|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2016‒09‒25
28 papers chosen by |
| By: | Joachim Vandercasteelen; Seneshaw Tamru; Bart Minten; Johan Swinnen |
| Abstract: | Due to the rapid growth of cities in Africa, a larger number of farmers is living in the rural hinterland providing food to urban residents. However, empirical evidence on how urbanization affects these farmers is scarce. To fill this gap, this paper explores the relationship between proximity to a city and the production behavior of rural staple crop producers. More in particular, we analyze unique data from teff producing farmers in major producing areas around Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. We find that farmers more closely located to Addis Ababa face higher wages and land rental prices, but because they receive higher teff prices they have better incentives to intensify production. Moreover, we observe that modern input use, land and labor productivity, and profitability in teff production improve with urban proximity. There is a strong and significant direct effect of urban proximity, which is suggested to be related with more use of formal factor markets, less transaction costs, and better access to information. In contrast, we do not find strong and positive relationships of rural population density increases - as an alternative source of agricultural transformation - as they seem to lead to immiserizing effects in these settings. Our results show that urban proximity should be considered as an important determinant of the process of agricultural intensification and transformation in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Transformation, Crop Intensification, Urbanization, Cities, Ethiopia, Sub Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:37416&r=agr |
| By: | Marian Rizov; Andrej Cupak; Jan Pokrivcak |
| 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 |
| JEL: | D12 I12 O52 Q18 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36015&r=agr |
| By: | Lara Cockx; Nathalie Francken |
| Abstract: | In the aftermath of the world food price crisis, the issue of food and nutrition security has received a high level of political attention and the international donor community has repeatedly underlined its commitment to combat hunger in the world. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the international community’s efforts in addressing the widespread problem of malnutrition, we need to improve our knowledge on what activities donors are currently engaging in and which interventions have been shown to be successful. This paper offers both an overview of the aid for food and nutrition security landscape and how it has changed and an extensive review of the available evidence on the impact of a wide array of interventions aimed at addressing all four dimensions of food and nutrition security; availability, access, utilization and stability. We find that despite the renewed interest and elevated levels of funding for food and nutrition security assistance in developing countries, the empirical evidence base for the effectiveness of these interventions in improving beneficiaries’ food and nutrition security – although in several cases promising – is weak. In particular, the question whether different interventions improve the quality of food consumption and consequently nutrient intake and status, remains largely unanswered. Moreover, few studies assess longer-term effects and there exists relatively little rigorous evidence that compares different interventions. It is therefore strongly recommended to undertake additional research to improve the evidence base as this would allow researchers and policy makers to establish the type of approaches that improve food and nutrition security in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. Finally, in order to facilitate this process, there is a need for a clear and uniform definition of food and nutrition security assistance on the one hand as well as agreed upon, comprehensive indicators on the other hand. |
| JEL: | F35 F53 I38 O12 O13 O15 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:37716&r=agr |
| By: | Olivia Riera; Johan Swinnen |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the situation in the agricultural sector and food security in Cuba and in particular the transformations that have (not) taken place since 1990. We compare the Cuban transition with transitions in other "transition countries" and show that Cuba does not fit easily in one of the transition patterns, and, in a way, has characteristics of "a bit of everything". To conclude, we discuss the (potential) effects of the recent policy changes. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Food Security, Economic Transition, Cuba |
| JEL: | O13 P21 Q13 Q18 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36115&r=agr |
| By: | Dekolo, Samuel; Oduwaye, Leke; Nwokoro, Immaculata |
