|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2015‒02‒28
forty-two papers chosen by |
| By: | D'Souza, Anna |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197200&r=agr |
| By: | Heckelei, Thomas |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197177&r=agr |
| By: | Katsushi S. Imai (School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester (UK) and RIEB, Kobe University (Japan) ); Md. Faruq Hasan (Department of Agricultural Extension, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Bangladesh ); Eleonora Porreca (University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy ) |
| Abstract: | The present study examines the relationship between farm size, agricultural productivity and access to agricultural extension programmes in reducing poverty and vulnerability drawing upon LSMS panel data in Uganda in 2009-2012 covering three rounds. We first estimate household crop productivity using stochastic frontier analysis that can allow for stochastic shocks in the production function. Second, we have found a negative association between farm size and agricultural productivity for output per hectare, intensity of land use and net profit per hectare, but not for technical efficiency, suggesting that smallholders are generally more productive than large-holders. It is misleading to consolidate land or neglect smallholders in favour of large farmers on the grounds of economy of scale in crop production. Third, the effect of different types of agricultural extension programmes - namely NAADS or government, NGO, cooperatives, large farmer, input supplier and other types extension service providers - on the crop productivity is estimated by treatment effects model which controls for the sample selection bias associated with household participation in the agricultural extension as well as unobservable factors at household levels. It is found that participation in agricultural extension programs significantly raised crop productivity only in a few cases, but increased household expenditure per capita in all cases. Fourth, a substantial share of households was found to be vulnerable and education was found to be the key to reducing poverty and vulnerability. Finally, improvement in agricultural productivity reduces static poverty, but does not lead to reduction in household vulnerability. Agricultural policies tailored to local needs, such as agricultural extension programmes, should be thus combined with poverty or vulnerability alleviation policies targeting smallholders or the landless households. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Productivity, Farm Size, Agricultural Extension, Poverty, Vulnerability, Treatment Effects Model, Uganda |
| JEL: | C21 C31 I32 N57 O13 O16 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2015-06&r=agr |
| By: | Gabriel, Shitu Adenipekun |
| Abstract: | Thesis submitted to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Science (Agriculture) in Agricultural Extension Education. Advisor: G.N. Maraddi |
| Keywords: | Precision farming, Crop production, Karnataka, Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:inuasr:196802&r=agr |
| By: | Ujjayant Chakravorty ; Marie-Helene Hubert ; Michel Moreaux ; Linda Nostbakken |
| Abstract: | More than 40% of US corn is now used to produce biofuels, which are used as substitutes for gasoline in transportation. Biofuels have been blamed universally for recent increases in world food prices. Many studies have shown that these energy mandates in the US and EU may have a large (30-60%) impact on food prices. In this paper we use a partial equilibrium framework to show that demand-side effects - in the form of population growth and income-driven preferences for meat and dairy products rather than cereals - may play as much of a role in raising food prices as biofuel policy. By specifying a Ricardian model with a differential land quality, we find that a significant amount of new land will be converted to farming which is likely to cause a modest increase in food prices. However, biofuels may increase aggregate world carbon emissions, due to leakage from lower oil prices and conversion of pasture and forest land for farming. |
| Keywords: | Clean Energy, Food Demand, Land Quality, Renewable Fuel Standards, Transportation |
| JEL: | Q24 Q32 Q42 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0805&r=agr |
| By: | Glauber, Joseph ; Westhoff, Pat |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197159&r=agr |
| By: | Hurley, Terrance M. ; Pardey, Philip G. ; Rao, Xudong |
| Abstract: | Final (updated) version posted Dec. 1, 2014 |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umisbr:159649&r=agr |
| By: | Hobbs, Jill E. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197191&r=agr |
| By: | Kajisa, Kei |
| Abstract: | We analyze a rice farmer panel data set that was collected in 2007/08 and 2011 in Mozambique. We found that in a rainfed area, farmers expanded their cultivated area as local paddy prices increased in parallel with international rice price trends. However, the average yield decreased as the farmers were approaching to marginal land of their land frontier. To improve yield for further production increases, the production mode must shift from extensification to intensification through the introduction of land-saving technologies, such as irrigation development. A lesson learnt from the Chokwe Irrigation Scheme, the largest scheme of the country, is useful for this aim. A key lesson is that assuring water access is crucially important because timely water application directly increases output and also increases the returns to chemical fertilizer use. In Chokwe, a recent increase in the real price of modern inputs, such as fertilizer and tractors, saw farmers substitute family labor for modern inputs, that is, a return to traditional farming. To recapture the momentum of modernization, our analyses suggest that training and market access are important. Those farmers who received a training program did not give up using animal traction. Additionally, those who had access to rice buyers, kept using chemical fertilizer. |
