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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2009‒05‒23
28 papers chosen by |
| By: | Jones Govereh; T.S. Jayne; Antony Chapoto |
| Abstract: | The economic reforms in maize marketing and trade policies implemented during the 1990s have been highly controversial, and there remains a lack of solid empirical investigation on the impacts of these reforms on national food security, price stability and rural income growth. This study aims to provide a detailed evidence-based analysis of the impacts of maize marketing and trade policies on smallholder agricultural production growth, access to food by consumers, and other important national policy objectives. These insights from Zambia can hopefully move forward the continuing debate in the region on how maize marketing and trade policies should be structured in the future. |
| Keywords: | food security, policy, Zambia, Africa, maize, trade |
| JEL: | Q17 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:zm-fsrp-wp-33&r=agr |
| By: | Betty Kibaara; Joshua Ariga; John Olwande; T.S. Jayne |
| Abstract: | Agriculture continues to be a fundamental instrument for sustainable development, poverty reduction and enhanced food security in developing countries. Agricultural productivity levels in Sub Sahara Africa are far below that of other regions in the world, and are well below that required to attain food security and poverty reduction goals. On the other hand, the rate of agricultural productivity growth since the early 2000s has been quite impressive in many African countries, including Kenya, yet this is no cause for complacency. Sustained and accelerated growth requires a sharp increase in productivity of smallholder farmers. The Strategy to Revitalize Agriculture (SRA), Kenya Vision 2030, Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) have underscored the importance of increasing agricultural productivity in the fight against poverty. In the past, agricultural production was largely a function of acreage, but further growth in production will have to be driven by productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Kenya, productivity |
| JEL: | Q10 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:ke_tegemeo_wp_031&r=agr |
| By: | T.S. Jayne; Ballard Zulu; Gear Kajoba; Michael T. Weber |
| Abstract: | It might be considered unlikely that inadequate access to land would be one of the major causes of rural poverty in Zambia. However, evidence presented in this paper shows that economically viable arable land is not in great abundance in Zambia after considering the current situation with respect to access to road infrastructure and access to services and markets. In fact, access to land is already a major problem for large segments of the rural population in Zambia. Moreover, depending of future land allocation policy, access to good quality land with a market potential may become increasingly beyond the reach of many small-scale farm households, making it more difficult to achieve a smallholder-led, pro-poor agricultural development trajectory. |
| Keywords: | AGRICULTURE, ZAMBIA, LAND, POVERTY |
| JEL: | Q13 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:zm-fsrp-wp-34&r=agr |
| By: | Jones Govereh; Steven Haggblade; Hunter Nielson; David L. Tschirley |
| Abstract: | Over the next generation, growing trade in food staples appears poised to dwarf that in all other African agricultural markets. Currently, the market value of Africa’s food staples amounts to $50 billion per year, or nearly three-fourths of the value of all agricultural production (Table 1). Given growing urbanization and the highest rates of poverty in the world, Africa’s market demand for food staples will grow dramatically in coming decades. As a result, production of food staples -- for growing urban markets and food-deficit rural areas -- represents probably the largest growth opportunity available to African farmers. Facilitating expansion of these markets will, therefore, be critical for efforts at stimulating agricultural production growth, broad- based income expansion and poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | Africa, markets, maize |
| JEL: | Q13 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:wb_wp_001&r=agr |
| By: | Smale, Melinda; Zambrano, Patricia; Gruère, Guillaume; Falck-Zepeda, José; Matuschke, Ira; Horna, Daniela; Nagarajan, Latha; Yerramareddy, Indira; Jones, Hannah |