| Abstract: | Examinations of ‘peri-urban’ remain elusive and often neglected by urban planners. However, these transitional zones are constantly under pressure by increasing populations from inner cities and migrants from the surrounding rural areas. The result in most developing countries is uncontrolled or unplanned landscapes. Although urban growth is inevitable and land use changes are imminent as peri-urban expansions of cities, peri-urban areas are pivotal regarding the agricultural resources necessary to urban survival. Understanding the development patterns, emerging urban forms, and their influences on peri-urban areas require an understanding of development decisions. Such knowledge will help decision makers and urban managers develop appropriate policies to address growth in ‘edge’ cities. This study focuses on the organic growth of Ikorodu, a peri-urban municipality on the outskirts of Lagos that emerged from a sleepy farming community with a population less than 100,000 in 1975 to a vibrant city exceeding one million residents in 2015. The study employs a multi-temporal remote sensing and GIS analysis to detect the urban pattern and emergent form over a 40-year period from 1975 to 2015. An empirical analysis was performed using survey data on 300 homeowners in 61 communities to identify the influences of rapid growth and the responses of planners to the city’s growth. |
| Keywords: | sprawl, peri-urban, remote sensing, fractals, policy |
| JEL: | O15 O18 R10 R14 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73726&r=agr |
| By: | Joachim De Weerdt; Kathleen Beegle; Jed Friedman; John Gibson |
| Abstract: | There is widespread interest in estimating the number of hungry people in the world and trends in hunger. Current global counts rely on combining each country's total food balance with information on distribution patterns from household consumption expenditure surveys. Recent research has advocated for calculating hunger numbers directly from these same surveys. For either approach, embedded in this effort are a number of important details about how household surveys are designed and how these data are then used. Using a survey experiment in Tanzania, this study finds great fragility in hunger counts stemming from alternative survey designs. As a consequence, comparable hunger numbers will be lacking until more effort is made to either harmonize survey designs or better understand the consequences of survey design variation. |
| Keywords: | hunger prevalence, measurement error, consumption, survey design |
| JEL: | C88 O12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36515&r=agr |
| By: | Ek, Kristina (Economics Unit, Luleå University of Technology); Persson, Lars (CERE and the Department of Economics, Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | The Water Framework Directive (WFD) explicitly acknowledges the role of economics in the process of reaching the environmental quality objectives. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation of the WFD in Sweden based on standard economic theory regarding instruments for cost efficient- and effective solutions to environmental problems. A lesson is that although incentive based instruments are beneficial from a cost-efficiency perspective, the complexities associated with environmental water management may somewhat challenge their implementation. Flexibility is a key issue for cost-effectiveness and, since Swedish water management mainly consists of command-and control instruments, the cost effectiveness is likely to be limited. Furthermore, the paper also points at how policy instruments relate to the economic burden aspect and the PPP – both highlighted in the Directive. |
| Keywords: | The economics of the Water Framework Directive; cost efficiency and effectiveness; environmental water management; Polluter Pays Principle |
| JEL: | H23 Q53 |
| Date: | 2016–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slucer:2016_016&r=agr |
| By: | Johan Swinnen; Rob Kuijpers |
| Abstract: | The adoption of modern technologies in agriculture is crucial for improving productivity of poor farmers and poverty reduction. However, the adoption of modern technology has been disappointing. The role of value chains in technology adoption has been largely ignored so far, despite the dramatic transformation and spread of modern agri-food value chains. We argue that value chain organization and innovations can have an important impact on modern technology adoption, not just by downstream companies, but also by farmers. We provide a conceptual framework and an empirical typology of institutional innovations through which value chains can contribute to technology transfer to agriculture in developing and emerging countries. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:37616&r=agr |
| By: | Sudhanshu Handa; David Seidenfeld; Garima Bhalla; Gustavo Angeles; UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of the Zimbabwe Harmonized Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) on household food security after 12 months of implementation. The programme has had a strong impact on a well-known food security scale – the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) – but muted impacts on food consumption expenditure. However aggregate food consumption hides dynamic activity taking place within the household where the cash is used to obtain more food from the market and rely less on food received as gifts. The cash in turn gives them greater choice in their food basket which improves diet diversity. Further investigation of the determinants of food consumption and the HFIAS shows that several dimensions of household vulnerability correlate more strongly with the HFIAS than food consumption. Labour constraints, which is a key vulnerability criterion used by the HSCT to target households, is an important predictor of the HFIAS but not food expenditure, and its effect on food security is even larger during the lean season. |
| Keywords: | cash transfers; food resources; food security; vulnerable groups; zimbabwe; |
| JEL: | D12 I31 I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa859&r=agr |
| By: | Elena Briones Alonso; Johan Swinnen |