| Keywords: | rice farming , Mozambique , irrigation , modern inputs , rice production training |
| Date: | 2014–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:86&r=agr |
| By: | Lasse Brune ; Xavier Giné ; Jessica Goldberg ; Dean Yang |
| Abstract: | We implemented a randomized intervention among Malawian farmers aimed at facilitating formal savings for agricultural inputs. Treated farmers were offered the opportunity to have their cash crop harvest proceeds deposited directly into new bank accounts in their own names, while farmers in the control group were paid harvest proceeds in cash (the status quo). The treatment led to higher savings in the months immediately prior to the next agricultural planting season, and raised agricultural input usage in that season. We also find positive treatment effects on subsequent crop sale proceeds and household expenditures. Because the treatment effect on savings was only a small fraction of the treatment effect on the value of agricultural inputs, mechanisms other than alleviation of savings constraints per se are needed to explain the treatment’s impact on input utilization. We discuss other possible mechanisms through which treatment effects may have operated. |
| JEL: | D03 D91 O16 Q14 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20946&r=agr |
| By: | Mina, Christian D. ; Reyes, Celia M. ; Gloria, Reneli Ann B. ; Mercado, Sarah Joy P. |
| Abstract: | The situation of the poor who participate in the country`s agricultural sector has been exacerbated by the increasingly prevalent natural calamities, pests, and other such unpredictable event. However, there are certain risk management tools that aid in lessening the farmers` financial burden when losses related to such natural disasters are incurred. One of them is the crop or agricultural insurance. In the Philippines, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) is the government organization that implements rice, corn, high-value commercial crop, livestock, noncrop agricultural asset, fishery, and term insurance programs. The question thus arises regarding the effectiveness and sustainability of the said programs. It is thus the purpose of this study to review the design and implementation of the PCIC`s insurance programs. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions with various PCIC clients and partners in selected regions of the country, together with desktop review and secondary data analysis, were conducted. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, agricultural insurance, Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, design, implementation, process evaluation |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2015-07&r=agr |
| By: | Douglas C. Lippoldt |
| Abstract: | This report considers developments in agricultural patents since 1990 and their economic implications. It first provides an overview of the international framework for intellectual property protection and of the general trends in the stringency of protection in OECD countries. It then presents developments in the number of patents originating from OECD and other countries that are granted in Europe and the United States, for all fields and for agriculture and food technologies. These illustrate the leading role played by OECD countries in the provision of successful applications, although non-OECD countries increased their share of the total between 1990 and 2010. Finally, econometric analysis is used to assess the relationships between patenting and selected indicators of innovation and economic performance. The results points to favourable economic developments associated with the patent reforms in the recent decades. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property rights, patents, performance, intellectual property protection, innovation, agriculture |
| JEL: | O34 Q16 Q17 |
| Date: | 2015–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:73-en&r=agr |
| By: | Laure Kuhfuss (Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews ); Raphaële Préget (INRA, UMR 1135 LAMETA, F-34000 Montpellier, France ); Sophie Thoyer (Montpellier SupAgro, UMR 1135 LAMETA, F-34000 Montpellier, France ); Nick Hanley (Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews ) |
| Abstract: | Using a choice experiment, this paper shows that the introduction of a conditional collective bonus in an agri-environmental scheme (AES) can improve farmers’ participation and increase land enrolment for lower overall budgetary costs. This monetary bonus is paid per hectare of enrolled land in addition to the usual agri-environmental payment if a given threshold is reached in terms of farmers’ participation in the region or catchment of interest. Using a choice experiment, we estimate the preferences of wine growers in the South of France for such a bonus. We show that it contributes to increased expectations of farmers on others’ participation, therefore changing the pro-environmental social norm and initiating group dynamics towards the adoption of less pesticide-intensive farming practices over time. |
| Keywords: | payment for environmental services, choice experiment, collective incentive, agri-environmental schemes, social norm, behaviour |
| JEL: | Q15 Q18 Q25 Q28 Q53 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sss:wpaper:2015-06&r=agr |
| By: | Jing You ; Sangui Wang ; Laurence Roope |
| Abstract: | We analyse intertemporal poverty in two important dimensions - income and nutrition - in less developed northwest China during 2000-2004. A generalised recursive selection model is proposed which enables simultaneous estimation of the causes of intertemporal poverty within and between dimensions. Improvement in agricultural production is crucial for reducing both dimensions of intertemporal poverty. We find evidence suggestive of intertemporal income-nutrition poverty traps. Higher labour productivity, especially in agriculture rather than local off-farm activities or out-migration, holds much potential for breaking the vicious circle. Agricultural innovation and mechanisation, regarded by the government as indispensable, yield mixed outcomes for intertemporal multi-dimensional poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | intertemporal poverty, multi-dimensional poverty, rural China |
