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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2016‒04‒23
43 papers chosen by |
| By: | Thomas Markussen; Finn Tarp; Do Huy Thiep; Nguyen Do Anh Tuan |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel data at commune, household, and plot levels to study the causes and effects of agricultural land fragmentation in rural Viet Nam. We focus on both inter-farm fragmentation (the division of land into many small farms) and intra-farm fragmentation (the division of each farm into many small plots). In both these dimensions, land holdings in Viet Nam are highly fragmented. Results show strong effects of both inter- and intra-farm fragmentation on labour input per hectare in agriculture. When productivity is measured by profits per hectare, we estimate a positive effect of farm size on productivity. Results on the determinants of fragmentation show that land sales markets reduce inter-farm fragmentation in the south of Viet Nam but not in the north. Administrative land consolidation programmes have some positive impact on land consolidation in the north but not in the south |
| Keywords: | poverty measurement, utility consistency, cost of basic needs |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2016-011&r=agr |
| By: | Jussi Lankoski |
| Abstract: | Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use policies implemented in OECD countries could be made more environmentally effective and cost-effective. Several policy innovations could change this, however. To test this, a theoretical framework was developed to describe farmers’ participation in government payment programmes that enhance semi-natural wildlife habitats on farmland. The types of payments analysed here include: uniform payments; three types of conservation auctions with environmental targeting; uniform payment with environmental targeting; and two types of differentiated payments with environmental targeting. Quantitative results show that uniform payments are less efficient than other payment types, and that auctions with environmental targeting are the most cost-effective option. However, if farmers have knowledge of the environmental value of their offer, the cost-effectiveness of auctions decreases because they tend to increase their bids to benefit from this information rent (overcompensating income forgone). Adding environmental targeting to the uniform payment policy greatly improves the cost-effectiveness of uniform payment. The analysis clearly shows that, when targeted payments are implemented, the gains from environmental targeting are large and exceed the increase in policy-related transaction costs. |
| Keywords: | targeting, differentiated payment, policy-related transaction costs, uniform payment, Conservation auction |
| JEL: | Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2016–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:93-en&r=agr |
| By: | H. Allen Klaiber (Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University); Klaus Salhofer (Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna); Stan Thompson (Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of the capitalization of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) payment of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on agricultural land rental rates. We address problems of unobserved heterogeneity and sample selection. As the 2013 CAP Reform calls for the harmonization of SPS payments, we estimate the implications of this mandate on agricultural land rental rates over time as Germany began harmonizing payments in 2010. Using Bavarian farm level panel data we find strong capitalization effects that increase substantially in the years following 2009. On average, the marginal effect on rental rates of an additional SPS euro is 38 cents, growing over time to 57 cents as harmonization develops. |
| Keywords: | : CAP Reform, Capitalization Effect, Sample Selection, Panel Data, German Farms. |
| JEL: | C33 Q15 Q18 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sed:wpaper:622016&r=agr |
| By: | Phumsith Mahasuweerachai (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management Science, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand) |
| Abstract: | This study accessed the impact of government aid on farmers’ adaptation to climate change in Nam Phong River Basin, Thailand. This area is prone to flooding between September and October. After the floods, the government generally provides financial compensation to affected farmers of about 70%– 80% of the cropping costs. Our study found that this sort of help from the government is likely to discourage farmers to adapt to climate change. This study found that farmers who believe that the government will step in whenever they suffer losses from floods are more likely to stay with their current crop pattern that carries the highest risk of flooding. In addition, government support was also found to undermine the crop insurance market that the government has been trying to develop. |
| Keywords: | Thailand, Climate change, Adaptation practices/projects, Climate change impacts, Econometric analysis |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2015112&r=agr |
| By: | Camille Bann (Cambodia) |
| Abstract: | This manual has been prepared as an aid to researchers in Southeast Asia involved in the economic evaluation of tropical forest land use options. It was developed initially to serve as an aid to Cambodian researchers in the execution of an EEPSEA-financed study of non-timber forest values in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. (The report resulting from that study is available as an EEPSEA Research Report.) The aim of the manual is to provide non-specialists with a basic theoretical background to economic valuation of the environment and with a practical methodology for an economic evaluation of alternative tropical forest land uses. |
