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on Agricultural Economics |
| By: | Darko, Francis Addeah; Martey, Edward |
| Abstract: | This study examines the sustainability and healthiness of Ghana's current dietary patterns and explores pathways for promoting sustainable healthy diets through agrifood policy interventions. Using secondary data from the Food and Agriculture Organization's Statistics, Ghana Statistical Service, and other sources, the study assesses food security dimensions, estimates greenhouse gas emissions from current diets, analyzes the relationship between income and meat consumption, and generates Pareto-optimal dietary solutions. The analysis reveals significant dietary imbalances: Ghanaians overconsume staple foods (279 percent of recommended levels) and severely under-consume fruits (57 percent); vegetables (43 percent); and legumes, pulses, and nuts (20 percent). Despite adequate national caloric availability (135 percent adequacy), 63 percent of the population cannot afford healthy diets, with 21.1 million people facing affordability constraints. Ghana's current dietary patterns generate 46 million metric tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions and fail to meet international sustainability targets, with a positive correlation (0.3 percent increase per 1, 000 GHS income) between economic development and meat consumption. Pareto optimization demonstrates that although government dietary guidelines can achieve up to 32 percent emissions reduction at higher costs, EAT-Lancet recommendations offer superior outcomes with 47 percent lower costs and 70 percent lower emissions. The policy landscape analysis spanning 2014–23 reveals progress from food security–focused to holistic approaches incorporating nutrition and sustainability. Key recommendations include revising national dietary guidelines to align with sustainability targets, enhancing production support for diverse crops, improving food system infrastructure, and developing sustainable protein transition policies to decouple economic growth from increased environmental impacts. |
| Date: | 2025–09–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11197 |
| By: | Benjamin Ignoto; Bruno Lanz; Shuaiqi Wu; Erwan Monier |
| Abstract: | We combine 2008-2023 county-level yield data with 30-meter crop classification imagery to test whether crop diversity mitigates yield losses from weather shocks. Diversity is measured with the exponential Shannon index, capturing county-level species richness and evenness as the effective number of crops. Two-way fixed-effects regressions replicate standard nonlinear damages from extreme heat and precipitation, but show that each additional effective crop attenuates heat impacts for corn and soybean and moderates winter wheat losses in unusually wet years. Resilience benefits are concentrated in rainfed counties, where irrigation offers limited protection, indicating that diversification can complement water-based adaptation to climate change. |
| Keywords: | Adaptation; Agriculture; Crop Diversity; Weather shocks; Climate change; Extreme temperatures; Drought |
| JEL: | Q10 Q15 Q54 Q57 C23 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irn:wpaper:25-07 |
| By: | Julie Regolo (US ODR - Observatoire des Programmes Communautaires de Développement Rural - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Cédric Gendre (US ODR - Observatoire des Programmes Communautaires de Développement Rural - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Thomas Poméon (US ODR - Observatoire des Programmes Communautaires de Développement Rural - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This article aims to assess the impact of the Geographical Indications (GIs) protection policy on the sustainable development of agriculture in mainland France. More specifically, it analyses the impact over the last decade of the increase in the territorial magnitude of agri-food GIs on agricultural economic performance, agricultural employment and agricultural pressures on the environment (biodiversity and water quality). The magnitude of GIs is assessed using two distinct indicators: the proportion of farmers involved in GIs and the diversity of GI products within each territory. We use data at a fine territorial scale (cantonal level – NUTS4) and a meso-economic approach. We estimate a difference in differences econometric model to continuous variables, and we control for the effect of the presence of operators involved in organic farming in the territory, and of payments under the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy, which may impact sustainable development indicators. The results show that, all other factors being equal, cantons where there has been an increase in the presence of GIs over the last decade have seen greater improvements in their economic, social and environmental performance than cantons where there has been no increase. They also indicate the distinct and complementary effects of GI diversity and intensity in the territory, in terms of contribution to sustainable development. |
| Keywords: | Territory France, Geographical indications, Sustainable development |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05234723 |
| By: | Adamopoulos, Tasso |
| Abstract: | This working paper quantifies the role of current land quality and geographic conditions as well as projected future climate change for agricultural productivity differences across and within Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. It combines geospatial data on potential yields by crop and grid-cell, with a spatial accounting framework. If LAC countries produced their crops in the locations, they produce them with potential yields rather than actual, the 18 percent aggregate yield deficit relative to the richest countries would be reversed to an 18 percent surplus. While there are considerable cross-country and within-country heterogeneity, overall LAC countries have favorable natural land productivity. With improved input application and cultivation practices most LAC countries can double agricultural productivity, with substantial structural change implications. Climate change will reduce average yields in most LAC countries, but because of its heterogeneous effects across regions, there is more scope for yield gains from the spatial reallocation of production than under current conditions. |
| Keywords: | Agricultura, Ambiente, Cambio climático, Productividad, Recursos naturales, Sector productivo, |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:2520 |
| By: | Suproń, Błażej |
