|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2017‒12‒18
thirteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Huffman, Wallace |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to shed new light on the economiceffects of GM agriculture on organic agriculture and their co-existence inthe United States over 1996-2012. To do this, we first describe organic andGM farming systems, regulation, labeling, trends in production and consumerdemand. Then, we turn to a discussion of the economic impacts of GMagriculture on organic agriculture and the more sensitive issue of peacefulco-existence. We discuss adventitious presence; segregation, coordination andidentity preservation; spillovers and legal issues, insurance againstuncertain events and local voting on local production methods. We alsoidentify and examine some of the concerns raised by organic farmers abouthardships placed on them by GM agriculture and the realities of the marketfor seed, food and feed. The likely evolution of these farming systems underalterative policies are identified and evaluated. |
| Date: | 2017–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genstf:201712120800001035&r=agr |
| By: | Murat Iyigun; Nathan Nunn; Nancy Qian |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence of the long-run effects of a permanent increase in agricultural productivity on conflict. We construct a newly digitized and geo-referenced dataset of battles in Europe, the Near East and North Africa covering the period between 1400 and 1900 CE. For variation in permanent improvements in agricultural productivity, we exploit the introduction of potatoes from the Americas to the Old World after the Columbian Exchange. We find that the introduction of potatoes permanently reduced conflict for roughly two centuries. The results are driven by a reduction in civil conflicts. |
| JEL: | D74 O13 Q34 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24066&r=agr |
| By: | Luca Gerotto (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Paolo Pellizzari (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari) |
| Abstract: | We present a verification, an extension and a reanalysis of “Uncertain outcomes and climate change policy”, R. Pindyck, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2012. As far as verification is concerned, we are able to reproduce the results provided in Pindyck’s work in many cases and convincingly confirm the quality of the work. Some discrepancies are present, they are due to rounding or related to specific sets of parametric values and do not change the economic interpretation or significance of the results. The re-estimation of the model with more recent data on climate change made available in 2014 shows that temperature increments are now deemed to be higher in mean but less dispersed. As a consequence, the willingness to pay doesn’t vary much with respect to the original paper. We also modify the functional form describing the impact of temperature increase on the growth rate of consumption and obtain much bigger and potentially problematic increments of the willingness to pay. Finally, the paper demonstrates that the numerical results are sensitive to a variety of technical settings used in the computations and suggests that great care is needed in obtaining estimates and employing results in policy discussions. |
| Keywords: | Replication, environmental policy, climate change, economic impact, willingness to pay |
| JEL: | D81 Q51 O44 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2017:27&r=agr |
| By: | Smith, Stephen; Lence, Sergio H; Hayes, Dermot J.; Alston, Julian; Corona, Eloy |
| Abstract: | Public and private investments in plant breeding have a proven track record of increasing agricultural productivity, significantly contributing to economic well-being or social welfare. Substantial investments in research and development are required before a new plant variety can be developed and released, which the private sector can only recoup through commercial sales coupled with property rights. We previously published outcomes from economic modeling implementing different categories and hypothetical variants of intellectual property protection (IPP) in the field of plant breeding and biotechnology. Our goal here is to portray these outcomes using examples that will be more immediately familiar to the plant-breeding and policy-making communities. In so doing, we do not add to the analyses and arguments already presented. Our objective here is to make more accessible to a broader audience subject matter already presented in a more formal economic format by Lence et al. (2015). We found that plant variety protection (PVP) and utility patents played important and complementary roles in promoting and adopting innovation. Voluntary licensing under patents had a major contribution to social welfare. Periods of protection longer than the current life span of a utility patent did not contribute maximally to the stock of social welfare. We performed a reality check comparing different types of innovation and assessment of time and risk to commercialization. We hope that this information can contribute to more effective implementation of IPP to further promote genetic gain and thus enable commercially funded plant breeders to maximally contribute to the benefit of society on a global basis. |
