|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2017‒03‒12
fourteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Pushkar Maitra; Sandip Mitra (Sampling and Official Statistics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute); Dilip Mookherjee; Sujata Visaria (HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS); Department of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | We examine the distributive impacts of two alternative approaches to deliver agricultural credit to smallholders: TRAIL (or trader-agent intermediated lending), where local traders recommend village residents for individual liability micro-leans, and GBL (or group-based lending), where households self-select into groups and receive joint liability loans. We use data from a field experiment in eastern India to estimate how the effects of these schemes differ by economic (proxied by landownership) and social (proxied by caste and religion) status of households. Our method accounts for endogenous selection frequencies in each group and the treatment effects on farm income conditional on selection, to estimate the impacts of each scheme on Atkinson-based measures of welfare and inequality. We find that TRAIL loans increased farm incomes for all land groups, but particularly for landless households. As a result, across land groups, the TRAIL scheme generated significantly greater welfare than the GBL scheme, irrespective of inequality aversion. The GBL scheme generated larger effects among the socially disadvantaged minority groups. This suggests that the efficiency and equity implications of the two schemes might be different depending on how we partition households. |
| Keywords: | agricultural finance, agent based lending, group lending, distributive impacts |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hku:wpaper:201741&r=agr |
| By: | Jean-Francois Maystadt; Habtamu Beshir |
| Abstract: | Food insecurity is pervasive and highly seasonal in Ethiopia. In this study, we investigate the effect of seasonal food insecurity on child development. Exploiting the Young Lives Ethiopia dataset, we study the impact of in utero exposure to seasonal food insecurity on cognitive development for children of age 8 up to 12. We find that at age 8 in utero exposure to food insecurity shocks negatively, although insignificantly, affects cognitive development. But, at age 12, such exposure significantly reduces cognitive development. In utero exposure to seasonal food insecurity translates into a loss of 0.52 standard deviations in maths achievements score. Exposure during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy are found to have stronger detrimental effects. We also find stronger effects for boys. |
| Keywords: | Food Insecurity, Ethiopia, In utero, Cognitive Development |
| JEL: | I15 O13 O15 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:157856919&r=agr |
| By: | Bahareh Mosadegh Sedghy; Rémy Lambert; Lota Dabio Tamini |
| Abstract: | This study examines the supply response and the effect of price predictability of corn in the province of Quebec. A generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) process is used to model output price expectations and its volatility. The empirical results show that price predictability has a positive effect on producersÕ decisions. Estimation of supply elasticity illustrates that expected output price is the most important risk factor for corn producers in Quebec.As expected, we found that the Farm Income Stabilization Insurance (ASRA) in Quebec leads producers to be more sensitive to effective prices than to market prices. Our results also show that application of this program causes less sensitivity to input prices than to output prices. Reducing producersÕ risk aversion is another implication of this program. |
| Keywords: | Income insurance, price volatility, GARCH, corn supply, effective price, market |
| JEL: | Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:creacr:2016-1&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Yuan (Asian Development Bank Institute); Wan, Guanghua (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Developing countries have seen a rapid rise in population urbanization in the past decades. At the same time, they have participated actively in the process of globalization. However, possible interlinks between population urbanization and trade openness in developing economies have been ignored by present literature. We propose a simple framework explaining the cereals trade–population urbanization nexus, showing how cereals supply constrains population urbanization and how international trade can change this constraint. Then, we present historical evidence, empirical tests, and case studies from the People’s Republic of China, and India further highlighting the critical role of cereals trade in population urbanization in developing economies. Policy suggestions that may help developing countries achieve more inclusive and sustainable urban development are discussed in the final section of this paper. |
| Keywords: | trade; urbanization; trade-urbanization nexus; trade openness; cereals trade; population; developing economies; urban development |
| JEL: | O18 Q17 R11 |
| Date: | 2017–01–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0636&r=agr |
| By: | Wadood, Syed Naimul; Ali, Ayub |