| Abstract: | The primary aspiration of this paper is to learn about the effects of agricultural energyconsumption, agriculture value added, agricultural land and fertiliser consumption on environmentalpollution in Visegrad countries. The research employs panel data from long-run models FMOLSand DOLS, covering the period from 1995 to 2020. The study suggests that there is a positive andstatistically significant correlation between CO2 emissions from agriculture in Central and EasternEuropean countries, and factors such as higher energy consumption, increased value from agriculturalproduction, greater fertiliser consumption, and larger arable land areas. The FMOLS and DOLSmodels’ long-term coefficients suggest that energy consumption in agriculture and crop area are themain factors contributing to the increase in CO2 emissions from agriculture in the studied countries.The study recommends a sustainable energy transformation of agriculture by limiting the use of fossilfuels in agricultural production and reducing share of arable land. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; CO2 emissions; Visegrad Group; panel methods; energy |
| JEL: | B23 Q15 Q32 Q43 Q50 |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:125421 |
| By: | Rehkamp, Sarah; Canning, Patrick |
| Abstract: | To expand the scope and uses of USDA, Economic Research Service’s (ERS) data products and research on the food economy and markets, USDA, ERS researchers have developed a new data product known as the Agri-Food Economic Data System (Ag-FEDS). Ag-FEDS is an integrated system of economic data that elaborates the linkages between all production and consumption activities throughout the economy. This data system improves the clarity and accuracy of agricultural and food economy data when measuring how all production is distributed among consumers, businesses, governments, and global nations. This report introduces Ag-FEDS and shares details of the models and assumptions supporting the new tool. USDA, ERS has identified official U.S. Government data and applied statistical and economic modeling best practices to produce the most complete accounting of the U.S. food economy to date. In comparison to the accounts currently used for the USDA, ERS Food Dollar Series data product, Ag-FEDS more than doubles activity and commodity coverage (from 153 to over 350 activities and commodities) and captures up to 11 percent more annual food expenditures not included in conventional food Gross Domestic Product measures. Further, Ag-FEDS disentangles and measures over 40 distinct food commodity and marketing channel supply chains and applies accounting and modeling refinements that produce more accurate measures of the activity sequences, culminating in annual food and beverage purchases. To facilitate replication, this report describes primary data sources and every calculation, written entirely in matrix algebra. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Marketing, Research Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Supply Chain |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uerstb:369122 |
| By: | William A. Masters |
| Abstract: | This Policy Comment describes how the Food Policy article entitled 'Cost and affordability of nutritious diets at retail prices: Evidence from 177 countries' (first published October 2020) and 'Retail consumer price data reveal gaps and opportunities to monitor food systems for nutrition' (first published September 2021) advanced the use of least-cost benchmark diets to monitor and improve food security. Those papers contributed to the worldwide use of least-cost diets as a new diagnostic indicator of food access, helping to distinguish among causes of poor diet quality related to high prices, low incomes, or displacement by other food options, thereby guiding intervention toward universal access to healthy diets. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.22965 |
| By: | Wataru Kodama (International Fund for Agricultural Development); Dina Azhgaliyeva (Asian Development Bank); Peter Morgan (PJM Consulting) |
| Abstract: | Literature links food insecurity to adverse welfare outcomes, including the educational performance of children. This paper investigates whether food insecurity, exacerbated by recent food inflation, has hindered schoolchildren’s recovery from learning loss following coronavirus disease-related school closures. We examine this relationship using household data collected in 2023 from nine countries (Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan)—severely affected by food inflation. Our data document high severity of food insecurity and limited perceived learning progress after schools reopened in many countries. Using a novel instrumental variable, the relative severity of food inflation compared to general inflation, we find a causal link between households’ food insecurity and delays in learning progress after schools reopened. This effect is particularly pronounced among schoolchildren in higher grades and those who experienced longer durations of school closure, suggesting that food insecurity hampered recovery from learning loss during the school closure. |
| Keywords: | food inflation;food security;learning progress;Central Asia and Caucasus;South Asia |
| JEL: | I32 I24 Q18 D12 |
| Date: | 2025–09–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:021552 |
| By: | Ambler, Kate; Balana, Bedru; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Maruyama, Eduardo; Olanrewaju, Opeyemi |
| Abstract: | Access to credit can be important for improving the performance of smallholders, as it enables farmers to purchase inputs while sustaining their livelihoods. In rural Nigeria, however, access to credit—particularly from formal financial institutions—is limited. As a result, farmers often have little to no choice but to depend on alternative credit sources, including informal lending. Small holder agricultural households often turn to friends and family, or local money lenders and other informal and semi-formal sources to meet their credit needs (EFInA, 2020). |
| Keywords: | access to finance; credit; smallholders; inputs; repayment of debts; Nigeria; Africa; Western Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2025–07–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:175654 |
| By: | Mutum, L.; Mizan, S. A.; Bhatpuria, D.; Taneja, G.; Mitra, A.; Gupta, S. K.; Sikka, A. |
