change occurred as a result of the introduction of the decoupled payments scheme. In contrast to previous empirical literature, which has either focused on the unobserved farm-level heterogeneity issue or on the selectivity issue, the method proposed in this paper accounts for both simultaneously. Finally, the same method is extended to account for endogeneity of some covariates. Overall, the results in the paper confirm previous evidence, rejecting the hypothesis that agricultural payments are capitalized into land prices in both periods. |
| Keywords: | Sample selection, Panel Data, Capitalization Effect, Italian Farms, Land Economics/Use, C33, Q15, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149746&r=agr |
| By: | Guastella, G.; Moro, D.; Sckokai, P.; Veneziani, M. |
| Abstract: | The paper develops a comparative analysis, among selected European Union Member States, of the investment demand, for farm buildings and machinery and equipment, of a sample of specialised arable crop farms as determined - inter alia - by different types and levels of Common Agricultual Policy (CAP) support. The empirical analysis investigates the role of long and short run determinants of investment levels as well as accounts for the presence of irregularities in the cost adjustment function due to the existence of threshold-type behaviours. Throughout the estimated models a consistent and significant long-run dynamic adjustment towards lower levels of the farms' capital stocks is detected. The effect of CAP support on both types of investments is positive, although seldom significant. The elasticities of average net investment with respect to CAP payments are employed to simulate the effects of the recently proposed, reductions in the Pillar I CAP Direct Payments (DPs). Since these reform options imply, almost exclusively, a reduction in the level of support granted through DPs, simulated effects largely respect the expectation of worsening of the farm investment prospects for both asset types (i.e., a larger negative investment or a smaller positive one). Notable exceptions concern investment in machinery and equipment in France and Italy which improve , irrespectively of the magnitude of the implemented cuts in DPs. |
| Keywords: | farm investment, threshold models, simulations, FADN data, common agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, C23, C53, D92, Q12, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149758&r=agr |
| By: | Corsi, A.; Salvioni, C. |
| Abstract: | We analyse the determinants of off-farm labour participation of farmers, an issue relevant in view of the agricultural sector coping with increasing productivity and in terms of rural development. We apply a farm-household theoretical model. The data for the empirical analysis are a 5 year (2003-2007) balanced panel of 3294 Italian farms, drawn from the Farm Accounting Data Network. The explanatory variable is the dummy indicator of the farm operator working or not off the farm. The explanatory variables comprise personal, household, and farm characteristics, and few variables of the local labour market. Since in the period a major reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) took place, we also add related variables. For estimation, we use different dynamic models, accounting for both heterogeneity and state dependence, as well as for the initial conditions (Heckmann, 1981; Wooldridge, 2005; Orme, 2001). Our results suggest that, when keeping into account all these features, present work state is almost totally explained by previous state and by idiosyncratic characteristics, which implies a strong persistence. Variables concerning personal characteristics found to be relevant in cross-sectional analyses are not found to be significant in the dynamic setting. Finally, the variables related to the reform have no statistically significant effect on the decision to work off-farm. |
| Keywords: | off-farm work, farm household, state dependence, panel data, CAP reform, Farm Management, Labor and Human Capital, J220, J430, Q120, Q180, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149886&r=agr |
| By: | Cacchiarelli, L.; Lass, D. A.; Sorrentino, A. |
| Abstract: | The issue of price transmission along the food chain has attracted considerable interest in the EU because of the welfare and policy implications that could potentially be generated. Price transmission along the food chain is characterized by the speed, the magnitude and the nature of price changes along different segments of the supply chain. Moreover, during the last several years, wheat-pasta chains have been affected by CAP reforms in the durum wheat sector that have progressively reduced government intervention in the market. Specifically, the 2003 reform represented a deep change in the tools applied in the CAP, with a turn from coupled income support to a single decoupled aid where farmers’ incomes are directly supported and are no longer linked to levels or types of production. For the present study, we are particularly interested in examining whether and how CAP reform has altered price transmission in the Italian wheat-pasta chain, from farmer to retailer, including the wholesale stage. We employ Kinnucan and Forker model which has provided a convenient instrument for analyzing the impact of policy intervention and adapted its structure to the characteristics and the composition of the pasta supply chain by introducing an intermediate level (wholesale price), represented by semolina producers. Price data are available monthly from January 2000 to April 2011 for Italy. The results suggest that pricing behavior has changed after CAP Reform introduction. |
| Keywords: | cap reform, price transmission, food chain, pasta., Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Organization, Q18, D49, L11, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149925&r=agr |
| By: | Croci Angelini, E.; Sorana, S. |