| Abstract: | We develop an extended Nominal Rate of Assistance (NRA) methodology to disentangle the welfare impacts of policies for various interest groups along the value chain (to disaggregate effects within the "producer" and "consumer" umbrellas). We apply our value chain NRA methodology to the case of Pakistan's price and trade policy. We analyse the welfare implications for various agents in the wheat-flour value chain from 2000 to 2013, a period characterized by major global price volatility and by regular adjustments of domestic policies. We find that the wheat price policy has generally benefitted flour consumers and wheat traders at the expense of wheat farmers and to a lesser extent flour millers. Our findings illustrate that the welfare implications of policies can be quite different within the "producer" and "consumer" umbrellas, which has potentially important implications for economic and political economy analyses and for the design of policies that aim to target the poorest groups along value chains. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36615&r=agr |
| By: | Hedefalk, Finn (Department of Economic History, Lund University); Quaranta, Luciana (Department of Economic History, Lund University); Bengtsson, Tommy (Department of Economic History, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Child mortality differed greatly within rural regions in Europe before and during the mortality decline. Not much is known about the role of nutrition in such geographic differences, and about the factors affecting the nutritional level and hence the resistance to diseases. Focusing on nutrition, we analyse the effects of soil type, used as an indicator of the farm-level agricultural productivity and hence of nutritional status, on mortality of children aged 1-15 living in five rural parishes in southern Sweden, 1850-1914. Using longitudinal demographic data combined with unique geographic micro-data on residential histories, the effect of soil type on the mortality risks are analysed considering as outcome all-cause mortality and mortality from non-airborne and airborne infectious diseases. Soil type primarily affected the mortality of farmers’ children, but not labourers’ children. Particularly, farmers’ children residing in areas with very high proportions of clayey till (75-100% coverage) experienced lower risks of dying compared to children residing in areas with other soil types such as clay and sandy soils. Certain soil types seem to have influenced the agricultural productivity, which, in turn, affected the nutrition of the farmers’ children and thus their likelihood of dying. The results indicate a relatively important role of nutrition as a mortality predictor for these children. As, to our knowledge, the first longitudinal study on the micro-level that analyses the effects of soil type on mortality in a historical rural society, we contribute to the literature on the role of nutrition on the risk of dying in a pre-industrial society |
| Keywords: | child mortality; geographic context variables; GIS; historical demography; soil quality; southern Sweden |
| JEL: | J10 N50 N90 |
| Date: | 2016–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0148&r=agr |
| By: | Pavel Ciaian; d'Artis Kancs; Giuseppe Pirolix; Miroslava Rajcaniova |
| Abstract: | This is the first paper that econometrically estimates the impact of rising Bioenergy production on global CO2 emissions. We apply a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) approach to time series from 1961 to 2009 with annual observation for the world biofuel production and global CO2 emissions. We find that in the medium- to long-run biofuels significantly reduce global CO2 emissions: the CO2 emission elasticities with respect to biofuels range between -0.57 and -0.80. In the short-run, however, biofuels may increase CO2 emissions temporarily. Our findings complement those of life-cycle assessment and simulation models. However, by employing a more holistic approach and obtaining more robust estimates of environmental impact of biofuels, our results are particularly valuable for policy makers. |
| Keywords: | SVAR, time-series econometrics, biofuels, C02 emissions, environment. |
| JEL: | C14 C22 C51 D58 Q11 Q13 Q42 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:37115&r=agr |
| By: | Goedele Van den Broeck; Johan Swinnen; Miet Maertens |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first to present panel data evidence on the longer-term impact of expansion of global value chains and large-scale export-oriented farms in developing countries. Using panel data from two survey rounds covering a seven-year period and fixed effects regression, we estimate the longer-term income effects of wage employment on large-scale farms in the rapidly expanding horticultural export sector in Senegal. In addition to estimating average income effects, we estimate heterogeneous income effects using fixed effects quantile regression. We find that poverty and inequality reduced much faster in the research area than elsewhere in Senegal. Employment in the horticultural export sector significantly increases household income and the income effect is strongest for the poorest households. Expansion of the horticultural export sector in Senegal has been particularly pro-poor through creating employment that is accessible and creates substantial income gains for the poorest half of the rural population. These pro-poor employment effects contrast with insights in the literature on increased inequality from rural wage employment. |