| Abstract: | "As progressively more farmers in developing countries begin using biotech crops, careful evaluation of such crops' benefits becomes ever more important. This food policy review examines the applied economics literature regarding the impact of biotech crops on non-industrialized agriculture and investigates the research methods used in assessing how these crops affect farmers, consumers, the agricultural sector as a whole, and international trade. This analysis offers a tool for researchers who seek to produce objective, relevant analysis of emerging crop biotechnologies that can in turn be used by national policymakers in developing countries. A vast literature has accumulated since transgenic crop varieties were initially released to farmers in 1996. Several years after their introduction in the United States, crop varieties with transgenic resistance to insects or herbicide tolerance were supplied to farmers in countries with developing economies and nonindustrialized agriculture. Essays, editorials, newsletters, web conferences, articles, and books have argued the pros and cons of transgenic crops. The global debate continues in this second decade of their use. A comparatively minor segment of this literature consists of studies conducted by agricultural economists to measure the impact of transgenic crop varieties on farmers, the size and distribution of the economic benefits from adopting them, consumer attitudes toward products made with transgenic ingredients, and implications of the use of transgenic crops for international trade. An even smaller subset treats the impacts of transgenic crops in developing economies." "Authors' Abstract |
| Keywords: | biotechnology, Transgenic plants, Genetically modified crops, Economic impacts, Review methods, Review briefs, Review findings, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:fprevi:10&r=agr |
| By: | von Braun, Joachim; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela |
| Abstract: | "One of the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 on the world food system is the proliferating acquisition of farmland in developing countries by other countries seeking to ensure their food supplies. Increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets have pushed countries short in land and water to find alternative means of producing food. These land acquisitions have the potential to inject much-needed investment into agriculture and rural areas in poor developing countries, but they also raise concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend. It is crucial to ensure that these land deals, and the environment within which they take place, are designed in ways that will reduce the threats and facilitate the opportunities for all parties involved." from Author's text |
| Keywords: | Developing countries, Land grabbing, Food prices, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:13&r=agr |
| By: | Isaac Minde; T.S. Jayne; Eric Crawford; Joshua Ariga; Jones Govereh |
| Abstract: | It is generally agreed that increasing agricultural productivity is critical to stimulating the rate of economic growth in Africa. There are many important and often complementary determinants of agricultural productivity. In this paper, we focus on fertilizer, without intending to imply that it is the only or most significant productivity determinants. Other key factors are seed technology, adequate water availability, labor, agronomic and other farmer management practices, and choice of crops to grow. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer, Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya |
| JEL: | Q18 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:resakss_wp01&r=agr |
| By: | Frédéric Barraquand; Vincent Martinet |
| Abstract: | Land use change is a main driver of biodiversity erosion, especially in agricultural landscapes. Incentive-based land-use policies aim at influence land-use pattern, and are usually evaluated with habitat suitability scores, without accounting explicitly for the ecology of the studied population. In this paper, we propose a methodology to define and evaluate agricultural land-use policies with respect to their ecological outcomes directly. We use an ecological-economic model to link the regional abundance of a bird species to the economic context. Policies based on such ecological economics approaches appear to be more efficient than that based on landscape evaluation, from both economic and ecological viewpoints. |
| Keywords: | Ecological-economic model, agriculture, land-use, landscape, conservation |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2009-18&r=agr |
| By: | Z Xu; Z Guan; T.S. Jayne; Roy Black |
| Abstract: | Major Findings: ? The additional maize produced from a given amount of fertilizer applied varied widely across households even after largely controlling for soil and rainfall conditions. The median estimated response rate was 15.9kgs of maize per kg nitrogen applied; ? Under the range of conditions and smallholder management practices, average maize fertilizer response rates declined as the application rate increased beyond 2 bags of urea and 2 bags of D compound; ? Factors raising the response rate and profitability of fertilizer use included timely availability, application rates less than the MOA 4x4 recommendation, use of animal draft power in land preparation, and use of hybrid seed. In remote areas, and given current management practices, fertilizer use appears to be profitable only for a minority of smallholder farmers in the relatively remote areas. For farmers in the more accessible areas, profitability of fertilizer use depends on timely availability. If fertilizer is not available on time, even farmers in the more accessible parts of this area of relatively high agronomic suitability for maize production are largely unable to use fertilizer profitably. ? Because over 30 percent of the households reported that fertilizer was delivered late, these findings indicate that efforts to ensure timely distribution can contribute substantially to the productivity gains achievable from fertilizer use. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, africa, zambia, fertilizer |
