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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2015‒10‒04
37 papers chosen by |
| By: | Skander BEN ABDALLAH; Pierre LASSERRE |
| Abstract: | We solve Faustmanns problem when two tree species are available for planting. The analysis also applies to optimal forest exploitation before an endogenous switch to some alternative land use such as agriculture, housing, or preservation, and vice versa. Each species has its own deterministic growth function and commands a timber price that grows exponentially at a constant rate. Therefore, it may be optimal to first exploit the species whose price is high but grows slowly, and then switch to the alternative species once its price has sufficiently increased relative to the price of the first one. When the land is bare, there exists a threshold of the relative price at which the investor is indifferent between planting either species. When the relative price lies below this switching threshold, it is optimal to plant and harvest the high-price low-rate species repeatedly until the value of the other species warrants its introduction; it is then repeatedly harvested and replanted inde nitely according to the standard Faustmann rule; the rotation does not depend on timber price. Before the switch, the optimal harvest age depends on the relative price; it defi nes a replanting boundary for relative prices below the switching threshold and a switching boundary for relative prices above the switching threshold. We show that the replanting boundary is a sequence of continuous segments giving the harvest age as function of the relative price; these segments differ depending on the number of harvests of the initial species that remain before the switch. Each segment is fi rst decreasing, then increasing, and crosses Faustmanns rotation twice. On an optimal sequence of harvests, successive rotations are increasingly higher or decreasingly lower than Faustmanns rotation; they may also be constant and equal to Fausmanns rotation. |
| Keywords: | forestry, land use, alternative use, faustmann, alternative species, rotation |
| JEL: | C61 D81 G11 G13 Q23 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:06-2015&r=all |
| By: | Biagia De Devitiis (Università di Foggia); Ornella Wanda Maietta (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | TThe aim of this paper is to measure the shadow price of human capital in EU agriculture and to determine whether the CAP has affected the productivity of this growth-enhancing factor. For this purpose, we used the balance sheet data for the period 1986-2012, referring to the Standard Results of the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) farm, which is representative of commercial agriculture at regional level. Data concerning output and input price indices and education attainment levels were obtained from Eurostat and from national FADNs. DEA-VRS input-oriented annual frontiers were computed to estimate the shadow price of three levels of human capital: low, medium and high. The results show an increasing trend in the shadow prices of human capital and suggest that the shadow price of the high level of human capital has been significantly greater than the shadow price of the medium level of human capital since 1990. |
| Keywords: | shadow prices, human capital, agriculture, growth, Malmquist index, DEA. |
| JEL: | D24 E24 C43 |
| Date: | 2015–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:415&r=all |
| By: | Faguet, Jean-Paul; Sánchez, Fabio; Villaveces, Juanita |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the effects of land reform on social development –poverty and land distribution- at the local level. Land reform in Colombia, understood as the allocation of public land to peasant, has granted 23 million hectares which comprises around 20% of Colombian territory and about 40% of usable productive land. Theoretically, the net impact of land reform on development is the combination of a poverty effect and a land distribution effect. Our findings suggest that land reform from 1961 onwards has slightly reduced poverty and mildly improved land distribution. Nonetheless, municipalities with strong presence of latifundia prior to 1961 have experienced both a slower drop in poverty and a weaker improvement of land distribution. This paper finds that prevalence of latifundia partially reduces the positive effect of land reform in promoting social development. |
| Keywords: | Land reform, land distribution, latifundia, poverty, local economic development, Colombia, Labor and Human Capital, Political Economy, Q15, N16, H27, |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209333&r=all |
| By: | Arias, María Alejandra; Ibáñez, Ana María; Zambrano, Andres |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small farmers. First, an inter-temporal model of agricultural production is developed, in which the impact of conflict is transmitted through two channels: violent shocks and uncertainty brought about by conflict. The model shows how conflict induces sub-optimal agricultural decisions in terms of land use and investment. We test the model using a unique household survey applied to 4,800 households in four micro-regions of Colombia. The survey collects detailed information on household economic conditions, incidence of violent shocks, and the presence of non-state armed actors. The results show that conflict affects agricultural production through different channels. In regions with intense conflict, households reduce the amount of land allocated to perennial crops, increase production of seasonal crops and pasture, and cut back investments. Households seem to learn to live amid conflict. Recent presence of non-state armed actors induces farmers strongly to cut back land use for perennial crops, pasture, and investments. As presence is more prolonged, farmers increase land use for perennial crops and pasture, and investments rebound. However, total agricultural production may be lower because shocks and presence result in more land being idle. Households habituate to conflict, yet at a lower equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | conflict, uncertainty, agricultural production, small-farmers, developing economies, Agricultural Finance, Demand and Price Analysis, Land Economics/Use, : D13, D74, Q1, |
| Date: | 2014–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209318&r=all |
| By: | Sauthoff, Saramena; Anastassiadis, Friederike; Mußhoff, Oliver |
