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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2018‒04‒02
28 papers chosen by |
| By: | Sebastian Bauhoff (Center for Global Development); Jonah Busch (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Deforestation has been found to increase malaria risk in some settings, while a growing number of studies have found that deforestation increases malaria prevalence in humans, suggesting that in some cases forest conservation might belong in a portfolio of anti-malarial interventions. However, previous studies of deforestation and malaria prevalence were based on a small number of countries and observations, commonly using cross-sectional analyses of less-than-ideal forest data at the aggregate jurisdictional level. In this paper we combine fourteen years of high-resolution satellite data on forest loss with individual-level survey data on malaria in more than 60,000 rural children in 17 countries in Africa, and fever in more than 470,000 rural children in 41 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Adhering to methods that we pre-specified in a pre-analysis plan, we tested ex-ante hypotheses derived from previous literature. We did not find that deforestation increases malaria prevalence nor that intermediate levels of forest cover have higher malaria prevalence. Our findings differ from most previous empirical studies, which found that deforestation is associated with greater malaria prevalence in other contexts. We speculate that this difference may be because deforestation in Africa is largely driven by the slow expansion of subsistence or smallholder agriculture for domestic use by long-time residents in stable socio-economic settings rather than by rapid clearing for market-driven agricultural exports by new frontier migrants as in Latin America and Asia. Our results imply that at least in Africa anti-malarial efforts should focus on other proven interventions such as bed nets, spraying, and housing improvements. Forest conservation efforts should focus on securing other benefits of forests, including carbon storage, biodiversity habitat, clean water provision, and other goods and services. |
| Keywords: | Africa, pre-analysis plan, public health, Sustainable Development Goals |
| JEL: | C21 C23 I18 Q23 |
| Date: | 2018–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:480&r=agr |
| By: | Chiara Falco; Marzio Galeotti; Alessandro Olper |
| Abstract: | Migration and climate change are two of the most important challenges the world currently faces. They are connected as climate change may stimulate migration. One of the sectors most strongly affected by climate change is agriculture, where most of the world’s poor are employed. Climate change may affect agricultural productivity and hence migration because of its impact on average temperatures and rainfall and because it increases the frequency and intensity of weather shocks. This paper uses 50 years of data, from 1960 to 2010, for more than 150 countries to analyse the relationship between weather variation, agricultural productivity and migration. Our main findings are that, in line with theoretical predictions, negative shocks to agricultural productivity caused by weather fluctuations significantly increase migration in middle and lower income countries but not in the poorest and in the rich countries. The results are robust to different econometric specifications. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Temperature, Agriculture, International Migration |
| JEL: | F22 Q54 O13 Q15 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp100&r=agr |
| By: | Edoardo Baldoni (Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali - Universita' Politecnica delle Marche); Roberto Esposti (Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali - Universita' Politecnica delle Marche) |
| Abstract: | This work aims to investigate the spatial dependence of agricultural Total Factor Productivity (TFP) by using farm-level data and aggregating them at a variable geographical scale. At this scale a multilateral TFP index is computed and the spatial and time dependence of this TFP measure is assessed within a spatial dynamic panel specification. Alternative Least Squares (LS), Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation approaches are proposed and respective results compared. The application concerns Italian farm-level data over the period 2008-2015. Results suggests that higher productivity spillovers are found for those NUTS3 regions with similar neighborhoods in terms of production specialization. Higher spill-ins are found in those NUTS3 with a larger number of geographical connections, regardless of their similarity in terms of production specialization. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Spatial Dependence, Technological Spillovers, Multilateral TFP index, Dynamic Panel Models |
| JEL: | Q12 O47 C23 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:428&r=agr |
| By: | Kibrom A. Abay; Guush Berhane; Garrick Blalock |
| Abstract: | We investigate the implication of farmers’ locus of control on their technology adoption decisions. Our empirical analysis is based on two longitudinal surveys and hypothetical choice exercises conducted on Ethiopian farmers. We find that locus of control significantly predicts farmers’ technology adoption decisions, including use of chemical fertilizers, improved seeds, and irrigation. We show that individuals with an internal locus of control have higher propensity of adopting agricultural technologies, while those with an external locus of control seem less likely to adopt one or more of these agricultural technologies. We observe these empirical regularities in both datasets, and for both revealed measures of farmers’ technology adoption decisions as well as farmers’ hypothetical demand for agricultural technology. The results hold even in a more conservative fixed effects estimation approach, assuming locus of control as time-variant and dynamic behavioral trait. These findings provide psychological (behavioral) explanations for the low rates of adoption of profitable agricultural technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results highlight that improving farmers’ psychological capital and non-cognitive skills may facilitate agricultural transformation. More generally, the results suggest that anti-poverty policies that only focus on relaxing short-term external constraints, including physical access to markets and technologies, may not sufficiently alleviate agricultural underinvestment. |
