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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2014‒06‒07
seventeen papers chosen by |
| By: | Meena, M.S; Singh, K.M. |
| Abstract: | Livestock production is the backbone of Indian agriculture and also plays a key role in providing employment especially in rural areas. This sector has been the primary source of energy for agriculture operation and major source of animal protein for masses. Therefore, India has been the home of major draught, milch and dual-purpose breeds of cattle. Indian dairy production system is complex and generally based on traditional and socioeconomic considerations. However, there has been a rapid change in way of agriculture (i.e. cropping system, water resources, diversification of crops, intensification of agriculture), increasing use of mechanical power, transformation from sustenance farming to market oriented farming, changing food habits etc., All these factors have their impact on animal husbandry practices. Livestock rearing in India is changing fast and there has been a rise in demand of milch cattle as compared to dual or draught breeds. The paper tries to deal with the issues and strategies for revitalizing fodder production in India. |
| Keywords: | Fodder production, Fodder technologies, strategies for fodder production |
| JEL: | Q00 Q10 Q16 Q19 |
| Date: | 2014–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56367&r=agr |
| By: | Mark C. Senia; Helen H. Jensen (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)); Oleksandr Zhylyevskyy |
| Abstract: | We investigate factors affecting the duration of eating and food preparation among adults in single decision-maker households. Eating time is differentiated into primary and secondary eating time and further differentiated by location: at home vs. away from home. We construct a simple theoretical model, based on Becker’s household production approach, to motivate empirical equations for eating and food preparation time. Empirical analysis is performed using data from the 2006–2008 Eating and Health (EH) Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Higher food-at-home prices are found to be associated with more time in food preparation and primary eating at home. Higher fast food prices are associated with more time in food preparation and less time in primary eating at home. We conclude that food prices influence home production and time allocation decisions. We also find that low-income adults spend more time in food preparation and primary eating at home and are less likely to eat away from home than those with more income. The presence of children in the household is associated with more time in food preparation and less time in primary eating away from home. Public policies attempting to effect an increase in food preparation among low-income, single adult households with children may need to account for limited opportunities such households can have to acquire and prepare healthier foods when additional time is required. |
| Keywords: | eating time, food preparation time, American Time Use Survey JEL Classification: D12, D13, Q18 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:14-wp549&r=agr |
| By: | Mihaly Himics (Universität Bonn, Institute for Food and Resource Economics); Marco Artavia (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Sophie Hélaine (European Commission – DG Agri); Ole Boysen (Universität Hohenheim, Fachgebiet Agrar- und Ernährungspolitik) |
| Abstract: | The European Commission baseline is elaborated with AGLINK-COSIMO model. In order to make consistent policy analysis, the other two models of the iMap platform are calibrated to this baseline. The report describes how this calibration is done. |
| Keywords: | Economic analysis, impact assessment, Common Agricultural Policy, agricultural trade, agricultural markets, competitiveness, modelling tools, price volatility, database |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc72882&r=agr |
| By: | Markus Lampe (Universidad Carlos III); Paul Sharp (University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | The late nineteenth century Danish agricultural revolution saw the modernization and growth of the dairy industry. Denmark rapidly caught up with the leading economies, and Danish dairying led the world in terms of productivity. Uniquely in a world perspective, high quality micro-level data exist documenting this episode. These allow the use of the tool of modern agricultural economists, stochastic frontier analysis, to estimate production functions for milk and thus find the determinants of these productivity and efficiency advances. We identify the contribution of modernization through specific new technologies and practices. |
| Keywords: | Dairies, Denmark, development, Stochastic Frontier Analysis |
| JEL: | L2 N5 O3 Q1 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0055&r=agr |
| By: | Bernard Harris; Roderick Floud; Sok Chul Hong |
| Abstract: | In The Changing Body (Cambridge University Press and NBER, 2011), the authors presented a series of estimates showing the number of calories available for human consumption in England and Wales at various points in time between 1700 and 1909/13. The current paper corrects an error in those figures but also compares the estimates of The Changing Body with those published by a range of other authors. The differences reflect disagreements over a number of issues, including the amount of land under cultivation, the extraction and wastage rates for cereals and pulses and the number of animals supplying meat and dairy products. The paper considers recent attempts to achieve a compromise between these estimates and challenges claims that there was a dramatic reduction in either food availability or the average height of birth cohorts in the late-eighteenth century. |
| JEL: | N01 N33 N53 O1 O13 O52 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20177&r=agr |
| By: | James Roumasset (University of Hawai‘i at Manoa & University of Hawai’i Economic Research Organization); Christopher Wada (University of Hawai’i Economic Research Organization) |