| Keywords: | Economic Valuation, Tropical Forest, Manual |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016033&r=agr |
| By: | I. Hugar; D.V. Jadhav; Amit Kalyankar and A.B. Pande |
| Abstract: | Promotion of sustainable livelihood programme for weaker section especially tribals and conservation of natural resources and its judicious utilization offers a huge challenge for any development agency. Over a period of 40 years, BAIF has taken up several activities related to different aspects of natural resource management with sericulture through number of projects in the field of research, extension, training, technology development and demonstrations. BAIF initiated different livelihood progarmmes in 21 blocks of Chandrapur, Gondia, Gadchiroli districts during 2004, focusing on tribal development through appropriate region specific interventions viz. wadi (Horticulture), improved agriculture, watershed, women empowerment, livestock development, community development and non timber forest produce (NTFP) etc. It was evident that, traditionally the tribal families are involved in some NTFP activities viz. collection of gum, mahua & mahua seeds, honey & bees wax, charoli, aonla, bel, tadi, and herbal plants, etc which are sold by them to local traders in weekly market for cash or barter them for other goods. By considering the potential and coexisting the unique ecosystem, covered with forest and abundant tasar host plantations in Gadchiroli, Gondia and Chandrapur district, offered a great opportunity to introduce highly remunerative NTFP activities like tasar sericulture for tribal families. Tasar sericulture is subsidiary occupation of forest and forest-fringe dwellers and practiced traditionally by Dhivar community. However, Tasar silkworm rearing was unpredictable source of income because rearer uses very crude method of handling silkworms and worms susceptible to various climatic fluctuations. BAIF intervention in promotion of sustainable livelihoods through tasar sericulture with allied activities focused at strengthening traditional activity by appropriate technology interventions. Key words: Tasar, Livelihood, allied activity, vanya, NTFP |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2016-03-13&r=agr |
| By: | Andrea C. Levi; Ubaldo Garibaldi |
| Abstract: | Previously, in underdeveloped countries, people tried to keep the prices of food products artificially low, in order to help the poor to buy their food. But it became soon clear that such system, although helpful for the city poor, was disastrous for the peasants (who usually are even poorer), so that hunger increased, instead of decreasing. More recently, thus, higher prices have been imposed. But a high-price system does not solve the problems. It helps, indeed, a peasant to buy in the city non-edible products, but not to buy (more expensive) food products from other peasants. The question is discussed here in more detail starting from the simplest conceivable case of two peasants producing each a different food product (bread and cheese, say), then generalizing to several food items and to any number of peasants producing a given food item j. Like in every economic system which wants to be sustainable, or able to reproduce itself in a stationary state at least, prices are determined by the necessity of exchanging "means of production" among "industries", except that here industriesare replaced by working peasants and means of production are replaced by food. It is found that prices must obey certain inequalities related to the minimal amount of each food item necessary for survival. Inequalities may be rewritten as equations and, in an important special case, such equations give rise to a simple version of the matrix equation used by famous authors to describe the economy. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1604.04223&r=agr |
| By: | Minju Kim |
| Abstract: | The World Trade Organization (WTO) has treated agricultural subsidies as exceptional. Under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, subsidies are in general regulated under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (the SCM Agreement) while agricultural subsidies are regulated under the Agreement on Agriculture (the AoA). This paper delves into the historical backgrounds of diverging regulatory patterns of the two by referring to the legal documents from the ITO Havana Charter in 1948 to the GATT 1994. Along with the historical review, rationales for justifying the exceptional status of agricultural products are thoroughly examined. This paper concludes that convergence of the SCM Agreement and the AoA is required in the long-run for strengthening the legal consistency and fairness of the WTO subsidies regime. |
| Keywords: | WTO; Subsidies; Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures; the Agreement on Agriculture; Convergence. |
| JEL: | Y8 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gpr:journl:5&r=agr |
| By: | Lei, Lei |
| Abstract: | East Asia is a major tea-consuming and -producing area; however, few studies have examined the East Asian tea industry from the perspective of the supply chain. Based on field and desktop studies of the tea markets in Taiwan and China, this paper provides an overview of each market together with detailed case studies. In this analysis, the characteristics of the tea industry and the main problems in the current supply chain in terms of governance, upgrading, and food safety and quality control are identified. This paper will help fill the gap in studies of the East Asian tea industry from the perspective of the supply chain. |
