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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2016‒04‒16
24 papers chosen by |
| By: | O Mora (INRA); F Lançon (SP2M - UMR 9002 - Service de Physique des Matériaux et Microstructures - UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - CEA - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Francis Aubert (UMR 1041 Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - ENESAD - Ecole Nationale d'Enseignement Supérieur Agronomique de Dijon, Département d'Economie et Sociologie - ENESAD - Etablissement Nationale d'Enseignement Supérieur Agronomique de Dijon) |
| Abstract: | Recent debates on food and agricultural issues emphasize the significance of the spatialization of food systems and location of agriculture. In this emerging food system geography, urban-rural relationships play a significant role in food value chains, food security and nutrition, which is still poorly understood. This presentation explores these issues based on rural-urban scenarios at 2050. This research combines two approaches: a comprehensive scientific review of urban and rural changes, and a foresight method based on an expert group. Our results focus on four main future figures: megacities and rural-urban blurring; role of intermediate urban centres in agri-food networks; household mobilities and multi-activities between urban and rural areas; counter-urbanization and re-agrarianization. These four scenarios help to understand how distinct issues might be articulated, and to better differentiate what is at stake for agriculture and food security in those specific forms of urban-rural relationships. |
| Keywords: | urban-rural scenarios,spatiality of food systems,urbanization,mobilities,rural nonfarm activities,re-agrarianisation,agriculture and food security |
| Date: | 2015–09–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01292342&r=agr |
| By: | Luigi Russi (International University College of Turin); Tomaso Ferrando (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | This paper deciphers the formatting of farming into an asset by tracking the modalities by which financial calculation is enabled across different sites of agency. The first focus of our analysis are commodity futures markets, which have witnessed a double spike in prices in 2008 and in 2012. In the paper, we look at these hikes as the outcome of endogenous dynamics, caused by the changing makeup of market participants after 2000, which turned futures markets into resources for hedging commodity index-linked derivative products. We subsequently analyse the increasing reliance on financial actors placed by public development agencies that channel funds through private equity initiatives to acquire and invest in farmland. To complete our analysis, we finally set our contribution alongside the alternative represented by food-sovereignty, which offers the promise of heeding to the needs engendered from within the peasant milieu, as opposed to subjugating it to extrinsic quantitative metrics. |
| Keywords: | futures, commodities, speculation, rural sociology, human geography, land grabbing, public-private partnership, commons, social justice, political economy of development |
| JEL: | O13 O16 P16 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuc:rpaper:1-15&r=agr |
| By: | Xiaolin Ren (National Center for Atmospheric Research); Matthias Weitzel (National Center for Atmospheric Research); Brian O'Neill (National Center for Atmospheric Research); Peter Lawrence (National Center for Atmospheric Research); Prasanth Meiyappan (University of Illinois); Sam Levis (The Climate Corporation); Edward J. Balistreri (Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines); Mike Dalton (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) |
| Abstract: | Agricultural systems provide food and are also an important part of the economy for many countries, but crop yields are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We assess the global impacts of climate change on agricultural systems under two climate projections (RCP8.5 and RCP4.5) in order to quantify the difference in impacts as climate change is reduced. We also employ two different socioeconomic pathways (SSP3 and SSP5) to assess the sensitivity of results to the underlying socioeconomic conditions. The integrated Population-Economy-Technology-Science (iPETS) model, a global integrated assessment model for projecting future energy use, land use and emissions, is used in conjunction with the Community Earth System Model (CESM), and particularly its land surface component, the Community Land Model (CLM), to evaluate climate change impacts on agriculture. iPETS results are produced at the level of nine world regions for the period 2005-2100. We employ climate impacts on crop yield derived from CLM, driven by CESM simulations of the two RCPs. These yield effects are applied within iPETS, imposed on baseline and mitigation scenarios for SSP3 and SSP5 that are consistent with the RCPs. We find that the reduced level of warming in RCP4.5 (relative to RCP8.5) can have either positive or negative effects on the economy since crop yield either increases or decreases with climate change depending on assumptions about CO2 fertilization. For example, yields are 10% lower, and crop prices +17% higher, in RCP4.5 relative to RCP8.5 if CO2 fertilization is included, whereas yields are 20% higher, and crop prices 19% lower, if it is not. We also find that in the mitigation scenarios, crop prices are substantially affected by mitigation actions as well as by climate impacts. For the scenarios we evaluated, the development pathway (SSP3 vs SSP5) has a larger impact on outcomes than climate (RCP4.5 vs RCP8.5), by a factor of 3 for crop prices, 11 for total cropland use, and 21 for GDP on global average. |