| Abstract: | Rice is a staple crop in India, traditionally cultivated using the Transplanted Puddled Rice (TPR) method. This traditional method, while effective and very popular amongst farmers, is highly labour, water, and energy-intensive, that leads to significant groundwater depletion and higher energy usage in pumping groundwater. In response to these challenges, the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) method has been introduced as a more sustainable alternative. DSR involves sowing seeds directly into the field, eliminating the need for growing and transplanting seedlings. This method, tested in various field trials, promises to have several benefits, including water savings, reduced labour and production costs, higher economic returns, and lower methane emissions. However, the success in farmer fields when adopted at scale outside trials remains to be analysed critically. In that context, this study was commissioned through a MoU with National Project Management Unit (NPMU), Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY). ABY, also known as Atal Jal, is a central sector scheme aimed at sustainable groundwater management with community participation. Launched in December 2019, ABY focuses on improving groundwater management in water-stressed areas across seven states, including Haryana. The adoption of DSR in Haryana has been gradual but promising. The area under rice cultivation in the state has increased significantly over the years, with initial efforts to introduce DSR beginning around 2009. The state government has played a crucial role in promoting DSR by offering financial incentives to farmers. In 2022, an incentive of INR 4000 per acre1 was introduced to encourage farmers to adopt DSR. Given its uptake in Haryana, the objective of this study is to assess the socio-economic and environmental benefits of DSR, identify the challenges, and offer recommendations for scaling up this technology in Haryana and other regions. The study employed a multi-faceted approach including qualitative surveys with stakeholders, focus group discussions, field visits, and a large-scale quantitative survey (sample size is 809) of DSR and TPR farmers across selected districts in Haryana to assess the impact of DSR. These farmer-level sources were complemented by water flow meter data analysis and remote sensing analysis. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2025–05–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iwmirp:369137 |
| By: | Girma, R.; Mekuria, Wolde; Moges, A.; Smith, J.; Hallett, P. |
| Abstract: | Spatially customized land management strategies are crucial for mitigating land degradation and fostering effective landscape restoration. A deep understanding of local biophysical conditions ensures that interventions are both contextually relevant and impactful, promoting long-term environmental sustainability and delivering socio-economic benefits to local communities. With this consideration, this report, drawing on data collected through field surveys, GIS, and remote sensing techniques, uses Halaba, Ethiopia, as a case study to highlight the region’s varied biophysical conditions and their implications for the design and planning of sustainable land management (SLM) practices. This document is intended for agricultural and natural resource management professionals involved in the design, planning, implementation, and monitoring of SLM practices. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Industrial Organization, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2025–05–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iwmirp:369138 |
| By: | Wilson, Kate |
| Abstract: | The cause of England’s agricultural transformation and subsequent escape from Malthusian constraints remains a subject of significant debate in economic and agricultural historiography. This study challenges conventional narratives by examining the Corbet estates in old-enclosed Shropshire between 1740 and 1840 to assess whether shifts associated with ‘agricultural revolution’, such as farm engrossment and rising rents, emerged in the absence of parliamentary enclosure. By considering an area where traditional views on parliamentary enclosure are less applicable, this research provides a nuanced understanding of agricultural shifts in a regional context. Using the Corbet family rentals and estate surveys, this study tracks changes in land distribution, tenure security, and rents over the period. This is then combined with a thorough analysis of parish records and contemporary accounts to consider the motivations behind the observed shifts. Such a multifaceted approach aims to determine whether these shifts can be attributed to productivity growth, as traditional narratives suggest, or whether deliberate estate management decisions played a more significant role. The results indicate that an agricultural transformation was occurring on the Corbet estates, but that there is little evidence to suggest a link to productivity growth. Therefore, it is likely that the estate management philosophy of the Corbet family, particularly following their descent into debt after 1783, was a central driver of the observed shifts. Ultimately, this research provides insight into how rural transformation operated across diverse regional contexts in the Early Modern period, challenging traditional narratives that are centred around enclosure. |
| JEL: | Q10 Q15 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:129441 |
| By: | Pierre Chollet (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UM - Université de Montpellier, Labex Entreprendre - UM - Université de Montpellier); Geoffroy Enjolras (CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, UGA INP IAE - Grenoble Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes); Iciar Pavez (UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes); Louis‐antoine Saïsset (UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how the literature addresses the sustainability performance of agricultural cooperatives through four key dimensions: economic and financial, environmental, social and governance. As key entities within the social economy, agricultural cooperatives play a crucial role in advancing sustainable development goals due to their community‐oriented structure, democratic governance based on the user–owner principle and strong territorial ties. We systematically review 274 articles published between 1991 and 2024 that address at least one dimension of the sustainability performance of agricultural cooperatives. Our thematic analysis reveals a significant increase in published studies since 2018, covering a wide range of countries and agricultural products. While the literature predominantly focuses on the economic and financial dimension—either alone or in combination with other dimensions—the environmental, governance and social dimensions are significantly underrepresented, especially in Europe and North America, and in specific sectors such as wine production. In addition, many studies lack a solid theoretical foundation. Overall, the sustainability performance of agricultural cooperatives remains a complex and evolving issue, and this study highlights avenues for future research to improve knowledge and practice. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural cooperatives Literature review Performance Sustainability, Agricultural cooperatives, Literature review, Performance, Sustainability, Social and Solidarity Economy, social economy, sustainability performance, agricultural cooperative |