| Keywords: | Globalisation, High-value supply chains, Rural wage employment, Quantile regression, Panel data, Long-term effects |
| JEL: | F16 J14 O19 Q17 R23 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:38016&r=agr |
| By: | Judy Geyer; Mikal Davis; Tulika Narayan |
| Abstract: | This article offers important statistics to evaluators planning future evaluations in southeast Africa. There are little to no published statistics describing the variance of southeast African agricultural and household indicators. |
| Keywords: | Mozambique, power analysis, evaluation, intracluster correlation coefficient (ICC), design effect, standard deviation, survey research, agriculture, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Africa, household survey, R 2 |
| JEL: | F Z |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:ec837ec3712d43d2bd916beb7b8687e1&r=agr |
| By: | Deller, Steven (University of Wisconsin-Extension); Conroy, Tessa (University of Wisconsin-Extension) |
| Abstract: | This exploratory research seeks to better understand the changing role of women farmers in rural US economic growth and development. Within the US the number of farms operated by women has grown from five percent of all farms in 1978 to almost 14% in 2012. Over the 1978-2012 time-frame nearly all the growth in number of farms and acres farmed has been from women farmers. It is unclear how this shift in farming across the US impacts the economic performance of rural communities. We explore temporal and spatial patterns of women owned farms using Census of Agriculture data then use an expanded Carlino-Mills partial adjustment growth framework to model how concentrations of women farmers in 2007 influence growth patterns over the 2007 to 2013 period. We find higher concentrations of women farmers do not influence employment or population growth but do have a negative association with income growth. |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:wisagr:580&r=agr |
| By: | Di Corato, Luca (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This article presents a simple model of land development under uncertainty and hyperbolic discounting. Land kept in rural use pays an uncertain rent, while net returns from land development are known and constant. The landowner is viewed here as a sequence of infinite autonomous selves with time inconsistent preferences. We solve the underlying noncooperative intra-personal stopping time game under both naïve and sophisticated beliefs about the landowner's time-inconsistency and show that i) land development is accelerated due to his present-biased time preferences and ii) a higher acceleration is associated with sophistication. |
| Keywords: | Land Development; Stochastic Hyperbolic Discounting; Timing Game; Real Options |
| JEL: | C61 Q15 R11 |
| Date: | 2016–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slueko:2016_008&r=agr |
| By: | Dario Belluomini |
| Abstract: | This paper present a thorough reflection on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs, which may be viewed as the most innovative tools of the ‘environmental policy toolkit’. These are incentive-based mechanisms, compensating landowners to manage the natural resources under their control in a sustainable way (generating environmental services such as biodiversity protection and ecotourism), instead of clearing land or excessively exploiting their natural resources. After briefly discussing the most significant findings in the environment and development research stream, we will present how the roots of PES lie in public economic theory, with regard in particular to environmental externalities. Later, after debating the proper definition of PES and its main concepts (e.g. additionality, perverse incentives, conditionality), we shall also comment the main case-studies on the topic, in order to provide clear examples of how these instruments may be applied in several different context (i.e. both in developing and developed countries, either by public or private agents). As it shall be shown, given their high adaptability to local conditions, PES are likely to become extremely important in next decades’ environment safeguard interventions. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cav:cavwpp:wp140&r=agr |
| By: | Laetitia Tuffery (University Paris Saclay, Evry-Val d'Essonne, TEPP Institute FR n°3126 CNRS) |
| Abstract: | Most of previous forest recreational service valuation studies using hedonic methods have focused on direct proximity of housing to the nearest forest while treating the recreational services as homogeneous. However, households in urban and periurban areas may prefer diverse forest areas in their neighborhood. The main objective of this study is to estimate and compare the impacts of proximity to forest recreational services based on the nearest forest and the global forest environment, which includes spatially heterogeneous recreational quality. The global forest environment is computed from the forest recreational services with respect to travel time to the housing. Empirical results show that major differences exist between the forests' valuations and their recreational services depending on which forest environment is considered. The size of the nearest forest is the only characteristic with a positive and significant impact on housing prices. Conversely, the global forest environment positively impacts housing prices based on certain parameters, such as large forest size, no protected areas and the existence of hiking and biking paths, which implies public access and maintenance. |