| Keywords: | Avoided impacts, climate change, crop yields, CO2 fertilization, integrated assessment |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mns:wpaper:wp201511&r=agr |
| By: | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) |
| Abstract: | The Global Food Policy Report is IFPRI’s flagship publication. This year’s annual report examines major food policy issues, global and regional developments, and commitments made in 2015, and presents data on key food policy indicators. The report also proposes key policy options for 2016 and beyond to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the global community made major commitments on sustainable development and climate change. The global food system lies at the heart of these commitments—and we will only be able to meet the new goals if we work to transform our food system to be more inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly. |
| Keywords: | agricultural research; agricultural development; economic development; agricultural policies; governance; poverty; conflicts; food security; food policies; climate change; sustainability; water; water management; nutrition; food consumption; malnutrition; health; land degradation; land management; soil fertility; soil carbon; energy; smallholders; markets; value chains; gender; women; resilience; social protection; social safety nets; post harvest losses; food loss and waste; spillage; spoilage; sustainable development goals (SDGs); Africa South of Sahara; South Asia; Latin America; Africa; Asia; South America; Americas |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:synops:9780896299795&r=agr |
| By: | Cai, Jing; de Janvry, Alain; Sadoulet, Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | Many new products presumed to be privately beneficial to the poor have a high price elasticity of demand and ultimately zero take-up rate at market prices. This has led gov- ernments and donors to provide subsidies to increase the take-up, with the hope of reducing the subsidies once the value of the product is better known. In this study, we use data from a two-year field experiment in rural China to define the optimum subsidy scheme that can insure a given take-up for a new weather insurance product for rice producers. We estimate both reduced form causal channels and a structural model of learning from stochastic expe- rience which we use to conduct policy simulations. Results show that the optimum current subsidy necessary to achieve a desired level of take-up rate depends on both past subsidy levels and past payout rates, implying that subsidy levels should vary locally year-to-year. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Subsidy, Insurance, Take-up, Stochastic Learning |
| Date: | 2016–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:agrebk:qt7568b09m&r=agr |
| By: | Tudor, Monica Mihaela |
| Abstract: | In the last quarter of century (post-communist period after '89) in Romania, rural areas and small rural households were highly stable systems, providing social and economic security. Small-scale agriculture has become and continues to be the main supplier in rural labour market in the absence of other non-agricultural employment opportunities; achieve higher levels of economic performance compared to large farms by diversifying their production structure due to they have an important contribution to the national food security; food self-consumption, supported by small farms has an leverage effect against poverty. If the resilience means the ability of an individual, household, community, region or country to resist, to adapt, and quickly recover after a crisis, shock, change, the economic and social functions and roles assumed in the transition period by small Romanian rural households gives them the attributes of an resilient answer of the entire Romania to the post-communist changes and shocks. |
| Keywords: | rural areas, socio-economic changes, small agriculture, resilience, Romania |
| JEL: | D04 O12 Q12 R14 |
| Date: | 2015–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70306&r=agr |
| By: | Luca Barbaglia; Ines Wilms; Christophe Croux |
| Abstract: | The correct understanding of commodity price dynamics can bring relevant improvements in terms of policy formulation both for developing and developed countries. Agricultural, metal and energy commodity prices might depend on each other: although we expect few important effects among the total number of possible ones, some price effects among different commodities might still be substantial. Moreover, the increasing integration of the world economy suggests that these effects should be comparable for different markets. This paper introduces a sparse estimator of the Multi-class Vector AutoRegressive model to detect common price effects between a large number of commodities, for different markets or investment portfolios. In a first application, we consider agricultural and metal commodities for three different markets. We show a large prevalence of effects involving metal commodities in the Chinese and Indian markets, and the existence of asymmetric price effects. In a second application, we analyze commodity prices for five different investment portfolios, and highlight the existence of important effects from energy to agricultural commodities. The relevance of biofuels is hereby confirmed. Overall, we find stronger similarities in commodity price effects among portfolios than among markets. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1604.01224&r=agr |
