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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2017‒07‒02
twenty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Legrand D. F, Saint-Cyr |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the impact of agricultural policies on structural change in farming. Since not all farmers may behave alike, a non-stationary mixed-Markov chain modeling (M-MCM) approach is applied to capture unobserved heterogeneity in the transition process of farms. A multinomial logit specification is used for transition probabilities and the parameters are estimated by the maximum likelihood method and the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. An empirical application to an unbalanced panel dataset from 2000 to 2013 shows that French farming mainly consists of a mixture of two farm types characterized by specific transition processes. The main finding is that the impact of farm subsidies from both pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) highly depends on the farm type. A comparison between the non-stationary M-MCM and a homogeneous non-stationary MCM shows that the latter model leads to either overestimation or underestimation of the impact of agricultural policy on change in farm size. This suggests that more attention should be paid to both observed and unobserved farm heterogeneity in assessing the impact of agricultural policy on structural change in farming. |
| Keywords: | agricultural policy, EM algorithm, farm structural change, mixed-Markov chain model, multinomial logit, unobserved heterogeneity |
| JEL: | Q12 Q18 C38 C51 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201704&r=agr |
| By: | Coralie Calvet; Philippe Le Coënt; Claude Napoleone; Fabien Quetier |
| Abstract: | Environmental policies increasingly refer to biodiversity offsets (BO) as a way to slow or halt biodiversity losses caused by development projects, including infrastructure and urban development, that could not be avoided or minimized through adequate mitigation. In many cases, ecological gains for offsets are obtained through restoration activities conducted on ecologically degraded land, including agricultural land specifically acquired for this purpose by developers. This leads to competition with other land-uses and social conflicts over land availability. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the opportunity of implementing biodiversity offsets by involving farmers in producing ecological gains through contracts akin to agri-environmental schemes, we call Agri-environmental Biodiversity Offsets Schemes (ABOS). Using actual offsets designed and implemented for a new railway line under construction in Southern France, this paper examines (1) the acceptability of ABOS contracts by farmers, and (2) the effectiveness of ABOS design and actual implementation. A survey carried out with 145 farmers reveals that the main determinants of acceptability are: i) usual economic factors whereby farmers with lowest compliance levels and opportunity costs, as well as farms facing economic difficulty, are more likely to engage, and ii) social factors, such as the importance given to other farmers’ decision to engage and the perception of the position of farming organisations (peer pressure). In terms of effectiveness, ABOS is shown to be effective in meeting the legal requirements of the developer, but concerns are raised about additionality and long-term duration of actions, and about non-compliance with contract requirements. We particularly highlight problems with contract enforcement – especially due to weak sanctions and monitoring – and farmers’ selection that do not allow minimizing moral hazard and adverse selection which are inherently attached to agrienvironmental schemes. We suggest policy improvements and research perspectives to enhance the implementation of offsets through ABOS. Overall, with current implementation arrangements, this analysis leads us to question the use of ABOS in meeting BO objectives |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:17-05&r=agr |
| By: | Federica Cappelli (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | Water is a multidimensional issue, involving water availability, access to freshwater, spatial and temporal distribution of resources, competition among its uses, ecosystems conservation, climate-related disasters and risks and several other aspects. The water security approach manages such complexity and proposes a comprehensive view of human security in relation to the water-related issues. Consequently, the solutions developed in order to face this multi-faceted concept should reflect its thorough vision. The aim of the present work is to investigate the relationship between climate change and water security. Exploring such a relationship is truly important in order to help policy-makers in the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the water context, this challenge is further complicated by the possible conflicts arising between climate and water policies. In order to carry out such an analysis, an indicator measuring water security, namely the Water Security Index, is created. In the present work, climate change is considered from four different perspectives but, as revealed by the econometric results, it always has a predominant (negative) effect on water security. |
| Keywords: | Water Security, Climate Change, Water Security Index, Econometrics, Maps |
| JEL: | Q25 Q53 Q54 O13 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2017.25&r=agr |