| Keywords: | recreational services; global forest environment; hedonic price method; spatial analysis |
| JEL: | Q26 Q57 R14 R21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eve:wpaper:16-06&r=agr |
| By: | Elena Briones Alonso; Romain Houssa; Marijke Verpoorten |
| Abstract: | We study the co-existence of two community-based institutions for fisheries management in Benin: a traditional institution embedded in the Voodoo religion and a recent secular institution in the form of fishing committees. Using household survey data on fishing activities, we find that rules of both institutions have a statistically significant but small impact on the use of unsustainable fishing gear. We further find that Voodoo fishers who break the traditional Voodoo-based rule follow the fishing committee rule to the same extent as other fishers. This finding is consistent with a possible transition from the traditional Voodoo-based institution to the secular fishing committee institution. More research is needed to fully assess the effectiveness of, and interactions between, the two institutions. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36415&r=agr |
| By: | Bruno Lanz (University of Neuchâtel (Institute of Economic Research), ETH Zurich (Chair for Integrative Risk Management and Economics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change).); Allan Provins (Economics for the Environment Consultancy (eftec), London UK.) |
| Abstract: | We design a survey to provide quantitative evidence about household demand for qualitative aspects of tap water supply. We focus on two characteristics that are of importance for households: water hardness and aesthetic quality in terms of taste, smell and appearance. Our survey elicits expenditures on products that improve the overall experience of these characteristics of tap water quality, and administration targets a representative sample of the population in England and Wales. For water hardness, our results show that around 14% of households employ at least one water softener device or purchase products such as softening tablets or descaling agents. For the aesthetic quality of tap water, around 39% of households report some averting behaviour, the most common being the use of filtering devices, purchase of bottled water, or addition of squash or cordial. To study how expenditures on these products vary with the level of service quality, we match household data to highly disaggregated records on regional water hardness (in mg CaCO3=l) and aesthetic quality, as measured by the regional rate of complaints to the water service supplier. Our econometric analysis suggests that households’ decision to incur averting expenditures varies with service quality in a statistically and economically significant manner, providing novel evidence that households actively respond to non-health related aspects of tap water quality. |
| Keywords: | Water demand; Tap water quality; Water hardness; Revealed preferences; Averting behaviour; Cost-benefit analysis; Economic surveys. |
| JEL: | Q25 Q53 C83 L95 D13 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irn:wpaper:16-04&r=agr |
| By: | Renuka K. Ganegodage (School of Economics, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Australia); Peyman Khezr (School of Economics, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Australia); Rabindra Nepal (CDU Business School, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of fossil-fired power plants on the value of neighborhood properties in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Fossil-fuels accounts for significant proportion of electricity generation in Australia. Thus, there are growing community concerns regarding the possible negative environmental effects of these power plants given the high level of emission produced by these plants. We use a comprehensive data with the exact location of each property to estimate the effect of an existing fossil-fuel power plant on the value of neighborhood properties. We use spatial econometric models to estimate these effects with controls over several characteristics of properties. Our results suggest that coal-fired power plants have significant negative effects on property values within a specific radius. These effects are less but still negative for gas and gas reciprocating power plants. |
| Keywords: | Fossil-fired; power plants; emissions; property price |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 R11 R30 |
| Date: | 2016–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:569&r=agr |
| By: | Giulia Meloni; Johan Swinnen |
| Abstract: | In 2008, the EU voted to liberalize its system of planting rights which has strictly regulated vine plantings in the EU. However, after an intense lobbying campaign the liberalization of the planting right system was overturned in 2013 and new regulations created an even more restrictive system. European wine associations complained about the detrimental effects of the new regulations. There is a precedent in history. In 1726, the French political philosopher and landowner Montesquieu complained to the French King about the prohibition on planting new vines. Montesquieu was not successful in his demands to remove the planting rights. Old and recent history suggests that political forces against liberalization of planting rights are very strong. Only the French Revolution in 1789 led to a fundamental liberalization of planting rights. The “liberal period” of the 19th century was sustained by the combination of the French Revolution’s liberal ideology, the thirst for wine of Napoleon’s armies and diseases that wiped out most of the French vineyards. That said, in the past and the present, enforcement of planting rights is a major problem. In fact, despite the official restrictions, Montesquieu managed to plant his vines, allowing him to become a successful wine producer and merchant and to travel and to spend time thinking, discussing and ultimately writing up his ideas which influenced much of the Western world’s constitutions. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36715&r=agr |