| Abstract: | Biogas production using biomass of agricultural origin plays a key role in Germany's energy transition process. Being the main substrate, maize has been increasingly criticized in recent years leading to a down-regulation of this crop for the use in biogas plants by an adjustment of the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) Act in 2012. Thus, it is necessary to widen the range of sustainable and suitable substrate alternatives. This study explores German farmers' willingness to grow sugar beets for biogas production based upon the analysis of a discrete choice experiment with 118 arable farmers conducted from November 2013 to February 2014. Models are estimated in willingness to pay space. Our results reveal that at least two-thirds of the participating farmers assess biogas production from sugar beets as an important and sustainable alternative to maize. However, with respect to their own farms, farmers prefer to maintain their status-quo instead of choosing a contract. Findings also indicate that risk-averse farmers are more likely to contract sugar beets as a biogas substrate than less risk-averse farmers resulting in a lower price demand. However risk-averse farmers prefer short contract periods and a small share of their arable land, otherwise they demand a markup. Regarding the expansion of renewable energies these findings are highly relevant for future political decisions that aim to enable a sustainable energy transition. |
| Keywords: | sugar beets,alternative biogas substrate,discrete choice experiment,supply contract design |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:daredp:1509&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Jobert (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France; GREDEG CNRS); Fatih Karanfil (University of Paris Ouest, France; EconomiX - CNRS); Anna Tykhonenko (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | Despite the growing body of work devoted to the impacts of development and international trade flows on the environment, the current state of empirical research is still controversial. In this line of analysis, the empirical studies using panel data face two simultaneous challenges. One is associated with the potential presence of unobserved cross-country heterogeneity in the panel, and the other with the use of aggregate data on international trade. In this paper, we apply both the dynamic fixed effects and empirical iterative Bayes estimators to a global panel of annual data on 55 countries spanning the period 1970-2013, to show that when country heterogeneity is accurately accounted for in the estimation, it is possible to obtain significant impacts of trade variables on the environment, even with aggregate data. Based on the estimation results and further information on the stringency of environmental regulations in both developed and developing countries involved in the analysis, we identify different country groups having similar features with respect to the trade-environment relationship. Future multilateral actions and agreements on climate change should account for differences in countries' trade structures and development levels that determine their capabilities to mitigate and adapt to climate change. |
| Keywords: | FDI; trade openness, CO2 emissions, regulatory stringency, Bayesian shrinkage estimator |
| JEL: | C33 F18 Q56 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2015-31&r=all |
| By: | Fergusson, Leopoldo; Romero, Dario; Vargas, Juan Fernando |
| Abstract: | Despite a growing body of literature on how environmental degradation can fuel civil war, the reverse effect, namely that of conflict on environmental outcomes, is relatively understudied. From a theoretical point of view this effect is ambiguous, with some forces pointing to pressures for environmental degradation and some pointing in the opposite direction. Hence, the overall effect of conflict on the environment is an empirical question. We study this relationship in the case of Colombia. We combine a detailed satellite-based longitudinal dataset on forest cover across municipalities over the period 1990-2010 with a comprehensive panel of conflict-related violent actions by paramilitary militias. We first provide evidence that paramilitary activity significantly reduces the share of forest cover in a panel specification that includes municipal and time fixed effects. Then we confirm these findings by taking advantage of a quasi-experiment that provides us with an exogenous source of variation for the expansion of the paramilitary. Using the distance to the region of Urabá, the epicenter of such expansion, we instrument paramilitary activity in each cross-section for which data on forest cover is available. As a falsification exercise, we show that the instrument ceases to be relevant after the paramilitaries largely demobilized following peace negotiations with the government. Further, after the demobilization the deforestation effect of the paramilitaries disappears. We explore a number of potential mechanisms that may explain the conflict-driven deforestation, and show evidence suggesting that paramilitary violence generates large outflows of people in order to secure areas for growing illegal crops, exploit mineral resources, and engage in extensive agriculture. In turn, these activities are associated with deforestation. |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, Conflict, Instrumental Variables, Colombia, Labor and Human Capital, Production Economics, D74, Q2, |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209328&r=all |
| By: | Katherine A. Daniell (ANU - Australian National University - Australian National University); Jean-Daniel Rinaudo (BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières); Noel Chan (Crawford School of Economics and Government - Australian National University); Céline Nauges (University of Queensland); Quentin Grafton (Crawford School of Economics and Government - Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Understanding and managing water in the urban context is of vital global importance. Over half the world’s population now lives in urban environments (United Nations 2013) and the percentage is set to increase over coming decades. Quality urban living, like life anywhere, requires adequate quantities and qualities of water to support a range of social well-being, economic development, and environmental health. Managing water in cities, along with their linked energy, food, materials, environmental systems, and socio-economic systems is, therefore, an integral component of global sustainability challenges (Sheehan 2007; see also Kenway and Lant 2015, Chap. 28, this volume). |
