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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2015‒08‒19
73 papers chosen by |
| By: | Pan, Yao (Aalto University); Smith, Stephen C. (George Washington University); Sulaiman, Munshi (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates causal impacts of a large-scale agricultural extension program for smallholder women farmers on food security in Uganda through a regression discontinuity design that exploits an arbitrary distance-to-branch threshold for village program eligibility. We find eligible farmers experienced significant increases in agricultural production, savings and wage income, which lead to improved food security. Given minimal changes in the adoption of relatively expensive inputs including HYV seeds, these gains are mainly attributed to increased usage of improved cultivation methods that are relatively costless. These results highlight the role of improved basic methods in boosting agricultural productivity among poor farmers. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, extension, agricultural technology adoption, food security, regression discontinuity, Uganda, labor markets in developing economies |
| JEL: | O13 Q12 I30 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9206&r=agr |
| By: | Schroeder, Carl |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205013&r=agr |
| By: | Steenwerth, Kerri |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205031&r=agr |
| By: | Nelson, Gerald |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205019&r=agr |
| By: | Sadler, Marc |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy, Production Economics, Public Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205041&r=agr |
| By: | Sylvain Rousset; Koen Deconinck; Hyunchul Jeong; Martin von Lampe |
| Abstract: | While public regulation in food and agriculture is attracting attention at both policy and research level for their potential implications on international food trade, policy implications of agricultural standards – understood to be legally not mandatory and hence voluntary – are much less well understood. Yet, environmental and organic standards have grown in importance in agriculture and agri-food chains, making also their potential trade effects more relevant. In this context, understanding the linkages between governments and standards has become a key element in the debate. This report analyses possible roles of public authorities in the area of environmental and organic standards, including policy objectives, options for interaction and means for the use of standards for achieving public policy goals. It identifies the main objectives behind government activity on environmental and organic standards in the area of consumer protection and fraud prevention, the enabling of functioning food markets and the improvement of efficiency in the design, implementation and monitoring of public policies. Countries have taken very different approaches towards dealing with standards on organic agriculture which frequently, though not always, are seen as a subset of environment-related standards. Choices for organic standards range between market self-regulation and the development of government-owned public standards. More generally, the level of public intervention often reflects OECD governments’ perception on the environmental benefits of organic agriculture itself. |
| Keywords: | agricultural trade, environmental standards, environmental policies |
| JEL: | M38 Q13 Q17 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:86-en&r=agr |
| By: | Pietrelli, Rebecca; Salvatici, Luca; Montalbano, Pierluigi |
| Abstract: | In many African countries, the crop commercialization is produced along a supply chain where farmers interact with intermediaries and traders. Using detailed panel data from Uganda 2009-12 (LSMS-ISA), this article examines whether farmer’s participation (inside or outside) and position (downstream and upstream) to maize value supply chain (VC) affect their food security. The paper finds some evidence that farmers’ food consumption, both in terms of level and variability, is affected by selling maize inside the VC. The results are suggestive that the gain from participation is driven by selling maize upstream in the VC. |
| Keywords: | maize, value supply chain, panel, Uganda., Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea15:207354&r=agr |
| By: | Pokrivcak, Jan; Cupak, Andrej; Rizov, Marian |
| Abstract: | We investigate the food security situation of Slovak households in terms of both access to food and quality of the diet consumed by estimating food demand system and diet diversity demand models using household budget survey data over the period 2004-2010. In most samples demand for meat and fish and fruits and vegetables is expenditure and own-price elastic. On average all five food groups investigated are found to be normal goods. Rural and low-income households appear more expenditure and price sensitive compared to the urban and high-income ones. Results from quantile regressions indicate that income has a positive while uncertainty has a negatively effect on the diversity of the diet as the effects are stronger in more vulnerable, low income and rural consumer subsamples. Overall the food security situation in Slovakia appears to have improved over time, since the country’s EU accession. |
| Keywords: | Food security, demand, QUAIDS, elasticity, diet diversity, Slovakia, Agricultural and Food Policy, D12, I12, O52, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea15:207287&r=agr |
| By: | Laure Latruffe (UMR1302 SMART - Structures et Marchés Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - Institut National de Recherche Agronomique); Laurent Piet (UMR1302 SMART - Structures et Marchés Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - Institut National de Recherche Agronomique); Pierre Dupraz (UMR1302 SMART - Structures et Marchés Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - Institut National de Recherche Agronomique); Chantal Le Mouel (UMR1302 SMART - Structures et Marchés Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - Institut National de Recherche Agronomique) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of agricultural land price in several regions in France over the period 1994-2011, using individual plot transaction data, with a particular emphasis on agricultural subsidies and nitrate zoning regulations. It found a positive but relatively small capitalisation effect of the total subsidies per hectare. The data revealed that agricultural subsidies capitalised, at least to some extent, but the magnitude of such a capitalisation depends on the region considered, on the type of subsidy considered, and on the location of the plot in a nitrate surplus zone or not. Only land setaside premiums significantly capitalise into land price, while single farm payments have a significant positive capitalisation impact only for plots located in a nitrate-surplus zone. |
| Date: | 2014–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00939781&r=agr |
| By: | Bold, Tessa; Kaizzi, Kayuki; Svensson, Jakob; Yanagizawa-Drott, David |
| Abstract: | To reduce poverty and food insecurity in Africa requires raising productivity in agriculture. Systematic use of fertilizer and hybrid seed is a pathway to increased productivity, but adoption of these technologies remains low. We investigate whether the quality of agricultural inputs can help explain low take-up. Testing modern products purchased in local markets, we find that 30% of nutrient is missing in fertilizer, and hybrid maize seed contains less than 50% authentic seeds. We document that such low quality results in negative average returns. If authentic technologies replaced these low-quality products, average returns for smallholder farmers would be over 50%. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; substandard inputs; technology adoption |
| JEL: | O13 O33 Q16 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10743&r=agr |
| By: | Donato, Romano; Carraro, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the impact of domestic price volatility on acreage, yield and production of wheat, rice and maize for a set of 66 developing countries. We exploit a dataset ranging from 2005 to 2012 of domestic prices collected from FAO-GIEWS, WFP and FEWS.NET. The resulting system is estimated with a one-step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM-sys). We show that farmers respond negatively to price instability reducing production, acreage allocation and yield. According to our estimates high expected prices determine an increase of the quantity produced and a raise in maize acreage and rice yields. Non-price factors have also a significant role on supply response. Among all, we show that climate shocks, agricultural inputs and macroeconomic variables such as the financial deepening, influence the ability of farmers to cope with price risks. Financial deepening in part mitigates the negative effect of price instability on the producers’ welfare, suggesting that policy reforms aimed at favouring implementation of developing countries’ financial sector can help farmers to respond more efficiently to prices changes. |
| Keywords: | Domestic food prices, Agricultural Supply response, GMM-sys, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q11, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea15:207278&r=agr |
| By: | Vilsack, Tom; Hogan, Phil |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:206471&r=agr |
| By: | Prager, Daniel |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:204992&r=agr |