| Abstract: | A substantial literature has addressed the many issues relevant to describe, analyse and assess the question of income distribution and its role vis-‐a-‐vis economic growth and its sustainability, as well as concerns about poverty and social exclusion in particular when age and gender related. Undoubtedly, building on the EU-‐SILC information, a much scarcer attention has been paid to the agricultural sector and the rural environment. This paper aims at offering a contribution to fill this gap by presenting some reflections based on empirical data. Although putting forward the entire range of the results obtained defies the space limits posed by a paper, the focus of this contribute is directed to compare the agricultural incomes in two points in time: in 2006 before the Great Recession flared up and in 2011, at the most recent date available today, when the crisis is not yet over. It is, of course, hard to prove that, having compared incomes in the agricultural sector as well as in the rural areas across countries and for two reference years, the observed outcome is certainly due to the financial crisis. Being concerned with the effects following the financial crisis, the analysis looks in particular at those countries belonging to the Euro area and present in the survey at the earliest date. A more even platform across countries permits to better concentrate on the best survivors in the farm sector: those who seem to have suffered less offer a sure example of resilience. Indeed, we do not dare adventuring in any cause-‐effect relationship. We believe that the very comparison can provide some food for thought and somewhat new elements to be fruitfully added to the discussion. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural incomes distribution, rural incomes distribution, EU-SILC, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Political Economy, D31, E24, J31, N50, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149906&r=agr |
| By: | Andres, L.; Lebailly, Ph. |
| Abstract: | During the last decade, the Niger’s population has been affected by the food crisis (2001, 2004-2005, 2008, 2010-2011). Each year, she is subjected to many structural and temporary shocks. The structural shocks are caused by the chronicle difficulties (income) while the temporary shocks are tied at the "natural" disasters such as the hydrometeorological disasters, demographic crisis. The risk that the people fall in a state of food insecurity because of structural and temporary shocks is characterized by food vulnerability. The food vulnerability is defined as “the analysis of coping strategies and reactions faced with the structural or/and temporary shocks, if the coping strategies are not effectives, the people have in a temporary or structural food vulnerability” (Andres L. and Lebailly Ph., 2011). The target of this paper is to demonstrate the diversity of coping strategies in the different departments of Niger. The database is created as from an annual survey realized by the Early Alert System (EAS) and the Statistical National Institute of Niger (INS). This survey characterizes the state of food insecurity of households of Niger. The investigations of the household are based on stratified sampling. It exists two levels: region and enumeration areas. The investigations of the household are based from the database of the population census of 2001. This population census has determined the “enumeration areas”. These “enumeration areas” are defined as a “geographical area of 200 households on average” (INS, 2007). The sample of this investigation is established from a significant sample a point of view of the departments of Niger. The time period studied is spread the 2008 at 2011. The results have demonstrated that the departments of Tchintarabaden, Abalak, Tessaoua and Magaria have weakest number of collective meals, and the highest percentage of household practicing of selling the goods and land. Furthermore, the Niger’s population develops many strategies to struggle against the shocks. |
| Keywords: | coping strategy, food vulnerability, Niger, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, D81, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149932&r=agr |
| By: | Signorotti, Claudio; Marconi, Valentina; Raggi, Meri; Viaggi, Davide |
| Abstract: | The main objective of the paper is to inquiry if the Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES’s) included in the Rural Development Plan in Emilia Romagna have played a role in enhancing the Nature Value of regional farmland. High Nature Value (HNV) farmland is a concept that aims to identify the agricultural systems which are hospitable to animal and vegetal species, leading to a level of biodiversity which is particularly high. As a preliminary step, we measured the level and distribution of the HNV in Emilia Romagna at the municipality level, as derived by elaborations on the data of the two last censuses, year 2000 and 2010. Then the relationship between HNV and participation to rural development measures is analyzed in both directions of causality with econometric techniques. First we investigated the relationship between the participation to measure 214 (AES’s) of the Rural Development Plan and the HNV in order to explore if the participation is affected by the HNV. Rather than integrated farming or the protection of less favoured areas, ordinary least square models suggest a link between organic farming and HNV farmland: the results indicate that participation to the measure of organic farming in the Rural Development Plan 2007-2013 is significantly dependent upon the HNV in year 2000. Secondly, as an effect of the participation to AES’s on the HNV we analyzed the change of HNV between 2000 and 2010 with ordinary least squares and spatial regression techniques. The regression models show that the variations depend upon the farmers’ participation to the organic farming measure and the presence of a mountainous territory. With regard to the other measures, integrated farming is not relevant and the participation to the measure for less favoured areas is related to the variation in a negative way. |
| Keywords: | rural development plan, agri-environmental scheme, High Nature Value, statistical indicator, spatial regression, Environmental Economics and Policy, C43, Q15, Q57, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149762&r=agr |
| By: | Guinnane, Timothy W. (Yale University); Ogilvie, Sheilagh C. (University of Cambridge) |
| Abstract: | The investment decisions of small-scale farmers in developing countries are conditioned by their financial environment. Binding credit market constraints and incomplete insurance can reduce investment in activities with high expected profits. We conducted several experiments in northern Ghana in which farmers were randomly assigned to receive cash grants, grants of or opportunities to purchase rainfall index insurance, or a combination of the two. Demand for index insurance is strong, and insurance leads to significantly larger agricultural investment and riskier production choices in agriculture. The salient constraint to farmer investment is uninsured risk: when provided with insurance against the primary catastrophic risk they face, farmers are able to find resources to increase expenditure on their farms. Demand for insurance in subsequent years is strongly increasing in a farmer's own receipt of insurance payouts, and with the receipt of payouts by others in the farmer's social network. Both investment patterns and the demand for index insurance are consistent with the presence of important basis risk associated with the index insurance, and with imperfect trust that promised payouts will be delivered. |
| JEL: | J12 J13 K00 N33 O17 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:112&r=agr |