| Keywords: | East Asia, China, Taiwan, Tea, International trade, Quality control, Agricultural economics, Food safety, Supply chain analysis |
| JEL: | O13 Q13 Q17 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper571&r=agr |
| By: | Branger, Nicole; Grüning, Patrick; Schlag, Christian |
| Abstract: | The term 'financialization' describes the phenomenon that commodity contracts are traded for purely financial reasons and not for motives rooted in the real economy. Recently, financialization has been made responsible for causing adverse welfare effects especially for low-income and low-wealth agents, who have to spend a large share of their income for commodity consumption and cannot participate in financial markets. In this paper we study the effect of financial speculation on commodity prices in a heterogeneous agent production economy with an agricultural and an industrial producer, a financial speculator, and a commodity consumer. While access to financial markets is always beneficial for the participating agents, since it allows them to reduce their consumption volatility, it has a decisive effect with respect to overall welfare effects who can trade with whom (but not so much what types of instruments can be traded). |
| Keywords: | commodities,general equilibrium,heterogeneous preferences,financial markets |
| JEL: | E23 G12 G13 Q11 I30 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:131&r=agr |
| By: | Mina, Christian D.; Imai, Katsushi S. |
| Abstract: | Using the panel data for the Philippines in 2003-2009, the paper estimates a three-level random coefficient model to measure household vulnerability and to decompose it into idiosyncratic and covariate components. It corrects heterogeneity bias using Bell and Jones's (2015) "within-between" formulation. A majority of the poor and 18 percent of the nonpoor are found to be vulnerable to unobservable shocks, while both groups of households are more susceptible to idiosyncratic shocks than to covariate shocks. Adequate safety nets should be provided for vulnerable households that lack access to infrastructure, or are larger in size with more dependents and less-educated household heads. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, poverty, vulnerability, multilevel model, panel data |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:dp_2016-10&r=agr |
| By: | Chhinh Nyda (Master of Development Studies Program, Royal University of Phnom Penh); Cheb Hoeurn (Royal University of Phnom Penh); Chea Bora (Royal University of Phnom Penh); Heng Naret (Sociology Department, Royal University of Phnom Penh) |
| Keywords: | cost benefit analysis, agriculture, cambodia |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160317&r=agr |
| By: | J. Roumasset (University of Hawaii; Energy Policy and Development Program); M. Ravago (University of the Philippines; Energy Policy and Development Program); K. Jandoc (University of Hawaii; Energy Policy and Development Program); C. Arellano (University of the Philippines; World Bank, Philippines) |
| Abstract: | The contribution of the environmental-resource sector to national well-being is the sum of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation. Inasmuch as existing resource stocks are below efficient levels, better enforcement of existing laws as well as policies that incentivize sustainable use are needed. Similarly, progressive royalty assessment of mineral resources can incentivize exploration without transferring the bulk of resource rents to private interests. In the case of pollution, the key is to face firms with the full costs of their production, e.g. through emission taxes and/or cap and trade systems. Calculating total depletion and degradation (TDD) will facilitate the calculation of green national income (GNI), a more inclusive metric of national well-being. In the same way, simultaneous optimization of disaster management policies in the face of climate change can facilitate a further improvement in national well-being, this time measured as comprehensive national income (CNI). |
| Keywords: | Well-being, risk, natural disaster, scenario-building, Philippines |
| JEL: | N55 Q01 Q54 Q56 Q58 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2016-3&r=agr |
| By: | Lei, Lei |
| Abstract: | The paper reviews relevant literature studying the environmental impacts of food supply chain from production to each stage throughout the supply chain. With limited data and information, to better understand these impacts, a concrete example of the tea supply chain in China is provided. The tea supply chain is analyzed from the environmental prospective, with potential pollutants being identified at each stage of the supply chain. As an example of the food supply chain in a developing country, some unique features of the developing economies are taken into consideration when concluding the implications. |
| Keywords: | China, International trade, Food industry, Tea, Environment, Supply chain analysis, Development |
| JEL: | F18 Q01 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper573&r=agr |