| Keywords: | Locus of control, internal constraints, behavioral biases, technology adoption, agricultural investment, chemical fertilizers. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2018-04&r=agr |
| By: | Ilaria Brunetti; Mabel Tidball; Denis Couvet |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. In this work we model the interdependent relationship between biodiversity and agriculture on a farmed land, supposing that, while agriculture has a negative impact on biodiversity, the latter can increase agricultural production. Farmers act as myopic agents, who maximize their instantaneous profit without considering the negative effects of their practice on the evolution of biodiversity. We find that a tax on inputs can have a positive effect on yield since it can be considered as a social signal helping farmers to avoid myopic behavior in regards to the positive effect of biodiversity on yield. We also prove that, by increasing biodiversity productivity the level of biodiversity at equilibrium decreases, since when biodiversity is more productive farmers can maintain lower biodiversity to get the same yield. |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpceem:18-01&r=agr |
| By: | Haenel, Hans-Dieter; Rösemann, Claus; Dämmgen, Ulrich; Döring, Ulrike; Wulf, Sebastian; Eurich-Menden, Brigitte; Freibauer, Annette; Döhler, Helmut; Schreiner, Carsten; Osterburg, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | The report at hand (including a comprehensive annex of data) serves as additional document to the National Inventory Report (NIR) on the German green house gas emissions and the Informative Inventory Report (IIR) on the German emissions of air pollutants (especially ammonia). The report documents the calculation methods used in the German agricultural inventory model GAS-EM as well as input data, emission results and uncertainties of the emission reporting submission 2018 for the years 1990 - 2016. In this context the sector Agriculture comprises the emissions from animal husbandry, the use of agricultural soils and anaerobic digestion of energy crops. As required by the guidelines, emissions from activities preceding agriculture, from the use of energy and from land use change are reported elsewhere in the national inventories. [...] |
| Keywords: | emission inventory,agriculture,animal husbandry,agricultural soils,anaerobic digestion,energy crops,renewable primary products,greenhouse gases,air pollutants,methane,loughing gas,ammonia,particulate matter,Emissionsinventar,Landwirtschaft,Tierhaltung,landwirtschaftliche Böden,anaerobe Vergärung,Energiepflanzen,nachwachsende Rohstoffe,Treibhausgase,Luftschadstoffe,Methan,Lachgas,Ammoniak,luftgetragene Partikel |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:jhtire:57&r=agr |
| By: | Christophe Muller (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - ECM - Ecole Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales); Huijie Yan (CEARC - Cultures, Environnements, Arctique, Représentations, Climat - UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The household transition from dirty to clean fuels is important because of its economic, health and environment consequences, locally, nationally and globally. In order to study fuel choices, a non-separated farm household model for fuel demands is developed. Then, discrete choice equations of fuel uses, consistent with this theoretical model, are estimated using microeconomic household panel data from rural China. The estimation results support the theoretical approach that implies that the fuel demands depend not only on income, fuel prices, and demand-side socioeconomic factors, as would occur in the standard fuel demand models in the literature, but also on food prices, agricultural assets, and original household and community characteristics that shape the household responses to market failures. Finally, we present a few policy simulations that reveal the complex substitution impact of energy price policies in China. We provide the first evidence on: price sensitivity of fuel stacking, that food prices exert some pressure on the fuel transition, the role of farm work and activity specialization in fuel choices. Policies should incorporate some of the complexity of the non-separated decisions of rural households in this context of market failures. The complex cross-price effects imply that the policy pricing mechanisms should account for all energy types and food prices. Finally, market-based policies should be coupled with policy interventions aimed at increasing the opportunity cost of dirty fuels. . |
| Keywords: | fuel use,China,consumption demand,energy |
| Date: | 2018–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01735847&r=agr |