| By: | Leucci, A. C.; Ghinoi, S.; Sgargi, D.; Wesz Junior, V. J. |
| Abstract: | An adequate understanding of the dynamics that characterize the agri-food market is fundamental for the development of really efficient economic policies, especially after the two recent hikes in the prices of food commodities. The econometric literature provides today advanced analysis tools such as VAR models: these models are based on a system of equations in which each variable is regressed on a set of deterministic variables, on a number of l delays related to each covariate in the model. To test the effectiveness of this analytical tool at dealing with the issues related to agrifood economy we applied a VAR analysis on prices of major food and energy commodities (oil and biodiesel) referred to the period January 2005-December 2012. Our results identified statistically significant intertemporal relationships between the price of corn, soybeans, rapeseed and oil, and suggested the direction of these relationships; we could conclude that the price of corn and soybeans are generated in the energy market only. Moreover, we used as variables the share of commodities used for the production of biofuels, and we could observe that important alterations on the food market are due to the convenience in producing ethanol and biodiesel, since the portion of the crops used for energy is in direct competition with that devoted to the feeding. This kind of models, therefore, deal adequately with datas and issues of the agri-food system and provide an analytical basis to develop economic policies that take into account the complexity of the global food system. |
| Keywords: | alternative energy source, biofuels, var, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, C32, Q16, Q42, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149923&r=agr |
| By: | Severini, Nicola |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on some aspects concerning the organization and management of fisheries in the Adriatic sea, in particular in the Northern and Central part, identified as Geographical Sub-Area 17 (GSA 17 – High Adriatic sea). This area includes Italy, Slovenia and Croatia and it has a high environmental importance due to the presence of the lagoon and high eco-biological ecosystems. The Northern-Central Adriatic area is one of the most productive areas of the Mediterranean Sea and one of the major fishing ground in Southern Europe. The good management of the area implies a cross-border collaboration between countries and a common regulation in order to avoid market distortion, stocks overexploitation and unevenly conservation of natural resources. The creation of a Fishing District between the two sides of Adriatic Sea could help to find a common governance of the area and could be a good solution for the implementation of the Common Fishery Policy in future. The Social-Economic Fishing and Aquaculture Observatory of Chioggia (VE) is one of the members of the Technical Group and plays an important role in this cross-border collaboration. |
| Keywords: | fishery, natural resources, governance, district, Common Fisheries Policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q22, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149930&r=agr |
| By: | Neha Gupta (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the rice procurement operations of the Government of India from the standpoints of cost of procurement as well as effectiveness in supporting farmers' incomes. The two channels used for procuring rice are custom-milling of rice and levy. In the first, the government buys paddy directly from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP) and gets it milled from private millers; while in the second, it purchases rice from private millers at a pre-announced levy price thus providing indirect price support to farmers. Secondary data reveal that although levy imposes a lower unit cost per quintal of paddy procured, over the last decade, custom-milling has become predominant, partly on the argument that it provides minimum price support to farmers. We analyze data from auctions of paddy from a year when levy was still important to investigate its impact on farmers' revenues. We use semi-nonparametric estimates of millers' values to simulate farmers' ex- pected revenues and nd these to be rather close to the MSP; a closer analysis shows that bidder competition is critical to this result. The level of competition in the year of the data for instance, was high enough to offset the impact of sub- optimal reserve prices on revenues. Finally, we use our estimates to quantify the impact of change in levy price on farmers' revenues through its effect on millers' values and competition; and use this to discuss ways to revive the levy channel. |
| Keywords: | Structural Estimation, Auctions, Procurement Policy |
| JEL: | C14 D44 Q13 Q18 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:231&r=agr |
| By: | Bonanno, A.; Cembalo, L.; Caracciolo, F.; Dentoni, D.; Pascucci, S. |
| Abstract: | In spite of several cases study existing that assess the profitability of farms participating in direct sales activities (Brown, 2002; Brown and Miller (2008), no analysis has verified whether the notion that farmers participating in short supply chains are profitable holds to the empirical test. The objective of this analysis is that of testing econometrically whether farmers joining short supply chains do experience better performances, accounting for confounding factors and endogeneity of channel choice decision. To that end, we use the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) referred to 2010. Results indicate that participation in SSCs doesn’t positively contribute to farms profitability. We use this preliminary empirical evidence to shape future research steps in this domain, and namely to further investigate the differential impact of participation in SSCs on gross sales and variable costs. |
| Keywords: | short supply chains, Price-Cost-Margin, GMM, Italy, Farm Management, Productivity Analysis, Q13, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149899&r=agr |
| By: | Kantelhardt, J.; Kapfer, M.; Franzel, M.; Kirchweger, S. |
| Abstract: | In comparison to flatland agriculture mountainous agriculture is often shaped by small plot sizes, unfavourable climatic conditions and steep slopes. All those conditions make it extraordinarily expensive to implement new technologies and to modernise farms. Consequently our research hypothesis is that technical progress in mountainous regions is slower in comparison to flatland regions. In order to test this hypothesis we develop a model combining a Malmquist index approach with a matching analysis. We apply our model in Austria, using a panel data set comprising the data of 1034 Austrian voluntarily bookkeeping farms and ranging from 2003 to 2009. On basis of the Austrian Mountain Farm Cadastre the farms are classified into five categories expressing the degree of disadvantage which farms are exposed from being located in a mountainous area. Our results show that technical change in mountain regions is significantly lower than in flatland regions and continuously decreasing with increasing disadvantage. Matching our results shows that this result is mainly based on farm grassland share, while farm size is of minor importance. With regard to efficiency change and change of total factor productivity we do not find any significant results. |