| By: | Rigoberto A. Lopez (University of Connecticut); Nataliya Plesha (University of Connecticut); Ben Campbell (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | The northeastern region of the United States comprises 5 percent of the United States land mass but houses 20 percent of the population. Even within this relatively small, densely population area, agriculture, forestry and fisheries are important economic components at the household, state and regional levels. At the request of Farm Credit East, we conducted a study to document and ascertain the significance in the economies of eight northeastern states of the agriculture sector, defined broadly as including four Fs: farming, food, forestry and fisheries. As measured in the eight states under study using data from 2012, agriculture contributed $99.4 billion to regional total sales or $2,312 per resident and generated 474,482 jobs. |
| Keywords: | farming, economic impacts |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zwi:outrep:34&r=agr |
| By: | Morone, Piergiuseppe; Falcone, Pasquale Marcello; Imbert, Enrica; Morone, Marcello; Morone, Andrea |
| Abstract: | Food security, along with growing population and the associated environmental concerns, make food waste and loss a central topic in economic analysis. While food losses occur mostly at the production, postharvest and processing phases of the supply chain, food waste takes place mainly at the end of the chain and therefore concerns primarily the habits and behaviour patterns of retailers and consumers. Many solutions and practices have been proposed and oftentimes implemented in order to “keep food out of landfills”, thus reducing food waste at the source. However, little attention has been paid to the possible sharing of consumer-side food surplus. In this context, food sharing could represent an effective way to tackle food waste at the consumers’ level, with both environmental and economic potential positive effects. Currently, several initiatives and start-ups are being developed in the US and Europe, involving the collection and use of the excess of food from consumers and retailers and the promotion of collaborative consumption models (e.g. Foodsharing, Growington, Feastly, etc.). Nevertheless, there is still little empirical evidence testing the effectiveness of introducing sharing economy approaches to reduce food waste. This study seeks to fill this gap through a framed field experiment. We run two experimental treatments; in the control treatment students were asked to behave according to their regular food consumption habits, and in the food sharing treatment the same students were instructed to purchase food, cook and consume it collectively. Preliminary results showed that the adoption by households of food sharing practices do not automatically translate into food waste reduction. A number of factors (environmental and economic awareness, domestic skills and collaborative behaviors) might act as ‘enablers’ to make sharing practices effective. |
| Keywords: | Food waste; sharing economy; food sharing; framed field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 Q5 |
| Date: | 2016–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70626&r=agr |
| By: | Lachaud, Michee Arnold (University of Connecticut); Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. (University of Connecticut); Ludena, Carlos E. (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | This study estimates Climate Adjusted Total Factor Productivity (CATFP) for agriculture in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries, while also providing comparisons with several regions of the world. Climatic variability is introduced in Stochastic Production Frontier (SPF) models by including average annual maximum temperature, precipitation and its monthly intra-year standard deviations, and the number of rainy days. Climatic conditions have a negative impact on production becoming stronger at the end of the 2000s compared to earlier periods. An Error Correction Model is applied to investigate catch-up and convergence across LAC countries. Argentina defines the frontier in LAC and TFP convergence is found across all South American countries, Costa Rica, Mexico, Barbados and The Bahamas. Using IPCC 2014 scenarios, the study shows that climatic variability induces significant reductions in productivity (2.3% to 10.7%), over the 2013-2040 period. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Total Factor Productivity, Stochastic Production Frontiers, Climate Effects, Convergence, Forecasting, Latin America and the Caribbean |
| JEL: | D24 Q54 O47 E27 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zwi:wpaper:40&r=agr |
| By: | Pierre DELFAUD |
| Abstract: | Now that agricultural surpluses, after the removal of quantitative restrictions put into effect thirty years ago, are beginning to reappear, it is an opportune moment to revisit the history of the Common Agricultural Policy. This policy in effect constituted a unique experiment which can only be understood, as in any policy of intervention in market economies, through the combination of three concepts: economic rationality, social acceptability and institutional capability. This can be verified throughout the sixty years of the CAP’s existence, from its formulation (1955-1962) to its establishment with successive readjustments (1962-1992) through to the gradual dismantling (1992-2015). We are thus faced with two models: firstly the policy of price regulation, secondly competition policy compensation. |