| By: | Figueroa, Jose Luis; Mahmoud, Mai; Breisinger, Clemens |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to support the implementation of the strategic development plans of Jordan by analyzing the role of agriculture and farmers in the Jordanian economy, the role that productivity and structural change can play for fostering agricultural growth, and the role agro-processing may play in Jordan’s economic development. We argue that the development of the agro-processing sector often has stronger backward and forward linkages with the agricultural sector than other sectors and, thus, plays an important role for rural transformation. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; economic development; agricultural development; rural development; agricultural sector; agricultural productivity; refugees; employment; agricultural policies; economic growth; JORDAN; WESTERN ASIA; ASIA; MIDDLE EAST; agro-processing; high value crops |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:menawp:5&r=agr |
| By: | Riccardo Pelizzo (Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhsta); Lucas Katera (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania); Stephen Mwombela (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania); Lulu Olan’g (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the relationship between development, as measured by the GNI per capita and lived poverty in Tanzania which is measured on the basis of whether and how often respondents go, in the course of one year, without food, water, medical care, cooking fuel and cash income. By using the data collected by Afrobarometer in Tanzania, we are able to create one set of indicators that capture the extension of lived poverty, that is what percentage of the respondents, experiences deprivation, but we also develop a series of indicators that capture the severity of lived poverty, that is how frequently respondents experience this problem. Our statistical analyses reveal that while Tanzanian progress along the developmental path did not have a significant impact on the extension of lived poverty, it made a large and significant contribution to reduce its severity. |
| Keywords: | poverty, lived poverty, Afrobarometer, development, inequality, Tanzania |
| JEL: | O40 O57 I10 I20 I32 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:18/011&r=agr |
| By: | Sènakpon F. A. Dedehouanou; John McPeak |
| Abstract: | We provide new findings of rural livelihood diversification in Nigeria, using panel data from the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). To a large extent, the patterns and the implications of livelihood diversification have been analysed using cross sectional data and a narrow definition of food security in previous studies. In some cases, analysis has been conducted in the absence of shock experiences. We find that some results about the determinants of income diversification in cross sectional analysis also hold true in the panel data setting, while others are only revealed due to the panel nature of the data set. We find that the relationship between wealth and income diversification in rural Nigeria is best categorized as upward sloping with diminishing marginal effect rather than a U shape or an inverted U shape as found in previous studies. We also find that income diversification favours food accessibility, food availability and food utilisation, and therefore resilience capacities overall. We do not find any evidence of income diversification in mitigating or aggravating the impact of shocks, as shock experiences appear to negatively affect food security in spite of income diversification. |
| Keywords: | Rural household, Livelihood diversification, Food security, Shocks, Nigeria |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2018-01&r=agr |
| By: | Stéphane Korsaga (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - UN - Université de Nantes) |
| Abstract: | In this article, we study the impact of both secure individual and mixed allocation of plots of land on the farming household propensity to invest in land as well as to improve the productivity of the soil. For that purpose, we resort to the World Bank LSMS-ISA database established in 2014 from a representative sample at the national level of 10,800 farming households in Burkina Faso. The empirical application favors the estimation of a multivariate Probit with random effects and of a translog model with household fixed effects. The results show that households which have got an individual land management on the one hand, and mixed management on the other have on average a greater tenure security effect on the performance of agricultural activities than the peasants who manage their land collectively. Consequently, it would be advisable to stress, strengthen and increasingly promote the protection of individual exploitations specifically. |
| Keywords: | Economics of Land Tenure,Burkina Faso,Sustainable Agricultural Development,Agricultural Performance,Tenure Security,Land-Related Investment |
| Date: | 2018–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01699118&r=agr |
| By: | Harounan Kazianga; Zaki Wahhaj |
| Abstract: | We present findings from a pilot study exploring whether and how existing ties between urban migrants and rural farmers may be used to provide the latter improved access to formal insurance. Urban migrants in Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso) originating from nearby villages were offered, at the prevailing market price, a rainfall index insurance product that can potentially protect their rural relatives from adverse weather shocks. The product had an uptake of 22% during the two-week subscription window. Uptake rates were higher by 17-22 percentage points among urban migrants who were randomly offered an insurance policy that would make pay-outs directly to the intended beneficiary rather than the subscriber. We argue that rainfall index insurance can complement informal risk-sharing networks by mitigating problems of informational asymmetry and self-control issues. |
| Keywords: | Microinsurance markets; Indexed insurance; Rainfall; Migration; Informal insurance networks |
| JEL: | O15 O16 G21 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1803&r=agr |
