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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2011‒11‒21
eight papers chosen by |
| By: | Runge, C. Ford; Gonzalez-Valero, Juan |
| Abstract: | This article proposes a set of sustainability indicators based on a combination of economic, social and health data that meet three tests: the indicators are simple, measurable and capable of being extended to workers in the field. They result from a scoring model which ranks the progress of agricultural projects in three key areas: (1) sustaining improvements in agricultural productivity while minimizing negative impacts on soil and water quantity and quality or biodiversity; (2) sustaining expected farm-level profits while minimizing worker health and safety risks; and (3) sustaining improvements in rural economic and social conditions while distributing these benefits widely. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umciwp:117537&r=agr |
| By: | Tomoki Fujii (School of Economics, Singapore Management Unversity) |
| Abstract: | We simulate the impact of actual food price increase between June 2006 and June 2008 on poverty across different areas and whether the household’s main income source is agricultural activities. We explicitly treat heterogeneity in food price changes and the patterns of consumption and production by merging a expenditure survey dataset and a price dataset at the provincial level or lower. While the increase of head count index is larger for non-agricultural households than agricultural households, the opposite is true for the poverty gap and poverty severity measures, because poor agricultural households are particularly vulnerable to food inflation. |
| Keywords: | non-parametric regression, net consumption ratio, global food crisis, vulnerability |
| JEL: | E31 I32 O1 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:siu:wpaper:14-2011&r=agr |
| By: | Dennis, Kinambuga |
| Abstract: | The Kenya dairy sub-sector has been undergoing developments since the 1980s, these has been in the areas of adoption of intensive dairy farming especially zero grazing. There have been concerted efforts to commercialize the sub-sector so as to make it more profitable to farmers, especially smallholder farmers. Despite the development, the profitability in the sector has not been consistent among the smallholder farmers; some farmers realize very dismal profits and even losses. The causes of the varying profits have not been empirically established with the influence of institutional arrangements and financial factors contributing to this inconsistency not fully established. The main objective of this study was to establish the critical institutional arrangements and financial factors that constrain the profitability of small-holder dairy farmers in Nakuru County. A sample of 129 smallholder dairy farmers was selected from Rongai, Baruti, Ngata and Mbogoini divisions of the County. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select respondents and the data was collected by the use of structured interview schedules administered by enumerators. The work employed the Data Envelopment Analysis to come up with profit efficiency rankings among the farmers, and the Frontier Model was used to establish the factors that constrain profit efficiency. The data was processed using STATA and DEA frontier packages. The mean efficiency according to the results was 86%. The factors that were significant in explaining profitability efficiency according to the frontier results were: feeding systems (-0.38), breed type (-0.11), gender (0.37), debt amount (-0.0002) and debt asset ratio (21.43). Issues of trust were also found to have effect on profitability, and they included trust on local buyer price (0.52), trust on institutional buyer unit of measure (-0.1.77), and trust on middlemen unit of measurement (-0.05). The positive sign signifies that the factor increases profit inefficiency while the negative sign indicates that the factor reduces profit inefficiency. These findings will be useful to the stakeholders of the dairy industry sub sector to formulate policy pertaining to dairy enterprise inputs, marketing issues and financial products and also provide smallholder dairy farmers with a package of critical factors to enhance and stabilize their profitability |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cmpart:117713&r=agr |
| By: | Artz, Georgeanne M.; Kimle, Kevin; Orazem, Peter |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the roles of specialized versus general skills in explaining variation in the returns to an agriculture degree across majors inside and outside the agricultural industry. The focus on returns by sector of employment is motivated by the finding that most agricultural majors are employed in non-agricultural jobs. A sample of alumni graduating from a large Midwestern Public University between 1982 and 2006 shows that alumni with majors more specialized in agriculture earned a premium from working in the agriculture industry, but this advantage has diminished over time. More generally trained agriculture majors earn more outside than inside agriculture, and their advantage has increased over time. During sectoral downturns in the agriculture economy, more specialized majors suffer large pay disadvantages compared to more generally trained agriculture majors and majors in other colleges. These findings suggest that greater levels of specialization may limit a graduate’s ability to adjust to changing economic circumstances. Agriculture degree programs could benefit from curriculum innovations focused on developing more generalized skills. |
| Keywords: | earnings; business cycle; urban; Rural; Agricultural sector; College Major; Curriculum; Specific Skills; General Skills |
| JEL: | A2 J31 J43 |
| Date: | 2011–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:34591&r=agr |