| JEL: | D63 I3 O52 |
| Date: | 2014–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:wps/2014-36&r=agr |
| By: | Stephan Dietrich (Georg-August-University Göttingen ); Marcela Ibanez (Georg-August-University Göttingen ) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impacts of traditional agricultural insurance that offers protection against climatic shocks on small-scale tobacco farmers in Colombia. We analyze the impacts of access to the insurance on household financial outcomes after a period of severe climatic events that caused substantial crop failures. Our identification strategy benefits from a natural experimental setup of the form in which the insurance was launched. We find that tobacco producers with access to the insurance program were less likely to acquire informal loans, were less likely to use loans to repay debts, and had access to loans with lower interest rates and longer maturation periods. Moreover, access to this program was positively associated with increased savings and accumulation of liquid assets. |
| Keywords: | Insurance; Credit; Natural Disasters; Risk Management; Colombia |
| JEL: | G22 G23 O13 O16 Q14 |
| Date: | 2015–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:165&r=agr |
| By: | Argent, Jonathan ; Begazo, Tania |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between competitive, well-functioning food markets and consumer welfare. The paper explores two key food markets in Kenya -- sugar and maize -- and argues that a variety of factors conspire to distort market prices upward. Distortionary factors include import tariff policy, nontariff barriers, potential anticompetitive conduct by firms, and direct state intervention in markets. Changes in sugar and maize prices are shown to have significant welfare effects on consumers. Equivalent income effects are estimated using the most recent available representative household survey data -- the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey 2005/06. The paper shows that relaxing trade barriers to allow sugar prices to fall by 20 percent could reduce poverty by 1.5 percent. Similarly, adjusting government interventions in the maize market, which have been shown to inflate maize prices by 20 percent on average, could reduce poverty by 1.8 percent. The magnitude of the estimated income effects may vary based on updated household-level consumptiondata, assumptions regarding demand elasticities, and estimates of import parity prices for these staples. However, in all the scenarios, more competitive prices have a larger average effect on the poorest households in urban and rural areas, supporting the relevance of effective competition policies for poverty reduction strategies. |
| Keywords: | Markets and Market Access,Food&Beverage Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Climate Change Economics,Emerging Markets |
| Date: | 2015–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7179&r=agr |
| By: | Mina, Christian D. ; Reyes, Celia M. ; Gloria, Reneli Ann B. |
| Abstract: | Under the Aquino administration, premium subsidies on agricultural insurance have significantly increased, mostly due to the special programs being implemented by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC). This paper attempts to describe the various fully subsidized agricultural insurance programs of the PCIC, the rationale of each, the beneficiary selection procedures that they undertake, and highlight the implementation issues and concerns that might have policy and welfare implications crucial to their success. The paper finds that the lack of predictability or continuity in implementing these programs, coupled with difficulties in interagency coordination, has posed operational challenges in implementing these. There is also a need for an overarching policy to guide the administration of government subsidies in agricultural insurance, as well as guidelines on prioritization of beneficiaries, to help PCIC offer continued services to the identified beneficiaries and determine who to prioritize. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, agricultural credit, agricultural insurance, Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, government premium subsidy, DAR ARB-AIP, Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), DA-Sikat Saka, WARA, NIA Third Cropping Rice Program |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2015-08&r=agr |
| By: | Kurosaki, Takashi ; Wada, Kazuya |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we comprehensively describe spatial patterns of long-term changes in Indian agriculture at the district level. Variables of concern include the land use intensity, the ratio of rice and wheat in areas under foodgrains, the ratio of non-foodgrains in gross cultivated area, the fertilizer use intensity, and individual crop shares in gross cultivated areas. As a byproduct of the descriptive analysis, we propose a new regional classification of Indian districts based on their similarity in rainfall, the initial cropping and land-use patterns, and the initial condition and changes in irrigation. The proposed classification has a reasonable explanatory power in describing the spatial patterns of long-term changes at the district level. |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2014-10&r=agr |
| By: | Jonathan Brooks ; Alan Matthews |