| JEL: | Q12 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpbrf:zm_fsrp_pb_032&r=agr |
| By: | T.S. Jayne; Antony Chapoto; Isaac Minde; Cynthia Donovan |
| Abstract: | The dramatic rise in world food prices since 2007 has commanded the world’s attention. However, in recent months, world food prices have fallen almost as rapidly as they had risen in late 2007 and early 2008, yet as is demonstrated in this report, domestic food price levels in many eastern and southern African markets are not closely tracking world prices. Fertilizer prices remain at unprecedentedly high levels and may have a critical influence on future food production levels in the region. Against this backdrop, there is an urgent need for information about how the current food situation is unfolding in the region, the immediate policy response options, and the longer-term challenges and opportunities. This study has three objectives: 1) to examine the impact of recent world food price changes on domestic maize and fertilizer prices in the region; 2) to assess possible changes in cropping patterns, national food production, and consumers’ access to food in light of these price movements; and 3) to consider the implications for policy and program response by governments, donors, and the private sector. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, africa, food security, price |
| JEL: | Q11 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:idpwrk:97&r=agr |
| By: | Magalhaes, Eduardo; Diao, Xinshen |
| Abstract: | "In recent years, Brazil has become a considerable player in agricultural markets for a number of commodities. Such agricultural growth in Brazil has largely been the result of gains in productivity over the last several decades. Still, there remain some sub-national regions and states that lag behind in both agricultural productivity and levels of per capita income. In this paper, we investigate whether technological spillovers in agriculture have reached the poorer or less productive regions with focus on the evolution and patterns of land productivity. To assess such spillovers, we examine three cereal crops: maize, rice and wheat, as these crops are grown by commercial and subsistence farmers throughout the country. We first apply a generalized entropy (GE) method to assess whether inequality in productivity has changed over time. The entropy analysis indicates that the trends for overall entropy did not increase over time for all three crops. Moreover, declining trends in between-group inequality were observed for maize and wheat and remained constant for rice. This result suggests that yields in less productive micro-regions, indeed, have grown faster than yields in more productive micro-regions, at least in the case of maize and wheat. Next, two types of econometric estimations are used to measure whether convergence has occurred in yields of the three crops. The econometric findings are consistent with the GE results and suggest that conditional convergence has occurred in all three crops, which demonstrates that yields in less productive regions converge to those in productive regions, given the control of other factors. However, the process has been rather slow." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | productivity, Convergence, Spillovers, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:857&r=agr |
| By: | John Staatz; Niama Nango Dembélé; Valerie Kelly; Ramziath Adjao |
| Abstract: | Trade bans and high international food prices are pushing many West African countries away from their historical reliance on regional and international trade as a key component of their food security strategies. No longer confident that international and regional markets are reliable sources of basic staples, many countries are pushing for greater food self sufficiency—a sort of agricultural globalization in reverse. This paper examines West Africa’s globalization in reverse and raises a number of questions about what role regional and international trade should play in the region’s future quest for food security. The objective is to stimulate discussion about the different strategies available to West African governments for ensuring food security in the current environment of high world market prices for staple foods. These strategies need to take into account not only the need to provide safety nets for vulnerable groups who cannot afford the higher food costs but also the need to stimulate production in response to growing regional and world demand. |
| Keywords: | africa, globalization |
| JEL: | Q11 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:mi_srai_rr_01&r=agr |