| Keywords: | History of Europe, agricultural policy, interventionism, price regulation, competition policy |
| JEL: | N54 Q13 Q18 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2016-09&r=agr |
| By: | Richard L. Nolan (Harvard Business School) |
| Abstract: | Homo sapiens has mastered its environment so thoroughly that, for the first time in history, a small minority of the population is capable of creating enough food and fuels to support not only itself, but a growing majority of the 6 billion people now living on earth. This unparalleled abundance is allowing our species to develop, distribute, and profit from innovation in nearly every corner of civilization. Now key elements of the modern world such as the speed and connectedness of digital communication, the dynamic movement of capital, and changing nature of political boundaries are propelling capitalism into a new form that can be characterized as "virtual capitalism." And global corporations in their size and global influence are leading the embodiment of virtual capitalism into the modern world. |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:16-116&r=agr |
| By: | Adam Rabinowitz (University of Connecticut); Rigoberto A. Lopez (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Connecticut farm milk prices continued their downward spiral in the first quarter of 2015. The statistical uniform price for farm milk averaged $16.78/cwt, more than $7/cwt (approximately 30%) lower than a year ago. Meanwhile, the cost of production has remained stable at around $33/cwt. |
| Keywords: | Connecticut, milk, production |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zwi:outrep:36&r=agr |
| By: | Villy Søgaard (Department of Environmental and Business Economics, University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | Despite public approval from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen), farmers have proven reluctant to accept wastewater sludge as a source of fertilizer. They are in fact still being paid for accepting it. Based on interviews with key stakeholders, a review of the literature, and theoretical reflections this paper analyses the barriers to the recycling of wastewater sludge. |
| Keywords: | Sludge, recycling, wastewater treatment |
| JEL: | Q13 Q15 Q21 Q24 Q25 Q53 Q55 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sdk:wpaper:123&r=agr |
| By: | Philip Hemmings |
| Abstract: | Norwegian policy gives high priority to supporting rural communities, with support for agriculture receiving particular attention. It is broadly successful in terms of maintaining rural communities, and urban-rural gaps in a range of well-being indicators are comparatively narrow. However, the cost-efficiency and sustainability of the policy mechanisms are questionable. Agriculture and rural policy in Norway needs to focus more strongly on economic sustainability alongside social sustainability. Agricultural support remains overly concentrated on maintaining the status quo and has seen little reform compared with policies elsewhere in the OECD. In contrast, the fishing industry has reformed much further towards economic sustainability, aquaculture has seen considerable success and there is potential for more rural tourism. Supporting rural communities also requires attention to the quality of public services in rural areas, and this report draws particular attention to inefficiencies arising from small-scale municipalities, and supports efforts to encourage mergers towards larger units, paving the way for greater operational leeway for municipal government.This working paper relates to the 2016 OECD Economic Survey of Norway (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-survey-norway.htm). Agriculture et zones rurales en Norvège : enjeux pour l'action publique Les pouvoirs publics norvégiens s’emploient de manière prioritaire à soutenir les communautés rurales, le soutien à l’agriculture bénéficiant d’une attention particulière. Cette politique porte largement ses fruits en ce qui concerne le maintien des communautés rurales, et pour tout un éventail d’indicateurs du bien-être, les écarts entre les zones urbaines et les zones rurales sont relativement modestes. Toutefois, on peut s’interroger sur le rapport coût-efficience et sur la viabilité d’une telle stratégie. Les politiques agricoles et rurales de la Norvège devraient mettre davantage l’accent sur la viabilité économique parallèlement à la viabilité sociale. Le soutien à l’agriculture reste excessivement concentré sur le maintien du statu quo et les réformes ont été peu nombreuses par comparaison avec les politiques menées dans d’autres pays de l’OCDE. En revanche, l’industrie halieutique a été bien davantage réformée dans le sens de la viabilité économique, l’aquaculture a enregistré des réussites considérables et il existe un potentiel de développement du tourisme rural. Le soutien apporté aux communautés rurales doit également prendre en compte la qualité des services publics dans les zones rurales ; la présente Étude souligne en particulier les inefficiences liées aux municipalités de petite taille et soutient les efforts déployés pour encourager les fusions visant à constituer des collectivités plus larges, ce qui permettrait de ménager aux autorités municipales de plus grandes marges de manoeuvre opérationnelles. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de la Norvège 2015 (www.oecd.org/fr/eco/etudes/etude-econom ique-norvege.htm). |