| Keywords: | urban water , sanitation |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01183846&r=all |
| By: | Heather Congdon Fors (School of Business, Economics and Law - Gothenburg University); Kenneth Houngbedji (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)); Annika Lindskog (School of Business, Economics and Law - Gothenburg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of a rural Ethiopian land certification program on schooling. Our hypothesis is that formal property rights facilitate land inheritance, reducing the net benefit of schooling for children who will inherit the land. Formal rights also decrease the need for activities to secure continued access to the land, reducing the cost of schooling for all children. The results suggest a positive overall effect on school enrollment. However, grade progress of oldest sons, who are most likely to inherit the land, worsens. Our complementary analysis on child labor suggests a differential impact in the two zones studied. |
| Keywords: | Ethiopia,Property rights,Schooling,Child labor,Land administration |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01202695&r=all |
| By: | Ali,Daniel Ayalew; Deininger,Klaus W.; Kemper,Niels Gerd |
| Abstract: | This study exploits a natural experiment to investigate the impact of land reform on the fertility outcomes of households in rural Ethiopia. Public policies and customs created a situation where Ethiopian households could influence their usufruct rights to land via a demographic expansion of the family. The study evaluates the impact of the abolishment of these pronatal property rights on fertility outcomes. By matching aggregated census data before and after the reform with administrative data on the reform, a difference-in-differences approach between reform and non-reform districts is used to assess the impact of the reform on fertility outcomes. The impact appears to be large. The study estimates that women in rural areas reduced their life-time fertility by 1.2 children due to the reform. Robustness checks show that the impact estimates are not biased by spillovers or policy endogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Youth and Government,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Demographics |
| Date: | 2015–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7419&r=all |
| By: | Soliman, Ibrahim; Mashhour, Ahmed |
| Abstract: | Vertical expansion in Egyptian livestock is the only feasible approach for development, particularly, milk production. This is due to lack of natural range, enough feed supply and competition between food production and feed production in using the very limited water resources supply and irrigated agricultural land in Egypt. In addition, Egypt has a comparative advantage in milk production. However, the milk yield of the domestic cattle is still much below the world average. Vertical expansion means to raise the productivity, via genetic investment. The study used a field sample survey data to apply a designed mathematical investment flow model up to fifth calving of the dam's daughter, to test the impact of a set of technical and economic factors on the predicted economic rate of return (ERR) of the genetic improvement via an artificial insemination (A.I) program of the domestic dairy cattle. The results showed that (ERR) at the most probable level of both economic and productive variables was 23.3%, when A.I. of a sire's semen with PDM around 865 Kg of mill was applied, which was much higher than the average interest rate in Egyptian market (14%) and the inflation rate in milk price (11%). If the genetic improvement faced 10% increase in the number of services for conception, age at first calving and calving interval, the ERR decreased by 6%. An increase in the feed costs by 10% regressed the ERR by 7%. A 10% increase in the number of service for conception, age at first calving and the calving interval decreased the ERR by 3.1%, 2% and 1.1%, respectively. Such model is suitable for assessment of the feasibility of genetic improvement programs in developing countries |
| Keywords: | Vertical expansion in farm enterprising, Genetic investment in dairy cattle, Economic Rate of Return, reproductive traits, economic factors |
| JEL: | O21 O22 Q16 Q18 |
| Date: | 2014–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:66777&r=all |
| By: | Baran Doda; Caterina Gennaioli; Andy Gouldson; David Grover; Rory Sullivan |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first large scale, quantitative study of the impact of corporate carbon management practices on corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Using data for 2009 and 2010 from the Carbon Disclosure Project survey, we find little compelling evidence that commonly adopted management practices are reducing emissions. This finding is unexpected and we propose three possible explanations for it. First, it may be because corporate carbon data and management practice information have not been reported in a standardized way. Second, there may be a delay between the application of corporate carbon management practices and their impact on emissions performance. Third, carbon management practices are not sufficiently impact-oriented, meaning there is no relationship to observe. Our findings are important for policymakers designing corporate GHG reporting standards, for the multiple stakeholders trying to understand the drivers of corporate carbon performance, and for the corporate managers responsible for measuring, reporting and mitigating emissions. |
| Keywords: | corporations; greenhouse emissions; carbon management |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:60816&r=all |