| By: | Roberto ESPOSTI (Universit… Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali); Giulia LISTORTI (Federal Office for Agriculture /FIAG(, Berne (Switzerland)) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to investigate agricultural price transmission during price bubbles and to assess whether the implemented trade policy measures did eventually play a role. We study horizontal cereal price transmission both across different market places and across different commodities. The analysis is performed using Italian and international weekly spot (cash) prices in the years 2006-2010, a period of generalized exceptional exuberance and consequent rapid drop of agricultural prices. Firstly, the properties of the price series are explored to assess which data generation process may lie behind the observed patterns. Secondly, the interdependence across prices is estimated adopting appropriate cointegration techniques. Results suggest that most prices behave as I(1) series, though some also show either fractional integration in the first differences or explosive roots. A long-run (cointegration) relationship occurs among prices of the same commodity across different markets but not among prices of different commodities. In both long-run and short-run relationships the "bubble" seems to have played a role as well as the consequent policy intervention on import duties. |
| Keywords: | Cointegration, Price Bubbles, Price Transmission, Time Series Properties |
| JEL: | C32 Q11 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:367&r=agr |
| By: | Marie-Estelle Binet, University of Rennes 1 - CREM, (UMR 6211 CNRS); Younes Ben Zaïd, University of Rennes 1 - CREM, (UMR 6211 CNRS) |
| Abstract: | The main originality of this article is to empirically incorporate the effect of seasonality in estimating the residential water demand function. We use quarterly times series for the period 1980.1 to 2007.4 from Tunisia and a two consumption blocks decomposition (in a lower and in an upper blocks). As the Error Correction model is poorly significant, we obtain a long-run price elasticity for the upper block equals to -0.39 and greater than the corresponding short run elasticity which is not significant. Therefore, we are able to advocate policies for the upper block both in favor of a water management through pricing and promoting the adoption of water saving equipments. The introduction of seasonality claims for new insights concerning water conservation policies as evidence in favor of seasonal cointegration at biannual frequency is found for the two blocks. Results show that a seasonal pricing policy will not be efficient to reduce the upper block consumption. But, as a part of the consumers switch from the lower to the upper block in summer, we propose to increase the length of the lower block to ensure the satisfaction of households’ essential needs in all seasons. |
| Keywords: | Residential water demand, seasonal cointegration, seasonal error correction model |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201122&r=agr |
| By: | Raimon Soler Becerro (Centre dEstudis Antoni de Capmany de la Universitat de Barcelona) (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The paper aims to show the extent to which the wine production sector in the Penedes Denominacio dOrigen responded to the challenges posed both in terms of supply (consolidation and emergence of producing countries outside the traditional European sphere) and demand (fall in wine consumption and new consumer habits). It looks at the evolution of the sector in the region from the beginning of the 1940s up to present day. With the end of the 1936-1939 Civil War the sector had to deal with a fall-off in production, though it continued to take shape around the traditional wine trade. This situation changed when, at the end of the 1960s, demand increasingly turned towards higher quality bottled wines. From the legislative standpoint, the response centred on technological innovation and company restructuring. This period saw the introduction of new equipment and processes, such as stainless steel tanks and controlled- temperature fermentation, with bottled wines pushing out bulk wine and the large warehouses giving way to wineries and cellars. In addition, one of the main features of the 1970-1985 period was the formation of the big wine and cava business conglomerates. Spains entry into the European Union in 1986 accelerated this transformation process, leaving the sector made up of companies that produced both wines and cavas, introduced red and varietal wines into the range of products they offered, owned many hectares of vines and in many cases showed a clear intention to enter the international market. |
| Keywords: | exports, penedes, cava, production, catalonia, wine |
| JEL: | N64 L15 O33 L11 L66 N34 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2011266&r=agr |
| By: | Aldy, Joseph E. (Harvard University); Stavins, Robert N. (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Because of the global commons nature of climate change, international cooperation among nations will likely be necessary for meaningful action at the global level. At the same time, it will inevitably be up to the actions of sovereign nations to put in place policies that bring about meaningful reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases. Due to the ubiquity and diversity of emissions of greenhouse gases in most economies, as well as the variation in abatement costs among individual sources, conventional environmental policy approaches, such as uniform technology and performance standards, are unlikely to be sufficient to the task. Therefore, attention has increasingly turned to market-based instruments in the form of carbon-pricing mechanisms. We examine the opportunities and challenges associated with the major options for carbon pricing: carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, emission reduction credits, clean energy standards, and fossil fuel subsidy reductions. |
| JEL: | Q40 Q48 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp11-041&r=agr |