| Abstract: | This report examines the different channels through which trade openness (and reforms to achieve it) can affect a country’s food security. The overall conclusion is that trade openness has a positive net impact on food security, although specific constituencies, including some poor households, could see their immediate food security threatened by the withdrawal of trade protection. The challenge for policymakers is to design flanking policies which enable countries to reap aggregate gains yet mitigate specific losses. Those policies include social protection and the provision of risk management tools, allied with investments in productivity so that average incomes rise to the extent that any adverse shock to incomes is unlikely to jeopardise food security. Developing countries are increasingly able to deploy such targeted instruments. Lessons are also being learned with respect to the political economy of trade reform, such that changes can be introduced in a way that minimises adjustment stresses and helps build the consensus needed to lock in the benefits of trade policy reform. |
| Keywords: | trade, food security, liberalisation, agriculture |
| JEL: | F10 F13 F14 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2015–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:77-en&r=agr |
| By: | Gopalakrishnan, Pawan ; Saha, Anuradha |
| Abstract: | We build a two sector (agriculture and manufacturing) heterogenous agent model to analyze the effects of a food subsidy program on output and prices. The government may finance this subsidy by levying a distortionary income tax or a tax on manufacturing consumption. We find that in the long run the program increases the food output but lowers the manufacturing output, in both methods of its financing. While the price of food crop relative to the price of manufacturing good falls with subsidies in the income tax regime, the effect is opposite in the consumption tax regime. We also find that the food subsidy program may have long-run welfare gains for the two agents, but only for a certain range of subsidies. However, our simulations suggest that there is no subsidies which benefit both agents at the same time. Further, financing this program using an indirect consumption tax is a Pareto improvement over the direct income tax regime. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous Growth, Fiscal Policy, Food Security, Welfare |
| JEL: | E2 E62 H29 O1 O11 |
| Date: | 2015–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62089&r=agr |
| By: | Briones, Roehlano M. ; Galang, Ivory Myka R. ; Israel, Danilo C. |
| Abstract: | Initiatives toward the attainment of global food security have been done not just unilaterally but also regionally and globally. Among the platforms which have made great efforts in this aspect is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In 2015, the Philippines will host the next APEC Summit. Food security shall be high on the agenda of the Summit and of various meetings. To provide advice to the Philippine Government on the possible Philippine position on food security during its hosting, this paper recommends that the Philippines should adopt agribusiness development based on sustainable food supply chains as its priority advocacy, while continuing to promote elements of food security as expressed in the APEC Road Map. This "branding" integrates a strong position on Blue Economy with the agribusiness development and road map thrusts of the DTI and DA. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, food security, Blue Economy, agribusiness development, sustainable food supply chains |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2015-19&r=agr |
| By: | Pierre-André Jouvet ; Julien Wolfersberger |
| Abstract: | We study sustainable growth in an economy with natural land endowments, specifically forests, and the need for public policies to quantify the financial value of green capital, measured by forests. Exhaustible primary forests are first depleted for agriculture and production, until a switch occurs to the renewable secondary forests. The introduction of REDD+ in the economy reduces agricultural expansion, since the social planner invests in green capital, at the expense of the physical one. We show that the optimal REDD+ national strategy highly depends on the development stage of the recipient economy. In the end, we prove our findings by calibrating our model to Indonesia and illustrate recommendations for public policies. |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, Development, Forest Transition, Green Capital, Growth |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cec:wpaper:1504&r=agr |
| By: | Toole, Andrew ; Kuchler, Fred |
| Abstract: | This report explores the structure and function of the U.S. nutrition research system, with an emphasis on trends in Federal support. It describes how nutrition research is used, especially for nutrition education and communication, but also for regulation and food assistance. The report uses the Human Nutrition Research Information Management database maintained by the National Institutes of Health to analyze longterm trends. Federal investments in nutrition research grew from 1985 to 2009 in real terms, but the portfolio of research changed. Over time, the share of nutrition research support by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services increased while support by the U.S. Department of Agriculture decreased. This shift changed how research topics were selected and funded within the Federal portfolio. More research is funded through competitive grants than through intramural or formula funding, and a broader set of academic institutions now participates in nutrition research. |
| Keywords: | Federal research, research and development, public investment, nutrition information system, Human Nutrition Research Information Management (HNRIM), formula funding, competitive funding, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:197544&r=agr |
| By: | Oliveira, Victor ; Frazao, Elizabeth |