| By: | Emran, M. Shahe; Shilpi, Forhad |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of land market restrictions on structural change from agriculture to non-agriculture in a rural economy. We develop a theoretical model that focuses on higher migration costs due to restrictions on alienability, and identifies the possibility of a reverse structural change where the share of nonagricultural employment declines. The reverse structural change can occur under the following conditions: if demand for nonagricultural good is income inelastic (assuming non-farm is nontradable), or non-agriculture is less labor intensive relative to agriculture (assuming non-farm is tradable). For identification, we exploit a natural experiment in Sri Lanka where historical malaria played a unique role in land policy. The empirical evidence indicates significant adverse effects of land restrictions on manufacturing and services employment, rural wages, and per capita household consumption. The evidence on the disaggregated occupational choices suggests that land restrictions increase wage employment in agriculture, but reduce it in manufacturing and services, with no perceptible effects on self-employment in non-agriculture. The results are consistent with a migration costs model, but contradict two widely-discussed alternative mechanisms: collateral effect, and property rights insecurity. We also provide direct evidence in favor of the migration costs mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Land Market Restrictions, Structural Change, Agriculture vs. non-farm, Migration Costs, Labor Market, Non-agricultural Employment, Poverty, Historical Malaria |
| JEL: | J4 O12 O14 |
| Date: | 2015–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:66017&r=agr |
| By: | Brown, Thomas |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205007&r=agr |
| By: | Isabel Teichmann |
| Abstract: | According to the current report on the Millennium Development Goals, the share of undernourished people living in the developing world has fallen from 23.3% in 1990-1992 to 12.9% in 2014-2016 (projection). Despite this progress towards global food security, about 795 million people worldwide (or 780 million people in developing regions) will remain undernourished in 2014-2016. Put differently, more than 10% of the world population still suffers from chronic hunger. Moreover, globally, one in seven children under age five are projected to be underweight in 2015 and one in four were stunted in 2013, i.e. had inadequate height for their age – not only causing current hardship and pain but also leading to adverse long-term effects. Against this background, global food security will feature prominently in the emerging post-2015 development agenda, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Food security is defined as a status in which “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. The main challenges to global food security in the medium- to long-term range from a growing world population to more resource-intensive diets, bioenergy generation and climate change. Already today, these developments account at least partly for the current rise in agricultural commodity prices. In addition to the fight against poverty, proposed solutions to meet the challenges include a sustainable intensification of agricultural production, reductions in yield losses and food wastes, open trade regimes, emission-saving agricultural practices and shifts in consumer preferences towards more sustainable demand patterns. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwrup:76en&r=agr |
| By: | Badiane, Ousmane; Odjo, Sunday |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the role of regional trade in fostering the resilience of domestic food markets. Using country production and trade data from FAOSTAT database, a series of simple indicators are calculated that shed light on the potential for domestic markets stabilization through trade among African countries within Regional Economic Communities, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). A regional, economy-wide multimarket model is then used to simulate changes in current productivity levels and trade costs. The findings reveal that it is possible to significantly boost the pace of regional trade expansion and thus its contribution to creating more resilient domestic food markets through modest reduction in the overall cost of trading, a similarly modest increase in crop yields, or the removal of barriers to trans-border trade. |
| Keywords: | Production volatility, cross-border trade, domestic food market stabilization, regional integration, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, F14, F17, Q17, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:207696&r=agr |
| By: | Mulenga, Brian; Nkonde, Chewe; Ngoma, Hambulo |
| Abstract: | Zambia is one of the most forested countries in Africa, with about 50 million out of the 75 million hectares total land area under some form of forest cover. However, the country also has one of the highest rates of deforestation and degradation in the world, estimated at 250,000-300,000 hectares of forest loss per annum. Reversing/slowing this high deforestation and degradation trend will require the country to design and implement programs and strategies that will effectively deal with both the proximate and underlying drivers of deforestation and degradation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcwp:207021&r=agr |
| By: | Czekaj, Stefania; Czubak, Wawrzyniec; Góral, Justyna; Majewski, Edward; Poczta, Walenty; Sadowski, Arkadiusz; Wąs, Adam |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this book is to present relationship between subsidies and performance of Polish farms. Authors analysed the “greening” mechanism in the system of direct payments in Poland and they used regression models for evaluation of the probable impact of its implementation on the Polish agricultural holdings. |
| Keywords: | Polish farms, subidies, direct payments, agricultural holdings, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, International Development, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iafepr:207399&r=agr |
| By: | Anthony Harris |
| Abstract: | Government intervention in land transactions is common in developing countries, especially where land markets function poorly. This is the case in Ethiopia, where expropriation of farmland from small-scale farmers has been used by all levels of government as a tool for providing new land for industrial investors, commercial agriculture and expanding cities. This paper evaluates the impact of such a policy on a group of small-scale farmers whose land has been taken to make room for a large factory. Baseline data was collected in the year before expropriation and a follow up survey was conducted 8 months after households lost their land and received payment. On average, households lose 70% of their land and receive compensation payments that are about 5 times the value of annual consumption expenditure. I find that households in the treatment group increase their consumption, start more businesses and participate more in non-farm activities than households that do not lose farmland.These households also reallocate their livestock portfolios away from oxen and towards small ruminants and cattle, reflecting a shift away from growing crops. However, all of these changes are relatively minor compared to the increase in savings: with the exception of a few households, most of the compensation payment is left in the bank. |
| Keywords: | Land expropriation, Ethiopia, agricultural investment |
| Date: | 2015–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:wps/2015-04&r=agr |
| By: | Assefa, Thomas Woldu; Minten, Bart |
| Abstract: | Traditional food marketing systems in developing countries are often not trusted. In consequence, policy makers frequently try to regulate them and modern market arrangements increasingly are emerging to address some of their presumed deficiencies. However, it is unclear how trustworthy these markets actually are and if and to what extent regulation and modernization affects market governance. In this paper we look at the case of coffee in urban settings in Ethiopia to test trustworthiness along three dimensions of trade transactions - weights, quality, and the presence of illegal trade. We find that traders are relatively trustworthy on observable quality characteristics and weights. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability, coffee, exports, Commodities, Quality, urban areas, trade, Retail marketing, value chains, high value agricultural products, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:72&r=agr |
| By: | Cortigiani, Raffaele; Tantari, Antonella |
| Abstract: | Green payment (or greening) is one of the main aspect of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2014-2020. With this instrument continues the process started especially with the Fischler reform in order to justify public spending, ensuring the first pillar payments to farmers producing public goods. Regarding the agroforestry landscape, the greening in several territories, especially those in inner and hilly areas, will maintain the current characteristics such as the simultaneous presence of different crops, including pasture, forest and landscape features. The effectiveness of greening in terms of benefits and costs is one of the most interesting aspects to be analyzed, considering the application rules and the financial budget of this environmental instrument. In this study has been carried out a cost-benefit analysis in an territory called Teverina. The benefits of agroforestry landscape were evaluated using the Contingent Valuation Method. The main results show a ratio of benefits-costs that seems to justify public spending to maintain the current landscape. In conclusion, the analysis shows that the greening is in accordance to the new objectives of the CAP and in general to those of Europe 2020 strategy, with several negative aspects that are discussed. |