| Keywords: | Malmquist total factor productivity index, technical progress, Alpine farming, data envelopment analysis, matching, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C14, C67, Q12, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149897&r=agr |
| By: | Revoredo-Giha, C.; Zuppiroli, M. |
| Abstract: | The instability of commodity prices and the hypothesis that speculative behaviour was one of its causes has brought renewed interest in futures markets. In this paper, we analyse the European wheat futures markets (feed and milling) and the CBOT’s wheat contract as a comparison, to study their efficiency, hedging effectiveness and whether they were affected during the period of high instability after 2007. Implicitly this is a test of whether the increasing presence of speculation in futures markets have made them divorced from the physical markets, and therefore, not useful for commercial entities aiming to exchange price risk for basis risk. |
| Keywords: | Futures prices, commodity prices, volatility, wheat, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, International Relations/Trade, G1, G130, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149773&r=agr |
| By: | Stephen C. Smith (Department of Economics/Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University); Arun S. Malik (Department of Economics/Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | This paper constitutes the introductory essay for the special issue of Climate Change Economics, edited by Malik and Smith, forthcoming in 2012, examining adaptation to climate change in low-income countries. The paper first characterizes different types of adaptations from an economic perspective. It then puts in context the contributions of two articles that address the problem of making adaptation decisions in the face of uncertainty with an emphasis on developing country circumstances. The paper then proceeds to examines data and methodological problems faced in empirical research on adaptation, and, as part of a broader review, examines contributions of two articles that present econometric evidence on adaptation in Ethiopia and India. The paper then introduces issues in the emerging research area of interactions between autonomous and planned adaptations and discusses contributions in the CCE special issue, particularly on how government agricultural extension affects farm household adaptation and how a government 'awareness' campaign encouraging behavioral responses to heat waves can reduce mortality. Finally, the paper identifies important questions on adaptation in low-income countries that still remain largely unaddressed. |
| Keywords: | Adaptation to Climate Change, Low-Income Countries, Developing countries |
| JEL: | Q54 O13 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2012-8&r=agr |
| By: | Jonathan D. Rose |
| Abstract: | This paper describes New Deal farm mortgage debt relief programs, implemented through the Federal Land Banks and the Land Bank Commissioner. Along with the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, the analogous program for nonfarm residential mortgage borrowers, these were the first large-scale mortgage debt relief programs in US history. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2013-33&r=agr |
| By: | Zuo, Alec; Nauges, Celine; Wheeler, Sarah |
| Abstract: | Farmers are well known to be risk-averse. Although a considerable literature has focused on the role water markets play to allocate water more efficiently, none has explicitly studied the risk management role water markets play in irrigators’ decision making. We used a two-step empirical procedure to estimate the impacts of variability in profit and downside risk in profit on the volume of water allocation purchased and sold using an unbalanced panel data sample of 1,449 farm observations across four industries in the southern Murray-Darling Basin in Australia from 2006-07 to 2009-10. We show that farmers experiencing higher variability in profit and facing more downside risk purchase greater volumes of water allocations, and this is supported across all irrigated industry sectors (namely, dairy, broadacre, horticulture, and viticulture). There was only weak evidence found for the broadacre industry to suggest that higher variance in profit and greater downside risk drive greater volume of water allocations sold. The different findings between buying and selling water allocations are reflective of the fact that water allocation sellers represent a more heterogeneous group of farmers than water allocation buyers, and that sellers of water allocations may be more strategic in general with their farm management overall. |
| Keywords: | water allocation, farm management, murray-darling basin, water trading, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q25, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uqsers:149885&r=agr |
| By: | Osiel González Dávila (Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK) |
| Abstract: | Guadalupe municipality, located in a semi-arid zone, belongs to the State of Zacatecas in north-central Mexico. The population in Guadalupe has been increasing in an exponential way from the year 2000 to 2010. With a bigger population in the area more services are required, including water supply and sanitation. Guadalupe depends on groundwater for its domestic water supply. It has no access to surface water and its aquifers are overexploited. There is a high risk that in the near future the population’s water demand could not be satisfied. Therefore groundwater protection should be a priority. High levels of fluoride and arsenic have been found in extraction wells and in tap water in Guadalupe City. This may seriously affect the population’s health. An exploratory study found statistically significant correlations between the presence of arsenicosis and fluorosis symptoms and the consumption of certain food items and tap water. A contingent valuation survey is used to elicit household willingness to pay responses for safe drinking water in Guadalupe. The objective is to investigate households’ willingness to pay for improved water quality through the installation of a new filtration system to remove fluoride and arsenic from groundwater. It was found that individuals' subjective perceptions of contamination may change their attitude towards the installation of water purification systems, thereby changing the effective price of potable groundwater that they are willing to pay. It is evident that different types of contamination (by arsenic and fluoride in this case) had differing effects on values. Value estimates also changed as the socioeconomic profiles of survey respondents changed. Further, it was found that the respondents stated in average a higher WTP for the removal of fluoride (MXN 66.37) than for the removal of arsenic (MXN 56.55). |