| Abstract: | The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental food, nutrition education (including breastfeeding promotion and support), and referrals to health care and other social services to low-income, nutritionally at-risk women, infants, and children up to 5 years of age. On average, over half of all infants in the United States, over a quarter of all pregnant and postpartum women, and over a quarter of all children less than 5 years of age participate in the program. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which authorized funds for WIC, is set to expire on September 30, 2015. The reauthorization process provides an important opportunity to reexamine the operation and effectiveness of the program and to consider improvements. This report explains how WIC works, examines program trends, and discusses some of the major economic issues facing the program (including the impact of economic conditions on participation, some lesser known effects of WIC, and equity and cost-management issues). |
| Keywords: | Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, WIC, spillover effects, geographic distribution, economic conditions, infant formula rebates, price insensitivity, equity issues, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:197543&r=agr |
| By: | Ramanan Laxminarayan ; Thomas Van Boeckel ; Aude Teillant |
| Abstract: | Antimicrobials have been used in human medicine and in livestock production for more than 60 years, improving human and animal health but also fostering the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens worldwide. This report focuses on the specific issue of the economic value of antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) to producers and consumers. After estimating orders of magnitude of current antimicrobial consumption in livestock globally, the report investigates the potential effects of restricting AGPs on livestock production globally. The growth response to AGPs appears to be small in optimised production systems, suggesting that the economic impacts of a ban on AGPs could be limited in high-income industrialized countries but potentially higher in lower income countries with less developed hygiene and production practices. With no major changes in policy, global consumption of antimicrobials in food-producing animals is projected to rise by two-thirds by 2030, with the majority of that increase occurring in emerging economies where the demand for livestock products, especially poultry, is growing fastest. |
| Keywords: | economic value, animal health, antibiotics, global mapping, animal productivity, antimicrobials, food animal, livestock growth promotion, AGPs, antimicrobial consumption, antimicrobial projections, antimicrobial growth promoters, antimicrobial resistance |
| Date: | 2015–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:78-en&r=agr |
| By: | Mikołaj Czajkowski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw ); Wiktor Budziński (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw ); Danny Campbell (University of Stirling, Stirling Management School, Economics Division ); Marek Giergiczny (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw ); Nick Hanley (University of St Andrews, School of Geography and Sustainable Development ) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates spatial heterogeneity of the public’s preferences for the implementation of a new country-wide forest management and protection program in Poland. Spatial econometric methods and high resolution geographical information system (GIS) data related to forest characteristics are used to explain individual-specific willingness to pay (WTP) values, derived from a discrete choice experiment (DCE) study. We find that respondents’ WTP is higher the closer they live to their nearest forest, and the scarcer forests are in the area where they live. Interestingly, the more highly ecologically valuable forests in respondents’ area, the more they prefer extending areas of national forest protection. In addition, we investigate spatial patterns in individual-specific WTP scores and in latent class membership probabilities, finding that preferences are indeed spatially clustered. We argue that this clustering should be taken into account in both benefits analysis and policy-making. |
| Keywords: | discrete choice experiment, contingent valuation, willingness to pay, spatial heterogeneity of preferences, forest management, passive protection, litter, tourist infrastructure, mixed logit, Kriging, spatial-lag |
| JEL: | Q23 Q28 I38 Q51 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2015-06&r=agr |
| By: | Ansah, Isaac Gershon ; Gardebroek, Cornelis ; Ihle, Rico ; Jaleta, Moti |
| Abstract: | Recent global food price developments have spurred renewed interest in analyzing integration of local markets to global markets. A popular approach to quantify market integration is cointegration analysis. However, local market price data often has missing values, outliers, or short and incomplete series, making cointegration analysis impossible. Instead of imputing missing data, this paper proposes cluster analysis as an alternative methodological approach for analyzing market integration. In particular, we perform cluster analyses on various statistical indicators of eight Ethiopian local price series to analyze how they relate to world market prices. Moreover, recognizing several policy regimes in the period 2007-2010 we investigate how market clusters change over time. Results show that in periods with wheat imports via the private sector, several local markets are clustered with the world market. In periods with government controlled imports and exchange rate collapse, the characteristics of domestic prices were strongly dissimilar from those of world market prices. |
| Keywords: | Cluster analysis, Sub-Saharan Africa, market integration, missing data, wheat markets, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, Public Economics, C22, Q11, Q13, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197169&r=agr |
