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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒12‒10
nine papers chosen by |
| By: | Muhammad , Kabeer; Asghar, Zahid |
| Abstract: | Business as usual will not be enough to tackle the critical issue of having sustainable increase in agricultural productivity and food security, which Pakistan is facing at the moment and in future it can become very alarming. Innovative approach is essential for food policy, for enhancing agriculture productivity on sustainable basis and ensuring food security. This paper figures out how sustainable increase in agriculture productivity and food security is linked with a comprehensive food policy. Agriculture productivity respond to the external environment more than tailor made targeted schemes for agriculture. New Growth Strategy GOP (May, 2011) includes all the basic ingredients, which are important for changing this external environment. These include growth of prosperous cities which derive demand for food upward and compel market activities sequentially create employment, connectivity which makes the flow of market information process efficient besides reducing the cost of transportation as well as reduce post harvest losses, entrepreneurship in agri-business leads to fair market competition and standardization and certification of products. These external aspects complement in enhancing productivity as well as solve the problem of food insecurity by augmenting the purchasing power of the masses. In addition there should be a National strategy in which federal and provincial governments should develop a strategy of bringing hunger to zero level in next 5 to 8 years. |
| Keywords: | New Growth Strategy (NGS); megacities; connectivity; entrepreneurship malnutrition |
| JEL: | I31 N50 |
| Date: | 2012–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42891&r=agr |
| By: | Badolo, Felix; Kinda , Somlanare Romuald |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the existing literature on climatic variability and food security. It analyzes the effect of climatic shocks on food security for 77 developing countries from 1960 to 2008. Using two complementary indicators of food security (food supply, proportion of undernourished people), we find that climatic shocks reduce food supply in developing countries. The adverse effect is higher for African Sub Saharan countries than other developing countries. Second, food supply is a channel by which climatic shocks increase the proportion of undernourished people. Third, the negative effects of climatic shocks are exacerbated in presence of civil conflicts and are high for countries that are vulnerable to food prices shocks. |
| Keywords: | Civil conflicts; Food Prices shocks; Food security; Climatic shocks |
| JEL: | D74 Q17 Q54 Q18 |
| Date: | 2012–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43006&r=agr |
| By: | Valeria, Di Cosmo; Marie, Hyland; Maria , LLop |
| Abstract: | The Water Framework Directive defines common objectives for water resources throughout the European Union (EU). Given this general approach to water preservation and water policy, the objective of this paper is to analyse whether common patterns of water consumption exist within Europe. In particular, our study uses two methods to reveal the reasons behind sectoral water use in all EU countries. The first method is based on an accounting indicator that calculates the water intensity of an economy as the sum of sectoral water intensities. The second method is a subsystem input-output model that divides total water use into different income channels within the production system. The application uses data from the year 2005 on water consumption in the production system of the 27 countries of the EU. From our analysis it emerges that EU countries are characterized by very different patterns of water consumption. Mediterranean and central/eastern European countries use water mainly for agriculture whereas northern European countries use it mainly for electricity, gas and water supply. In most countries, the water used by the fuel, power and water sector is consumed to satisfy domestic final demand. However, our analysis shows that for some countries exports from this sector are an important driver of water consumption. Focusing on the agricultural sector, the decomposition analysis suggests that water usage in Mediterranean countries is mainly driven by final demand for, and exports of, agricultural products, whereas domestic final demand is the main driver of water consumption in central/eastern European countries. Given these heterogeneous water consumption patterns, our analysis suggests that Mediterranean and central/eastern European countries should adopt specific water policies if water consumption in the European Union is to be efficient. |
| Keywords: | Water use; Subsystem input–output model; Water intensity; European Union |
| JEL: | N54 C67 |
| Date: | 2012–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42865&r=agr |
| By: | Donnellan, Trevor; Hennessy, Thia |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a theoretical model for the analysis of decisions regarding farm household labour allocation. The agricultural household model is selected as the most appropriate theoretical framework; a model based on the assumption that households behave to maximise utility, which is a function of consumption and leisure, and is subject to time and budget constraints. The model can be used to describe the role of government subsidies in farm household labour allocation decisions; in particular the impact of decoupled subsidies on labour allocation can be examined. Decoupled subsidies are a labour-free payment and as such represent an increase in labour-free income or wealth. An increase in wealth allows farm households to work less while maintaining consumption. On the other hand, decoupled subsidies represent a decline in the return to farm labour and may lead to a substitution effect, i.e. farmers may choose to substitute non-farm work for farm work. The theoretical framework proposed in this paper allows us to examine these two conflicting effects. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:140&r=agr |
| By: | Amelia U. Santos-Paulino |
| Abstract: | The paper surveys the theoretical and empirical research on how trade and trade liberalization affect poverty and income distribution. The impact of globalization on poverty reduction has been uneven but the findings in the literature are sensitive to modelling choices. Trade liberalization improves aggregate welfare but the gains are small and unequally distributed. The welfare effects are measured basically through price changes, focusing on the effect on the relative demand for domestic factors of production and, in particular, the demand for skilled relative to unskilled labour. The literature shows that poverty constraints originate from various sources including infrastructure, skills, incomplete markets, and policy. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unc:dispap:207&r=agr |