| By: | Kenneth Gillingham (School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University); William D. Nordhaus (Cowles Foundation, Yale University); David Anthoff (University of California, Berkeley); Geoffrey Blanford (Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)); Valentina Bosetti (Bocconi University); Peter Christensen (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign); Haewan McJeon (Joint Global Change Research Institute, University of Maryland); John Reilly (Sloan School, MIT); Paul Sztorc (Dept. of Economics, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | The economics of climate change involves a vast array of uncertainties, complicating both the analysis and development of climate policy. This study presents the results of the first comprehensive study of uncertainty in climate change using multiple integrated assessment models. The study looks at model and parametric uncertainties for population, total factor productivity, and climate sensitivity. It estimates the pdfs of key output variables, including CO2 concentrations, temperature, damages, and the social cost of carbon (SCC). One key finding is that parametric uncertainty is more important than uncertainty in model structure. Our resulting pdfs also provide insights on tail events. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Modeling, Uncertainty, Statistics, Integrated assessment models |
| JEL: | Q4 Q5 C6 H4 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2022&r=all |
| By: | Babili, Mahmoud Jr |
| Abstract: | Caper spreads widely in the MENA countries, particularly in Syria. About 60 countries trade capers, and the annual growth rate of caper trade is about 6%. Major exporting countries are Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Syria. The price of I Kg caper ready for consumption is about US$ 25 in the USA markets. Syria’s production of caper in 2006 was estimated at 4,000 tons, and formal statistics show that Syria had exported different amounts of caper products before 2007. Caper exportation was oriented towards “preserved-temporarily”, a form that is not suitable for immediate consumption. The relative unite value (RUV) for each product is calculated as the average value of Syrian export unit divided on the average value of international export unit. The reference point or the average of RUV is 1, and if the index reached 1.15 or above, this would mean high level of quality competitiveness. Using the ITC (International Trade Center) database, we found that RUV for Syrian exports of caper preserved temporarily had increased, thus exceeding 1 even during the years of war imposed on Syria. On the other hand, the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index shows whether the performance of a given exported commodity is higher than other exported commodities in terms of its share in international markets. Thus, if a commodity has a good share in international markets – to be divided on the share of the total Syrian exports in international markets, it can be considered that it has comparative advantage. Applying this index on Syrian caper’s exports of the ITC database, we find that the Syrian caper has a very good comparative advantage. The above findings emphasize the importance of caper, and the urgent need to benefit from it commercially. However, the big gap between the export unit value of caper preserved temporarily and caper ready for consumption must not be ignored; this gap reaches US$ 25 – US$ 45, which highlights the urgent need to export caper as a final product rather than preserved temporarily, thus benefiting from the added value of the processing stages. |
| Keywords: | Syria, caper, export, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Marketing, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:napcwp:209685&r=all |
| By: | Strand,Jon; Siddiqui,Sauleh |
| Abstract: | What is the utility from obtaining more precise values of natural resource objects (rainforests), through surveys or other similar information gathering? In the value of information problems studied here, a principal who wishes to preserve a resource sets a price to offer to a seller without knowing precisely the protection value or opportunity value, to the seller. The value of information related to more precise information about the protection value for the principal is a key issue in environmental and natural resource valuation, but it is in most cases implicit and not analyzed. More precise resource values reduce the frequency of two types of mistakes (saving the resource when it should not be saved, and not saving the resource when it should be saved), and increases the principal?s ex ante expected utility value. This paper applies the model to Amazon rainforest protection and considers the hypothetical value of perfect information. The analysis finds that the value of perfect information can easily exceed realistic information costs, thus perhaps justifying significant expenditures for valuation studies, given that all available information is used efficiently for conservation decision purposes. The value of perfect information also depends on the nature of buyer-seller interactions, and is higher in the altruistic case, where the principal has full concern for the outcome for the seller. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Information and Communication Technologies,Environmental Economics&Policies |
| Date: | 2015–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7423&r=all |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake, and a national icon. Its pristine waters attract visitors from round the world for a multitude of water-based recreation and sight-seeing activities. It is also important to New Zealand’s indigenous peoples. In the late 1990s, scientific investigations by Environment Waikato (now the Waikato Regional Council), the regional authority responsible for environmental management in the Lake Taupo catchment, revealed that water quality in Lake Taupo was gradually declining. The research identified that nitrogen emissions were entering the lake from both natural processes and human activities, such as pastoral farming, urban runoff and wastewater (see Table 1). The total amount of nitrogen entering the lake was estimated at 1 360 tonnes annually. Of the 556 tonnes of manageable (i.e. human-induced) emissions, 510 tonnes were from pastoral farming. Lake Taupo is contained within a collapsed caldera formed from one of the world’s largest eruptions, which took place 26 000 years ago. The now dormant volcano has left a legacy of ejected pumice and ash over much of New Zealand’s North Island and in particular in the catchment of the lake. This underlying layer of pumice makes the soil structure in the lake’s catchment extremely permeable and allows the unrestricted movement of both water and contaminants into the water tables draining into the lake. Reducing contaminant inflows into the lake therefore needs to address the challenging issue of diffuse groundwater movements, which are largely unseen, and difficult to measure and predict. In some parts of the catchment, it can take more than 100 years for run-off nitrogen to reach the lake (Vant, 2008). |