| Keywords: | greening payments, sustainability, cost/benefit analysis, contingent valuation, Agricultural and Food Policy, C10, Q18, Q57, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea15:207290&r=agr |
| By: | Deininger,Klaus W.; Jin,Songqing; Liu,Shouying; Xia,Fang |
| Abstract: | As part of a national experiment in 2008, Chengdu prefecture implemented ambitious property rights reforms, including complete registration of all land together with measures to ease transferability and eliminate migration restrictions. A triple difference approach using the Statistics Bureau?s regular household panel suggests that the reforms increased consumption and income, especially for less wealthy and less educated households, with estimated benefits well above the cost of implementation. Local labor supply increased, with the young shifting toward agriculture and the old toward off-farm employment. Agricultural yields, intensity of input use, and diversity of output also increased. Improving property rights in peri-urban China appears to have increased investment and diversification. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Management and Reform,Labor Policies,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems |
| Date: | 2015–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7388&r=agr |
| By: | Claudio Araujo (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Jean-Louis Combes (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); José Gustavo Feres (IPEA - Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - Brésil) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at assessing the determinants of Amazon deforestation, with an emphasis on the role played by off-farm income. We first present a microeconomic model which relates off-farm income to deforestation patterns. We then test the empirical implications by using data on the 2006 Brazilian Agricultural Census. Our results suggest that an increase in off-farm income tends to reduce deforestation. This may be explained by the fact that greater off-farm opportunities tends to increase the opportunity cost of farm labor. Results also show that smallholders are less responsive to the increase in the returns of off-farm activities than large ones, which is in line with our hypothesis of labor market imperfections regarding off-farm activities. |
| Date: | 2014–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01084611&r=agr |
| By: | Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Koru, Bethlehem; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum |
| Abstract: | Cereal production has exhibited unprecedented growth in Ethiopia, leading to important welfare improvements in the country. However, it is not well understood what the drivers have been of this growth and how it can be sustained. In particular, there is a lack of evidence on the contribution of improvements in productivity to growth in yields. Moreover, doubts exist on whether it is possible to sustain such growth on declining landholdings. We study cereal production using a unique large-scale survey of households and analyze productivity is-sues using stochastic frontier and data envelopment analyses, two conceptually dissimilar methods. Production frontier estimates indicate that modern inputs contribute significantly to improvements in yields. The two analytical methods used indicate that an average cereal producing household is less than half as efficient as optimally producing households, and, consequently, there is considerable opportunity for additional growth in cereal production in Ethiopia. |
| Keywords: | cereals, productivity, agricultural growth, sustainability, smallholders, farm inputs, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:75&r=agr |
| By: | Waldvogel, Jay |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205072&r=agr |
| By: | Colin, Iles |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205010&r=agr |
| By: | Westhoff, Pat |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205060&r=agr |
| By: | Hartley, Christopher |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:204989&r=agr |
| By: | Hatfield, Jerry |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:204998&r=agr |
| By: | Meera Shekar; Max Mattern; Patrick Eozenou; Julia Dayton Eberwein; Jonathan Akuoku; Emanuela Di Gropello; Wendy Karamba |
| Abstract: | This Knowledge Brief presents a profile of the nutrition situation in Mali and cost estimates for implementing key nutrition interventions. It then compares the cost-effectiveness of several scale-up options. The goal of the analysis is to aid the Government of Mali in setting priorities by identifying the most cost-effective packages of interventions and to help leverage additional resources from domestic budgets and development partners. |
| Keywords: | sanitation, staple foods, workers, salt iodization, chronic malnutrition, cash transfer program, prevention, wage rates, vitamin a, hygiene, cost-effectiveness, water ... See More + supply, nutrition outcomes, wasting, nutrition education, food policy, growth promotion, health, agricultural extension, economic productivity, malnutrition, child nutrition, hunger, nutrition, food, micronutrient deficiencies, surveys, diagnostics, nutritional outcomes, region, groundnuts, anemia, knowledge, development, pregnant women, nutrition programs, children, education, regions, iron, undernutrition, community nutrition, poverty, intervention, donors, stunting, vitamin a supplementation, acute malnutrition, productivity, vitamin a deficiency, social protection, folic acid, malnutrition in children, iodization, nutrition interventions, vitamin, growth |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hnpkbs:98241&r=agr |
| By: | Vergamini, Daniele; White, Benedict; Viaggi, Davide |
| Abstract: | Various alternative agri-environmental payments approach have been theoretically and empirically designed in Europe (EU), United States (US) and Australia (AUS) with the aim to reduce information rent and increasing the costeffectiveness of the measures. Despite much theoretical analysis on incentive-compatible agri-environmental contracts and wide experimentation of conservation auction in the US and AUS, the main debate on the EU agri-environmental payment still focused on problem of efficiency instead of facing the effectiveness. The main obstacle to designing and implementing more efficient and targeted agri-Environmental Payments (AEP) is limited information on the side of policy makers which can give rise to adverse selection and moral hazard limiting the effectiveness of the schemes and making them expansive to run. Auctions are a category of innovative policy mechanism designed to address adverse selection and to induce farmers to reveal, through competitive bidding, their compliance costs to the government. This paper provide a simulation of an input based menu of contracts model, and of a one-shot procurement auction with data from Farm Accountancy Data Network 2012 (FADN) of Regione Emilia-Romagna (RER), in order to test the relevance of the two methods for designing more cost-effective AE payments. The case study developed for EmiliaRomagna (E-R) demonstrates the heterogeneity in compliance cost. The results of the auction model highlight a significant cost saving compared with the traditional flat rate schemes. The result of the contract model confirm that the recourse of the revelation principle and mechanism design have a potential to reduce information rent and negotiation cost. However, though not directly addressed in this paper, there are several recognized limitation in the literature, which could affect both simulation results and the ability of the methods to contribute in the design of cost-effective AE payments. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental policy, auction, contract, information asymmetry, adverse selection, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea15:207357&r=agr |
| By: | Haley, Stephen |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205066&r=agr |
| By: | Huminston, Glenda |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:204995&r=agr |
| By: | Morecraft, Bill |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:204986&r=agr |
| By: | Houston, Kate |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205001&r=agr |
| By: | Hauptman, Jon |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:204979&r=agr |
| By: | Wardell, Gordon |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205022&r=agr |