| By: | Nora Lustig (Department of Economics, Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | Rising food prices cause considerable policy dilemmas for developing country governments. Letting domestic prices adjust to reflect the full change in international prices generates inflationary pressures and causes severe hardship for poor households lacking access to social safety nets. Alternatively, governments can use food subsidies or export restrictions to stabilize domestic prices, yet this exacerbates global food price increases and undermines a rules-based trading system. The recent episode shows that many countries chose to shift the burden of adjustment back to international markets. Corn and oilseeds use for biofuels' production will result in a recurrence of such episodes in the foreseeable future. |
| Keywords: | food prices, inflation, poverty, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean |
| JEL: | E31 I38 Q18 O24 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:0907&r=agr |
| By: | Isaac Minde; T.S. Jayne; Eric Crawford; Joshua Ariga; Jones Govereh |
| Abstract: | It is generally agreed that increasing agricultural productivity is critical to stimulating the rate of economic growth in Africa. There are many important and often complementary determinants of agricultural productivity. In this brief and the full paper it draws from, the focus is on fertilizer and improved seed, without intending to imply that they are the only or most significant productivity determinants. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer, Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya. |
| JEL: | Q18 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:polbrf:83&r=agr |
| By: | Benjamin Magen; Cynthia Donovan; Valerie Kelly |
| Abstract: | This working paper synthesizes the theoretical and empirical literature on the use of cash transfers in response to food crisis situations, with particular attention to their use in situations that are exacerbated by volatile, often inflationary, commodity prices. The paper is designed for policymakers who are wondering if cash transfers might be an appropriate instrument in the context of 2008’s unstable commodity prices for both food and energy, but are unfamiliar with the literature and discussions surrounding the cash vs. food debate. After defining some key terms and presenting a brief review of the theory behind cash transfer use, the paper synthesizes evidence from studies that have evaluated past cash transfer programs. While the focus is on examples from Sub-Saharan Africa (primarily Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya), there are also valuable lessons incorporated from other regions of the world. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, africa, food security, commodity, price |
| JEL: | Q11 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:idpwrk:96&r=agr |
| By: | Joshua Ariga; T.S. Jayne; Betty Kibaara; J.K. Nyoro |
| Abstract: | This study uses nationwide household panel survey data from 1996/97 to 2006/07 to examine trends in fertilizer use on maize by smallholder maize growers. The paper also compares these findings with fertilizer use rates according to other recent surveys in Kenya to assess comparability. We also examine the correlation between household fertilizer use and indicators of welfare such as wealth and landholding size. In addition, we use econometric techniques applied to household survey data to identify the main household and community characteristics associated with fertilizer purchases. Lastly, the study considers alternative policy strategies for maintaining smallholders’ access to fertilizer in the current context of substantially higher world fertilizer prices. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer, Africa, Malawi, Kenya, small holders |
| JEL: | Q13 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:ke_tegemeo_wp_028&r=agr |
| By: | Fan Zhai |
| Abstract: | Capitalizing on the most recent worldwide estimates of the impacts of climate change on agricultural production, this paper assesses the economic effects of climate change for Southeast Asian countries through 2080. The results suggest that the aggregate impacts of agricultural damages caused by climate change on the global economy are moderate.However, the uneven distribution of productivity losses across global regions would bring significant structural adjustments in worldwide agricultural production and trade, ultimately leaving the developing world as a net loser. With the anticipated declining agricultural share in the economy, a reduction in agricultural productivity would have small, but non-negligible negative impacts on Southeast Asia’s economic output. However, the expected increase of crop import dependence in the coming decades would make most Southeast Asian economies suffer more welfare losses through deteriorated terms of trade. Depending on a country’s economic structure, the negative effects are expected to be less for Singapore and Malaysia, but greater for Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. For Southeast Asia to cope with the potential agricultural damages arising from the expected changes in climate the region must concentrate on reversing its current trend of declining agricultural productivity.[ADBI WP NO 131] |