| Date: | 2015–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaac:4-en&r=all |
| By: | Lamara Qoqiauri (Doctor of Economy. True Member of the Academy of Economic Sciences of Georgia and Scientific Academy of New York. Director of nongovernmental organization: Foundation of the Financial-Investment Strategy and Policy) |
| Abstract: | Each foreign investor today considers Georgia with its investment environment to be one of the most attractive countries. This is not a casual issue. Our country, with effective economical policy of the government, makes maximal attempts for avoiding multiple obstacles of forming favorable investment climate giving impulses to its actualization.My present work is dedicated to the problematic issues of forming investment climate favorable and attractive to the foreign investors, primary ranges of the industrial system – enterprises and organizations; I tried to represent the factors influencing upon formation of attractive investment environment and to give their new grouping and analyzing. In the preseneted work the following issues are researched: Investment climate and investment attractiveness from theoretical perspective, content and characteristic of principle factors of forming investment climate of the country: Economical factors and their role in creation of investment climate; Influence of administrative-legislative factors upon formation of the investment climate; Influence of social-economical factors upon investment climate; Influence of resources and technical capabilities upon investment climate, within possible bounds,I included practical materials selected for strengthening my theoretical postulates. Consideration of theoretical aspects forming investment climate discussed in the work as well as generalization of four blocks concerning investment climate and the outhors’s recommenations: •to abstain from adoption of laws setting unjustified restrictions to local and foreign investors and delay their development;•avoidance of regulations, restricting competition at the particular markets and promoting separate companies;•Harmonization of Georgian legislation with EU legislation and regulations of international legislative institutions;•Special attention to the environmental issues; share of investments in the basic stock its increase for environmental protection and rational utilization of natural resources;•revision of legislative and regulatory framework of environmental and sanitary-epidemiology monitoring. •solvation and arrangement of rights related to land use, settlement policy and competences of local residents as well as issues related to compensation, will help local and fereign investors to implement investment projects, create attractive investment climate in Georgia and activate investment processes. |
| Keywords: | Economical growth, Investment climate, investment attractiveness, macro-economy stability, legislative base, business, partner fund. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:3105379&r=all |
| By: | Lorenzo Almada; Ian M. McCarthy; Rusty Tchernis |
| Abstract: | There is an increasing perception among policy makers that food stamp benefits contribute positively to adult obesity rates. We show that these results are heavily dependent on one's assumptions regarding the accuracy of reported food stamp participation. When allowing for misreporting, we find no evidence that SNAP participation significantly increases the probability of being obese or overweight among adults. Our results also highlight the inherent bias and inconsistency of common point estimates when ignoring misreporting, with treatment effects from instrumental variable methods exceeding the non-parametric upper bounds by over 200% in some cases. |
| JEL: | C01 H4 I1 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21596&r=all |
| By: | Andrew Mold; Rodgers Mukwaya |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the economic impact of the proposed COMESA-SADC-EAC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) on 26 African countries. It uses the global trade analysis project (GTAP) computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and database to measure the static effects of the establishment of the TFTA on industrial production, trade flows and consumption in the tripartite region. The results indicate a significant increase in intra-regional exports as a result of tariff elimination, boosting intra-regional trade by 29 percent. Particularly encouraging is the fact that the sectors benefiting most are manufacturing ones, such as light and heavy manufacturing, and processed food. Concerns have been raised that industrial production in the TFTA would concentrate in the countries with highest productivity levels - namely, Egypt and South Africa. Simulation results suggest that these fears are exaggerated, with little evidence of concentration of industries in the larger countries. |
| Keywords: | Tripartite free trade area, EAC, COMESA, SADC |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notcre:15/04&r=all |
| By: | Baffes,John; Etienne,Xiaoli Liao |
| Abstract: | Income growth in emerging economies has often been cited as a key driver of the past decade?s com-modity price boom?the longest and broadest boom since World War II. This paper shows that income has a negative and highly significant effect on real food commodity prices, a finding that is consistent with Engel?s Law and Kindleberger?s thesis, the predecessors of the Prebisch-Singer hypothe-sis. The paper also shows that, in the long run, income influences real food prices mainly through the manufacturing price channel (the deflator), hence weakening the view that income growth exerts strong upward pressure on food prices. Other (short-term) drivers of food prices include energy costs, inventories, and monetary conditions. |
| Keywords: | Commodities,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access,Climate Change Economics |
| Date: | 2015–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7424&r=all |