| By: | Raouf, Mariam; Kassim, Yumna; Kurdi, Sikandra; Mogues, Tewodaj; Mahmoud, Mai; Randriamamonjy, Josée; Thurlow, James; Wiebelt, Manfred; Breisinger, Clemens |
| Abstract: | This paper describes an innovative agricultural and rural economic planning tool that will help governments and analysts in the design of agricultural investment plans: the (Arab) Agricultural Investment for Development Analyzer (AIDA). A policy challenge for all governments, including those in the Middle East and North Africa, is determining the appropriate allocation and quality of public spending to foster agricultural and rural economic growth, employment creation, and poverty reduction. The AIDA economic planning toolkit has been built using an economy-wide and minimalistic investment data approach to assist governments in meeting this planning challenge. Centered on the use of economy-wide Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models, it allows for a comprehensive planning approach to ensure that the level and allocation of investment in the agriculture and rural sectors is sufficient for achieving desired targeted outcomes. It does this by linking agricultural and rural spending to economic growth, job creation, and household poverty, given resource and market constraints, as well as considering trade-offs and opportunity costs associated with different investment options. Such a holistic system approach enables the ranking of possible interventions and allocations of public funds amid possible changes in public policy to help in designing national agriculture plans and targets. |
| Keywords: | MIDDLE EAST; NORTH AFRICA; AFRICA; agricultural development; economic development; economic policies; agricultural policies; agricultural planning; public investment; rural development; rural development; agricultural investment plans; Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:menawp:6&r=agr |
| By: | Martha Bleeker; James Mabli; Mary Kay Fox; Betina Jean-Louis; Marlene Fox |
| Abstract: | This issue brief focuses on body mass index (BMI)-based outcomes of overweight and obese middle and high school students who received both the Prevention and Get Fit components of Healthy Harlem, after two and three years. |
| Keywords: | Healthy Harlem, BMI, body mass index, childhood obesity, nutrition, obese, overweight, afterschool program, Harlem Children’s zone, student health |
| JEL: | I0 I1 I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:fd9b33b977df48f182fdc1a6069b8698&r=agr |
| By: | David Le Blanc; Clovis Freire; Marjo Vierrosc |
| Abstract: | This paper maps interrelationships among targets of the Sustainable Development Goal dedicated to oceans (SDG 14), as well as interrelationships between those targets and other SDGs. This is done using a large number of UN reports as well as scientific publications. The literature identifies many linkages among the targets of SDG 14; most of these targets are potentially synergistic with one another. Many linkages also exist between SDG 14 targets and other SDGs. Different targets under SDG 14 link to different SDGs. This has implications for policy discussions on how to achieve progress on SDG 14. The interrelationships that we highlight can be used as a tool for dialogue between policy and scientific communities working on oceans, in particular for assessing the status of knowledge on the various linkages, as well as identifying linkages that are likely to matter most for progress on SDG 14. |
| Keywords: | Oceans, Sustainable Development Goals, science-policy interface, sustainable development, interlinkages |
| JEL: | O18 Q01 Q22 Q28 Q53 Q56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:wpaper:149&r=agr |
| By: | Maximo Rossi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Gastón Ares (Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República); Zuleika Ferre (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the influence of socio-economic variables on hunger prevalence in 18 Latin American countries using the database of Latinobarometro survey, developed by Latinobarometro Corporation. With this objective we estimate an ordered probit model. The results show that on average, only 52% of respondents indicated that they had never experienced lack of enough food in the last 12 months, which suggests that hunger is still a relevant problem in the region. Large heterogeneity across countries was found. Although the percentage of people who often experienced lack of food only corresponded to 2% for the countries in the southern part of Latin America (Uruguay, Chile, Argentina and Brazil), it reached values higher than 10% for several countries in Central and North America (Honduras, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Mexico). These results indicate the need to implement public policies aimed at improving access to enough food in Latin America in order to achieve the goal of eradicating hunger by 2025 (FAO, 2015b). |
| Keywords: | hunger, Latin America, Latinobarometro, access to food |
| JEL: | I31 I32 O54 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:1017&r=agr |
| By: | Nkechi S. Owoo; Elizabeth Bageant; Joanna Upton |
| Abstract: | The article explores a series of questions and hypotheses related to polygynous family structures and both household and individual-level food security outcomes, using the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Survey data from Nigeria, collected in 2011 and 2013. A Correlated Random Effects (CRE) model is used to examine the relationship between polygyny and household-level food security, and the degree to which it is mediated by household wealth, size, and livelihood. A Household Fixed Effect model is employed to explore whether a mother’s status as monogamous versus polygynous relates systematically to her child’s health, and also whether child outcomes of senior wives are better than outcomes of junior wives within polygynous households. We find that polygynous households have better food security outcomes than monogamous households with differences in household composition and agricultural livelihood as potential explanatory mechanisms. We also find that within polygynous households, children of junior wives have better health outcomes than children of senior wives. |