| By: | Per Angelstam (Forest-Landscape-Society Research Network, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Mikołaj Czajkowski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Marek Giergiczny (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Tomasz Żylicz (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | The objectives of forest policy have been broadened from tangible products, such as wood and fiber, to ecosystem services. This broadening emphasizes the need to also estimate the value of biodiversity and the social benefits of tourism and recreation. While research on the species’ requirements has a long history, the issue of which habitat humans select to engage in tourism and recreation lags behind. In both cases, a major challenge is to consider the complete range of forest structure from a managed to a natural dynamic. Combining the approach used in landscape research with non-market valuation techniques, the aim of this study is to document human habitat selection for recreational purposes in a gradient of forest naturalness. The results indicate that respondents prefer older stands with vertical layering, irregularly spaced trees and a greater number of tree species. Our study thus indicates that forests that are managed (or left unmanaged) for biodiversity purposes are also likely to be attractive to humans. To conclude, while greater management intensity was associated with higher disutility regardless of the model employed, we do not perceive a risk of conflict between forest management designed to protect biodiversity and management targeting recreational value. Consequently, there is a need for spatially differentiated forest management that discriminates among different functions. The state ownership of all larger Polish forest massifs makes this zoning approach feasible. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, forest characteristics, forest management, discrete choice experiment, multifunctional forestry |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2015-30&r=agr |
| By: | Velasco, Ryan |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205063&r=agr |
| By: | Laurent Alfandari (SID - Information Systems, Decision Sciences and Statistics Department - Essec Business School); Agnès Plateau (CEDRIC - Centre d'Etude et De Recherche en Informatique du Cnam - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM]); Xavier Schepler (LITIS, Université du Havre - LMAH - Laboratoire de Mathématiques Appliquées du Havre - Université du Havre) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study a multi-periodic production planning problem in agriculture. This problem belongs to the class of crop rotation planning problems, which have received increased attention in the literature in recent years. Crop cultivation and fallow periods must be scheduled on land plots over a given time horizon so as to minimize the total surface area of land used, while satisfying crop demands every period. This problem is proven strongly NP-hard. We propose a 0-1 linear programming compact formulation based on crop-sequence graphs. An extended formulation is then provided with a polynomial-time pricing problem, and a Branch-and-Priceand- Cut (BPC) algorithm is presented with adapted branching rules and cutting planes. The numerical experiments on instances varying the number of crops, periods and plots show the effectiveness of the BPC for the extended formulation compared to solving the compact formulation, even though these two formulations have the same linear relaxation bound. |
| Date: | 2014–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00987708&r=agr |
| By: | Preston, Warren P. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205034&r=agr |
| By: | Bonnet, Céline; Dubois, Pierre |
| Abstract: | Using typical demand data on differentiated products markets, we show how to identify and estimate vertical contract terms modelling explicitly the buyer power of downstream firms facing two part tariff offered by the upstream firms. We consider manufacturers and retailers relationships with two part tariff with or without resale price maintenance and allow retailers to have a buyer power determined by the horizontal competition of manufacturers. Our contribution allows to recover price-cost margins at the upstream and downstream levels as well as fixed fees of two-part tariff contracts using the industry structure and estimates of demand parameters. Empirical evidence on the market for bottles of water in France shows that two part tariff contracts are used without resale price maintenance and that the buyer power of supermarket chains is endogenous to the structure of manufacturers competition. We are able to estimate total fixed fees and profits across manufacturers and retailers. |
| Keywords: | vertical contracts, two part tariff, buyer power, retailers, differentiated products. |
| JEL: | C12 C33 L13 L81 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:29303&r=agr |
| By: | Staritz, Cornelia; Tröster, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | Cotton is one of the most important cash crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and has had an important role in job creation, poverty reduction and foreign exchange generation. SSA cotton exporters face particularly three interconnected challenges - how to increase yields and quality in the context of small holder farming; how to deal with volatile international prices; how to increase value addition through local processing. This paper analyses the cotton sectors in Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Tanzania along these challenges focusing on dynamics in global cotton commodity chains, different national market structures and related development outcomes. The aim of the paper is not to identify the best cotton sector organisation model but to point out issues that are important for positive development outcomes. The analysis shows that the more regulated systems in Burkina Faso and Mozambique generally outperform the liberalized system in Tanzania in terms of production levels, yields, input provision, and price stability. But there are also major differences among the more regulated systems with Burkina Faso faring substantially better in yields and farmers' price share. The state, however, also bears a greater risk in Burkina Faso through its involvement in the largest cotton company and the stabilisation fund. The system in Tanzania provides similar farmers' price shares as in Burkina Faso albeit with higher price instability and inequality. Tanzania has been further most successful in value addition which, however, cannot be attributed to the cotton sector market structure but primarily to a stronger manufacturing tradition. The institutional context in the cotton sector, particularly strong and independent farmers' associations, have a crucial role in all models to ensure that farmers' interests are respected. |
| Keywords: | commodity-based development,cotton,price instability,value addition,Burkina Faso,Mozambique,Tanzania |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:oefsew:54&r=agr |
| By: | Nunoo, Jacob; Koomson, Isaac; Orkoh, Emmanuel |
| Abstract: | Despite the massive commitment by policy makers and stakeholders to increase the supply of water to households in Ghana, many households have a deficiency in their self-reported daily quantity of water required for drinking and for general use. This paper focuses on the effect of water source and travelling time on households’ deficiency in demand for water using the Sixth Round of the Ghana Living Standards survey. A Tobit regression analysis of data on 2,843 households reveals that a one minute increase in travelling time increases household deficiency in water demand by about 49 percent. Also, compared to pipe in dwelling/yard/plot, all other sources of water to the households come with greater levels of water deficiency, with unprotected well/spring/river-stream/dam-lake-pond generating the greatest (10.5 litres) levels of deficiency. Other significant predictors of household deficiency in water demand are per capita disposable income, number of rooms in the household, sex of the household head and regular payment of water bills. Government policies aimed at addressing household deficiency in water demand should focus on making more resources available to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency so as to achieve more coverage of water accessible to both urban and rural households. |
| Keywords: | Water Deficiency, Travel Time, Water Source, Shadow Price, Pipe |
| JEL: | D01 D11 L95 Q31 R22 |
| Date: | 2015–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:66007&r=agr |
| By: | Esposti, Roberto; Fastigi, Matteo; Orazi, Francesco; Viganò, Elena |
| Abstract: | This research empirically investigates the emergence of craft breweries in Italy over the period 1993-2014, whose rise has generated, in the recent years, an high number of entries in the sector. Two different order of possible drivers can be taken into account. therefore the rise of craft brewing can be simply interpreted as the consequence of a change in the beer market, particularly the increasing attention of consumers to the quality of productions and their geographical origin, with the consequent differentiation and segmentation of the market. Secondly, it can be argued tha, the rise of craft breweries in Italy shows a territorial concentration thus indicating that also local factors may represent major drivers. Due to agglomeration economies of different nature, areas with a specialization in food and, above all, beverages production may represent preferential territories for new entries. The same can be argued for areas showing a strong tendency towards agricultural diversification.At the same time, this geographical concentration may generate congestion effects (or localized diseconomies) whenever localized entries become too many given the size of the market. The present study proposes an empirical investigation on the role of local drivers in determining the entry into this sector of new craft breweries as well as the selection process of the existing breweries. This investigation takes the form of an entry-exit analysis and is carried out through a sequence of survival models. |