| By: | Jesper de Groote (VU University Amsterdam); Jos van Ommeren (VU University Amsterdam); Hans R.A. Koster (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Many cities around the world have introduced paid parking but implicitly subsidize parking for example by providing residential parking permits for street parking. We study the welfare effects of residential parking subsidies through changes in car ownership for Amsterdam. We employ a boundary-discontinuity design that exploits spatial variation in the length of waiting lists for permits and therefore in the size of the parking subsidy. In the city center, the waiting time for a permit is up to four years. Our results indicate that one additional year of waiting for a parking permit reduces car ownership with 2 percentage points corresponding to a price elasticity of car demand of -0.8. We demonstrate that subsidizing residential parking induces a substantial welfare loss. On average, a parking permit induces an annual deadweight loss of € 270. Furthermore, we show that the provision of parking permits is an income-regressive policy: rich households are five times more likely than poor households to receive these (implicit) parking subsidies. |
| Keywords: | parking policy; car ownership; household location choice |
| JEL: | R20 R40 R42 |
| Date: | 2015–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20150116&r=all |
| By: | Oliver Vanden Eynde (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers how shocks to rural incomes intensify violence in India’s Naxalite insurgency. Using variation in annual rainfall in a panel of district level fatal incidents between 2005 and 2011, I find that deficient rainfall generally spurs targeted violence against civilians, but the number of Maoist attacks against security forces only increases in mining districts. This finding consistent with the idea that the relationship between income shocks and conflict depends on the type of targets and the revenue sources of the rebels. In particular, the fighting capacity of rebel groups against government forces could benefit more from negative rural income shocks if the group’s resources are sufficiently independent from the agricultural economy, as is the case in mining areas. |
| Keywords: | Violence,India |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01202689&r=all |
| By: | Michael Aldous |
| Abstract: | In the nineteenth century, firms operating in the Anglo-Indian tea trade were organized using a variety of ownership forms, including partnership, joint-stock, and a combination of the two, known as the managing agency. Faced with both an increasing need for fixed capital and high agency costs caused by the distance between owners and managers, the firms adapted and increasingly adopted the hybrid managing agency model to overcome these problems. Using new data from Calcutta and Bengal Commercial Registers and detailed case studies of the Assam Company and Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Co., this article demonstrates that British entrepreneurs did not see the choice of ownership as a dichotomy or firm boundaries as fixed, but instead drew innovatively on the strengths of different forms of ownership to compete and grow successfully. |
| JEL: | R14 J01 L81 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:63790&r=all |
| By: | L.F.M. Groot; J. Swart |
| Abstract: | To reach an international agreement on the cost of abatement of climate change, one needs to specify a fair burden sharing rule. This paper evaluates different burden sharing rules in terms of their redistributive impact and by the extent to which they realize the aim of optimal abatement. It is shown that for all regions and almost all countries, the Lindahl solution, where the burden sharing rule of carbon abatement is determined by each country’s willingness to pay, is to be preferred above the noncooperative Nash outcome. Poor countries and regions however would prefer the social planner outcome with a global permit market, because then the burden sharing rule is given a secondary role of income redistribution from rich to poor, on top of its primary role of assigning abatement burdens. |
| Keywords: | Nash, Lindahl, tradable permits, equity, efficiency, burden sharing rule |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1501&r=all |
| By: | Germà Bel (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Stephan Joseph (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We examine the number of patent applications for climate change mitigation technologies (CCMT) filed at the European Patent Office and seek to relate it to the oversupply of emission allowances under the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS). We use a panel count data approach to show that firms covered by the policy take the oversupply into account when determining their level of innovative activity. We also indirectly demonstrate that the “weak” version of the Porter hypothesis holds for the EU ETS, given the sizable oversupply of allowances in the market. Our results suggest that in order to set the European economy firmly on the low-carbon technology pathway, and to ensure that the ambitious EU climate targets are met, serious policy changes must be undertaken. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Policy; Emission Trading System; Certificate Oversupply; Technological Change; Patent Count Data JEL classification: Q55; Q58; O33; O38 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201520&r=all |
| By: | Cárdenas, Juan-Camilo; Rodriguez, Luz Angela; Johnson, Nancy |
| Abstract: | Watersheds and irrigation systems have the characteristic of connecting people vertically by water flows. The location of users along these systems defines their role in the provision and appropriation of water which adds complexity to the potential for cooperation. Verticality thus imposes a challenge to collective action. This paper presents the results of field experiments conducted in four watersheds of Colombia (South America) and Kenya (East Africa) to study the role that location plays in affecting trust and cooperation in decisions regarding to provision and appropriation of water. We recruited 639 watersheds inhabitants from upstream, midstream and downstream locations in these basins and conducted two field experiments: the Irrigation Game and the Water Trust Game. The Irrigation Game (Cardenas et al, 2013; Janssen et al, 2011) involves decisions regarding to the provision and appropriation of water where the location in the system is randomly assigned. The Water Trust Game is an adaptation of the trust game (Berg et al 1995) framed around water and economic compensation flows where we explicitly reveal the actual upstream or downstream location of the two players. The results of the two games show that location affect water provision and distribution and that reciprocity and trust are key motivations for upstream-downstream cooperation. Yet, both experiments also suggest that the lack of trust from downstream players towards upstream players may restrict the possibilities of cooperation among watershed users. |