| Date: | 2025–09–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05246932 |
| By: | David Cuberes (Maynooth University); Aitor Lacuesta (Bank of Spain); Carlos Moreno-Pérez (Bank of Spain); Daniel Oto-Peralías (Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between land ownership concentration and the likelihood of hosting large green energy facilities, specifically mega-photovoltaic (PV) plants, defined as those exceeding 50 hectares. Focusing on Spain, we find that municipalities with a higher proportion of agricultural land concentrated in large farms are significantly more likely to accommodate mega PV plants. This effect remains robust after accounting for key factors influencing PV deployment, including terrain ruggedness, solar potential, and proximity to transmission lines and urban centers. To further neutralize unobserved factors that jointly influence land concentration and PV plant location, we leverage cadastral (parcel) data to conduct an intra-municipal analysis at the 0.5×0.5 km grid-cell level. Our findings reveal that grid cells with larger cadastral parcels have a substantially higher probability of being part of a mega PV facility. A simple theoretical model explains this pattern by highlighting the coordination challenges faced by small landowners. Unlike large ones, fragmented landholders struggle to meet developers’ land requirements, which are necessary to cover fixed project costs. Consistent with this mechanism, we also show that areas with irrigated agriculture are less likely to host mega PV plants and exhibit more unequal distributions of plant locations by land size. Finally, we provide external validity by confirming a similar positive association between mega PV plants and land concentration across U.S. counties. These findings underscore the implications of land inequality for the spatial distribution of renewable energy projects, shedding light on the limited local benefits of such investments and the growing opposition from rural communities. |
| Keywords: | solar plants; photovoltaic plants; land concentration. . |
| JEL: | O13 Q40 Q15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:25.03 |
| By: | IPCid (IPC); Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (Ipea) (IPC); socialprotection.org (IPC); World Food Programme (WFP) (IPC) |
| Keywords: | nutrition; food security; fight against hunger; social protection |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:idifen:001 |
| By: | Ariel Akerman; Jacob Moscona; Heitor S. Pellegrina; Karthik Sastry |
| Abstract: | Can public R&D investment in developing countries drive productivity growth? We study this question in the context of Brazilian agriculture and the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), a public research corporation established in 1973 to develop locally suitable science and technology. First, we show that Embrapa redirected research toward prioritized staple crops and local ecological conditions, and increased research productivity, especially in remote and research-scarce regions. Second, exploiting the staggered rollout of research centers alongside heterogeneous local exposure to Embrapa’s technology development, we find that Embrapa significantly increased agricultural output, driven both by higher productivity and expanded input use. Combined with a model, these estimates imply that public R&D investment increased national agricultural productivity by 110% with a benefit-cost ratio of 17. The decentralized structure, in which research labs were spread across many ecological zones instead of in a single hub, explains a large share of these benefits. |
| JEL: | O13 O25 O3 O38 O4 O54 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34213 |
| By: | Otto, Christian; Schult, Christoph; Vogt, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Vietnam, a lower-middle-income economy, faces severe climate risks from heat waves, sea-level rise, and tropical cyclones, which are expected to intensify under ongoing global warming. Using a dynamic general equilibrium model, we analyze economic transition dynamics from 2015 to 2100, incorporating heat-induced labor productivity losses, agricultural land loss, and cyclone-related property damage. We compare a Paris-compatible scenario limiting warming to below 2 êC with a high-emission scenario reaching 4-5 êC. While output and investment impacts remain highly uncertain and statistically indistinguishable across scenarios until 2100, consumption losses are significantly larger under high emissions, mainly driven by heat-related productivity declines, with cyclones contributing most to uncertainty. These findings underscore the importance of considering multiple impact channels beyond output damages in climate-development research. |
| Keywords: | climate change impacts, dynamic general equilibrium model, impact channels, mitigation |
| JEL: | O44 Q13 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:325836 |
| By: | Seungmin Lee; John Hoddinott; Christopher B. Barrett; Matthew P. Rabbitt |
| Abstract: | The study of food security dynamics in the U.S. has long been impeded by the lack of extended longitudinal observations of the same households or individuals. This paper applies a newly-introduced household-level food security measure, the probability of food security (PFS), to 26 waves of Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data, spanning 1979-2019, to generate a data product we describe and make newly available to the research community. We detail the construction of this unprecedentedly long food security panel data series in PSID data. Finally, we estimate key subpopulation- and national-level food security dynamics identifiable over the 40-year (1979-2019) period spanning multiple recessions and federal nutrition assistance policy changes, including disaggregated dynamics based on geography, race, sex, and educational attainment. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.06144 |
| By: | Han, Yajie; Pkhikidze, Nino; Qin, Yu; Yang, Yi |
| Abstract: | Rural roads, serving as vital links between remote areas and economic centers, play an indispensable role in rural development. This paper investigates the relationship between rural road development and various economic outcomes in China from 2008 to 2021. Based on comprehensive novel road network data, satellite nighttime light images, county-level statistics, and household-level survey data, analyses are conducted at multiple levels. At the grid level, the findings show a consistent positive correlation between rural road mileage and nighttime light intensity, suggesting that road development fosters the growth of economic activity. The correlation is more pronounced in plains than in mountainous areas and is stronger for roads of higher quality. Economic prosperity and population size further enhance the economic benefits of rural roads. Additionally, the analysis finds significant links between rural road development and key metrics such as population growth, agricultural production, and the income and consumption of rural households. |