| Keywords: | Craft breweries, Beer industry, Entry and exit, Survival analysis, Agribusiness, L11, L66, Q13, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea15:207271&r=agr |
| By: | Ramirez, Octavio A. |
| Abstract: | Given the procedures to be followed in this research, time series of price and yield realizations that are representative of what farmers might face in future years are needed to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed CISA. Reliable parametric estimates of future price and yield distributions are required to generate those realizations and sufficiently long historical price and yield time series are necessary in order to estimate those distributions. While long time series are available for most major commodity prices, multi-decade farm-level yield records are not as common. Fortunately, the University of Illinois Endowment Farms project has been collecting such records from 26 different “representative” corn producers during the last 50 years. Therefore, the “test-of-concept” analyses presented in this article are conducted for the specific case of corn producers in the State of Illinois. |
| Keywords: | Financial Economics, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aepapa:162319&r=agr |
| By: | Cordonnier, Michael |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205037&r=agr |
| By: | Caplon, Maria |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205004&r=agr |
| By: | Carmen Camacho (CNRS, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - [-]); Agustín Pérez-Barahona (ECO-PUB - Economie Publique - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - AgroParisTech, Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS - Polytechnique - X) |
| Abstract: | This paper builds a benchmark framework to study optimal land use, encompassing land use activities and environmental degradation. We focus on the spatial externalities of land use as drivers of spatial patterns: land is immobile by nature, but local actions affect the whole space since pollution flows across locations resulting in both local and global damages. We prove that the decision maker problem has a solution, and characterize the corresponding social optimum trajectories by means of the Pontryagin conditions. We also show that the existence and uniqueness of time-invariant solutions are not in general guaranteed. Finally, a global dynamic algorithm is proposed in order to illustrate the spatial-dynamic richness of the model. We find that our simple set-up already reproduces a great variety of spatial patterns related to the interaction between land use activities and the environment. In particular, abatement technology turns out to play a central role as pollution stabilizer, allowing the economy to reach a time-invariant equilibrium that can be spatially heterogeneous. |
| Date: | 2014–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01074190&r=agr |
| By: | García-Valiñas, Maria A.; Gonzales, Francisco; Suarez, Javier; Zaporozhets, Vera |
| Abstract: | Water services management has become a key issue as urban water supply is considered a service of general interest in the European Union (EU, 2001). In this context, public-private partnerships (PPP) have emerged as a usual way of local water services provision. This paper contributes to analyze the effects and consequences of PPP in the management of water resources. First of all, we develop a theoretical framework to show the effects of water services contracting-out on water prices. Second, we estimate the model using a sample of Spanish municipal water services recently privatized. Our findings support that, in a context of limited resources, local governments are using public-private partnerships in order to get additional fundings to reduce their indebt- ness levels. Moreover, the fact of setting a high reservation price as a way to guarantee a minimum amount of resources has had consequences in terms of water price increases after water services privatization. |
| Keywords: | Water services, Public-private partnerships, Auctioning, Game theory, Water prices |
| JEL: | L33 L95 Q25 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:29542&r=agr |
| By: | Saraly ANDRADE DE SA (ETH Zurich - ETH ZURICH); Philippe Delacote (INRA [INRA] - INRA(Institut national de la recherche agronomique - INRA)); Eric Nazindigouba KERE (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the mechanisms determining spatial interactions in deforestation, and its transmission channels, using data from Brazil. Our preliminary results confirm the hypothesis that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is characterized by complementarity, meaning that deforestation in a particular municipality tends to increase deforestation in its neighbors. We further show that cattle density, tend to be the most important factors determining the nature of spatial interactions between neighboring areas. |
| Date: | 2015–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01112854&r=agr |
| By: | Andrey Shcherbak (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Considering diet as often a product of adaptation to geographic environment, this paper suggests that not only amount of food (food abundance) is important, but what kind of foods people eat may also affect social change. One of the reasons for variation in diet is food intolerances as a result of adaptation to the environment. This paper investigates one case – lactase persistence. This trait is associated with different genotypes of LCT gene. Lactase persistence is mostly spread among northern Europeans, and is also found among some African and Asian nomadic populations. Such unique trait is usually explained in the gene-culture coevolution framework: selective pressure for it had to be followed by expansion of dairying and herding. Empirical analysis based on 78 populations reveals strong and positive association between share of lactase persistent population and distribution of emancipative values. The suggested causal mechanism is change in demographic trends: the effect of lactase persistence on the emancipative values is mediated through historically lower fertility and lower child mortality rates. Demographic transition results in higher value of human life, formation of human capital, economic development and finally cultural change. |
| Keywords: | lactase, genes, value change |
| JEL: | I15 Q57 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:64/soc/2015&r=agr |
| By: | S. A. Mukul; A. Z. M. M. Rashid; M. B. Uddin; N. A. Khan |
| Abstract: | People in developing world derive a significant part of their livelihoods from various forest products, particularly non-timber forest products. This article attempts to explore the contribution of NTFPs in sustaining forest-based rural livelihood in and around a protected area of Bangladesh, and their potential role in enhancing households resilience capacity. Based on empirical investigation our study revealed that, local communities gather a substantial amount of NTFPs from national park despite the official restrictions. 27 percent households of the area received at least some cash benefit from the collection, processing and selling of NTFPs, and NTFPs contribute as HHs primary, supplementary and emergency sources of income. NTFPs also constituted an estimated 19 percent of HHs net annual income, and were the primary occupation for about 18 percent of the HHs. HHs dependency on nearby forests for various NTFPs varied vis-a-vis their socio-economic condition as well as with their location from the park. Based on our case study the article also offers some clues for improving the situation in PA. |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1508.02056&r=agr |
| By: | Parra, Maria Dolores; Martínez Zarzoso, Inmaculada; Suárez Burguet, Celestino |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on Middle East and North African Countries (MENA) trade for the period 1994-2010. The analysis distinguishes between industrial and agricultural trade to take into account the different liberalisation schedules. An augmented gravity model is estimated using up-to-date panel data techniques to control for all time-invariant bilateral factors that influence bilateral trade as well as for the so-called multilateral resistance factors. We also control for the endogeneity of the agreements and test for self-selection bias due to the presence of zero trade in our sample. The main findings indicate that North-South-FTAs and South-South- FTAs have a differential impact in terms of increasing trade in MENA countries, with the former being more beneficial in terms of exports for MENA countries, but both showing greater global market integration. We also find that FTAs that include agricultural products, in which MENA countries have a clear comparative advantage, have more favourable effects for these countries than those only including industrial products. JEL code: F10, F15 |
| Keywords: | Negocis, Finances internacionals, Integració econòmica, 339 - Comerç. Relacions econòmiques internacionals. Economia mundial. Màrqueting, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/250131&r=agr |
| By: | Dr. Ulrike Lehr (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research); Anne Nieters (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research); Thomas Drosdowski (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research) |