| By: | Mikolaj Czajkowski (University of Warsaw, Department of Economic Sciences, Poland ); Wiktor Budzinski (University of Warsaw, Department of Economic Sciences, Poland ); Danny Campbell (University of Stirling, Stirling Management School, Economics Division, UK ); Marek Giergiczny (University of Warsaw, Department of Economic Sciences, Poland ; Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews ) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates spatial heterogeneity of the public’s preferences for the implementation of a new country-wide forest management and protection program in Poland. Spatial econometric methods and high resolution geographical information system (GIS) data related to forest characteristics are used to explain individual-specific willingness to pay (WTP) values, derived from a discrete choice experiment (DCE) study. We find that respondents’ WTP is higher the closer they live to their nearest forest, and the scarcer forests are in the area where they live. Interestingly, the more highly ecologically valuable forests in respondents’ area, the more they prefer extending areas of national forest protection. In addition, we investigate spatial patterns in individual-specific WTP scores and in latent class membership probabilities, finding that preferences are indeed spatially clustered. We argue that this clustering should be taken into account in both benefits analysis and policy-making. |
| Keywords: | discrete choice experiment, contingent valuation, willingness to pay, spatial heterogeneity of preferences, forest management, passive protection, litter, tourist infrastructure, mixed logit, Kriging, spatial-lag |
| JEL: | Q23 Q28 I38 Q51 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sss:wpaper:2015-07&r=agr |
| By: | de Nicola, Francesca |
| Abstract: | Farmers in developing countries face a wide array of risks. Yet they often lack formal financial instruments to protect against risks. This paper examines the impact on consumption, investment, and welfare of the separate provision of three financial products: weather insurance, savings, and credit. The paper develops a dynamic stochastic mode to capture the essential features of the lives of West African rural households. The model is calibrated with data from farmers in Burkina Faso and Senegal, to assess quantitatively the effects of three policy interventions. For each intervention the analysis first considers a benchmark scenario that abstracts from the flaws that affect each instrument; later the assumptions are relaxed. Weather insurance offers the largest welfare gains at each level of wealth, although the gains are significantly reduced by introducing a multiple on the insurance premium. Over time, however, savings can lead to substantial gains, higher than those achievable by unsubsidized weather insurance. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Climate Change Economics,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform |
| Date: | 2015–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7187&r=agr |
| By: | Elissa Cousin (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne ); Emmanuelle Taugourdeau (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics ) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we focus on the issue of water loss caused by leakage from obsolete water mains. We develop in this theoretical paper, a cost minimization problem of a water utility that faces leakage from water mains. Our framework enables us to determine the optimal water main quality index according to different parameters such as the cost of water production, the quantity demanded and the cost of installing good quality water mains. |
| Keywords: | Water Loss, infrastructure quality, cost minimization. |
| JEL: | D24 Q21 Q25 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:15016&r=agr |
| By: | Michelson, Hope |
| Abstract: | This research analyzes the relationship between a farmers' participation in Nicaraguan supermarket supply chains and the market entries and exit of neighboring farmers. Drawing on insights from the technology adoption literature on learning and experimentation, we incorporate measures of neighbor experience into a model of a farmer's decision to join or quit these markets. We also test for strategic delay by small farmers and estimate the price that some farmers may pay for experimentation. Our results suggest both that that neighbors' exits negatively influence a farmer's own decision to join the supply chain and that some farmers engage in strategic delay. Early adopters bear costs of their neighbors' "free riding" in the form of higher product rejection rates and lower annual transactions with supermarkets. Evidence of strategic delay on the part of farmers suggests a social process rather than a firm-level roll out of new contracts within a given village. |
| Keywords: | contract farming, supermarkets, market adoption, Latin America, Walmart, Nicaragua, strategic delay |
| JEL: | O1 O12 O13 |
| Date: | 2015–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62239&r=agr |
| By: | Xueting Zhao (Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University ) |
| Abstract: | This study focuses on the measure of inter-regional trade of virtual water, defined as the freshwater consumed for producing traded goods and services, to explain the relationship between China’s regional virtual water and the increasing water demand. By using the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) tables of 2002 and 2007 with the regional sectoral water use, this study analyzes virtual water in trade, domestic trade in virtual water, and the regional trade balance of virtual water. The results show that: (1) water use efficiency has increased in China; (2) the major source of the regional virtual water in trade are domestic inter-regional trade; and (3) a region’s virtual water depends on its water resources availability, economic structure, as well as the region’s position in domestic supply chain. |
| Keywords: | virtual water, multi-regional input-output(MRO)model, China |
| JEL: | C67 Q25 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rri:wpaper:2014wp04&r=agr |
| By: | Durevall, Dick (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University ) |