| Abstract: | General principles of groundwater management for a single aquifer are extended to the management of multiple water resources, including additional aquifers, recycled wastewater, and desalinated seawater. Optimal groundwater extraction can be incentivized by pricing according to the Pearce equation for renewable resources, although the standard version of the equation must be modified in certain situations, e.g. to accommodate corner solutions or governance costs. Groundwater management and pricing must be coordinated with the management of watershed and related resources lest the benefits of conservation are squandered by wasting the water saved. Joint optimization also provides the basis for correctly pricing ecosystem services such as groundwater recharge. From the models and examples discussed, one can conclude that a systems approach is necessary, and ad hoc rules-of-thumb such as maximum-sustainable-yield are welfare reducing. Inasmuch as actual groundwater management may be far from efficient, the Gisser-Sanchez effect notwithstanding, we discuss the problem of optimal resource governance. |
| Keywords: | Groundwater, renewable resources, dynamic optimization, sustainable yield, Pearce equation, marginal user cost, conjunctive use, water institutions, Gisser-Sanchez effect, governance, natural capital |
| JEL: | Q20 Q25 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201414&r=agr |
| By: | Chris Béné; Terry Cannon; Mark Davies; Andrew Newsham; Thomas Tanner |
| Abstract: | Climate change has already resulted in climate-related extreme events of greater frequency and/or intensity. This, along with long-term changes in average conditions (whether in temperature or rainfall), is likely to continue to have a major impact on livelihoods. Developing countries will be especially affected by such events – and more specifically, the poor people in developing countries – because of their geographical exposure and their greater reliance on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture. Social protection offers a wide range of instruments (e.g. cash transfers, insurance products, pension schemes and employment guarantee schemes) that can be used to support households that are particularly vulnerable to both the ongoing and acute impacts of climate changes. Although the evidence base showing how these measures can help those affected prevent and cope with climate challenges is still limited, this paper aims to provide a condensed review of the current knowledge and evidence about the role of social protection in reducing the impact of climate change on the poorest populations and provides a series of recommendations for both social protection and climate change practitioners and for strengthening the evidence base. |
| Date: | 2014–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dcdaaa:16-en&r=agr |
| By: | Mauricio José Serpa Barros de Moura; Rodrigo de Losso da Silveira Bueno |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the effect of property-titling on child labor. Our main contribution is to investigate the potential impact of property rights on child labor supply by analyzing household response regarding the child labor force to exogenous changes in property ownership status. The causal role of legal ownership is isolated by comparing the effect of land titling using data from a unique study in two geographically close and demographically similar communities in Osasco, a town of 654,000 people in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area. Survey data were collected from households in both communities before and after the granting of land titles, with neither type knowing ex-ante whether it would receive land titles. The econometric estimates, applying the Difference-in-Difference (DD) methodology and propensity score matching, suggest that land-titling decreases child labor. |
| Keywords: | Property Rights; Land Titling; Child Labor Force |
| JEL: | P14 Q15 J22 O18 O54 |
| Date: | 2014–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2014wpecon8&r=agr |
| By: | Dorota Leszczynska; Maryline Thenot |
| Abstract: | In this article we investigate the changes undergone by an agricultural cooperative group, in order to contribute to the new orientations of institutional theory by analyzing this specific case. Taking the fundamental concepts of institutional logics as our starting point, we propose a conceptual model and a case study. We use the Delphi method to analyze the responses of 42 administrators to a questionnaire. By focusing on the actors and on organizational heterogeneousness, we highlight the impact of practice variation on the performance of this newly created cooperative group. |
| Keywords: | Institutional logics, creation of new practices, performance, cooperative, Delphi method |
| Date: | 2014–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-325&r=agr |
| By: | Oded Galor (Brown University); Ömer Özak (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | This research explores the origins of the distribution of time preference across regions. It advances the hypothesis, and establishes empirically, that geographical variations in the incentives to delay consumption in favor of lucrative investment opportunities have had a persistent effect on the distribution of long-term orientation across societies. In particular, exploiting a natural experiment associated with the Columbian Exchange, the research establishes that agro-climatic characteristics in the pre-industrial era that were conducive to higher return to agricultural investment, triggered selection and learning processes that had a persistent positive effect on the prevalence of long-term orientation in the contemporary era. |
| Keywords: | Time preference, Delayed Gratification, Culture, Agriculture, Economic Development, Evolution |
| JEL: | O1 Z1 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1407&r=agr |
| By: | Karl Jandoc (Department of Economics, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai`i, USA); Richard Howitt (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, USA); James Roumasset (University of Hawai‘i at Manoa & University of Hawai’i Economic Research Organization); Christopher Wada (University of Hawai’i Economic Research Organization) |
| Abstract: | We review the theory of optimal conjunctive-use management absent transaction costs as a point of departure for a second-best theory of management. We first explore the problem of optimal pricing of surface water when groundwater remains unregulated. We then move to consideration of institutional mechanisms for managing groundwater. The last section discusses the transaction cost difficulties with water markets and how these can be mitigated with remote sensing technology, much as barbed wire facilitated private property in the American West. |
| Keywords: | Groundwater management, Second-best policy, Conjunctive use, Water institutions, Institutional change. |