| Date: | 2025–09–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11212 |
| By: | Gadea Rivas, María Dolores; Gonzalo, Jesús |
| Abstract: | Climate change exhibits substantial variability across both space and time, requiring mitigation and adaptation strategies that effectively address challenges at global and local scales. Accurately capturing this variability is essential for assessing climate impacts, attributing underlying causes, and formulating effective policies. This study introduces simple yet robust quantitative methods to detect local warming, distinguish among different types of warming, and compare warming trends across contiguous U.S. states using the concept of warming dominance. In contrast to traditional approaches that focus solely on average temperatures, our analysis rigorously and systematically examines the entire distribution of daily temperatures for the contiguous United States from 1950 to 2021. The results reveal that, while 44% of states show no statistically significant warming based on average temperature trends, a much larger proportion—84%—exhibit warming when assessing various quantiles of the distribution. These findings underscore the substantial heterogeneity in warming patterns: some states, such as those located in the so-called “Warming Hole, ” display no evidence of warming at any quantile; others experience more pronounced warming in either the lower or upper tails of the temperature distribution; and a few states show consistent warming across all quantiles. The study concludes by identifying which states exhibit warming dominance over others and which appear comparatively less affected. These insights are particularly important in the United States, where climate policy is formulated and implemented at both federal and state levels. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; Distributional characteristics; Trends; Global and local warming; Heterogeneous climate change; Warming typology; Warming dominance |
| JEL: | C31 C32 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–09–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:47893 |
| By: | Wingenroth, Jordan (Resources for the Future); Errickson, Frank; Prest, Brian C. (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | The social cost of greenhouse gases (SC-GHG) is an estimate of the economic cost to society of an incremental metric ton of emissions of a given greenhouse gas. Recent advances in SC-GHG estimates represent a major step forward towards a comprehensive accounting of the impacts of greenhouse gases, yet they still omit important impacts of climate change such as its effects on ocean ecosystems and fisheries. As a step towards incorporating ocean system impacts into SC-GHG estimates, researchers at Resources for the Future (RFF) and their colleagues convened a group of 40 scientists and policymakers for a series of three strategic workshops. The first workshop served to level-set participants on state-of-the-art SC-GHG modeling, using the RFF-Berkeley Greenhouse Gas Impact Value Estimator (GIVE) model as an example. The second and third workshops focused on two topics identified as priority areas: coral reefs and fisheries. Key topics of discussion included: i) available statistical techniques well suited to the complexities of ocean ecosystems and economies, ii) the importance of the compounding effects of multiple stressors such as temperature increases, extreme events, and ocean acidification on coral reefs and how to capture them in projections of future climate scenarios, and iii) approaches to modeling recreational and commercial fisheries while accounting for economic dynamics such as substitution effects and hedonic adaptation, as well as resource-driven geopolitics. This report documents the dialogue from the workshops, serving as reference material for continuing collaboration to incorporate ocean impacts into more comprehensive SC-GHG estimates. |
| Date: | 2024–09–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:report:rp-24-17 |
| By: | Forslund, Eva (Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum)); Meriläinen, Jaako (Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum)); Zipfel, Celine (Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum)) |
| Abstract: | We provide new evidence on how a gender-biased, labor-saving technology—the milking machine—advanced one important dimension of gender equality: women’s political representation. Our focus is mid-20th-century Finland, where mechanized milking reduced the time burden of a task traditionally performed by women and facilitated modernization of rural parts of the country. Using historical data, we estimate panel and instrumental-variable models that exploit temporal variation in the spread of milking machines and geographic variation in pre-determined comparative advantage in cattle farming. We find that municipalities with greater adoption of milking machines experienced significantly larger increases in the share of local council seats held by women between 1950 and 1972. These effects operated through time savings, rural economic development, and an increase in women’s employment off the farm, which together helped ease key constraints to women's political representation. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; gender; political representation; technological change; women in politics |
| JEL: | D63 |
| Date: | 2025–09–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hamisu:2025_002 |