| By: | Jan Abrell (ETH Zürich, Switzerland); Sebastian Rausch (ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Hidemichi Yonezawa (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the efficiency and distributional impacts of introducing a price floor in an emissions trading system (ETS) when environmental regulation is partitioned. We theoretically characterize the conditions under which a price floor enhances welfare. Using a multi-country multi-sector numerical general equilibrium model of the European carbon market, we find that moderate minimum price levels in the EU ETS can reduce the costs of EU climate policy by up to thirty percent and yield outcomes close to uniform carbon pricing. Moreover, most of the EU Member States would gain. Our results are robust with respect to parametric uncertainty in production and consumption technologies. |
| Keywords: | Emissions Trading, Price Floors, EU ETS, Partitioned Environmental Regulation, General Equilibrium |
| JEL: | H23 Q52 Q58 C68 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:16-243&r=agr |
| By: | Adam Rabinowitz (University of Connecticut); Rigoberto A. Lopez (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | During the fourth quarter of 2014 Connecticut farm milk prices began a downward trend after they peaked in September 2014. The statistical uniform price averaged $22.44/cwt, almost $3/cwt lower than the average for the previous quarter. |
| Keywords: | Connecticut, milk, production |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zwi:outrep:33&r=agr |
| By: | Nicolas Herault (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); David C. Ribar (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne; ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families Over the Life Course; Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA)) |
| Abstract: | Homelessness not only deprives people of comfort, safety, and dignity but may also cause other problems, including food insecurity. In this study, we use data from the Journeys Home survey, a large national longitudinal survey of disadvantaged Australians who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, to estimate multivariate ordered categorical variable models of the association between homelessness and food insecurity. The Journeys Home survey includes an extensive set of measures of people’s circumstances that we include in our models. We also estimate dummy endogenous variable specifications. All our specifications indicate that homelessness is associated with higher (worse) food insecurity for men. We also find unconditional associations in the same direction for women, but these become statistically insignificant when we include extensive sets of observed controls in our models or estimate dummy endogenous variable specifications. We also investigate how homelessness is related to food consumption, meal consumption, and food expenditures. Food expenditures are negatively associated with homelessness for men in all our specifications; however, the other food outcomes for men and women do not show consistent, statistically significant associations. |
| Keywords: | Food insecurity, food consumption, food expenditures, homelessness, Journeys Home survey |
| JEL: | I32 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2016n15&r=agr |
| By: | Thiemo Fetzer (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Samuel Marden (Department of Economics, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | Weak property rights are strongly associated with underdevelopment, low state capacity and civil conflict. In economic models of conflict, outbreaks of violence require two things: the prize must be both valuable and contestable. This paper exploits spatial and temporal variation in contestability of land title to explore the relation between (in)secure property rights and conflict in the Brazilian Amazon. Our estimates suggest that, at the local level, assignment of secure property rights eliminates substantively all land related conflict, even without changes in enforcement. Changes in land use are also consistent with reductions in land related conflict. |
| Keywords: | property rights, land titling, conflict, deforestation |
| JEL: | O12 Q15 D74 Q23 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:9216&r=agr |
| By: | Sarpong, Sam |
| Abstract: | The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of communities through the Systems Approach to Improve and Sustain Food Security (SATISFY) programme, an initiative that seeks to make rural communities in West Africa self-sufficient in food security, income-generation and health. In exploring the SATISFY initiative, the paper seeks to obtain a clear understanding of the milieu in which it can be carried out, the level and intensity of such interventions and also draw on the challenges and lessons learnt by stakeholders in the process of implementing the planned activities. The paper makes a very valuable contribution to the work of development practitioners and researchers alike by outlining key areas that make for interventions and strategies needed to ensure community participation in projects. |
| Keywords: | rural development; SATISFY; Ghana; poverty; NGOs; resource management |
| JEL: | R0 |
| Date: | 2016–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69927&r=agr |
| By: | Liu Zhaoyang (Downing College, Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1DQ, UK) |