| JEL: | Q25 D23 H21 P14 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201415&r=agr |
| By: | Katsushi S. Imai; Samuel Kobina Annim; Veena S. Kulkarni; Raghav Gaiha |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1409&r=agr |
| By: | Karl Jandoc (Department of Economics, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai`i, USA); Ruben Juarez (Department of Economics, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, and University of Hawai`i Economic Research Organization, Honolulu, Hawai`i, USA); James Roumasset (University of Hawai‘i at Manoa & University of Hawai’i Economic Research Organization) |
| Abstract: | Both the economics and the engineering of irrigation design are typically based on the assumption of a single source. The more general economic problem is to determine which sources should be developed and how water should be allocated and delivered to various receptor-farmers. This is a problem in network economics. We begin our exploration with the problem of allocating irrigation water from existing sources when the conveyance structures are already in place. Transporting water from a particular source to a farmer entails a conveyance loss such that only a fraction of water sent from the source is received by the farmer. Optimal allocation requires that irrigation demands are matched with the least-cost source, including conveyance losses. Economic networks are then defined as optimally-matched subnetworks. Allocation within each economic network is then determined by equalizing the marginal products of water across farmers, reckoned at the source. Different cases are considered depending whether the sources have similar or different cost functions. We provide a modest beginning to the problem of endogenous sources by examining the problem of locating a single source within the network. We also provide a possible reconciliation of equity and efficiency objectives |
| Keywords: | Water networks, Spatial efficiency, Conveyance losses. |
| JEL: | Q25 D85 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201416&r=agr |
| By: | Matthias Weitzel |
| Abstract: | A simple model is used to illustrate the effects of a reduction in (marginal) abatement cost in a two country setting. It can be shown that a the country experiencing a cost reduction can actually be worse off. This holds true for a variety of quantity and price based emission policies. The most important channel is that a country with lower abatement costs engages in additional abatement effort for which it is not compensated. Under a quantity based policy with a given allocation, a seller of permits can also be negatively affected from a lower carbon price. We also argue that abatement cost shocks to renewable energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are different in terms of their effects on international energy markets. A shock to renewable energy reduces fossil fuel rents benefiting energy importers, while the opposite holds for a shock to CCS. The channels obtained in the theoretical model can be confirmed in a more complex global computable general equilibrium model. Some regions are indeed worse off from shock that lowers their abatement costs |
| Keywords: | Climate policy, prices vs. quantities, renewable energy, CCS, technological uncertainty, CGE model |
| JEL: | C68 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1926&r=agr |
| By: | Randall Jackson (Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | There is an increasing demand for models that address both environment and economy, and that also estimate or forecast the impacts of introducing new and markedly different technologies from those already existing in the systems under study. Because most conventional models are calibrated to recent data characterizing current economic structure and conditions, their standard turn-key operation will need to be replaced by more comprehensive algorithms and procedures designed to explicitly accommodate shifts in technology and economic structure. This paper lays out one viable alternative for integrating environmental and economic modeling frameworks, and focuses specifically on one of the major challenges to this kind of modeling, that of dovetailing life cycle assessment and input-output modeling frameworks. (Acknowledgements: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1235684 and USDA NIFA Award 2012-67009-19660.) |
| Keywords: | environement, environmental modeling, life cycle assessment |
| JEL: | Q55 |
| Date: | 2014–02–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rri:wpaper:201401&r=agr |
| By: | Anna Pechan (University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Climate change poses a new challenge in particular to long-lasting electricity networks. At the same time, this industry is highly regulated, which greatly affects the behavior of network operators. In this paper, the impact of regulation in general and of the German electricity grid regulation in particular on anticipatory adaptation investments is analyzed. The qualitative analysis shows that in general a whole set of elements of the regulatory model and their coordination influence the decision of ex ante adaptation to climate change. A careful and balanced design, e.g. of efficiency and quality measurement, is thus crucial to avoid inadequate adaptation. The regulation in Germany discourages flexible adaptation to extreme weather events (EWEs). For irreversible adaptation of new and existing infrastructure to EWEs, the incentives highly depend on the cost approval of the regulator. Currently, the regulation discourages this type of adaptation. But if the additional costs can be claimed, the network operator is indifferent to adapt. Similarly, incentives to irreversibly adapt existing and new infrastructure to slow onset events (SOEs) range between excessively high and undistorted depending on the regulator’s discretion. Undistorted means that the decision to implement adaptation measures is not biased by regulation. Undistorted are also the incentives for flexible measures to adapt to SOEs. Only in the undistorted cases, the risk of inadequate adaptation are borne by the network operator. |
| Keywords: | Electricity Networks, Regulation, Climate Change, Germany |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:dpaper:365&r=agr |
| By: | Katsushi S. Imai; Samuel Kobina Annim; Veena S. Kulkarni; Raghav Gaiha |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1411&r=agr |