| Keywords: | Groundwater contamination, Arsenic, Fluoride, Contingent Valuation, Zacatecas Mexico |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soa:wpaper:180&r=agr |
| By: | Alice Favero, Yale University, FEEM and CMCC (Yale University, FEEM and CMCC); Robert Mendelsohn (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | As policy makers consider stringent targets for greenhouse gas emissions, integrated assessment models are increasingly relying on biomass energy as a critical energy source. However, it is not clear how much woody biomass to expect across time and across the planet. The integrated assessment models simply do not have enough detail about global forests and arable land to make careful forecasts of biomass supply over time. Integrating the complex dynamic demand for bioenergy from the IAMs with the complex dynamic structure of forests and forest supply is a daunting intertemporal task. This study examines the market for woody biomass by combining the integrated assessment model WITCH with the global dynamic forestry model GTM. Three carbon tax schedules are used to simulate different mitigation policies that lead to radiative forcing levels of 3.7, 3.2 and 2.5 W/m2 and a baseline scenario with no mitigation policies. WITCH determines the demand for woody biomass and GTM determines the supply of woody biomass over time. Moving from a mild to stringent mitigation policy would increase the demand of woody biomass from 8.2 to 15.2 billion m3/yr while the international price of wood would increase 4 to 9 times relative to the baseline scenario by 2100. This would shrink the demand for industrial wood products from 80% to 90% with the biomass program. Forest area will expand by 70-95% leading to increased storage of 685-1,279 GtCO2 in forest by 2100. Overall, the biomass program with the CCS technology plays a key contribution to overall GHG emission reductions in all scenarios contributing 20-27% of all mitigation for 2020-2100. |
| Keywords: | Bio-energy, Carbon Sequestration, Forestry, Integrated Assessment Model |
| JEL: | Q23 Q42 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.37&r=agr |
| By: | Menozzi, D.; Finardi, C.; Davoli, U. |
| Abstract: | The May 2012 earthquake waves shaking the North-East part of Italy have caused 26 deaths and diffuse economic damage in the traditional production area of Parmigiano-Reggiano PDO, including several dairies warehouses where the cheese is produced and aged. It has been estimated that losses to the Parmigiano-Reggiano system exceeded 150 millions Euro. In the broad mobilization to help the stricken people, the agri-food system played a primary role, giving rise to the sales of “Parmigiano-Reggiano damaged by earthquake” (PR-T). This paper aims to investigate the main determinants of PR-T purchasing using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a conceptual framework. A preliminary focus group and a survey on 200 consumers were performed for this purpose; data were collected with face-to-face interviews in stores and markets where the PR-T has been sold. The relative importance of attitude, descriptive norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC) in influencing the intention to purchase PR-T and the behaviour itself where investigated. Other concepts were added to the analysis, such as formal and informal trust, moral attitude, PDO perception, sense of belonging to the region, and other socio-economic variables. The revised TPB model predictors accounted for 70% of the variance of intentions to purchase PR-T in the future and 32% of the variance of behaviour. PBC, trust in formal communication sources and PDO quality warranty are the main predictors of intentions. Behaviour is positively affected by descriptive norms, sense of belonging, age and intentions, and negatively determined by food scare, past behaviour and educational level. These empirical findings provide evidence of the solidarity aspects of collective purchases of Parmigiano-Reggiano in the aftermath of the 2012 earthquake waves, as well as the importance of increasing people’s capability and trust to effectively reach the goal of facing dreadful food scares. |
| Keywords: | protected designation of origin (PDO), theory of planned behaviour (TPB), solidarity, trust, food scare, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149889&r=agr |
| By: | Rakhshanda, Kousar; Awudu, Abdulai |
| Abstract: | This article examines the impact of non-farm work on household welfare, differentiated by female, for rural households in the Punjab province of Pakistan. We employ an endogenous switching regression approach that accounts for selection bias due to observable and unobservable factors to examine the factors that influence the household’s decision to participate in non-farm work and the impact of participation on household welfare. Given we find no substantial selection bias on unobservable factors; we also use PSM approach to check the robustness of our results from the ESR estimates. Separate estimates are also provided for male and female to address gender heterogeneity. The empirical results reveal that participation in non-farm work significantly increases per head expenditures and reduces household poverty level. This confirms the potential role of non-farm work in improving rural household welfare and poverty alleviation in rural areas of developing countries. |
| Keywords: | non-farm work, household welfare, impact assessment, Pakistan, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital, J16, J22, Q1, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149890&r=agr |
| By: | Matteo Manera (University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Milan); Marcella Nicolini (University of Pavia, Pavia, and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Milan) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates how different types of speculation affect the volatility of commodities’ futures prices. We adopt four indexes of speculation: Working’s T, the market share of non-commercial traders, the percentage of net long speculators over total open interest in future markets, which proxy for long term speculation, and scalping, which proxies for short term speculation. We consider four energy commodities (light sweet crude oil, heating oil, gasoline and natural gas) and seven non-energy commodities (cocoa, coffee, corn, oats, soybean oil, soybeans and wheat) over the period 1986-2010 analyzed at weekly frequency. Using GARCH models we find that speculation significantly affects volatility of returns: short term speculation has a positive and significant impact on volatility, while long term speculation generally has a negative effect. The robustness exercise shows that: i) scalping is positive and significant also at higher and lower data frequencies; ii) results remain unchanged through different model specifications (GARCH-in-mean, EGARCH, and TARCH); iii) results are robust to different specifications of the mean equation. |