| By: | Martina Bozzola (ETH Zurich); Emanuele Massetti (Georgia Institute of Technology); Robert Mendelsohn (Yale University); Fabian Capitanio (Università Federico II Napoli) |
| Abstract: | This research investigates the potential impact of warming on Italian agriculture. Using a detailed dataset of 16,000 farms across Italy, the study examines likely warming impacts in different regions and for different sectors of Italian agriculture. The study finds that farm net revenues are very sensitive to seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation. Livestock and crop farms have different responses to climate as do rain-fed farms and irrigated farms. The overall results suggest mild consequences from marginal changes in climate but increasingly harmful effects from more severe climate scenarios. |
| Keywords: | Ricardian Analysis, Climate Change, Italian Agriculture, Regional Analysis, Panel Data |
| JEL: | Q54 Q51 Q15 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2017.23&r=agr |
| By: | Sun Ling Wang; Eldon Ball; Richard Nehring; Ryan Williams; Truong Chau |
| Abstract: | This paper employs a stochastic frontier approach to examine how climate change and extreme weather affect U.S. agricultural productivity using 1940-1970 historical weather data (mean and variation) as the norm. We have four major findings. First, using temperature humidity index (THI) load and Oury index for the period 1960-2010 we find each state has experienced different patterns of climate change in the past half century, with some states incurring drier and warmer conditions than others. Second, the higher the THI load (more heat waves) and the lower the Oury index (much drier) will tend to lower a state’s productivity. Third, the impacts of THI load shock and Oury index shock variables (deviations from historical norm fluctuations) on productivity are more robust than the level of THI and Oury index variables across specifications. Fourth, we project potential impacts of climate change and extreme weather on U.S. regional productivity based on the estimates. We find that the same degree changes in temperature or precipitation will have uneven impacts on regional productivities, with Delta, Northeast, and Southeast regions incurring much greater effects than other regions, using 2000-2010 as the reference period. |
| JEL: | O13 O4 Q1 Q16 Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23533&r=agr |
| By: | Elodie Letort; Pierre Dupraz; Laurent Piet |
| Abstract: | Nitrate pollution remains a major problem in some parts of France, especially in the Brittany region, which is characterized by intensive livestock production systems. Although farmers must not exceed a regulatory limit of nitrogen contained in manure per hectare, many farmers in this region exceed this limit. Therefore, they must treat the excess of manure that they produce or export it to be spread in neighbouring farms and/or areas, inducing fierce competition in the land market. Another adaptation strategy consists of modifying production practices or the production system as a whole, i.e., changing the structure of the farm. In this paper, a spatial agent-based model (ABM) has been developed to assess policy options in the regulation of manure management practices. The objective is to highlight the potential effects of these policies on the farmland market and the structural changes that they induce. Our results show that the different policies, which result in similar environmental benefits, induce different changes in the land market and in agricultural structures. |
| Keywords: | Q15, C63, D22 |
| JEL: | Q15 C63 D22 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201701&r=agr |
| By: | François Bareille; Florence Bonnet-Beaugrand; Sabine Duvaleix-Treguer |
| Abstract: | Members’ commitment lessens when agricultural cooperatives grow larger. Their organization becomes more complex and their membership more heterogeneous, which threatens their sustainability and leads them to implement specific mechanisms for collective decisions. We explore how the alignment of objectives between a multi-purpose cooperative and its members influences member commitment. We estimate a multinomial probit model on a cross-section sample of 3,205 members from a large agricultural cooperative in France. We assess the determinants of member commitment through four factors: the offer of new agricultural practices, the availability of outlets and supplies to members, the farm distance to the cooperative headquarters and the farm governance. We show that the adoption of new agricultural practices has a small but significant effect. The availability of outlets and supplies has the strongest effect on the economic involvement of the farmers. Other determinants, such as farm governance or geographical distance to the cooperative headquarters, also reinforce member commitment. |
| Keywords: | agricultural cooperatives, member commitment, farm innovation, economic involvement |
| JEL: | Q13 C35 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201702&r=agr |
| By: | Mintewab Bezabih; Stein Holden; Andrea Mannberg |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of a low-cost land certification programme on the productivity of female-headed households. The hypotheses tested in the paper emphasise on the interaction between the constraints that female-headed households face in terms of insecure land tenure, lack of productive resources and suboptimal land market participation, on the one hand, and the tenure security benefits of certification on the other. Our findings show that land certification has a positive effect on land market participation and productivity. Our analysis also suggests higher marginal effects of certification on female-headed households’ productivity, compared to the male ones. |