| Date: | 2016–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genstf:201604150700001579&r=agr |
| By: | In Kyung Kim (Nazarbayev University); Jozef Konings (Nazarbayev University, VIVES, Department of Economics, University of Leuven, and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We analyze wage dispersion within and across establishments in Korea between 2007 and 2013. We find that foreign owned establishments and those operating in global markets have higher within establishment wage dispersion. The effect is over and above the establishment size effect. Furthermore, wages are higher in larger establishments and internationally oriented ones. Our findings are consistent with theories explaining management pay and the scope of control. Our results also provide evidence that can explain the rise in wage inequality due to the emergence of ‘super star’ firms and global supply chains. |
| Keywords: | buyer wage inequality, managerial talent, globalization |
| JEL: | F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:naz:wpaper:1708&r=agr |
| By: | Rowena Gray (University of California-Merced); Gaia Narciso (Trinity College Dublin); Gaspare Tortorici (Trinity College Dublin) |
| Keywords: | Age of mass migration; determinants of migration; agricultural shocks |
| JEL: | N93 N13 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1713&r=agr |
| By: | Dubois, Pierre; Griffith, Rachel; O'Connell, Martin |
| Abstract: | Soda taxes aim to reduce excessive sugar consumption. Their effectiveness depends on whether they target individuals for whom the harm of consumption is largest. We estimate demand and account for supply-side equilibrium pass-through. We exploit longitudinal data to estimate individual preferences, which allows flexible heterogeneity that we relate to a wide array of individual characteristics. We show that soda taxes are effective at targeting young consumers but not individuals with high total dietary sugar; they impose the highest monetary cost on poorer individuals, but are unlikely to be strongly regressive if we account for averted future costs from over consumption. |
| Keywords: | discrete choice demand; Pass-Through; preference heterogeneity; soda tax |
| JEL: | D12 H31 I18 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12484&r=agr |
| By: | Alan Dye (Barnard College, Columbia University); Sumner La Croix (University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines a paradox in the formation of property rights in land in the early settlement of the Dutch Cape Colony. In 1652, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope to serve VOC ships sailing between Europe and Asia. Over the next 75 years, the outpost expanded into a full-fledged VOC colony. As a thin but growing population expanded land claims to graze sheep and cattle. The VOC initially promoted settlement by extending well-specified and enforced land grants in restricted zones. But by 1714 it transitioned to accommodate rapidly expanding settlement with a more loosely specified form of property rights, the loan farm. We develop a profit-maximizing monopsony model to explain the VOC choice to transition from land grant to loan farm. We conclude that the decline in the population size and ability of the Khoikhoi, a first people who inhabited the Cape, to resist Dutch incursion was critical to the transition, as it lowered the government costs of enforcement and enabled the rapid expansion of the pastoral economy. |
| Keywords: | Cape Colony, sheep, cattle, property rights, loan farm, frontier, land tenure, VOC |
| JEL: | N47 N57 P48 Q24 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201706&r=agr |
| By: | Gen Furuhashi (OECD); Hubertus Gay (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how the integration of rice markets in ASEAN countries influences the import, export, production, consumption, and prices of rice in those countries, as well as in the rest of the world. The analysis describes current policies applied to ASEAN rice markets, then evaluates the ten-year impacts of two reform scenarios using the OECD-FAO Aglink-Cosimo model. The first scenario involves the elimination of tariffs within the region, while protection vis-à-vis countries outside the region remains unchanged. The second scenario involves closer price integration across the region, again with protection versus countries outside the region unchanged. The analysis finds that opening up the regional trade market will lead to greater overall production, consumption and trade across the region. The overall welfare gains are over fifteen times higher with full price integration, as opposed to just tariff reform. Significant price changes create winners and losers within all countries, underscoring the need for complementary policies to accompany a rice market integration agenda. |
| Keywords: | partial equilibrium model, self-sufficiency, Tariffs |
| JEL: | Q10 Q11 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2017–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:108-en&r=agr |