| Keywords: | Commodities Futures Markets, Speculation, Scalping, Working’s T, Data Frequency, GARCH Models |
| JEL: | C32 G13 Q11 Q43 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.45&r=agr |
| By: | Aliou Diagne (Africa Rice Centre, Cotonou, Benin); Steven Glover (Overseas Development Institute, London, UK); Ben Groom (Department of Gography and Environment, London School of Economics, London, UK); Jonathan Phillips (Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the rate and determinants of adoption of modern rice varieties (NERICAs) in Guinea, The Gambia and Cote d'Ivoire. The role of knowledge and information is evaluated using programme evaluation methods. Using household data collected by the Africa Rice Centre we show that the exposure and access to seeds lead to radically different levels of adoption by country: 30% in Cote D’Ivoire compared to around 90% for The Gambia and Guinea. Analysis of the determinants of adoption in each country reveals the heterogeneity in the role of agricultural and societal conditions and implies country/province specific policies are appropriate. |
| Keywords: | NERICA Varieties, Technology Adoption, West Africa, Food Security |
| JEL: | Q16 Q18 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soa:wpaper:174&r=agr |
| By: | Henry Willebald (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to identify different distributive patterns in the settler economies (Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand and Uruguay) during the First Globalization (1870-1913). I present the methodological decisions, discuss my results and propose some conjectures about the long-run evolution of inequality. As agriculture was the most important productive activity in the settler economies and one of the main sectors in leading the land frontier expansion, a study of the generation of income and the evolution of the distribution in this sector is of main interest. First, I estimate the income (or product) per worker in the agriculture and concern for relative performance within the club focusing on (total and sectoral) growth and convergence. After that, I present the notion of functional income distribution and discuss the existence of two distributive patterns. In one of these, the territories that were British colonies and where the capitalist relationships predominated, and in the other, in former colonies of Spain, economic relationships were based on agrarian rental incomes. During the period, income distribution worsened in the Australasian economies and Canada, but it worsened even more in the South American Southern Cone countries. These differences among settler economies are consistent with dissimilar dynamics of expansion onto new land and the conformation of institutional arrangements that promoted unlike patterns of distribution. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, functional income distribution, settler economies |
| JEL: | N36 N37 N56 N57 O47 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-05-13&r=agr |
| By: | Géraldine Henningsen (DTU Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark); Arne Henningsen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Christian H.C.A. Henning (Institute of Agricultural Economics, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel) |
| Abstract: | All business transactions as well as achieving innovations take up resources, subsumed under the concept of transaction costs. One of the major factors in transaction costs theory is information. Firm networks can catalyse the interpersonal information exchange and hence, increase the access to non-public information so that transaction costs are reduced. Many resources that are sacrificed for transaction costs are inputs that also enter the technical production process. As most production data do not distinguish between these two usages of inputs, high transaction costs result in reduced observed productivity. We empirically analyse the effect of networks on productivity using a cross-validated local linear non-parametric regression technique and a data set of 384 farms in Poland. Our empirical study generally supports our hypothesis that networks affect productivity. Large and dense trading networks and dense information networks and household networks have a positive impact on a farm’s productivity. A bootstrapping procedure confirms that this result is statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | Information networks, Transaction Costs, Non-parametric estimation, Productivity analysis |
| JEL: | D22 D23 D24 L14 Q12 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2013_11&r=agr |
| By: | Tamar Keasar; Miriam Kishinevsky; Avi Shmida; Yoram Gerchman; Nicka Chinkov; Avi Koplovich; Gadi Katzir |
| Abstract: | Insect herbivores often use chemical signals obtained from their food plants to deter enemies and/or attract sexual partners. Do plant-based visual signals act similarly, i.e., repel consumers' enemies and appeal to potential mates? We explored this question using the pollen-feeding beetle Pygopleurus israelitus (Glaphyridae), a specialized pollinator of Anemone coronaria's chemically defended red-morph flowers. We presented dead beetles, which had fed either on anemones or on cat-food, to young domestic chicks on a red (anemone-like) or a green (leaf-like) background. We determined whether the beetles' background color and diet affected the chicks' feeding. Cuticle surface extracts from anemone-fed beetles, but not from cat-food-fed beetles, contained a secondary metabolite characteristic of anemones. Latencies to the first picking-up and consuming of beetles from green backgrounds were shorter than of beetles from red backgrounds. The picking-up order of beetles also indicated that prey from the green background was preferred. The chicks retained this preference when re-tested, three days later. Handling times of anemone-fed beetles were longer than of cat-food-fed beetles. A previous study showed that glaphyrids improve their mate-finding prospects by orienting to large red anemone flowers. Here, female beetles preferred cat-food-fed to anemone-fed males in mate-choice assays, thus anemone-derived chemicals did not increase mating success. Instead, the combined results indicate that A. coronaria's red flowers provide a visual signal that may both deter its herbivore's predators and attract its mates. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental evidence for a potential protective role of plant-derived visual signals for insect herbivores/pollinators. |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:huj:dispap:dp640&r=agr |