| JEL: | J1 Q15 |
| Date: | 2016–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:64515&r=agr |
| By: | Elena Pagliarino (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth,Turin, Italy); Monica Cariola (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth,Turin, Italy); Sara Pavone (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth,Turin, Italy); Alessandro Manello (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth,Turin, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this research is to compare, by means of a counterfactual analysis, the economic performance of Piedmontese agro-food enterprises in 2005-2012, period characterized by the economic crisis, in relation to whether they received fundings during the last two programming periods. In particular, the main objective is to analyse the role played by the Rural Development Programme in the agro-food businesses in Piedmont and the effects of financing on the enterprises under investigation. The results provide insights and guidelines for policy makers as well as for researchers involved in the evaluation of public policies and they can be used to elaborate effective interventions and targeted actions. |
| JEL: | O13 Q16 Q18 Z18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:201422&r=agr |
| By: | François Bareille; Pierre Dupraz |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on the productive value of biodiversity emphasized that crop diversity increases crop yields. Here, we focus on the productivity of crop diversity and permanent grasslands for crops and milk. Using a GMM approach, we estimate detailed production functions using a sample of 3960 mixed farms from the FADN between 2002 and 2013. We highlight that permanent grasslands enhance crop production. We confirm that crop diversity increases crop and milk yields. Permanent grasslands and crop diversity are however substitute inputs. We also find that both of these biodiversity productive capacities influence variable input productivities. These results suggest the potential adaptations of farmers’ choices to environmental measures. |
| Keywords: | ecosystem services, agriculture, permanent grassland, crop diversity |
| JEL: | Q12 Q57 D22 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201703&r=agr |
| By: | Alan Matthews (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin); |
| Abstract: | The European Commission launched a process for the modernisation and simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in early 2017 which will lead to a Commission Communication on the future of the CAP post 2020 towards the end of 2017. The impact assessment for this Communication must consider the impact of future changes to the CAP on developing countries. This paper first provides an assessment of the development-related impact of important CAP instruments. It discusses some of the main proposals of stakeholders for the CAP post 2020 and draws conclusions on their implications especially for the poorest developing countries. Finally, the paper identifies key demands which development groups should consider raising in this debate. The paper concludes that the CAP (as distinct from accompanying trade policy) now has limited effects on the least developed countries and that potential changes to the policy post 2020 are unlikely to change this assessment. Campaigning groups have a role to play in helping to prevent any back-sliding in the direction of CAP reform. However, they should assess whether devoting limited resources to attempting to influence the direction of changes in the CAP would give the greatest return in terms of poverty alleviation and meeting sustainable development goals in the poorest developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Common agricultural policy, policy coherence for development, least developed countries, agricultural trade, agricultural policy |
| JEL: | F13 O13 Q17 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep1617&r=agr |
| By: | Jacqueline Holland; Nicole Widmar; David Widmar; Michael Gunderson (Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN); David Ortega (Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI) |
| Abstract: | Farm management is a series of complex processes incorporating a variety of dynamic factors, including biological production systems, resource allocation and management, and the management of increasingly complex financial and economic systems. Farm managers are constantly required to prioritize and allocate management effort and attention amongst these factors and evaluate tradeoffs. This analysis elicited from commercial producers the relative ranking of five critical farm management focus areas, namely, managing production; managing land, equipment, and facilities; controlling costs; managing output prices; and managing people. Out of a total of 2,247 commercial farms in this study, the largest mean shares of importance were placed on controlling costs (28.6%) and managing production (27.3%). Producers, on average, emphasized the management areas of controlling costs and managing production, relative to managing land, equipment, and facilities; managing people; and managing output prices, for farm success. Correlations between the farm management focus areas studied were estimated from producer-specific share of importance estimates resulting from a random parameters logit model; the strongest correlation observed was the negative relationship between managing production and controlling costs. Implications for self-identified success factors, or critical areas of management focus, of commercial farms are far reaching, potentially influencing sales, marketing, and decision support for these operations, as well as driving research and programmatic focus to provide relevant information to these producers moving forward |