| Keywords: | Food security, child nutrition, Polygyny, Nigeria |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2018-02&r=agr |
| By: | Branko Boskovic; Linda Nøstbakken |
| Abstract: | Land prices across administrative boundaries can be useful for estimating the causal effects of local policy. Market anticipation about potential boundary changes can confound identification, so studies often avoid markets where this may arise. We develop an approach to quantify anticipation by separately identifying the causal effect of local policy and the market's subjective beliefs that administrative boundaries will change. Using land prices and changes to land use regulation boundaries, our estimates indicate that anticipation does matter quantitatively: it increases the welfare cost of the policy by one-quarter and empirical analysis that omits anticipation underestimates this cost by nearly one-half. |
| Keywords: | anticipation, local policy, land values, regulation, border discontinuity |
| JEL: | D84 L50 R30 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6888&r=agr |
| By: | Robin Boadway; Jean-Denis Garon; Louis Perrault |
| Abstract: | We study optimal income and commodity tax policy with credit-constrained low-income households. Workers are assumed to receive an even ow of income during the tax year, but make tax payments or receive transfers at the end of the year. They use their disposable income to purchase multiple commodities over the year. We show that differentiated subsidies on commodities can be optimal even if the Atkinson-Stiglitz Theorem conditions apply. When the optimal policy leaves low-income households with binding credit constraints, it is optimal to subsidize the good that is consumed in higher proportion by them. We show that this involves subsidizing more goods that fulfill basic needs, such as food or dwelling. The benefits of such subsidies have to be balanced with the costs of financing them, since unconstrained households also benefit from the rebate early in the fiscal year. |
| Keywords: | commodity taxation, optimal taxation, credit constraints |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6891&r=agr |
| By: | Claudia Kettner-Marx (WIFO); Daniela Kletzan-Slamanig (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | Economic literature generally favours market-based instruments for regulating environmental externalities since they ensure compliance at the least cost to society. Emission taxes have been increasingly introduced internationally, with the focus shifting to CO2 after the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. In this paper, the theoretical economic literature on energy and emission taxes is reviewed. The focus is on theoretical recommendations regarding the optimal design of environmental and especially carbon taxes, their performance relative to other instruments, the concept of a double dividend as well as potential competitiveness and distribution effects. Carbon taxation can play a key role in climate policy and for achieving long-term emission reductions. This overview of economic considerations may help in creating a sustainable, effective and efficient regulatory system for reducing emissions. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, carbon pricing, instrument choice, market-based instruments, environmental tax reform |
| Date: | 2018–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:554&r=agr |
| By: | Beatrice W. Muriithi; Gracious M. Diiro; Menale Kassie; Geoffrey Muricho |
| Abstract: | This paper examines if there is difference in the adoption of push-pull technology and other sustainable agricultural practices on plots managed by males, females and plots that are jointly-managed by males and females using plot level and gender disaggregated data. The econometric results suggest that there is no gender heterogeneity in the adoption of push-pull technology when the plot manager and plot characteristics are controlled for, suggesting that the technology is gender neutral. However, gender differences in the adoption pattern of other practices are evident. Jointly managed plots are more likely to adopt animal manure and soil and water conservation compared to male and female-managed plots. We do not, however, find any gender differences in the adoption of the rest of the practices. The analysis further shows that there is a significant correlation between push-pull and other sustainable agricultural practices, suggesting that the adoption of agricultural technologies is interrelated. The gender neutrality suggests that a program that considers women in the promotion and dissemination of push-pull technology can enhance the food security status of women and their households. |
| Keywords: | push-pull technology, sustainable agricultural practices, gender, Kenya, Africa |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2018-05&r=agr |
| By: | DANIELE CESANO; ALEXANDRE GORI MAIA; BRUNO CESAR BRITO MIYAMOTO; GABRIELA SANTOS EUSEBIO; PATRICIA ANDRADE |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2016:189&r=agr |