| Keywords: | local government, agriculture, municipalities, regional policy, agricultural support, soutien à l'agriculture, municipalités, politique régionale, gouvernement local, agriculture |
| JEL: | Q10 Q18 Q22 R11 R50 |
| Date: | 2016–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1286-en&r=agr |
| By: | Joanna Pawłowska-Tyszko (Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute); Michał Soliwoda (Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | There is a limited number of research papers referring to the question how accounting systems affect economic and financial results of farms. The aim of this paper was to assess how agricultural accounting systems may support farm financial management, based on a case of Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (Polish FADN). We presented the evolution, the current state and challenges for development of agricultural accounting in Poland. Selected features of FADN, taking into account the legal and organizational aspects were presented. Particular attention was paid to some aspects of usefulness of Polish FADN from the perspective of farm financial management (a micro focus). This study used multiple methodologies (mainly,elements of case study), to gather evidence. The FADN system in Poland brings several direct and indirect benefits, both at micro (for farmers) and sectoral levels. Individual Farm Report may support financial planning, but inflow of some detailed data on costs/margins may be very useful. The necessary rationale for using FADN system for supporting financial management is the strong need for providing more detailed data within the accounting system. |
| Keywords: | agricultural accounting, financial management, farm, FADN, Polish agriculture |
| JEL: | M41 Q14 Q18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:3405666&r=agr |
| By: | Adam Rabinowitz (University of Connecticut); Rigoberto A. Lopez (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | During the third quarter of 2014 milk prices remained steady, at historically high levels, for Connecticut dairy farmers. The statistical uniform price averaged $25.34/cwt while the cost of production took a sharp increase in September to $37.50/cwt. |
| Keywords: | Connecticut, milk, production |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zwi:outrep:32&r=agr |
| By: | Can, Muhlis; Gozgor, Giray |
| Abstract: | Environmental degradation is most often brought to the agenda by arousing the attention of scholars, and there has been an increase in the studies on this issue. This paper re-estimates the environmental Kuznets curve in France over the period of 1964–2011. To this end, the unit root test with one structural break and a cointegration analysis with multiple endogenous structural breaks are considered. The impacts of the energy consumption and the economic complexity on CO2 emissions are also included in dynamic empirical models. First, it is found that the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid in France in both the short and the long run. Second, the positive impact of energy consumption on CO2 emissions is also observed in the long run. Third, it is observed that a higher economic complexity suppresses CO2 emissions in the long run. The evidence suggests important environmental policy implications to suppress CO2 emissions in France. |
| Keywords: | environmental Kuznets curve; energy consumption; economic complexity; time series modeling; structural breaks; French economy |
| JEL: | C32 O13 Q55 Q56 |
| Date: | 2016–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70373&r=agr |
| By: | Ben Campbell (University of Connecticut); Adam Rabinowitz (University of Connecticut); Yizao Liu (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | According to a 2012 survey by the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (DARE) at the University of Connecticut and funded by a Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Grant, 73% of Connecticut consumers believe local products are produced in the state or a small distance into neighboring state. So approximately three-fourths of Connecticut consumers have an understanding of local that is consistent with state government. On the flip side, one-quarter of consumers have a very different definition of local that includes the New England region, east coast, the U.S. or the entire world. |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zwi:outrep:38&r=agr |
| By: | McIntosh, Craig; Povel, Felix; Sadoulet, Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | We play a series of incentivized laboratory games with risk-exposed cooperative- based coffee farmers in Guatemala to understand the demand for index-based rainfall insurance. We show that insurance demand goes up as increasingly severe risk makes insurance payouts more partial (payouts are smaller than losses), but demand is ad- versely effected by more complex risk structures in which payouts are probabilistic (it is possible that a shock occurs with no payout). We use numerical techniques to esti- mate a flexible utility function for each player and consequently can put exact dollar values on the magnitude of the behavioral response triggered by probabilistic insur- ance. Exploiting the group structure of the cooperative, we investigate the possibility of using group loss adjustment to smooth idiosyncratic risk. Our results suggest that consumers value probabilistic insurance using a prospect-style utility function that is concave both in probabilities and in income, and that group insurance mechanisms are unlikely to solve the issues of low demand that have bedeviled index insurance markets. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Risk, Index Insurance, Utility Estimation |