| Keywords: | farm management;on-farm decision making;producer preferences |
| JEL: | Q10 Q12 Q13 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pae:wpaper:16-1&r=agr |
| By: | Derek Lemoine |
| Abstract: | A rapidly growing empirical literature seeks to estimate the costs of future climate change from time series variation in weather. I formally analyze the consequences of a change in climate for economic outcomes. I show that those consequences are driven by changes in the distribution of realized weather and by expectations channels that capture how anticipated changes in the distribution of weather affect current and past investments. Studies that rely on time series variation in weather omit the expectations channels. Quantifying the expectations channels requires estimating how forecasts affect outcome variables and simulating how climate change would alter forecasts. |
| JEL: | D84 H43 Q12 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23549&r=agr |
| By: | Mihai, Florin-Constantin |
| Abstract: | The paper aims to examine the changes in the rural waste management sector at regional scale since the Romania adhesion to the EU in 2007. Traditional waste management based on the mixed waste collection and waste disposal often on improper sites prevailed in municipal waste management options of transitional economies across the globe. The lack of formal waste collection services in rural areas has encouraged the open dumping or backyard burning. The paper analyses the improvements and challenges of local authorities in order to fulfill the new EU requirements in this sector supported by data analysis at local administrative unit levels and field observations. Geographical analysis is compulsory in order to reveal the local disparities. The paper performs an assessment of waste collection issues across 78 rural municipalities within Neamt County. This sector is emerging in rural areas of Eastern Europe, but is far from an efficient municipal waste management system based on the waste hierarchy concept. |
| Keywords: | waste collection, waste management, municipal waste, rural areas, EU, |
| JEL: | H00 I18 K32 Q51 Q53 Q56 R11 R53 R58 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79883&r=agr |
| By: | N. Berardi; P. Sevestre; J. Thébault |
| Abstract: | We characterize the dispersion of grocery prices in France based on a large original data set of prices in more than 1500 supermarkets. On average across products, the 90th percentile of relative prices is 17 percentage points higher than the 10th and the mean absolute deviation from quarterly average product prices is 5%. We show that temporal price variations (including sales and promotions) explain only little of the observed price dispersion, while the spatial permanent component of price dispersion largely dominates. Price dispersion across stores in France essentially results from persistent heterogeneity in retail chains' pricing, while local conditions regarding demand or competition contribute to a much lower extent. |
| Keywords: | price dispersion, retail chain, wholesaler. |
| JEL: | E31 D40 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:632&r=agr |
| By: | Carine MEYIMDJUI |
| Abstract: | The delicacy of socio-political consequences during the recent commodities’ prices spikes has given rise to stabilising measures that might have had repercussions on public policy alternatives. This effect may be worrying for developing countries, which because of the importance of the share of imports in their households’ basket, have observed a remarkable increase of their food import bills. This paper attempts to evaluate the effect of food price shocks on public expenditure in level and composition on 47 African countries between 1980 and 2011. After solving for endogeneity issues, our results show that food price shocks positively and significantly affect total government expenditure and the share of current government consumption in the total government expenditure. More precisely, an additional one standard deviation of the food price shock increase is associated to an increase of 0.06 standard deviation of the percentage of current government consumption in the total government expenditure. Interestingly, this effect highly depends on the vulnerability level. Future studies will use more disaggregated data of fiscal variables, including those on revenue, to better assess food security policies. |
| Keywords: | Expenditure composition, Price shock, Africa. |
| JEL: | Q11 N57 H50 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1858&r=agr |
| By: | Anderson, Kym; Holmes, Alexander |