| By: | Liao, Yanjun (Penny) (Resources for the Future); Walls, Margaret A. (Resources for the Future); Wibbenmeyer, Matthew (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade, wildfires have become more frequent and damaging in the western United States, leading to unprecedented financial losses and significant challenges for the insurance market in affected areas, especially in California. Several major insurers have stopped writing policies for new clients in California, at least temporarily. Homeowners in high-risk areas face soaring insurance premiums and increasing insurer-initiated nonrenewals.In this report, we look at the long experience of insuring flood losses in the United States to find solutions to address the insurability of wildfires. The federal government created the government-backed National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1968, and since then, the NFIP has provided almost all flood loss coverage. Over time, this single-peril program has faced numerous challenges, including difficulty maintaining widespread participation, financial instability, inadequate pricing with respect to risk, and problems related to flood risk mapping and communication. Floods and wildfires each present insurers with correlated risks that have grown over time as a result of climate change and increasing development in hazardous areas. Because of these similarities, an analysis of the NFIP’s experience with insuring flood risk can offer insights for policy directions to address the rising challenges of insuring wildfires.Lessons from the NFIPLesson 1: Most People Do Not Voluntarily Buy Disaster InsuranceEvidence from flood insurance suggests that stand-alone disaster insurance policies have low uptake rates unless mandated. The federal government mandates that owners of homes within Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), defined based on 100-year floodplains, have flood insurance if they have federally backed mortgages. However, overall take-up of flood insurance is low. This provides a cautionary tale for wildfire insurance. Currently, wildfire insurance is bundled in standard homeowner’s insurance policies required by mortgage lenders. If wildfire coverage were to become a stand-alone product or the requirement were to change, there is a risk that take-up will be low, leaving more households exposed to the full financial ramifications of wildfire damages.Lesson 2: When Insurance Premiums Do Not Reflect Risks, There Will Be Insurer Solvency Problems and Greater Exposure to RiskInsurance pricing needs to accurately reflect risks, both to support insurer solvency and to send price signals to homeowners about where to live and how much to invest in hazard mitigation. Over time, underpricing of risk by the NFIP has led the program to incur substantial debt to the US Treasury and caused increased development in high-hazard flood areas. Underpricing of wildfire risks in high-hazard areas—resulting from a combination of regulation, climate change, and uncertainty among insurers about the true level of risks—is likely also contributing to current insurability problems. Catastrophe models, which have recently been integrated into the NFIP through Risk Rating 2.0, offer a potential path forward.Lesson 3: Risk-Based Pricing Will Present Some Affordability ChallengesRisk-based pricing, while necessary for insurer solvency, can result in premiums that are unaffordable for low- and moderate-income households—especially in places facing rapid increases in risk. Means-tested subsidies and public financial backstops are options to address affordability while maintaining insurer solvency. However, there is an inherent tension between addressing affordability concerns and maintaining risk-based price signals. Innovative insurance products like community-based insurance or parametric microinsurance offer potential alternatives, but these approaches have not yet been successfully implemented in the United States.Lesson 4: Risk Communication Is Essential but Hard to Do WellAccurate risk communication is critical for informed decisionmaking. Maps of SFHAs, used in the NFIP to delineate where zoning, building code, and insurance requirements apply, often lead to the misconception that outside these zones, risk is minimal. Communicating wildfire risks, which is often done through broad risk categories, may face similar challenges. Recently, FEMA and others have begun to improve access to more graduated, high-resolution flood risk data, and there is some evidence that this information has affected home buyers’ search behavior. Evidence from both the flood and fire contexts also suggests that mandatory hazard disclosure can affect buyers’ valuations of risky properties, though such rules can face political pushback because of concerns over property values.Lesson 5: Investments in Risk Mitigation Are Critical but Costly and DifficultRisk reduction measures lower the cost of insuring disasters and thus provide an important strategy for simultaneously addressing both affordability and solvency concerns. While NFIP premium reductions have incentivized some community-led investments in flood risk reduction, flood adaptation investments are often expensive, and most adaptation investments are heavily dependent on federal funding. More low-cost hazard mitigation options are available for wildfire than for floods, but incentivizing these activities through insurance premium reductions requires coordination across insurers and with fire service professionals and communities. These activities must also be coordinated among homeowners and forest landowners, including the federal government.Policy DirectionsImproving Insurance AvailabilityTo promote insurance availability, premiums should be adequate for covering claims, including those due to catastrophic events. Adopting catastrophe models for wildfire risk assessment, with oversight similar to Florida’s approach for regulating use of hurricane catastrophe models, can support risk-based pricing and help maintain insurer solvency. These models can help ensure fair pricing and accurate signaling of risk by minimizing cross-subsidization of policyholders in high-risk areas by those in low-risk areas.Addressing AffordabilityThree options for maintaining affordability are means-tested programs for premium discounts or subsidies, a public financial backstop, and new insurance products tailored to low- and moderate-income community needs, such as community-based insurance and parametric microinsurance. However, along with their effects on affordability, policymakers need to consider effects of such policies on cross-subsidization and incentives for risk mitigation.Motivating Risk ReductionSeveral strategies are available to federal, state, and local policymakers to reduce the three components of risk: exposure, vulnerability, and hazard. Risk communication policies and disclosure laws can help inform household decisionmaking. Local land use policies can help reduce community-level exposure to risk. Building codes can be effective in reducing structural vulnerabilities. Finally, vegetation management—at both the individual and community scales—can help reduce hazard. Policy can play a key role in motivating risk reduction activities and deepening coordination among various stakeholders, including insurers. |
| Date: | 2024–07–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:report:rp-24-12 |