| Abstract: | Wetland ecosystem plays an important role in Bangladesh’s rural economy by contributing to household income generation and food security of the neighboring areas. We have examined this issue with regards to the North-Western region of Bangladesh-- we have selected one particular wetland in the district of Pabna (Podmobil) to estimate direct economic benefits from its multiple uses as well as contributions to household food security. We find that one major issue is neighboring households’ access to the wetlands (i.e., open-access wetlands as opposed to privately-leased wetlands). We conducted a household structured questionnaire survey among the surrounding population of Podmobil. The questionnaire survey reveals that the loss of access to the wetland caused by changes in the management practices of Podmobil adversely affected particularly poorer households’ food security since they could not participate in the new leasing arrangements and experienced a reduced access to this wetland. These results are important for wetland conservation and preservation policy formulation with regards to household food security in the rural areas. |
| Keywords: | Wetlands, Direct Use Value, Probit Regression Model, Open Access, Food Security |
| JEL: | I3 I31 Q22 Q24 Q25 Q5 Q56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77068&r=agr |
| By: | Marmai, Nadine (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | The paper shifts the focus from the exclusively devastating character of weather extremes on socio-economic outcomes to the possibility that positive side effects may occur. Positive side effects such as higher investments in improved agricultural technologies in years of weather extremes are crucial especially in rural developing areas to overcome the negative consequences of the shocks. For that purpose, out of all households that invest in improved seeds in rural Tanzania, we model the probability of high investments in improved seeds when a year of extreme high or low precipitation occurs. We apply a conditional dependence model for multivariate extreme values that so far does not ?nd application in this context. Our appraisal of re?ection on the current situation is based on recent data published by the World Bank’s LSMS-ISA data between 2008 and 2013. Results suggest that extreme precipitation events and high investments in improved seeds with respect to overall investments are dependent events in rural Tanzania. |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201617&r=agr |
| By: | Varma, Poornima |
| Abstract: | Natural resource management (NRM) technologies, such as the system of rice intensification (SRI) are recognized as a promising systemic approach to enhance rice production at affordable costs without harming the environment. Yet there is no consensus in the literature with respect to the factors influencing the adoption as well as the welfare outcomes of adoption. This paper identifies the factors that affect farmers’ decisions to adopt SRI in major rice producing States of India and its impact on rice yield and household income. The multinomial endogenous treatment effects model adopted in the present study analyses the factors influencing the adoption and the impact of adoption in a joint framework. Results suggest that household assets, irrigation, access to information etc. increased the likelihood of household adopting SRI whereas the size of landholding, the number of years household stayed in rice cultivation, fear of poor yield, etc. decreased the likelihood of adopting SRI. The welfare impacts of SRI adoption revealed that all combinations of SRI individually and as a group (plant management, water management and soil management) had an impact on yield. However, the impact of SRI adoption on household income was quite mixed. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:14559&r=agr |
| By: | Tleubayev, Alisher; Bobojonov, Ihtiyor; Götz, Linde; Hockmann, Heinrich; Glauben, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Agriculture plays an important role for Kazakhstan not only because of rural employment, but also because of the diversity it brings to its oil dependent economy. A considerable increase in grain exports was achieved during the recent years, however, there still is a large room for increasing productivity and efficiency to boost the agricultural potential of the country further. The government of Kazakhstan has introduced several policy packages in the past to boost productivity and efficiency, however, the impact of these reforms has not been yet analyzed quantitatively. Micro level data collected from 200 farms in northern Kazakhstan in 2015 is used in the analysis, in order to fill this research gap. A mixture of evidences is found in terms of policy effect on productivity and efficiency. The results of the analysis showed that direct subsidy access reduced the efficiency, while access to supply chain infrastructure had the opposite effect and increased the efficiency. Therefore, the study concludes that the government should divert its policy support from direct subsidy payments to the improvement of agricultural infrastructure. This will influence positively not only productivity and efficiency, but also Kazakhstan's commitments towards international and regional trade agreements. |
| Keywords: | productivity,stochastic frontier approach,wheat production,technical efficiency,Produktivität,Stochastic-Frontier-Ansatz,Getreideproduktion,technische Effizienz |
| JEL: | Q12 Q14 Q18 Q58 P13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamodp:160&r=agr |
| By: | Lota D. Tamini; Bruno Larue; Gale E. West; Moise K.Ndegue Fongue |