| Keywords: | atmospheric concentration; Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change; Green Revolution; computable general equilibrium; evaporation; precipitation; AEZ analysis; Ricardian cross-sectional approach; Agricultural Productivity; Linkage; An Implicitly Direct Additive Demand System; Global Trade Analysis Project; International Monetary Fund’s; Baseline Agricultural Productivity Growth; Global Trade Analysis Project; Global cross-country analysis; agricultural damages; counterfactual scenario |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1944&r=agr |
| By: | David Dawe (Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization); Irini Maltsoglou (Environment, Climate Change and Bioenergy Division Food and Agriculture Organization Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows the importance of explicitly considering marketing margins in analyses of the impact of price changes on the welfare of different segments of the population. Failure to acknowledge the implicit marketing assumptions embedded in an analysis that assumes equal percentage changes for both farm and consumer prices leads to a bias towards finding negative impacts of higher food prices. In addition, the bias is not necessarily uniform across income quintiles; thus, failure to explicitly consider marketing margins could lead one to conclude that the poor are hurt relatively more than the rich by a price increase when in fact the opposite is true, or vice-versa. We provide rules of thumb and simple techniques that may help to ascertain, in many circumstances, the percentage change in consumer prices that is appropriate for a given percentage change in farm prices. |
| Keywords: | Food prices, food policy, poverty, household surveys, marketing margins, distributional impact. |
| JEL: | Q12 Q13 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fao:wpaper:0902&r=agr |
| By: | Izumi Shirai (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University); Izumi Shirai (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This article clarifies the management of peasant households in the Tsugaru district of the Aomori Prefecture between the 1870s and 1930s, especially focusing on the relationship between the advances in agricultural technology and the labor allocation strategy of the peasant households. We obtained the followings results. (1) The 1870s saw a new rice-cultivating technology being introduced and spread in the Tsugaru district. This technological improvement realized labor savings in rice production in peasant households and also led to improvements in land productivity. However, the harvest was not sufficient enough to stabilize the peasant householdsf economy because of the poor condition of the land and repeated crop failures. As such, by the 1900s, peasant households also began producing commercial goods as a side-business to offset the risks of agriculture and to acquire extra cash. (2) In Tsugaru, one of the side-businesses peasant households engaged in was straw craft manufacturing. However, by the 1920s, the Aomori Prefecture had lost its competitive advantage to the Hokkaido market in the Kinki district. On the other hand, apple production increased in Tsugaru. Further, apple was designated as a competitive commercial product by the Meiji Government, who then was importing apples in significant quantities from the western countries. (3) In this paper, effective insect/pest-control was found to be one of the important reasons why Tsugaru became the largest apple producer. In particular, the Aomori Prefectural Agriculture Research Center played an important role in the development and diffusion of scientific technologies. Additionally, since the 1870s, Tsugaru was blessed with effective institutions that halted the spread of disease and reduced insect damage. This might have enabled the quick penetration of technologies. (4) In the expansionary phase of apple production, peasant households reduced the amount of labor they invested in rice production and weed eradication, and concentrated heavily on apple production. This labor-intensive apple production realized not only savings in employment costs but also mass production with high quality. As a result, apple production contributed heavily to the stabilization of the householdsf economy. |
| Keywords: | Japanese Economic History, Agricultural Development, Peasant HouseholdCLabor Allocation |
| JEL: | N55 N35 O13 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0914&r=agr |
| By: | Du, Xiaodong (Sheldon); Yu, Cindy L.; Hayes, Dermot J. |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the roles of various factors influencing the volatility of crude oil prices and the possible linkage between this volatility and agricultural commodity markets. Stochastic volatility models are applied to weekly crude oil, corn, and wheat futures prices from November 1998 to January 2009. Model parameters are estimated using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The main results are as follows. Speculation, scalping, and petroleum inventories are found to be important in explaining oil price variation. Several properties of crude oil price dynamics are established, including mean-reversion, a negative correlation between price and volatility, volatility clustering, and infrequent compound jumps. We find evidence of volatility spillover among crude oil, corn, and wheat markets after the fall of 2006. This could be largely explained by tightened interdependence between these markets induced by ethanol production. |