| Abstract: | Although climate change is a global challenge, its effects occur locally and differ by region. A feasible adaptation strategy needs to assess regional damages and their socio-economic effects. For Germany, the largest threat comes from extreme weather events, which will impact residential and commercial buildings, infrastructure and in the case of heat waves will limit labor productivity. This paper presents findings from a study of economic effects of climate change adaptation until the year 2050 in Germany on different scales. In particular, the authors have applied an input-output-based macroeconometric model, adjusting it to cope with the challenges of damages from heat waves, and river flood events, by integrating suitable adaptation measures to such events into the model. Infrastructure damages, shifts from domestic production to imports, and low levels of productivity due to heat waves, are some of the topics the paper deals with. Comparing scenarios with (a) integrated extreme weather events and (b) adaptation measures with a reference scenario without extreme weather or adaptation, the simulation results reveal slightly negative effects on economic sectors and Germany’s economy as a whole. These effects intensify over time and hurt the economy. Adaptation measures reduce the damages and pay off, but the economy is still worse off with climate change. |
| Keywords: | extreme weather events, heat wave, river flood, adaptation |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gws:dpaper:15-10&r=agr |
| By: | Green, Rob |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:204982&r=agr |
| By: | Abigaïl Fallot (CATIE-CCC - Grupo Cambio Climático y Cuencas del Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza - Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, GREEN - Gestion des ressources renouvelables et environnement - CIRAD - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement); Marianela Greppi (Bosque Modelo Jujuy (BMJ)); Josefina Marin (FCBC - Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano); Juan Mardones (BMAAM - Bosque Modelo Araucarias del Alto Malleco); Jean-François Le Coq (ART-Dev - Acteurs, Ressources et Territoires dans le Développement - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier III - CIRAD - CNRS - UM - Université de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | The economic assessment of climate change adaptation basically consists in balancing costs and benefits of actions considered when addressing climate change (CC) threats. The purpose of economic evaluation in the assessment process of CC adaptation actions is essentially to provide figures for the comparison of different possibilities. In the context of the 3 EcoAdapt south American sites (Los Perico-Manantiales watershed in Argentina – BMJ, Zapoco watershed in Bolivia – BMCh and Alto Malleco in Chile – BMAAM), economic evaluation is to rely on a shared understanding of local contexts and the economic drivers of current dynamics. We focus on specific actions considered in these contexts so as to address unsustainable dynamics. The present report D3.4 provides a framework for economic evaluation: its context and the approach under development; the elements of costs and benefits that enter the analysis; and how uncertainty and irreversibility can be accounted for when using economic evaluation results. The initial panorama of the context of the economic evaluation recalls synthetically what we know about the territories and their people in terms of scales, activities and living conditions and about the extent to which they are affected by climate. Such introduction aims at facilitating the understanding of the types of actions considered for climate change adaptation. Then the economist standpoint on climate adaptation is explained and the perimeter of the evaluation is defined: 15 actions in BMJ, 11 in BMCh and 9 in BMAAM. Twelve fields of investigation are identified, for which available information is synthetized and on-going research on the elements of costs and benefits is described, so as to both make a progress status, and actualize the road map for integrating economic evaluation in modelling (task 3.2), scenario development (task 4.2) and implementation (task 5.3). A final section illustrates the possible use of the economic analysis to reveal or highlight specific characteristics of the actions considered, for instance: their time horizons and links with inexplicit future benefits or costs; their progressive definition that requires to start the evaluation; their reliance on resources considered free. |
| Date: | 2014–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01166542&r=agr |
| By: | Christina Van Winkle; Katia Karousakis; Rosalind Bark; Martijn van der Heide |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews a number of OECD data sources to examine their potential for establishing indicators which can contribute to monitoring progress towards two of the 2011-2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), namely Target 3 on Incentives and Target 20 on Resource Mobilisation. Aichi Target 3 refers to the need to eliminate, phase out, or reform incentives, including subsidies, harmful to biodiversity and to develop and apply positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Aichi Target 20 refers to the need to substantially increase the mobilisation of financial resources from all sources to effectively implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The objectives of this work were twofold, namely to (a) identify the indicator needs to monitor progress towards these two targets, and (b) examine to what extent existing relevant OECD datasets and monitoring systems can be used for these purposes, including the types of modifications to data collection methodology or classification that may be useful to better align the data sources with the indicator needs. Within this context, six data sources are reviewed and assessed, and gaps and data limitations as they pertain to the reporting purposes of the CBD are highlighted. Given the caveats that are raised, as well as the upcoming need to assess progress on the achievement of the Aichi Targets in 2020, the analysis here aims to provide policy-makers and negotiators with the information needed to consider whether existing OECD datasets could be used and built upon so as to further develop indicators that are useful for the CBD. |
| Keywords: | government policy, biodiversity conservation, environment & development, agricultural policy, ecological economics, ecosystem services |
| JEL: | Q18 Q22 Q56 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:90-en&r=agr |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Britta Augsburg (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | In a recent paper, Anagol, Etang and Karlan (2013) consider the income generated by these owning a cow or a buffalo in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. The net profit generated ignoring labour costs, gives rise to a small positive rate of return. Once any reasonable estimate of labour costs is added to costs, the rate of return is a large negative number. The authors conclude that households holding this type of assets do not behave according to the tenets of capitalism. A variety of explanations, typically appealing to religious or cultural factors have been invoked for such a puzzling fact. In this note, we point to a simple explanation that is fully consistent with rational behaviour on the part of Indian farmers. In computing the return on cows and buffaloes, the authors used data from a single year. Cows are assets whose return varies through time. In drought years, when fodder is scarce and expensive, milk production is lower and profits are low. In non-drought years, when fodder is abundant and cheaper, milk production is higher and profits can be considerably higher. The return on cows and buffaloes, like that of many stocks traded on Wall Street, is positive in some years and negative in others. We report evidence from three years of data on the return on cows and buffaloes in the district of Anantapur and show that in one of the three years returns are very high, while in drought years they are similar to the figures obtained by Anagol, Etang and Karlan (2013). This paper is also published as part of the NBER working paper series no. 20304 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:14/14&r=agr |
| By: | Milena Klasing Chen (CGS - Centre de Gestion Scientifique - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris); Sophie Hooge (CGS - Centre de Gestion Scientifique - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris); Blanche Segrestin (CGS - Centre de Gestion Scientifique - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Value creation and the companies’ value propositions have long been the centre of managers’ concerns. Although increasing work is done on creating value with the customer, value creation at the ecosystem level is less studied. This is particularly the case in innovation contexts. Through the study of two cases in strongly regulated business-to-business (B2B) markets, one on a public transports operator and one on a systems assembler in the aeronautic sector, we analyse how projects on radical innovations are efficient levers to investigate the mechanisms of value creation for several actors. We propose a model of these regulated B2B markets - complex value networks - and show how the value evaluation framework was changed by a business model innovation, evolving to take into account the value for several actors of the ecosystem. We furthermore describe how major innovation in product design challenges the existing regulations, allowing companies to propose or sustain innovative regulations, and changes relations in the value network, sustaining the emergence of new partnerships. |