| By: | Wear, David N. (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | The wildfire crisis in the western United States arises from the confluence of climate change, land-use patterns, and dense forest conditions. Federal land managers have responded by focusing management on reducing the density of forest vegetation and encouraging fire resilience through fuel treatments, including mechanical fuel treatments that remove woody biomass, often coupled with piling and burning. Treatments are costly and needs far outstrip available budgets, even after accounting for appropriations from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. To improve the effectiveness of fuel treatment budgets, biomass removals might be sold as inputs to building materials or energy products, with revenues offsetting costs and extending area treated. Indeed, absent additional large appropriations, selling the biomass may be the only viable means to bring fuel treatments to an effective scale.However, managers have struggled to find willing buyers for this material. I examine the constraints affecting utilization of fuel treatment biomass (FTB) in the West based on a survey of relevant literature and arrive at several findings:At current prices, potential for biomass utilization at scale is limited to a few areas where existing production infrastructure intersects with areas of high wildfire risk. These market zones are where utilization strategies have the best chance to succeed.Crediting carbon offset values to utilization could greatly expand the economic feasibility of FTB utilization and the area of treatments, especially near active markets. Utilizing rather than burning FTB avoids carbon emissions and could be credited through voluntary and/or compliance markets.Crediting avoided health costs from smoke might also greatly expand the economic feasibility of FTB utilization and the area of treatments. Utilizing rather than burning FTB avoids health costs caused by smoke, especially additional PM2.5 emissions. Recent studies show that health benefits could be substantial— potentially much larger than carbon revenues in some places—but valuation and exchange protocols are not yet available.Transaction costs reduce the marketability of FTB on federal lands, though managers can moderate these costs through selection of contract instruments and terms.As currently designed, fuel treatments focus first on fire resilience and remove only small-diameter materials with low revenue potential. Forest managers can enhance the potential for utilization by offering a mix of this low-quality biomass and larger-diameter sawtimber.The report concludes with a set of actions that could expand the utilization of FTB in the West:To improve marketability of FTB, federal land management agencies can (1) analyze local demand to understand the reach and material requirements of existing and potential wood product manufacturers; (2) design treatment programs to balance utilization potential with ecological restoration and resilience objectives; and (3) use contract instruments that extend production periods but moderate transaction costs.To establish carbon credits for FTB utilization, agencies can (1) develop general carbon crediting protocols, likely patterned on the Climate Action Reserve’s draft biochar protocol; and (2) develop a protocol to certify federal FTB as a waste product.To support development of wood-based bioenergy demands, regulators can: (1) revise environmental regulations to allow FTB from federal lands to qualify as renewable feedstocks; and (2) develop low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) protocols specifically for the utilization of FTB.To advance understanding of the health implications of smoke from fuel treatments, agencies and NGO’s can convene experts from the health care and natural resource sectors to develop ways to estimate and value benefits and explore crediting mechanisms. |
| Date: | 2024–08–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:report:rp-24-14 |
| By: | Rafael Araujo; Vitor Possebom; Gabriela Setti |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of environmental law enforcement on violence in the Brazilian Amazon. The introduction of the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER), which enabled the government to monitor deforestation in real time and issue fines for illegal clearing, significantly reduced homicides in the region. To identify causal effects, we exploit exogenous variation in satellite monitoring generated by cloud cover as an instrument for enforcement intensity. Our estimates imply that the expansion of state presence through DETER prevented approximately 1, 477 homicides per year, a 15% reduction in homicides. These results show that curbing deforestation produces important social co-benefits, strengthening state presence and reducing violence in regions marked by institutional fragility and resource conflict. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.06076 |
| By: | Tennant, Elizabeth J.; Michuda, Aleksandr; Upton, Joanna B.; Chamorro, Andres; Engstrom, Ryan; Mann, Michael L.; Newhouse, David; Weber, Michael; Barrett, Christopher B. |
| Abstract: | Exposure to extreme weather events and other adverse shocks has led to an increasing number of humanitarian crises in developing countries in recent years. These events cause acute suffering and compromise future welfare by adversely impacting human capital formation among vulnerable populations. Early and accurate detection of ad- verse shocks to food security, health, and schooling is critical to facilitating timely and well-targeted humanitarian interventions to minimize these detrimental effects. Yet monitoring data are rarely available with the frequency and spatial granularity needed. This paper uses high-frequency household survey data from the Rapid Feedback Monitoring System, collected in 2020–23 in southern Malawi, to explore whether combining monthly data with publicly available remote-sensing features improves the accuracy of machine learning extrapolations across time and space, thereby enhancing monitoring efforts. In the sample, illnesses and schooling disruptions are not reliably predicted. However, when both lagged outcome data and geospatial features are available, intertemporal and spatiotemporal prediction of food insecurity indicators is promising. |
| Date: | 2025–09–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11202 |
| By: | Jérôme Pivard; Vincent Martinet |