| By: | Grégoire Croidieu (GEM - Grenoble Ecole de Management - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)); Charles-Clemens Ruling (GEM - Grenoble Ecole de Management - Grenoble École de Management (GEM), IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie - USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc); Bilal-Ahmed Jathol (GEM - Grenoble Ecole de Management - Grenoble École de Management (GEM), IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie - USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how complex field-positions, characterized by combinations of structural and cultural mechanisms, are associated with the non-imitation of dominant field-level practices. Theoretically, the notion of complex field-position complements prior institutional research on field-positions and non-imitation, which focuses primarily on structural mechanisms. Our empirical study looks at 62 Australian fine-wines, using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to identify combinations of structural and cultural mechanisms associated with the non-imitation of Penfolds Grange, a role model in the Australian fine-wine field. We find three distinct complex field-positions—pioneers, strangers, and insulars— which occurred at different moments in the history of this field. We build on these findings to discuss the importance of complex field-positions as sources of positional opportunities, and their role in the development and persistence of diversity in organizational fields. |
| Keywords: | QCA,field-position,wine industry,Institutional theory,non-imitation |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-01609429&r=agr |
| By: | José M. Menudo (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Nicolas Rieucau (Université Paris 8) |
| Abstract: | René-Louis de Girardin is remembered for having invited Rousseau at Ermenonville estate. Girardin believed it was necessary to further the debate on gardens on the basis of a principle of continuity that rejects any idea of enclosure. This made it possible to establish an agricultural model that increased production, and finally allowed the monopoly in grain sales to be broken. At the service of l’idéologie nobiliaire, his analysis shows the existence of a form of economic thinking in the second half of the 18th century that, giving primacy to agriculture, nevertheless cannot fall within the paths of physiocrats and agronomes. |
| Keywords: | Turgot, History of Economic Thought, Development Enlightenment, and Economic Methodology. |
| JEL: | B31 B10 O20 B11 B41 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:17.15&r=agr |
| By: | Ssozi, John; Asongu, Simplice; Amavilah, Voxi |
| Abstract: | One of the key economic development challenges facing Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is its low agricultural productivity. Governments, donors, and foreign investors have underinvested in African agriculture even though research evidence shows that higher agricultural productivity would boost economic growth and poverty reduction. Solutions to the problem require a number of interconnected strategies, including, but not limited to, research on seeds and inputs, extension services, rural development, credit, institutional, and trade and price stabilization policies. We use the system two-step Generalized Method of Moments to examine whether official development assistance (ODA) for agriculture and rural development is helping to boost agricultural productivity. We find a positive relationship between ODA and agricultural productivity. However, when broken down into the main agricultural ODA recipient sectors, there is a substitution effect between food crop production and industrial crop production. While there exists a positive relationship between ODA for industrial and export crops output per worker (agricultural productivity), ODA for food crops has a negative relationship. Better public institutions and economic freedom are also found to enable agricultural productivity growth and to increase the ODA effectiveness. We correct the results for spurious correlation assuming that more ODA might be allocated where agricultural productivity is already increasing due to some other factors. Concerning the determinants of ODA allocation, we find that the allocation of ODA for agriculture is primarily determined by agricultural need, and that the expected effectiveness increases the ODA receipts. Finally, there is a weak ODA-led structural economic change effect in SSA. Labor released from agriculture to the urban sector(s) has a positive market effect on agriculture but is not engendering significant structural economic transformation. |
| Keywords: | Foreign aid; Agriculture; Development; Africa |
| JEL: | F35 F50 O10 O55 Q10 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83073&r=agr |
| By: | Grilli, Gianluca; Curtis, John; Hynes, Stephen; O'Reilly, Paul |
| Abstract: | The relationship between angling effort and catch is well-recognised, in particular, that effort influences catch rates. But increased catch, which can be considered an attribute of fishery quality, may influence effort in terms of number of fishing trips. This suggests bi-directional feedback between catch and effort. In many travel cost applications, little attention has been given to this endogeneity problem. In this paper, we expand the application of structural equation models to address this issue by jointly estimating demand (effort) and catch functions. |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp574&r=agr |