| Keywords: | Collective Action, Verticality, Watersheds, Field Experiments, Irrigation Game, Trust Game, Water Trust Game, Payments for Environmental Services, Colombia, Kenya., Environmental Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis, Q0, Q2, C9, |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209363&r=all |
| By: | Feil, Jan-Henning; Anastassiadis, Friederike; Mußhoff, Oliver; Kasten, Philipp |
| Abstract: | [Introduction ...] The rest of the paper is structured as follows: In section 2, the hypotheses with regard to farmers’ preferences for CAs that shall be tested by means of the DCE are derived from the literature. The design of the questionnaire, which includes the DCE, as well as the descriptive data are described in the subsequent section. Afterwards, the theoretical background of the analysis methods is explained in section 5. Finally, the results of the DCE are presented in section 6. The paper ends with some conclusive remarks (section 7). |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:daredp:1510&r=all |
| By: | Raja Rajendra Timilsina (Kochi University of Technology); Koji Kotani (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | A marketable permits system (MPS) has been deemed effective in laboratory experiments, however, little is known about how the MPS works in the field. We evaluate the MPS efficiency for forest conservation by framed field experiments in Nepal. Forestland demands are elicited from farmers, with which the experiments are carried out. The novelty lies in instituting a uniform price auction (UPA) under trader settings and in identifying the efficiency in the field of developing nations. The results suggest that farmers with limited education understand UPA rules, reveal their forestland valuations and that the MPS is effective with 80% of efficiency. |
| Keywords: | uniform price auction, marketable permits system, framed field experiment, forest management |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2015-22&r=all |
| By: | Fernández, Eva; Simpson, James |
| Abstract: | Wine cooperatives were relatively scarce in Europe before the Second WorldWar, but accounted for more than half of all wines made in France, Italy, and Spain, thethree major producer countries, by the 1980s. This article argues that their initial slowdiffusion was caused by the difficulties in measuring and controlling grape quality, andthat this provided incentives for members to produce large volumes of poor fruit whichadversely affected the wines. Cooperatives only became popular when the state offeredmaterial incentives to growers that helped compensate these problems of collectiveaction. This initially involved cheap credit to help build wineries but, from the 1950s,growers enjoyed additional incentives to join cooperatives as governments attempted toregulate wine markets and provide income support. The problems associated with grapequality were never resolved and, with the major decline in consumption from the 1980sand move away from bulk towards premium wines, cooperatives became increasinglyuncompetitive in the market place. |
| Keywords: | Wine cooperatives , Regulation , Economic history , Europe |
| JEL: | N53 N54 O13 Q10 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp15-08&r=all |
| By: | Sillmann, Jana; Lenton, Timothy M.; Levermann, Anders; Ott, Konrad; Hulme, Mike; Benduhn, Francois; Horton, Joshua |
| Abstract: | Current climate engineering proposals do not come close to addressing the complex and contested nature of conceivable ‘climate emergencies’ resulting from unabated greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hrv:hksfac:22532507&r=all |
| By: | Venkatachalam ANBUMOZHI (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)); Ponciano S. INTAL, Jr. (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)) |
| Abstract: | ASEAN member states (AMS) are confronted by serious environmental problems that threaten to undermine future growth and regional stability. This paper considers four major environmental challenges that policymakers across ASEAN will need to address towards 2030: water management, deforestation and land degradation, air pollution, and climate change. We argue that these challenges, each unique in its own way, exhibit the characteristics of wicked problems. As developed in the planning literature, and now applied much more broadly, wicked problems are dynamic and complex, encompass many issues and stakeholders, and evade straightforward, lasting solutions. Detailed case studies are presented to illustrate the complexity and significance of these environmental challenges, as well as their nature as wicked problems. The most important implication of this finding is that there will be no easy or universal solutions to environmental problems across ASEAN, as Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) illustrate. This is a caution against over-optimism for formulating sector-specific solutions. It is not, however, a counsel for despair. We suggest general principles which may be useful across the board to tackle the issues and accelerate green growth. These are: a focus on cobenefits; an emphasis on stakeholder participation; a commitment to scientific and technological research; an emphasis on long-term planning; pricing reform; tackling governance issues, in addition to generally bolstering institutional capacity with regard to environmental regulation; and a strengthening of regionally coordinated approaches and international support. |
| Keywords: | green growth, environmental performance indicators, regional cooperation, sustainability |
| JEL: | Q32 Q34 Q37 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2015-66&r=all |
| By: | Garth Heutel; Juan Moreno Cruz; Soheil Shayegh |