| Keywords: | Gibbs sampling, Merton jump, leverage effect, stochastic volatility. |
| Date: | 2009–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:13066&r=agr |
| By: | Anil K Gupta |
| Abstract: | "The paper discusses the major knowledge gaps, stress the importance of peer learning and building upon farmers’ own innovations and suggest new initiatives for transforming extension strategies. The author also argues that focus only on primary production in agricultural will not be viable in the long run. Value addition is necessary and extension for the purpose requires lot of action research. Village Knowledge Management Systems (VKMS) need to be developed for which a proposal has already been submitted to the Department of Science and Technology. An outline of the same is given in the paper to trigger further discussion. Farmers suicides in many states should have warranted a review of extension strategies much earlier. The proposed model aims to develop and monitor early warning signals of the socio ecological stress and recommend real time solutions.[IIMA- WP NO- 2009-03-05]" |
| Keywords: | knowledge management; horizontal knowledge networks;long term sustainability; Honey Bee Network; sustainable agriculture; natural resource management; private and common property rights institutions; non-monetary technologies; Knowledge gaps; National Centre for Integrated Pest Management; Transferring Science for Development and Diffusion of Dryland Technology; Newsweek; indicators of sustainability; Central Scientific Instruments Organization; micro level weather data |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1953&r=agr |
| By: | Steven Haggblade; Hunter Nielson; Jones Govereh; Paul Dorosh |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to evaluate the potential impact of intra- regional trade in moderating food price shocks in south eastern Africa, in the market shed centered in Northern Mozambique, Malawi and Southeastern Zambia. To do so, the following analysis develops a spatially disaggregated model of maize and cassava markets in the region in order to evaluate the impact of supply shocks confronting the region, with and without cross-border trade. |
| Keywords: | Africa, trade, emergency |
| JEL: | Q13 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:wb_wp_02&r=agr |
| By: | Tey, (John) Yeong-Sheng; Darham, Suryani; Mohd Noh, Aswani Farhana; Idris, Nurjihan |
| Abstract: | This paper serves as preliminary study to investigate the relative impacts of various factors on acreage response of rice in Malaysia. The findings provide mixed signals which are different from other rice production countries. Hence, future studies are deemed essential to probe the issues with justifications by looking at the connection of Malaysian paddy production and economic theory, as well as implications to policymakers. |
| Keywords: | Acreage response; rice; paddy |
| JEL: | Q11 |
| Date: | 2009–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15300&r=agr |
| By: | Neeraj Kaushal; Qin Gao |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) on consumption patterns in families headed by low-educated single mothers in the U.S. using the Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 1994-2004. Our analysis suggests that the food stamp caseload does not have any statistically significant association with per capita expenditure on food in families headed by low-educated single mothers. We find that state and federal welfare reforms during the 1990s lowered the food stamp caseload by approximately 18 percent and the introduction of the Electronic Benefit Transfer cards and simplified reporting procedures for recertification of food stamps increased participation by about seven percent. However, we do not find any evidence that these policies had any effect on total food expenditure, nor do we find any consistent evidence that the policies affected expenditures on specific food items. |
| JEL: | I1 I3 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14988&r=agr |
| By: | Sununtar Setboonsarng |
| Abstract: | The growth of ethical consumerism in developed countries has led to increased imports of environmentally and socially certified products produced by the poor in developing countries, which could potentially contribute towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Among these, organic products and fair-trade products are among the rapidly growing “ethical trade” products. This market development trend utilizes certification systems that ensure the impartiality of assessing products produced in developing countries.This paper assesses how the conditions under organic certification and fair-trade certification directly and indirectly contribute to the achievement of the MDG targets.[ADBI WP NO. 115] |