| Abstract: | With increasing globalisation and interactions between cultures, countries are converging in many ways, including in their consumption patterns. The extent to which this has been the case in alcohol consumption has been the subject of previous studies, but those studies have been limited in scope to a specific region or group of high-income countries or to just one or two types of alcohol. The present study updates earlier findings, covers all countries of the world since 1961, introduces two new summary indicators to capture additional dimensions of the extent of convergence in total alcohol consumption and in its mix of beverages, and distinguishes countries according to whether their alcoholic focus was on wine, beer or spirits in the early 1960s as well as to their geographic region and their real per capita income. Also, for recent years we add expenditure data and compare alcohol with soft drink retail expenditure, and we show what difference it makes when unrecorded alcohol volumes are included as part of total alcohol consumption. The final section summarizes the findings and suggests further research could provide new demand elasticity estimates and use econometrics to explain the varying extents of convergence over time, space and beverage type. |
| Keywords: | Alcohol consumption mix similarity index; Beverage consumption intensity index; Globalization of preferences; National beverage consumption mix |
| JEL: | D12 L66 N10 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12110&r=agr |
| By: | AfDB AfDB |
| Date: | 2017–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2385&r=agr |
| By: | Lee, Sang-Ho; Park, Chul-Hi |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the strategic environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) of polluting firms in the presence of eco-firms. When the firms decide ECSR sequentially within the framework of the managerial incentive design and then face simultaneous price competition, we show that firms will adopt ECSR and purchase abatement goods to mitigate competition if the products are more substitutable, but the late adopter chooses lower ECSR and thus earns higher profit. It can partially explain the current expansive adoption of ECSR as an industry-wide wave. |
| Keywords: | environmental corporate social responsibility; eco-firms; abatement goods; late adopter advantage |
| JEL: | L13 L21 M14 |
| Date: | 2017–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79881&r=agr |
| By: | Albrecht, Konstanze; Krämer, Florentin; Szech, Nora |
| Abstract: | We elicit concern for animal welfare in an incentivized, direct and real setup that allows us to separate genuine interest in animal welfare from confounding factors like advertisement, replacement arguments or image concerns. Subjects choose between intensive farming and organic living conditions for a laying hen. Opting for better living conditions is costly, but guarantees better food, daylight, and more space to the hen. Hence subjects have to trade off a selfish benefit (money) against the welfare of a hen. Our data shed light on a long-standing philosophical debate about the relationship between animal welfare and human ethics. We confirm that subjects with higher interests in the hen's well-being exhibit higher moral standards towards humans. Supporters of intensive farming are significantly less prosocial and open-minded, and more Machiavellian than others. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:kitwps:103&r=agr |
| By: | Nittai K. Bergman; Rajkamal Iyer; Richard T. Thakor |
| Abstract: | What is the effect of cash injections during financial crises? Exploiting county-level variation arising from random weather shocks during the 1980s Farm Debt Crisis, we analyze and measure the effect of local cash flow shocks on the real and financial sector. We show that such cash flow shocks have significant impact on a host of economic outcomes, including land values, loan delinquency rates, the probability of bank failure, employment, and wages. Estimates of the effect of local cash flow shocks on county income levels during the financial crisis yield a multiplier of 1.63. |
| JEL: | D22 D24 D31 E23 E24 E51 G01 G21 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23546&r=agr |
| By: | Malacarne, Janet Horsager; Artz, Georgeanne M.; Orazem, Peter |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the induced innovation research of Hayami and Ruttan by including 129 more countries, extending the time frame to 50 years and explaining the production process for those countries using a Cobb-Douglas function. From this data, the paper illustrates trade-offs between five inputs in agricultural production in empirical isoquants, and measures the progress of agricultural productivity by the magnitude of the shift in isoquants toward the origin. We can further test the implications of technical change on the productivity of the inputs: labor, land, fertilizer, and capital. We illustrate the response of input demands to rising agricultural wages and estimate scale and substitution effects using the fundamental law of derived demand. Lastly, we explore possible explanations for variation in agricultural productivity increases across countries by examining the relationship between countries’ trade protection policies and democracy level and unit labor costs. |
| Date: | 2017–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genstf:201705200700001024&r=agr |
| By: | Vincent Chatellier |