| By: | Anu Shukla-Jones (OECD); Steffi Friedrichs (OECD); David E. Winickoff (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Gene editing techniques represent a major advance in the field of biotechnological research and application, promising significant benefits across the domains of human health, sustainability and the economy. There is broad agreement that gene editing techniques go beyond incremental advances of past biotechnologies. However, harnessing the potential of gene editing techniques will require meeting significant policy challenges in arenas of governance, ethics, and public engagement. This report summarises the discussions of a group of international experts of science, technology and policy, as well as policymakers at a dedicated workshop entitled “Gene editing in an international context: scientific, economic and social issues across sectors” in Ottawa, Canada on 29-30 October 2016. |
| Date: | 2018–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2018/04-en&r=agr |
| By: | Dempsey, Seraphim; Lyons, Seán; Nolan, Anne |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:rb201803&r=agr |
| By: | Toshi H.Arimura; Shinji Kaneko; Shunsuke Managi; Takayoshi Shinkuma; Masashi Yamamoto; Yuichiro Yoshida |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we attempt to identify the reasons behind the differences in environmental policy between Japan and other developed countries, particularly the US. Japan's environmental policy is unique in that voluntary approaches have been taken to reduce total emissions. This strategy is quite different from the traditional approach of heavy-handed regulation. In Japan, voluntary approaches are conducted through negotiations with polluters. The idea behind this type of voluntary approaches is that the government can induce polluters to abate emissions voluntarily by using light-handed regulations and the threat of heavy-handed regulations. The light-handed regulation is quite effective especially when it is costly to introduce heavy-handed regulations, although the negotiations are difficult to conduct when the number of stakeholders is large. To strengthen our analysis, we provide some examples of Japanese environmental policies which are successful and the ones that are not. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcr:wpaper:e107&r=agr |
| By: | Tagel Gebrehiwot; Carolina Castilla |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the impact of the Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program on household dietary diversity and child nutrition using both waves of the Ethiopian Socio-economic Survey. For identification, we use various methodologies. To estimate the effect of the program on household dietary diversity, we rely on the exogeneity of the change in the amount of money that kebeles (lowest administrative unit) have available to allocate among program beneficiaries, which depends on donor support. We present evidence that there is a discrete jump in the kebeles’ allocated budget between 2012 and 2014. We use the change in the amount of PSNP transfers in each kebele as an instrument for the change in the amount of the transfer received by each household. For robustness, we confirm our results using generalized propensity score matching with a continuous treatment. We find no effect of an increase in the amount of money received by households in the form of PSNP transfers on household dietary diversity. To examine the effect of PSNP participation on long-term child nutrition we use a difference-in-difference approach. We use children aged 6 to 24 months in 2012 as a baseline. The treatment group is children in beneficiary households between the ages of 6 and 24 months in 2014 because they were not born during the 2012 round of the survey, and the control group were children in the same age range in non-beneficiary households. We find no effect on height-for-age regardless of age cohort, model specification, or methodology. Results indicate consistently that PSNP has not had the desired effect on household dietary diversity or child nutrition, suggesting that perhaps the transfers need to be paired with additional interventions such as information about nutrition. |
| Keywords: | Nutrition security, Dietary diversity, Impact, Continuous treatment, Dose-response function, Propensity Score Matching |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2018-03&r=agr |
| By: | Elizabeth Baldwin; Yongyang Cai; Karlygash Kuralbayeva |
| Abstract: | We investigate how irreversibility in “dirty” and “clean” capital stocks affects optimal climate policy, from both theoretical and numerical perspectives. An increasing carbon tax will reduce investments in assets that pollute, and so reduce emissions in the short term: our “irreversibility effect”. As such the “Green Paradox” has a converse if we focus on demand side capital stock effects. We also show that the optimal subsidy increases with the deployment rate: our “acceleration effect”. Considering second-best settings, we show that, although carbon taxes achieve stringent targets more efficiently, in fact renewable subsidies deliver higher welfare when policy is more mild. |
| Keywords: | infrastructure, clean and dirty energy inputs, renewable energy, stranded assets, carbon budget, climate change policies, Green Paradox |
| JEL: | O44 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6884&r=agr |
| By: | Clive George (University of Manchester); Shunta Yamaguchi (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This report assesses the progress of the implementation of environmental provisions in RTAs. It focuses on the extent to which governments have complied with the environmental commitments made in the trade agreements to which they are a Party. The report takes a two track approach. First, a review of implementation and evaluation reports associated with environmental provisions in such agreements is performed. Second, a survey of government officials, trade negotiators and other experts is carried out. |
| Keywords: | environment policy, environmental provisions, free trade agreements, Regional trade agreements, trade and environment, trade policy |
| JEL: | F13 F18 N50 Q56 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaaa:2018/01-en&r=agr |