| By: | Dubrocard, Anne; Prombo, Michel |
| Abstract: | The study results presented here are derived from a process whose purpose was the initial deployment and use of the data envelopment analysis techniques and linear programming in R environment to verify the feasibility of transferring tools supporting analyzes conducted after the project Luxklems. The results and their theoretical subtended are presented in brief but show the possibilities and flexibility offered by the R environment to treat optimization problems. The focus is on the evolution of the Malmquist index when considering the undesirable outputs and also seeks to compare the results with and without consideration of environmental performance in in theoretical and empirical exercise covering 15 European countries and the United States. This approach uses for purposes of calculation, the strengths of the R language and some packages dealing with linear programming and directional distance functions. Thus, programs have been developed and adapted to extend the measurement of total factor productivity and its components - technical progress and technical efficiency – to take in account the environmental performance by minimizing infeasibility problems encountered in the usual approaches using Malmquist indices. Indeed, faced with the need to take into account the effects of production on the environment and more generally the urgency to find the path of sustainable development, many attempts have been made to reinforce measures productivity growth including the negative impact of pollution that the production of goods and services generates. |
| Keywords: | Environmental performance; Data envelopment analysis (DEA); Undesirable output;Return to scale;Sequential Malmquist-Luenberger index; Malmquist-Luenberger index |
| JEL: | C14 Q5 C61 |
| Date: | 2012–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:41456&r=agr |
| By: | Boukary OUEDRAOGO (Université Ouaga II - Burkina Faso) |
| Abstract: | This article uses survey data streams on timber and non-timber forest products out of the forest of Gonsé to highlight the importance of human pressure on the peri-urban forest of Gonsé, located 35 km from Ouagadougou, the country’s capital city. A literature review on drivers of deforestation in the world and specifically in Burkina Faso, can retain the use of the timber resource to energy goals as the main driver of deforestation in Burkina Faso, and of course in this case, as the mainspring of forest resources’ depletion in Gonsé. A descriptive approach not only allows quantifying the volume of wood energy out of the forest, but also shows the importance of fraudulent harvesting of fuelwood from this forest. Thus, it was found that 30% and 22% of firewood and charcoal harvesting in this forest are insidiously sent to the neighboring villages and to the city of Ouagadougou between 18 pm and 6 am. Thus, this paper recounts how the anthropogenic pressure on forest resources will bring the government to change the status of the classified forest of Gonsé into another one called \"classified forest and partial wildlife reserves of Gonsé\" by Decree adopted on 4th July of 2007 by the Council of Ministers. |
| Keywords: | Anthropogenic pressure, Fuelwood, Forest of Gonsé, Burkina Faso |
| JEL: | Q21 Q23 Q28 Q41 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2012-27&r=agr |
| By: | Marc Baudry; Masha Maslianskaia-Pautrel |
| Abstract: | The article highlights the role of heterogeneity in the formation of hedonic prices. The article distinguishes between continuous and groupwise heterogeneity. The distinction helps understanding two important points. First, the analysis of market equilibrium with groupwise heterogeneity makes explicit the role of participation and incentives compatibility constraints for groups of buyers. The case of continuous heterogeneity may be thought of as a limit case of groupwise heterogeneity when the number of groups goes to infinity and their masses go to zero. The hedonic price curve is then obtained as the solution of a differential equation resulting from a market clearing condition. Second, the article outlines that submarkets emerge from market equilibrium only in the case of groupwise heterogeneity. The existence of submarkets means that the hedonic price function is continuous but the implicit price of characteristics is discontinuous at endogenous threshold values separating submarkets. Major implications for the valuation of environmental quality follow on. Based on numerical simulations, the article gives some insights into the way significant biases and drawbacks in the estimation of the implicit price of environmental quality can arise if the usual two steps procedure is implemented. |
| Keywords: | Environmental valuation, discrete heterogeneity, hedonicmodeling, vertical differentiation |
| JEL: | R21 R31 Q51 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2012-45&r=agr |
| By: | Heindl, Peter; Lutz, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the management practices of German firms with obligations under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) based on six structured in-depth interviews with managers of firms from different industries and based on survey data. The paper sheds light on management and trading practices, abatement behaviour, and the impact of the EU ETS on long-term decisions, such as investment decisions or innovative capacity. The aim is to provide information on firm-internal management processes related to the EU ETS and to strengthen intuition for microeconomic consequences of greenhouse gas regulation in a cap-and-trade scheme. The analysis reveals that management practices in the EU ETS are mainly driven by emission levels, firm size, pre-existing management structures and production patterns. While larger emitters (about 100,000 tCO2 per year or larger) are perfectly capable to carry out all relevant tasks, smaller emitters behave more passively due to transaction costs and lower expected return of transactions. Our analysis suggests that institutional responds to regulation should be taken into account for the design of greenhouse gas regulation. -- |
| Keywords: | Carbon Management,Emissions Trading,EU ETS |
| JEL: | L60 Q50 M11 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:12079&r=agr |