| Abstract: | We explore the interplay between two key individual drivers of green consumption: intrinsic moral concerns for the environment and reputational concerns for social image. Our microeconomic behavioral model characterizes choices among lifestyles differing in environmental impacts (brown/green) and conspicuousness (positional/discreet), depending on how strongly one values each of these motives. We show that image concerns can substitute for environmental concerns in driving green consumption across a limited but central range of preferences, in particular through the purchase of green positional goods. Such conspicuous conservation can green individual consumption (reconciling Eco and Ego), especially among image-sensitive consumers, but it yields environmental benefits only under specific economic conditions. Indeed, the environmental impact of a lifestyle depends critically on its relative impact intensity, i.e., the pollution per dollar spent on this lifestyle, more than on the pollution per unit of the representative good of the lifestyle, driving volume effects and behavioral rebound effects, which both reduce the environmental benefits of green lifestyles. Knowing the collective distribution of preferences may help design targeted policies, as those preferences strongly determine policy effectiveness. Our findings are especially relevant for policies that aim to foster greener consumption choices in different economic contexts (e.g., green nudging, environmental taxes with higher rates on positional goods...). |
| Keywords: | green consumption, conspicuous conservation, moral consistency, environmental concern, image concern |
| JEL: | D01 D11 D62 D91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12129 |
| By: | Kyungsik Nam; Won-Ki Seo |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a functional regression model with nonstationary dependent and explanatory functional observations, in which the nonstationary stochastic trends of the dependent variable are explained by those of the explanatory variable, and the functional observations may be error-contaminated. We develop novel autocovariance-based estimation and inference methods for this model. The methodology is broadly applicable to economic and statistical functional time series with nonstationary dynamics. To illustrate our methodology and its usefulness, we apply it to the evaluation of the global economic impact of climate change, an issue of intrinsic importance. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.08591 |
| By: | Barz, Fanny; Brüning, Simone; Döring, Ralf; Lasner, Tobias; Strehlow, Harry V. |
| Abstract: | German fisheries are regulated under the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). As a Federal Republic, Germany has five coastal federal states that collaborate to implement the CFP. These states are responsible for the implementation of structural policy measures – particularly those related to the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) – as well as for regulating coastal waters up to 12 nautical miles (nm). Every federal state has its fishery authority, responsible for inland fisheries, aquaculture, recreational fisheries, and marine fisheries in coastal waters. Management beyond coastal waters in the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) takes place at the national level through the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE). The utilization of the EEZ is governed by marine spatial plans, where fisheries have either no or minimal priority areas. One of the main management tools is the allocation of fishing quotas. Most of the fishing quotas in Germany are attached to fishing vessels. A permanent transfer of quota is only possible by purchasing or selling vessels. Nonetheless, short-term and non-permanent quota swaps between fishers within a season are possible. Furthermore, there are community quotas not allocated to individual vessels but open for all fishing companies licensed for those fisheries. Those quotas are mostly for managing by-catch species in fisheries on more important stocks where the vessels have individual quotas. Fishing rights of SSF can also be regulated through technical measures, such as the limitation of space for trap nets, a maximum length of gillnets, number of traps and hooks per fisher and area and through closed seasons or closed fishing grounds... |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwo:369108 |
| By: | Kirui, Oliver K.; Rakhy, Tarig AlHaj; Siddig, Khalid; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Abushama, Hala |
| Abstract: | Sudan’s conflict, reignited in April 2023, represents not just a military contest between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but a total systemic collapse that has engulfed governance, infrastructure, markets, and public services. This conflict did not arise in a vacuum. Sudan has long faced structural vulnerabilities including weak institutions, a fragile economy, and climate-related stressors such as erratic rainfall and land degradation. The war, however, accelerated these pre-existing fault lines into a full-blown crisis. Key urban economies such as Khartoum have been devastated by airstrikes and sieges, while transport corridors and trade routes have been severed. Local governance structures in many regions have been displaced or dissolved, leaving civilians without recourse to basic services or protection. Simultaneously, the banking sector has fractured, disrupting remittances, cash transfers, and supply chains across the country. Insecurity has driven over 12.8 million people from their homes – 8.6 million internally and 3.9 million seeking refuge neighboring countries, as of May 2025 (UNHCR, 2025). |
| Keywords: | capacity development; conflicts; livelihoods; vulnerability; food insecurity; Sudan; Africa; Northern Africa |
| Date: | 2025–07–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:sssppn:175777 |
| By: | Chaudhary, Arbind; Babu, Suresh Chandra |
| Abstract: | Nepal remains among the countries most vulnerable to climate-related disasters. Although several national policy documents have emphasized the urgency of mitigation and adaptation, climate action remains fragmented and significantly underfunded. Nepal’s unique geography—spanning the Himalayas, mid-hills, and Tarai plains—together with recent decentralization reforms offers a favorable context for implementing localized, context-specific solutions to climate threats. However, the lack of consistent policy frameworks, weak institutional mechanisms, limited investment, and fragmented governance across all levels of government continue to impede progress. In this policy note, we use carbon trading in the forestry sector as a case study to illustrate broader policy challenges and opportunities in Nepal and other Global South countries. Trading is a market-based mechanism that incentivizes the offset of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through credits for CO2 sequestration.. Nepal has adopted this approach in line with international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. As one of the major strategies, the country has sought to capitalize on its forest resources to generate carbon credits and attract international climate finance. |
| Keywords: | carbon; forestry; policy innovation; trade; forest sector; carbon sequestration; Nepal; Asia; Southern Asia |
| Date: | 2025–07–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:175795 |