| Date: | 2015–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01147408&r=agr |
| By: | Jean-Yves Courtonne (INRIA Grenoble Rhône-Alpes / LJK Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - STEEP - CNRS - INRIA - LJK - Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - CNRS - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG), CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - CNRS); Julien Alapetite (INRIA Grenoble Rhône-Alpes / LJK Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - STEEP - CNRS - INRIA - LJK - Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - CNRS - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG), CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - CNRS); Pierre-Yves Longaretti (INRIA Grenoble Rhône-Alpes / LJK Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - STEEP - CNRS - INRIA - LJK - Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - CNRS - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG), LAOG - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble - CNRS - INSU - OSUG - Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble - CNRS - INSU - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier); Denis Dupré (CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - CNRS, IAE Grenoble - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Grenoble - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France); Emmanuel Prados (INRIA Grenoble Rhône-Alpes / LJK Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - STEEP - CNRS - INRIA - LJK - Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann - CNRS - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG)) |
| Abstract: | The spatial reconstruction of the production, trade, transformation and consumption flows of a specific material, can become an important decision-help tool for improving resource management and for studying environmental pressures from the producer's to the consumer's viewpoint. One of the obstacles preventing its actual use in the decision-making process is that building such studies at various geographical scales proves to be costly both in time and manpower. In this article, we propose a semi-automatic methodology to overcome this issue: we describe our multi-scalar model and its data-reconciliation component and apply it to cereals flows. Namely, using official databases (Insee, Agreste, FranceAgriMer, SitraM) as well as corporate sources, we reconstructed the supply chain flows of the 22 French regions as well as the flows of four nested territories: France, the Rhône-Alpes région, the Isère département and the territory of the SCOT of Grenoble. We display the results using Sankey diagrams and discuss the intervals of confidence of the model's outputs. We conclude on the perspectives of coupling this model with economic, social and environmental aspects that would provide key information to decision-makers. |
| Date: | 2015–01–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01142357&r=agr |
| By: | Guillaume LE BORGNE (MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] - CIRAD - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement - IAMM, Montpellier SupAgro - Centre International d'Etudes Supérieures Agronomiques); Lucie Sirieix (MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] - CIRAD - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement - IAMM, Montpellier SupAgro - Centre International d'Etudes Supérieures Agronomiques); Sandrine Costa-Migeon (MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] - CIRAD - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement - IAMM) |
| Abstract: | This research builds a conceptual framework to analyze the links between promotions and food waste, based on the results of a qualitative study on 20 French consumers. More precisely, we study how promotions may increase food waste, but also how this wastage may change consumer’s perception of promotions |
| Abstract: | Cet article propose un cadre conceptuel pour l’analyse des liens entre les promotions et le gaspillage alimentaire, basé sur les résultats d’une enquête qualitative menée auprès de 20 consommateurs européens. Plus précisément, nous étudions comment les promotions sur les produits alimentaires sont susceptibles d’augmenter le gaspillage alimentaire des ménages, mais également comment cet éventuel gâchis peut influer sur la perception des promotions par le consommateur. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01140919&r=agr |
| By: | Troy, Joshua |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205069&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Fan; Fogarty, James |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a systematic review of the applications of the economic evaluation methods that are relevant to Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD). WSUD involves integrating the urban water cycle into urban design to improve water supply and environmental protection. The review considers four main WSUD-related aspects: improving and securing water supply requirements; protection of groundwater systems; management of wastewater; and environmental protection. The literature reviewed is grouped under these broad headings, and the evaluation method used to obtain information about non-market values. The advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of each non-market valuation method are also summarized and compared. The review establishes that the two methods most commonly used to estimate non-market values for benefits relevant to WSUD have been contingent valuation and choice experiments (also known as choice modelling). Other valuation methods, such as the travel cost method, the averting behaviour method, the hedonic price method, and engineering methods have also been used. For some areas of benefit that can be delivered through WSUD there is a reasonable knowledge base; yet in other areas the knowledge base is quite limited. The most appropriate way to generalise non-market valuation study results from one location to others remains unclear and is an area requiring additional research. |
| Keywords: | Water sensitive urban design, Economic valuation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:207694&r=agr |
| By: | Grainger,Corbett Alden; Zhang,Fan; Schreiber,Andrew William |
| Abstract: | Subsidies and cross-subsidies in the energy sector are common throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In Belarus, revenues from an industrial tariff on electricity are used to cross-subsidize heating for households. Input-output (IO) data and a household consumption survey are used to analyze the distributional impacts of this cross-subsidization. This paper illustrates cost shares and electricity-intensity of different sectors and consumption categories and uses the IO data to obtain first-order estimates of the distributional incidence of policy reform. The paper then analyzes distributional impacts of subsidy reform with a Computable General Equilibrium model. Although poorer households benefit from reduced heating costs, the increase in prices of other consumer goods due to higher electricity prices more than offsets the benefits they receive from the subsidies. The analysis finds that the current cross-subsidies are regressive, and policy reform would be highly progressive. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Energy Production and Transportation,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access |
| Date: | 2015–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7385&r=agr |
| By: | Sandrine Mathy (équipe EDDEN - PACTE - Politiques publiques, ACtion politique, TErritoires - CNRS - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - Grenoble 1 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier, CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - CIRAD - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This article considers the usefulness of low-carbon scenarios in public decision-making. They may be useful as a product-oriented trajectory. The scenarios on the agenda of the 2013 Energy Debate in France belong to this category. But a scenario may also be process-oriented, in the sense that its scripting process helps build consensus and a minimum level of agreement. We have scripted scenarios using a codevelopment method, involving about 40 stakeholders from the private and public sectors, and from the state: NGOs, consumer groups, trade unions, banks and local authorities. They selected policies they considered acceptable for achieving 75% greenhouse gases emission reductions in 2050. These policies were then integrated in the Imaclim-R-France technico-economic simulation model, as part of a high or moderate acceptability scenario. In the first case emissions were cut by between 58% and 72% by 2050; in the second case by between 68% and 81%, depending on the energy price assumptions. All these measures benefited jobs and economic growth, swiftly and durably cutting household spending on energy services. This offers a solid basis for gaining acceptability for low carbon trajectories; the process constitutes also a framework for consolidating collective learning centering on the acceptability of climate policies. |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01086501&r=agr |