| Abstract: | Consumers pay a premium for Fair Trade coffee, often assuming that it mainly benefits poor coffee farmers. However, several studies report that most of the premium accrues to actors in the consumer countries, such as roasters and retailers. This paper analyses how the returns to Fair Trade are distributed among bean producer countries, roasters and retailers, and Fairtrade Sweden, using scanner data on 185 products from Sweden and information about costs of production. The distribution depends on how much more costly it is to produce Fair Trade coffee compared to conventional coffee, given costs of beans and licences. Assuming the difference is 5 SEK per kg (about USD 0.80), which is on the high side, roasters and retailers get 61%, while producer countries, i.e., coffee farmers, cooperatives, middlemen, exporters and Fairtrade International, get 31%. The rest accrues to Fairtrade Sweden. These estimates are uncertain, but there is there strong evidence that Fair Trade retail prices are higher than the level attributable to the costs of Fair Trade beans and licences. |
| Keywords: | coffee supply chains; ethic labels; Fair Trade premium; Fairtrade; market power; organic coffee |
| JEL: | D43 O19 P46 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0615&r=agr |
| By: | Beghin, John ; Bureau, Jean-Christophe ; Gohin, Alex |
| Abstract: | We assess the impact of a potential TTIP bilateral free trade agreement on the EU and US bio-economies (feedstock, biofuels, by-products, and related competing crops) and major trade partners in these markets. The analysis develops a multi-market model that incorporates bilateral trade flows (US to EU, EU to US, and similarly with third countries) and is calibrated to OECD-FAO baseline for 2013–2022 to account for recent policy decisions. The major policy reforms from a TTIP involve tariff and TRQ liberalization and their direct contractionary impact on US sugar supply, EU biofuel production, and indirect negative effect on US HFCS production. EU sugar and isoglucose productions expand along with US ethanol and biodiesel and oilseed crushing. EU sugar would flow to the US, US biofuels and vegetable oil to the EU. We further quantify nontariff measures (NTM) affecting these trade flows between the EU and the US. EU oilseed production contracts, and EU crushing expands with improving crushing margins following reduced NTM frictions. Our analysis reveals limited net welfare gains with most net benefits reaped by Brazil and not the two trading partners of the TTIP. |
| Keywords: | TTIP, bilateral trade agreement, biofuel, ethanol, biodiesel, sugar, nontariff measure, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, F13, Q17, Q42, Q48, |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197153&r=agr |
| By: | Sebastien Pouliot (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) ); Bruce A. Babcock (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) ) |
| Abstract: | Past studies that examine the impact of ethanol mandates on fuel prices make the assumption that ethanol and gasoline are perfect substitutes because they are both sources of energy in transportation fuels. These studies, however, have been of limited use in informing current policy debates because the short- to medium-run reality is one of strong regulatory and infrastructure rigidities that restrict how ethanol can be consumed in the United States. Our objective here is to improve understanding of how these rigidities change the findings of existing studies. We accomplish this by estimating the impacts of higher ethanol mandates using a new open-economy, partial equilibrium model of gasoline, ethanol, and blending whereby motorists buy one of two fuels: E10, which is a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline, or E85 which is a high ethanol blend. The model is calibrated to recent data to provide current estimates. We find that the effects of increasing ethanol mandates that are physically feasible to meet on the price of E10 are close to zero. This result is robust to different gasoline supply elasticities and gasoline export demand elasticities. The impact of the size of the corn harvest on E10 prices is much larger than the effects of mandates. Increased mandates can have a large effect on the price of E85 if the mandates are increased to levels that approach consumption capacity. These findings show that concern about the consumer price of fuel do not justify a reduction in feasible ethanol mandates. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel, Ethanol, Gasoline, Mandate. JEL codes: Q18, Q41, Q42. |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:14-wp551&r=agr |
| By: | Kilic, Talip ; Sohnesen, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Does the same question asked of the same population yield the same answer in face-to-face interviews when other parts of the questionnaire are altered? If not, what would be the implications for proxy-based poverty measurement? Relying on a randomized household survey experiment implemented in Malawi, this study finds that observationally equivalent as well as same households answer the same questions differently when interviewed with a short questionnaire versus the longer counterpart that, in a prior survey round, would have informed the prediction model for a proxy-based poverty measurement exercise. The analysis yields statistically significant differences in reporting between the short and long questionnaires across all topics and types of questions. The reporting differences result in significantly different predicted poverty rates and Gini coefficients. While the difference in predictions ranges from approximately 3 to 7 percentage points depending on the model specification, restricting the proxies to those collected prior the variation in questionnaire design, namely demographic variables from the household roster and location fixed effects, leads to same predictions in both samples. The findings emphasize the need for further methodological research, and suggest that short questionnaires designed for proxy-based poverty measurement should be piloted, prior to implementation, in parallel with the longer questionnaire from which they have evolved. The fact that at the median it took 25 minutes to complete the food and non-food consumption sections in the long questionnaire also implies that the implementation of these sections might not be as overly costly as usually assumed. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Regional Economic Development,Social Analysis,Food&Beverage Industry |