| By: | Marena Brinkhurst (Simon Fraser University); Anke Kessler (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | Much debate concerning property rights reserves in Canada focuses on socio-economic impacts and the potential for individualized land tenure to support economic development, thereby reducing poverty. Study of existing forms of individual property on reserves is needed to inform these debates. In this article, we examine data on the lawful possession (Certificate of Possession) system that is currently used on reserves across Canada. We provide descriptive statistics regarding the variability of lawful possessions across First Nations and using regression analysis we assess which socio-economic, demographic, and locational variables influence the use of lawful possessions instead of communal land or other customary land holding systems. We show that use of the lawful possession system is surprisingly low and very uneven. As well, our regression results suggests that using the system requires a relatively educated community with low levels of poverty, with a favourable geographic location. Overall, the results are consistent with the view that lawful possessions are not primarily used to foster economic development. |
| Keywords: | First Nations, land use, lawful possession, property rights, economic development |
| JEL: | R14 P48 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp13-04&r=agr |
| By: | Jean-Christophe Bureau; Sébastien Jean |
| Abstract: | Multilateral trade liberalization has made little progress over the last period, but preferential agreements have multiplied. Recent economic literature helps to understand the current negotiation game. New economic and political conditions, in particular the gaining influence of emerging countries, make a multilateral agreement more difficult. Developed countries have given up many of their bargaining chips in previous rounds of negotiation and their remaining agricultural tariffs are not sufficient for extracting the concessions from emerging countries on services, procurement, and intellectual property that would make an agreement possible. The risk of a more fragmented world calls for a revised negotiation agenda and a change in the status of developing countries. Research issues are outlined in order to help revitalize the Doha negotiation agenda. |
| Keywords: | Doha Round;WTO;Agricultural trade |
| JEL: | Q17 F10 F51 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2013-15&r=agr |
| By: | Hermann Pythagore Pierre Donfouet (CREM - Centre de Recherche en Economie et Management - CNRS : UMR6211 - Université de Rennes 1 - Université de Caen Basse-Normandie); Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Université de Nantes : EA4272) |
| Abstract: | Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) is an emerging concept for providing financial protection against the cost of illness and improving access to quality health services for low-income rural households who are excluded from formal insurance. CBHI is currently being provided in some rural areas in developing countries and there is ongoing research about its impact on the well-being of the poor in these areas. However, the success of CBHI revolves around the existence of social capital in the community. This has led researchers to explore the impact of CBHI on the well-being of the poor in rural areas, especially as it relates to social capital. The overall objective of this paper is to review recent developments that address the link between CBHI and social capital. Policy implications are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | Community-based health insurance ; social capital ; rural areas |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00738176&r=agr |
| By: | Lempert, Robert; Kalra, Nidhi; Peyraud, Suzanne; Mao, Zhimin; Tan, Sinh Bach; Cira, Dean; Lotsch, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Ho Chi Minh City faces significant and growing flood risk. Recent risk reduction efforts may be insufficient as climate and socio-economic conditions diverge from projections made when those efforts were initially planned. This study demonstrates how robust decision making can help Ho Chi Minh City develop integrated flood risk management strategies in the face of such deep uncertainty. Robust decision making is an iterative, quantitative, decision support methodology designed to help policy makers identify strategies that are robust, that is, satisfying decision makers'objectives in many plausible futures, rather than being optimal in any single estimate of the future. This project used robust decision making to analyze flood risk management in Ho Chi Minh City's Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal catchment area. It found that the soon-to-be-completed infrastructure may reduce risk in best estimates of future conditions, but it may not keep risk low in many other plausible futures. Thus, the infrastructure may not be sufficiently robust. The analysis further suggests that adaptation and retreat measures, particularly when used adaptively, can play an important role in reducing this risk. The study examines the conditions under which robust decision making concepts and full robust decision making analyses may prove useful in developing countries. It finds that planning efforts in developing countries should at minimum use models and data to evaluate their decisions under a wide range of conditions. Full robust decision making analyses can also augment existing planning efforts in numerous ways. |
| Keywords: | Hazard Risk Management,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Labor Policies,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Debt Markets |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6465&r=agr |
| By: | Stephen C. Smith (Department of Economics/Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University); Saudamini Das (Department of Economics, Swami Shradhanand College, University of Delhi) |