| By: | Gaël Plumecocq (AGIR - AGrosystèmes et développement terrItoRial - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse - UT1 - Université Toulouse 1 Capitole - UTM - Université Toulouse 2 Le Mirail - École Nationale de Formation Agronomique - ENFA) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the hypothesis that all public policies are based, at least in part, on rhetorical strategies. By analysing public policies implemented in the context of sustainable development, this article emphasises the need for and the challenges of providing legitimate foundations for the rhetorical means used to encourage change; it is these foundations that determine a given policy's effectiveness. To do so, historical analyses are used, as well as socio-economic perspectives examined through textual analysis. The text concludes by showing the importance of a common framework for action based on shared values at the regional level for legitimising the political use of rhetoric to change behaviours and attitudes. |
| Date: | 2014–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00994992&r=agr |
| By: | Costa, M. Teresa (Maria Teresa), 1951-; García, José, 1963-; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the extent to which innovative Spanish firms pursue improvements in energy efficiency (EE) as an objective of innovation. The increase in energy consumption and its impact on greenhouse gas emissions justifies the greater attention being paid to energy efficiency and especially to industrial EE. The ability of manufacturing companies to innovate and improve their EE has a substantial influence on attaining objectives regarding climate change mitigation. Despite the effort to design more efficient energy policies, the EE determinants in manufacturing firms have been little studied in the empirical literature. From an exhaustive sample of Spanish manufacturing firms and using a logit model, we examine the energy efficiency determinants for those firms that have innovated. To carry out the econometric analysis, we use panel data from the Community Innovation Survey for the period 2008â€2011. Our empirical results underline the role of size among the characteristics of firms that facilitate energy efficiency innovation. Regarding company behaviour, firms that consider the reduction of environmental impacts to be an important objective of innovation and that have introduced organisational innovations are more likely to innovate with the objective of increasing energy efficiency. Keywords: energy efficiency, corporate targets, innovation, Community Innovation Survey. JEL Classification: Q40, Q55, O31 |
| Keywords: | Energia, Economia ambiental, Tecnologia -- Innovacions, Empreses -- Espanya -- Aspectes ambientals, 33 - Economia, 504 - Ciències del medi ambient, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/248362&r=agr |
| By: | Rehman, Naqeeb, Ur |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of internal and external R&D on SMEs innovation performance. Micro level data was obtained from Enterprise Survey. For analysis, bivariate models have been used. The results show that internal and external R&D positively affects the product and process innovations. However, this effect is stronger for Indian SMEs. In comparison, only external R&D showed positive association to product and process innovation for Pakistani SMEs. Similarly, Pakistani SMEs are externally constrained (lack of access to credit) than Indian SMEs. Moreover, Indian SMEs are dominant in terms of undertaking internal R&D, generating product and process innovations than Pakistani SMEs. Lastly, the complementary relationship has been examined between internal and external R&D for both countries. Regarding contribution, this research study for the first time has examined the Indian and Pakistani SMEs innovation activities. The implication of this study suggests that business managers can utilize the balance combination of internal and external R&D to accelerate the SMEs innovation performance. |
| Keywords: | Internal and External R&D,SMEs |
| JEL: | O3 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:113229&r=agr |
| By: | Philippe Charlot (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - UN - Université de Nantes); Olivier Darné (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - UN - Université de Nantes); Zakaria Moussa (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - UN - Université de Nantes) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates dynamic correlations both across commodities and between commodities and traditional assets, such as equities and government bonds, using the Regime Switching Dynamic Correlation (RSDC) model. In particular, this paper assesses the dynamics of 32 daily commodity futures returns, spanning a period from May 28, 2003, to June 04, 2014, in the light of economic and financial events before and after the mid-2007 financial crisis. There are three major findings. First, prior to the financial crisis, we detect stronger correlation among the wide range of commodities used in the analysis, indicating that the financialization process started impacting commodity price movements from mid-2005. Between commodities taken as an asset class and traditional asset classes our results generally show very weak commodity-equity and commodity-bond correlations prior to the Lehman Brother collapse. This can be explained by the “style ”effect theory that correlations between different asset classes in a portfolio weaken. Second, during the financial crisis, correlations both across commodities and between commodities and equities increase dramatically, with a regime change which coincides exactly with the demise of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. This suggests that a strong commodity-equity integration was temporarily masked by the “style ”effect. However, commodity-bond correlations switch to a strongly negative regime, showing that government bonds were considered as refuge securities. Third and most importantly, the new and original finding here is the temporary nature of the financial crisis effect identified, as correlations both across commodities and between commodities and traditional assets revert to pre-crisis level from April 2013. This highlights the impact of the financial-based factors on commodity price movements. |
| Date: | 2014–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01093631&r=agr |
| By: | Patrick Guillaumont (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International - FERDI, CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | In 2006, at a time when growth had clearly resumed in Africa, the opening speech at the first African Economic Conference organized by the African Development Bank and AERC was entitled “Economic vulnerability, still a challenge for African growth” (Guillaumont 2007, 2008). Eight years on, including a global recession, food and fuel price spikes, and recent state crises in Africa—although in many countries growth has continued—vulnerability remains an issue to be addressed. Both cross-country econometrics and case studies have documented the impact of external, climatic, and political shocks on Africa’s growth, development, and poverty reduction (Ibid.; see also the chapter by Xubei Luo in this book). Although some progress has been recorded in addressing economic vulnerability in Africa, it remains limited; moreover, the scope of vulnerability itself has been changing with the emergence of new--social and environmental—dimensions. Addressing the vulnerability of African economies requires an identification of its sources and determinants, including a conceptual clarification in view of the broadening scope. Section (2) proposes a conceptual framework where structural vulnerability is distinguished from general vulnerability, from physical vulnerability to climate change, and from state fragility as well. Section (3) analyzes the main features and evolution of structural economic vulnerability in Africa on the basis of an economic vulnerability index, highlighting not only higher structural economic vulnerability, but also a slower decline than in other developing economies. It then appears (section 4) that African economic vulnerability is reinforced by higher physical vulnerability to climate change, as shown by a specific index, and that Africa is the continent with the highest proportion of fragile states, suggesting a link between the various forms of vulnerability in Africa. Finally (section 5), measuring the structural vulnerability of African countries provides a useful tool for the international allocation of resources and not just to guide policies aimed at structural transformation and sustainable development. Adequately measured, structural vulnerability, as it is exogenous to current policy, may be a relevant criterion for the international allocation of concessional resources. |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01110060&r=agr |
| By: | Bernard Hoekman |
| Abstract: | Many of the policies that affect international supply chains and associated trade flows are regulatory in nature. Governments generally do not pursue domestic regulation or design trade agreements with a view to support the “trade as production” model by reducing regulatory differences that have the effect of impeding trade. This paper proposes several mechanisms to help make policy more supportive of regulatory cooperation initiatives that are aimed at reducing excess costs that negatively affect supply chain trade and investments, and that can be incorporated into trade agreements. While the analysis and suggestions are general, specific context and examples are provided by recent trade agreements and regulatory cooperation initiatives involving Canada, the EU and the US. |
| Keywords: | Supply chains, trade agreements, regulation, CETA, TTIP |
| JEL: | F13 F50 K20 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2015/04&r=agr |