| Keywords: | millenium development goals; ethical trade; fair trade; consumerism; synthetic chemicals; holistic production management system; export; participatory guarantee system; certification; IFOAM; regional and national standard; JAS; EEC; USNOP; ecosystem management; habitat conservation; energy; soil fertility; water management; social justice; techinical support; Fair trade Labelling Organisations; generic producer; recommendations |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1937&r=agr |
| By: | Aline Chiabai (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); C. M. Travisi (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); H. Ding (FEEM, and School for Advanced Studies in Venice Foundation, University of Venice); A. Markandya (Basque Centre for Climate Change BC3 and University of Bath); P.A.L.D Nunes (FEEM and School for Advanced Studies in Venice Foundation, University of Venice) |
| Abstract: | By using ad hoc value transfer protocols, this paper offers a methodological contribution and provides accurate per hectare estimates of the economic value of some selected ecosystem services for all forest biomes in the world, identified following the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment taxonomy MEA. The research also estimates potential total economic losses from policy inaction in year 2050. Final results show that total losses are significant. The total figure is €78 billion, the greatest losses coming from North America and Mexico, followed by Africa, Russia and some Asiatic countries. Most of this loss is attributable to provisioning services and carbon sequestration, while only a minor part is due to loss of cultural services. In terms of biomes the greatest losses are from boreal and warm mixed forests, followed by tropical forests. These results may be surprising to some who argue that it is the loss of tropical forests, particularly the Amazon, that is the most significant. A detailed analysis, shows, however, that this is not the case. The best estimates point to greater losses in areas where use and non-use values are highest, which includes North America. |
| Keywords: | Forest, Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity, Valuation, Value Transfer |
| JEL: | O13 Q23 Q26 Q51 Q54 Q57 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2009.12&r=agr |
| By: | Das, Nimai |
| Abstract: | This empirical study assesses the impact of community-based initiative under gender sensitive joint forest management (JFM) programme on sustainable rural livelihoods (SRL) across the socio-economic groups of forest fringe community based on JFM and non-JFM villages. The study suggests that strong livelihood sustainability criteria within the SRL framework meets for all marginal landholding and landless categories of households, which live below poverty line and that are almost dependent on forest resource for their livelihood security. The study also suggests that law or force can not effectively control the illegal collection of timber forest products (TFPs) for this poor households until and unless a considerable increase in the legal forest products (non-timber forest products like sal leaves and fuel wood) and wage income from forest meets their minimum livelihood security. |
| Keywords: | Joint forest management programme; gender sensitive forest management groups; sustainable rural livelihood framework; five capital assets; forest income. |
| JEL: | Q23 Q51 Q01 D78 Q12 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15305&r=agr |
| By: | Crozet, Matthieu; Head, Keith; Mayer, Thierry |
| Abstract: | Investigations of the effect of quality differences on heterogeneous performance in exporting have been limited by lack of direct measures of quality. We examine exports of French wine, matching the exporting firms to producer ratings from two wine guides. We show that high quality producers export to more markets, charge higher prices, and sell more in each market. More attractive markets are served by exporters that, on average, make lower rated Champagne. Market attractiveness has a weakly negative effect on prices and a strongly positive effect on quantities, confirming the sign predictions of a simple quality sorting model. Methodologically, we make several contributions to the literature. First, we propose an estimation method for regressions of firm-level exports on ability measures and use Monte Carlo simulations to show that it corrects a severe selection bias present in OLS estimates. Second, we show how the means of quality, price, and quantity for exporters to a given market can be used to recover estimates of core parameters (which we compare with firm-level estimates) and discriminate between productivity and quality-sorting versions of the Melitz model. Our new method regresses country means on an index of each country's attractiveness and the fixed costs of entering it. We compare our method, which utilizes explanatory variables estimated in the firm-level regressions, to the conventional approach that relies on a reduced-form relationship with proxies for attractiveness and fixed costs. |
| Keywords: | gravity; heterogeneity; quality; trade |
| JEL: | F12 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7295&r=agr |