| Date: | 2015–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7182&r=agr |
| By: | Lewis, Karen |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197165&r=agr |
| By: | Beghin, John C. ; Miet Maertens ; Johan Swinnen |
| Abstract: | We assess the literature on public and private quality standards and their impact in food markets, international trade, and global supply chains. We focus on their effects on welfare, trade, industrial organization, and labor markets and with special attention to the North-South context. We also attempt to better characterize when these measures constitute protectionism, a complicate task. We look at studies investigating public and private standards and across various quantitative approaches and countries. These standards have complex effects. The evidence is mixed regarding standards as catalyst for or impediment against trade and development, reflecting the complexity of these effects and their specificity to industries and countries. The analysis of standard-like nontariff measures and their impacts does not lead to sweeping prescriptions for policy reforms. We identify more modest prescriptions and make some recommendations for fruitful research directions. |
| Keywords: | standards; SPS; NTM; trade; Welfare; value chain; supply chain; nontariff measures; North-South |
| JEL: | F F13 F15 O19 Q17 |
| Date: | 2015–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:38908&r=agr |
| By: | Barichello, Rick ; Grant, Michael ; Liew, Mark |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iats14:197161&r=agr |
| By: | Stuermer, Martin (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas ) |
| Abstract: | My paper provides long-run evidence on the dynamic effects of supply and demand shocks on mineral commodity prices. I assemble and analyze a new data set of price and production levels of copper, lead, tin, and zinc from 1840 to 2010. Price fluctuations are primarily driven by demand rather than supply shocks. Demand shocks affect the price persistently for up to five-teen years, whereas the effect of mineral supply shocks persists for a maximum of five years. My paper shows that price surges caused by rapid industrialization are a recurrent phenomenon throughout history. Mineral commodity prices return to their declining or stable trends in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Mineral commodity markets; prices; non-renewable resources; SVAR |
| JEL: | E30 N50 Q31 Q33 |
| Date: | 2014–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:1414&r=agr |
| By: | Tsionas, Efthymios ; Kumbhakar, Subal C. ; Malikov, Emir |
| Abstract: | This article offers a methodology to address the endogeneity of inputs in the input distance function (IDF) formulation of the production processes. We propose to tackle endogenous input ratios appearing in the normalized IDF by considering a flexible (simultaneous) system of the IDF and the first-order conditions from the firm's cost minimization problem. Our model can accommodate both technical and (input) allocative inefficiencies amongst firms. We also present the algorithm for quantifying the cost of allocative inefficiency. We showcase our cost-system-based model by applying it to study the production of Norwegian dairy farms during the 1991--2008 period. Among other things, we find both an economically and statistically significant improvement in the levels of technical efficiency among dairy farms associated with the 1997 quota scheme change, which a more conventional single-equation stochastic frontier model appears to be unable to detect. |
| Keywords: | Cost Minimization, Dairy Production, Dairy Quota, Endogeneity, Input Distance Function, Stochastic Frontier |
| JEL: | C33 D24 Q12 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62329&r=agr |
| By: | Orachos Napasintuwong (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics,Faculty of Economics,Kasetsart University,Thailand ) |
| Abstract: | The seed industry in Thailand is among the advanced and well-developed industries in Asia. Maize contributes to the largest share of seed production and trade. The government and international organizations contributed significantly to the success of the maize seed industry in Thailand by building infrastructure for research and promoting the role of the private sector in the industry during the early years. The private sector also added to the industry’s rapid expansion through constant and heavy investment in research and development. Thailand’s goal of becoming a seed hub center in this region is bolstered by its suitable geography and weather, numerous highly trained plant scientists, wide diversity of germplasm, and membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC), which will come into effect at the end of 2015. Despite promising motivations, domestic regulations could be prohibitive factors in Thailand’s becoming competitive in the regional seed market. This paper provides the history of development; an analysis of the current industry’s structure, conduct, and performance; and a review of related regulations of the maize seed industry in Thailand. The lessons learned from the success of the maize seed industry in Thailand could provide implications for the development of the seed industry in other developing countries. |
| Keywords: | seed, maize, privatization, intellectual property rights, IPR, structure, conduct, performance |
| JEL: | Q13 L1 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kau:wpaper:201502&r=agr |