| Abstract: | At the international level, the dairy sector is favored by a growing demand, mainly from Asian countries, where dairy consumption per capita remains much lower than that observed in the European Union (EU) and North America. Over the last fifteen years (2000-2015), New Zealand, the country that has most benefited from the growth of international trade in dairy products, especially under the influence of whole milk powdered Chinese imports was far ahead of the USA and the EU. Despite an increase in imports, especially of cheese and butter, France has regularly improved its trade balance which reached €3.75 billion in 2015. This performance was due mainly to the dynamics of trade with the United Kingdom and China. Since 2010, the trade balance of France with non-European countries has been improving while the internal competition with the EU is becoming more difficult. For the European dairy producers, the slight decline in demand for dairy products in the EU and the rapid increase in milk production in several Member States since the abolition of milk quotas in 2015 is a real threat. This should be an additional incentive to, firstly, increase exports abroad and, secondly, better sell the wide variety of dairy products on the domestic market. |
| Keywords: | dairy, milk, trade, European Union, competiveness |
| JEL: | Q13 Q17 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201705&r=agr |
| By: | Uzun, Vasily (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Svetlov, Nikolai (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Shagaida, Natalia (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Loginova, Daria (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Shishkina, Ekaterina (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | Basing on the analysis of Russian and foreign practices of grain market regulation and computer experiments on the imitation model of the Russian wheat market, the paper proposes the reasons why the measures to regulate the Russian grain market did not reach, as a rule, the goals set forth in the Law on Agricultural Development adopted in 2006. Proposals for improving regulatory mechanisms are justified. The most important of them: commodity and procurement interventions should be carried out according to the rules established by law and according to pre-approved, and not at current exchange prices; It is advisable to regulate commodity and procurement interventions in the grain market using rules that are transparent to the market and allow independent monitoring of their implementation; The formula for annual specification of borders of a price corridor is offered. In the process of improving the system of regulation of the national grain market, it is suggested to follow a strategy aimed at moving in the long term from the system of commodity and purchasing interventions to the system of compensation for price losses similar to that introduced in the United States in 2014. |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:051736&r=agr |
| By: | Nikulin, Alexander (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Trotsuk, Irina (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Kopoteva, Inna (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Rizatdinov, R.F. (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | In the last 25 years, various processes of differentiation in the use of rural areas and the production of food have taken place in the Russian Federation. The socio-spatial characteristics of these processes are rather sketchy and approximate. This study seeks to provide a systemic interdisciplinary picture of the transformation of rural regions and communities, primarily related to the specifics (problems and prospects) of food production and distribution, as well as the development of recommendations in the field of state and regional programs for rural spatial development. To solve these tasks, the development of characteristics, indicators and indicators of spatial and food monitoring of rural settlements and regions of the Russian Federation was made, an attempt was made through analysis of the category "civil society" in rural areas of Russia and foreign countries to compare the spatial and food aspects of rural settlements and regions The Russian Federation and a number of countries of the near and far abroad. The article introduces the results of spatial and food monitoring using the tools and results of quantitative and qualitative research carried out in 2015-2016 by the Center for Agrarian Research of RANEPA |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:051725&r=agr |
| By: | Andreas, Eder; Bernhard, Mahlberg; Bernhard, Stürmer |
| Abstract: | This study explores productivity growth for a group of 65 Austrian biogas plants from 2006 to 2014 using Data Envelopment Analysis. The sample covers about 25 % of the installed electric capacity of Austrian biogas plants. Productivity growth is measured by calculating the Malmquist productivity index, and the contributions of technical change, efficiency change and scale change to productivity growth are isolated. Average annual productivity growth between 2006 and 2014 is 1.1 %. The decomposition of the Malmquist index shows that the annual scale change, technical change, and efficiency change for the average plant is 0.6 %, 0.3 % and 0.3 %, respectively. Those results indicate that the exploitation of returns to scale is a major driver of productivity growth in the Austrian biogas sector. However, there is a large variation in productivity growth across biogas plants. A second-stage regression analysis identifies important determinants of productivity growth. The results show that i) the exploitation of returns to scale as well as changes in ii) output diversification iii) capital intensity, iv) capacity utilization and v) feedstock prices are positively associated with productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Data Envelopment Analysis, Malmquist Productivity Index, Renewable Energy Sources, Biogas Energy, Cogeneration |
| JEL: | C61 D24 Q16 Q42 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79826&r=agr |