| By: | Generalova Svetlana Vladimirovna (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration- Stolypin Volga Region Institute of administration) |
| Abstract: | The article reveals the essence and purpose of the diversification of agricultural production in the conditions of import substitution. Settle the causes that gave rise to the need to deepen the process of diversification of agricultural production to meet the requirements of import substitution in Russia. |
| Keywords: | diversification, import substitution, agricultural products |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:g9166&r=agr |
| By: | Koen Deconinck; Martijn Huysmans; Johan Swinnen |
| Abstract: | In this article we study the political process that governs the creation and size of new Geographical Indications (GIs). Producers can choose to apply for a GI and subsequently go through a bargaining process with the government. We derive the optimal GI area from the point of view of consumers, producers, social welfare, and the government; and we show how bargaining leads to a GI size in between the applicant’s optimum and the government’s optimum. Under the assumption that the non-GI good is a commodity, any GI implemented through the political process is welfare-enhancing, but not all welfare-enhancing GIs will be proposed by producers. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:37215&r=agr |
| By: | Wagner, Gernot (Harvard University); Zeckhauser, Richard J. (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Deep-seated, persistent uncertainty is a pernicious feature of climate change. One key parameter, equilibrium climate sensitivity, has eluded almost all attempts at pinning it down more precisely than a 'likely' range that has stalled at 1.5-4.5 degrees C for over thirty-five years. The marginal damages due to temperature increase rise rapidly. Thus, uncertainty in climate sensitivity significantly raises the expected costs of climate change above what they would be if the temperature increases were known to be close to a mean value 3.0 degrees C. The costs of this uncertainty are compounded given that the distribution of possible temperature changes is strongly skewed toward higher values. |
| JEL: | D81 Q54 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:16-025&r=agr |
| By: | Generalova Svetlana Vladimirovna (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration- Stolypin Volga Region Institute of administration) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the level of development of small farms in agriculture in Russia and systematized problems, which have a negative impact on it. Offered the main directions of further development of state support of small business in agriculture, in which conditions will be created to encourage citizens to implement effective business activities |
| Keywords: | Small forms of business, agriculture, government support |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:g9162&r=agr |
| By: | Generalova Svetlana Vladimirovna (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration- Stolypin Volga Region Institute of administration) |
| Abstract: | The paper discusses the process of iversification of livestock production in the Saratov region. It also discusses the essence of the main types of diversification. The main directions of diversification of the livestock production in the region. It is concluded that the introduction of the proposed areas will contribute to the diversification of import substitution production of livestock in the regional food market. |
| Keywords: | diversification, types of diversification, livestock industry, regional food market, import substitution, saratov region |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:g9161&r=agr |
| By: | John C Beghin; Miet Maertens; Johan Swinnen |
| Abstract: | We assess the literature on public and private quality standards and their impact in food markets, international trade, and global supply chains. We focus on their effects on welfare, trade, industrial organization, and labor markets and with special attention to the North-South context. We also attempt to better characterize when these measures constitute protectionism, a complicate task. We look at studies investigating public and private standards and across various quantitative approaches and countries. These standards have complex effects. The evidence is mixed regarding standards as catalyst for or impediment against trade and development, reflecting the complexity of these effects and their specificity to industries and countries. The analysis of standard-like nontariff measures and their impacts does not lead to sweeping prescriptions for policy reforms. We identify more modest prescriptions and make some recommendations for fruitful research directions. |
| Keywords: | supply chain, standards, nontariff measures, SPS, NTM, trade, welfare, North-South |
| JEL: | F13 F15 Q17 O19 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36315&r=agr |