| Abstract: | Despite imposition of strict environmental standards in Quebec, the impact of agricultural activities on water quality remains a concern, particularly in the Chaudi re-Appalaches region.This regionÕs intensive animal and plant productions lead to excess phosphorus, nitrogen and sediments.This paper analyzes the environmental efficiency of agricultural producers in the Chaudi re river watershed, located south of Quebec City. We adopt a stochastic approach applied to parametric distance functions to data collected from 210 farms. Results show that, on average, crop producers are more efficient than livestock producers. In terms of emissions of phosphorus and nitrogen, the environmental efficiencies of producers are similar, at 0.804 and 0.820 respectively.For sediment runoff, however, the environmental efficiencies are lower on average, at 0736. Overall, the agricultural producers from this watershed could have achieved productivity gains in excess of 20%, while simultaneously reducing their emissions of pollutants. |
| Keywords: | Hyperbolic distance function; Stochastic frontier analysis; Environmental efficiency |
| JEL: | C23 D24 L94 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:creacr:2016-2&r=agr |
| By: | Varma, Poornima |
| Abstract: | This study examines the role of information constraints in the adoption of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in India by explicitly incorporating information in the adoption model. The results showed that effective information along with other factors such as membership in farmer organisation, availability of labourers, irrigation facility etc were important in determining the SRI adoption. The results also revealed the importance of scaling up of activities under the Government of India’s National Food Security Mission programme for promoting greater dissemination and adoption of SRI. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:14560&r=agr |
| By: | Banerjee, Abhijit; Hanna, Rema; Kyle, Jordan; Olken, Benjamin; Sumarto, Sudarno |
| Abstract: | Should government service delivery be outsourced to the private sector? In a randomized field experiment across 572 Indonesian localities, we show that allowing for outsourcing reduced the operating costs of a subsidized food program without sacrificing quality. However, citizens only reaped the gains from efficiency in terms of lower prices in areas where we exogenously increased the level of competition in the bidding process. We find that while the selection among bids during the procurement process appears broadly sensible, elites were sometimes able to block the process entirely, either ex-ante or ex-post, limiting the magnitude of the gains from outsourcing. |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11857&r=agr |
| By: | Kosuke Uetake; Nathan Yang |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of short-term goal achievement on long-term goal achievement under the context of weight loss. Using unique and large-scale data from a freemium mobile weight management application (Lose It!), we track the daily dynamics of weight loss across a large number of users. The application sets a salient daily budget for calories, and by comparing cases in which the user is slightly under or over-budget, we provide a causal link between short-term goal achievement and long-term outcomes such as future weight loss, achievement of goal weight, and setting of more ambitious weight loss targets. Short-term goal achievement also have implications on future customer development as staying within the daily budget leads to an increase in premium account upgrades. Furthermore, we show that the impact of short-term goal achievement varies across user segments. We later demonstrate using a dynamic regression discontinuity design that the short-term goal achievement effects persist over time, and in fact, induce users to accomplish even more ambitious short-term goals in the future. Finally, estimates from a dynamic structural model of calories management reveal that users receive positive utility from past short-term goal accomplishments, and counterfactual analysis with the estimated model quantify the long-run user benefits of various hypothetical policies that adjust the daily budget of calories. |
| Keywords: | big data, customer development, customer relationship management, dynamic structural model, freemium, goal achievement, healthy living, mobile application, motivation, regression discontinuity, self control, weight management |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cch:wpaper:170002&r=agr |
| By: | Fernández-Amador, Octavio; Francois, Joseph; Oberdabernig, Doris; Tomberger, Patrick |
| Abstract: | Working with a new dataset on comparable global CO2 production and consumption inventories spanning the 1997–2011 period, we investigate the relationship between real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and CO2 emissions per capita associated with both production and consumption activities. By including linkages between production-based emissions in one country and final consumption in another (via cross-border value chains), we focus on the entire carbon chain. We estimate polynomial and threshold models, accounting for reverse causality and identification problems. We find that the income-elasticity for both inventories is regime-dependent and reflects small carbon efficiency gains from economic development. Carbon foot- prints show larger income-elasticities, while national policy instruments targeting production can clearly be circumvented by carbon embodied in intermediate trade. This implies problems of environmental sustainability that may require consumption-based policy instruments. |
| JEL: | F18 F64 O44 Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11841&r=agr |