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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2013‒05‒24
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Imori, Denise; Guilhoto, Joaquim José Martins; Postali, Fernando Antonio Slaibe |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyze the technical efficiency of farms in Brazil and its regions, based on the data from the 2006 Census of Agriculture. More specifically, it seeks to compare the technical efficiency of family farms in relation to business farms, considering the regional differences in the country. To do so, one simultaneously estimated, under different assumptions, stochastic production frontiers and inefficiency effects models. Thus, it was possible to measure the technical efficiency of farms, as well as analyze the influence of factors related to the production environment, allowing the indication of public policies aimed at improving the performance of producers. In the empirical estimation, it was observed, as expected, lower technical efficiency for family farms. In regional terms, with respect to the technical efficiency of business farms, the South region of Brazil stood out, also presenting, along with the Midwest region, the highest efficiency rates for family farms, on average. Regarding the influence of production environment, it was found that formal education and access to credit are noteworthy as important factors for the technical efficiency of Brazilian agriculture. |
| Keywords: | Census of agriculture; Econometrics; Agriculture economics |
| JEL: | D24 Q12 R11 |
| Date: | 2012–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:46995&r=lam |
| By: | Antonio Tena Junguito; Henry Willebald |
| Abstract: | Argentine export growth before the First World War is considered one of the most relevant variables in order to understand the main characteristics of Argentina’s long-run modern economic growth properly. The lack of accuracy of the official export series, especially the relative official values used, lies behind some of the controversies and doubts of the historiography when addressing the causes and consequences of Argentina’s international convergence. We have used empirical evidence to test the accuracy of quantities and value exports records, first, according to their import partners’ records and, second, according to international market prices. Results show that the hypothesis of export price undervaluation bias is correct. In the light of these results we reconstructed a new Argentine export f.o.b. values and price index using international prices valued in pounds sterling which allows us to offer a new proposal indicating a more dynamic Argentine export growth during the Belle Époque years |
| Keywords: | Latin America, First Globalization, Argentina, Exports Growth, Accuracy Exports |
| JEL: | F14 N76 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp13-03&r=lam |
| By: | Novella, Rafael |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the distribution of bargaining power between parents affects permanent and transitory nutritional indicators in the early stages of boys and girls life. I use the Young Lives sample, which is a survey of young children living in poor households in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh state), Peru and Vietnam. By adopting a methodology to disentangle gender differences produced by technology and preferences, I find evidence that the allocation of household resources varies with the gender of the child and the gender of the parents. After accounting for the potential endogeneity of the indicator of power distribution within the household, related to assortative mating in the marriage market, I find that maternal power has larger effects on girls health than on boys health in Peru and Vietnam. In contrast, in India, maternal bargaining power has a negative effect on girls health, whereas in Ethiopia no differential effect is found. Further analysis confirms that differences in parental behaviour drive the estimated effects and that these are robust to the inclusion of genetic information. |
| Date: | 2013–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2013-06&r=lam |