| Abstract: | We study optimal climate policy when climate tipping points and solar geoengineering are present. Solar geoengineering reduces temperatures without reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Climate tipping points are irreversible and uncertain events that cause large damages. We analyze three different rules related to the availability of solar geoengineering: a ban, using solar geoengineering as insurance against the risk of tipping points, or using solar geoengineering only as remediation in the aftermath of a tipping point. We model three distinct types of tipping points: two that alter the climate system and one that yields a direct economic cost. Using an analytic model, we find that an optimal policy, which minimizes expected losses from the tipping point, includes both emissions reductions and solar geoengineering from the onset. Using a numerical simulation model, we quantify optimal policy and various outcomes under the alternative scenarios. The presence of tipping points leads to more mitigation and more solar geoengineering use and lower temperatures. |
| JEL: | C61 H23 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21589&r=all |
| By: | Francisco Isaias Ruiz Ceseña (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Perla Yamely González Núñez (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Judith Juárez Mancilla (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Plácido Roberto Cruz Chávez (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Gustavo Rodolfo Cruz Chávez (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur) |
| Abstract: | This work originated with previous studies in the work of the Project "productive options to sustainable use of water for rural communities of the 5 sudcalifornianos Municipalities main points oasis". This paper focuses on the analysis of 8 oasis in Baja California Sur, México. For the case study here are the specific oasis: Oasis of San Ignacio, Oasis Mulege, Oasis San Javier, Oasis La Purisima, Oasis San Isidro, Oasis of San Jose and San Miguel de Comondú, and Oasis El Chorro. For analysis of settled villages around these Oasis have split the work in one way, in relation to the analysis of natural endogenous variables of the same thus determining its potential, using the information through a similar tool Model WEF will determine which of these sites have features that make them potential in the development of ecotourism businesses are concerned. |
| Keywords: | Ecotourism, Competitiveness, Potential, Business, Oasis. |
| JEL: | O18 L83 M21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:3005449&r=all |
| By: | Kirsi Hyytinen (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland); Sampsa Ruutu (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland); Mika Nieminen (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland); Faïz Gallouj (CLERSE - CLERSE - Centre lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques - CNRS - Université Lille 1 - Sciences et technologies); Marja Toivonen (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to study the challenge of evaluation in the context of systemic innovations in which services are a core element. The paper argues that the traditional evaluation methods and measures are not able to capture neither the diversity of innovations in services and systems nor the multifaceted dimensions of performance resulting from these innovations. In order to contribute to a more purposeful evaluation practices and methods, a new combinatory approach is suggested based on multi-criteria and system dynamic perspectives. This approach is illustrated in the context of environmental services, using an environmental data platform as a case example. |
| Keywords: | environmental data platform, system dynamic, service innovation, systemic innovation, environmental services,multi-criteria evaluation |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01203646&r=all |
| By: | Paul Missios (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada); Ida Ferrara (DEpartment of Economics, York University, Toronto, Canada); Halis Murat Yildiz (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada) |
| Abstract: | In Article III of the WTO, National Treatment limits domestic policy in an e¤ort to curtail protectionist discrimination against foreign products. We examine National Treatment when goods are vertically di¤erentiated and generate consumption external- ities in two interdependent product markets, comparing quantity and price equilibria under Article III with those prevailing in a world in which Article III does not apply. While one may expect that high externalities would lead to a greater need for discrim- inatory policies, we show this is often not the case and, furthermore, that National Treatment can lead to a cleaner world environment. |
| Keywords: | National Treatment; non-discrimination; environmental damages; consumption externalities; environmental policy; domestic policy; WTO. |
| JEL: | F18 Q56 F12 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp048&r=all |
| By: | Carl-Johan Dalgaard (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen and CEPR); Casper Worm Hansen (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen; Kraka) |
| Abstract: | The present study examines the link between temperature and long-run productivity for a balanced panel of 21 countries, covering the period 1000?1800 CE. Collectively the countries examined accounted for about 2/3 of the global population by 1700. Each epoch in the analysis is a century long, which thus allows time for human adaptation after a temperature shock has occurred. Our principal ?nding is that lower temperatures worked to reduce productivity growth during the period in focus, consistent with contributions to the literature in economic history that argue the Little Ice Age was as a contractionary shock. |
| Keywords: | Climate shocks; Little Ice Age; Productivity growth |
| JEL: | O47 O57 N10 |
| Date: | 2015–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuiedp:1515&r=all |
| By: | Francesca Lotti (Bank of Italy (Italy)); Giovanni Marin (IRCrES-CNR, Milano (Italy); SEEDS, Ferrara, Italy) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the productivity effects of eco-innovations at the firm level using a modified version of the CDM model (Crepon et al., 1998). The peculiar nature of environmental innovations, especially as regards the need of government intervention to create market opportunities, is likely to affect the way they are pursued and their effect on productivity. |
| Keywords: | R&D, innovation, productivity, patents, eco-patents. |
| JEL: | L60 Q55 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:1715&r=all |