| Date: | 2015–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:agrebk:qt89k8r3qf&r=agr |
| By: | Oyamada, Kazuhiko |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the potential usefulness of an AGE model with the Melitz-type trade specification to assess economic effects of technical regulations, taking the case of the EU ELV/RoHS directives as an example. Simulation experiments reveal that: (1) raising the fixed exporting cost to make sales in the EU market brings results that exports of the targeted commodities (motor vehicles and parts for ELV and electronic equipment for RoHS) to the EU from outside regions/countries expand while the domestic trade in the EU shrinks when the importer's preference for variety (PfV) is not strong; (2) if the PfV is not strong, policy changes that may bring reduction in the number of firms enable survived producers with high productivity to expand production to be large-scale mass producers fully enjoying the fruit of economies of scale; and (3) When the strength of the importer's PfV is changed from zero to unity, there is the value that totally changes simulation results and their interpretations. |
| Keywords: | Macroeconomics, International trade, Econometric model, Econometrics |
| JEL: | C68 D58 F12 L11 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper587&r=agr |
| By: | Yamauchi,Futoshi; Larson,Donald F. |
| Abstract: | Unanticipated spikes in food prices can increase malnutrition among the poor, with lasting consequences; however, livelihood strategies that include producing food for home consumption are expected to offer a measure of protection. Using anthropometric and consumption data from Indonesia collected before and after the 2007/08 food price crisis, this paper finds evidence of both effects. Based on standardized height and weight measures, the results indicate that soaring food prices had a significant and negative impact on child growth among non-farming households. A corresponding effect was undetectable for food-producing households. The results remain robust when income effects from increased commercial sales and possible attritions through migration and fostering are considered. Further, local food price changes were uncorrelated with the share of non-farming village households and the initial average child nutrition status in the village, suggesting that the observed outcomes are directly attributable to market events and livelihood strategies. Interestingly, gender differences were not detected. The findings imply that the food price crises can have negative impacts on children, potentially leading to lifelong income inequality among those affected at a vulnerable stage of life. |
| Date: | 2016–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7627&r=agr |
| By: | Fabienne Féménia; Elodie Letort |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use an econometric approach to investigate the impacts of potential changes in cropping practices on the reduction in pesticide use implied by a taxation policy. We combine economic data, reflecting the relatively intensive cropping practices currently used in France, and experimental agronomic data on a low-input technology to estimate micro-econometric models of farmers’ production and acreage choices. In a second step, these estimated models are used to conduct policy simulations. Our results show that a small tax on pesticide use could provide agricultural producers sufficient economic incentive to adopt low-input cropping practices and thereby lead to significant reductions in pesticide use, close to public short-term objectives. However, given the limited impacts of taxation once these practices have been adopted, other public instruments or further improvement of low-input cropping systems should be considered to achieve more ambitious longer term public objectives. |
| Keywords: | econometric model, field trial data, pesticide taxation, low-input technology |
| JEL: | Q12 Q18 Q55 C54 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201602&r=agr |
| By: | John Curtis; Benjamin Breen |
| Abstract: | On-site survey data from coarse and game angling sites in Ireland is used to estimate count data models of recreational angling demand. To investigate the existence of preference heterogeneity across angler-types, three demand functions are estimated according to angler type; coarse, game and a combination of both. Comparison of these demand functions indicates that the fishery characteristics which drive demand differ depending on angler-specific characteristics. For example treating all anglers as an homogeneous group led to results suggesting angling demand is higher where there is a greater provision of angling services (such as guide-hire and tackle shops). While this relationship pertained for the game angling demand function, angling service levels had no effect on coarse angling demand. Water quality, which was not found to be significant in driving demand in the combined case, was identified as a significant determinant of angling demand in game fisheries. Overall the results strongly support the need to specifically address angler characteristics when analysing angler preferences. Improved survey design that attains more detailed information such as anglers' quarry-type, skill level, etc. will improve the ability of analysts to understand angler preferences and provide more effective policy recommendations. |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp529&r=agr |