| Abstract: | Heat waves, defined as an interval of abnormally hot and humid weather, have been a prominent killer in recent years. With heat waves worsening with climate change, adaptation is essential; one strategy has been to issue heat wave warnings and undertake awareness campaigns to bring about behavioral changes to reduce heat stroke. Since 2002, the Indian state of Odisha has been undertaking a grassroots awareness campaign on "dos and don'ts" during heat wave conditions through the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) program. Selection criteria for DRM districts were earthquake, flood, and cyclone incidence; but subsequently heat wave awareness also received intensive attention in these districts. We present quasi-experimental evidence on the impact of the program, taking DRM districts and periods as treatment units and the rest as controls, analyzing the impact on the death toll from heat stroke for the 1998 to 2010 period, using difference-in-difference (DID) regressions with a district level panel data set and a set of control variables. We find indications of program effectiveness with initial DID specifications, but results are not strongly robust. We then take into account a statewide heat wave advertising program, to which the poor have limited exposure but which may also provide spillover benefits, using a triple differencing approach; results suggest the heat wave awareness programs may have complementary impacts. We examine research strategies for much-needed improvement in the precision of impact evaluation results for innovative programs of this type. |
| Keywords: | Adaptation to climate change, Awareness campaigns, Heat waves, Disaster Risk Management Program, India, Odisha, Difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | Q54 O13 I18 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2012-6&r=agr |
| By: | Carbone, A.; Henke, R.; Pozzolo, A. F. |
| Abstract: | We study the performance over the last fifteen years of exports of typical, Made in Italy agri-food products. First, we estimate the aggregate elasticities of exports values with respect to world imports, export prices and the prices applied by our competitors. Second, we show that aggregate estimates hide very different values of the elasticities at the single product level. Third, we calculate an index of sophistication for each Made in Italy agri-food exports, capturing its position in the different layers of world supply, showing that Made in Italy agri-food exports are shifting towards higher levels of sophistication. Finally, we compare the elasticities with the changes in sophistication. Our results show that the strategy of Italian exporters varies according to the type of product and to the degree of market completion. In some cases, Italian exporters contrast increasing world competition by raising the quality of their products or their sophistication content; in other cases, price competition is chosen , by keeping AUVs at lower levels than those of our competitors. But in nearly all cases, these strategies are successful in allowing Italy to defend and sometimes even to increase its world market shares, in spite of a growing world competition. |
| Keywords: | exports’ elasticities, exports’ sophistication, made in italy, world demand, International Relations/Trade, Q17, F14, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149888&r=agr |
| By: | Brunt, Liam (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Cannon, Edmund (University of Bristol) |
| Abstract: | Cointegration analysis has been used widely to quantify market integration through price arbitrage. We show that total price variability can be decomposed into: (i) magnitude of price shocks; (ii) correlation of price shocks; (iii) betweenperiod arbitrage. All three measures depend upon data frequency, but betweenperiod arbitrage is most affected. We measure variation of these components across time and space using English weekly wheat price data, 1770-1820. We show that conclusions about arbitrage are sensitive to the precise form of cointegration model used; different components behave differently; and different factors – in terms of transport and information – explain behaviour of different components. Previous analyses should be interpreted with caution. |
| Keywords: | Domestic trade; economic integration; grain markets; transport; England and Wales; time-series cointegration. |
| JEL: | N73 Q11 R41 |
| Date: | 2013–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2013_012&r=agr |
| By: | Mora, C.; Menozzi, D.; Sogari, G.; Brennan, M.; Raley, M.; Frewer, L. J. |
| Abstract: | Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have been a controversial topic in recent years: while the scientific community has largely accepted the validity and safety of using this biotechnology in the food industry, public opinion still shows a certain suspicion and fear. The legislator is interested in knowing how public opinion could be engaged and what policy decisions regarding the assessment of the risks and benefits of GM animals and derived products might be addressed. This paper focuses on a Citizens’ Jury event organized in Parma (Italy) in 2012 in the context of the EU project PEGASUS (Public Perception of Genetically modified Animals – Science, Utility and Society, 7th FP). The main goal of the Citizens’ Jury was to address public perspectives and demonstrate ‘best practice’ in public engagement in order to develop future policy recommendations regarding innovation in the area of GM animals. The process, the potential role of citizens’ juries as a technique for engaging with the public about the development and application of Genetically Modified (GM) animals in the food and pharmaceutical industry and significant results are presented here. In particular, two case studies have been presented: growth-enhanced GH transgenic salmon and polyclonal antibodies from transgenic rabbits. |
| Keywords: | Genetically modified (GM) animals, public consultations, citizens’ jury, GM policies, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, Q57, Q18, D11, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149921&r=agr |
| By: | Bofinger, Heinrich; Strand, Jon |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a new methodology for calculating the"carbon footprint"of air travel whereby emissions from travel in premium (business and first) classes depend heavily on the average class-specific occupied floor space. Unlike methods currently used for the purpose, the approach properly accounts for the fact that the relative number of passenger seats in economy and premium classes is endogenous in the longer term, so adding one additional premium trip crowds out more than one economy trip on any particular flight. It also shows how these differences in carbon attributable to different classes of travel in a carbon footprint calculation correspond to how carbon surcharges on different classes of travel would differ if carbon emissions from international aviation were taxed given a competitive aviation sector globally. The paper shows how this approach affects carbon footprint calculations by applying it to World Bank staff travel for calendar year 2009. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Roads&Highways,Montreal Protocol,Environmental Economics&Policies |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6471&r=agr |