| Abstract: | It is often conjectured that conservation policies for state-owned forests not only influence the state employees managing these forests, but the indigenous residents living in state forest regions as well. This research explored this conjecture by conducting a case study of the Natural Forest Protection Programme (NFPP) in China. A theoretical model was developed to describe the mechanism as to how NFPP impacts indigenous residents through influencing their labor allocation decisions. The theoretical predictions were then examined through empirical analyses based on household level micro-data collected from Gansu and Yunnan provinces in Western China. The analyses used alternative indicators of the NFPP intensity and rigorous econometric methods that controlled for potential selection and endogeneity issues in order to generate reasonable causality inferences. Both the theoretical predictions and empirical results found that NFPP negatively affects the total income of indigenous residents. Scrutiny into the variations of income components revealed that indigenous residents seem to be intensifying agricultural production activities, which implies that NFPP may have caused environmental leakage effects by shifting the environmental pressure from forests to cropland. These factors should be considered when designing prospective state forest reforms in the Western regions of China. |
| Keywords: | China, Community forestry or forest policies, Forestry, Econometric Analysis |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2015102&r=agr |
| By: | Ma. Salome B. Bulayog (Department of Economics, College of Management and Economics, Visayas State University); Humberto R. Montes, Jr (Visayas State University); Suzette B. Lina (Visayas State University); Teofanes A. Patindol (Visayas State University); Adelfa C. Diola (Visayas State University); Eliza D. Espinosa (Visayas State University); Analyn M. Mazo (Visayas State University); Julissah C. Evangelio (Visayas State University); Art Russel R. Flandez (Visayas State University); Marianne A. Gesultura (Visayas State University); Ris Menoel R. Modina (Visayas State University) |
| Keywords: | Natural Assets,Aquatic Ecosystems |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160321&r=agr |
| By: | Abay, Kibrewossen; Hirvonen, Kalle |
| Abstract: | Seasonality in agricultural production continues to shape intra-annual food availability and prices in low-income countries. Using high-frequency panel data from northern Ethiopia, this study attempts to quantify seasonal fluctuations in children's weights. In line with earlier studies, we document considerable seasonality in children’s age and height adjusted weights. While children located closer to local food markets are better nourished compared to their counterparts residing in more remote areas, their weights are also subject to considerable seasonality. Further analysis provides evidence that children located closer to food markets consume more diverse diets than those located farther away. However, the content of these diets varies across seasons: children are less likely to consume animal source foods during the lean season. |
| Keywords: | children, dietary diversity, nutrition, markets, metrics, seasonality, economic development, agricultural policies, food policies, microeconomics, child anthropometrics, food markets, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:85&r=agr |
| By: | Jaimie Kim B. Arias (Department of Economics, College of Economics and Management,University of the Philippines Los Baños); Ma. Emilinda T. Mendoza (College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines Los Baños); Vicente G. Ballaran, Jr. (College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology, University of the Philippines Los Baños); Rowena A. Dorado (College of Economics and Management, University of the Philippines Los Baños) |
| Keywords: | Household, Vulnerability,Climate Change,Philippines |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160331&r=agr |
| By: | Nakamura,Shohei; Harati,Rawaa; Lall,Somik V.; Dikhanov,Yuri M.; Hamadeh,Nada; Vigil Oliver,William; Rissanen,Marko Olavi; Yamanaka,Mizuki |
| Abstract: | Although several studies have examined why overall price levels are higher in richer countries, little is known about whether there is a similar relationship at the urban and city level across countries. This paper compares the price levels of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with those of other regions by analyzing price information collected for the 2011 round of the International Comparison Program. Readjusting the calculated price levels from national to urban levels, the analysis indicates that African cities are relatively more expensive, despite having lower income levels. The price levels of goods and services consumed by households are up to 31percent higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other low- and middle-income countries, relative to their income levels. Food and non-alcoholic beverages are especially expensive, with price levels around 35 percent higher than in other countries. The paper also analyzes price information collected by the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, and obtains a similar result, indicating higher prices of goods and services in African cities. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Food&Beverage Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Housing&Human Habitats |
| Date: | 2016–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7641&r=agr |
| By: | Jaimie Kim B. Arias (Department of Economics, College of Economics and Management,University of the Philippines Los Baños); Jefferson A. Arapoc (Department of Economics, College of Economics and Management,University of the Philippines Los Baños); Hanny John P. Mediodia (College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Visayas) |
| Keywords: | Adaptation, climate change, Philippines |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016037&r=agr |
| By: | Thiemo Fetzer (University of Warwick, Department of Economics, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom); Samuel Marden (University of Sussex, Department of Economics, Brighton BN1 9RH, United Kingdom) |
| Abstract: | Weak property rights are strongly associated with underdevelopment, low state capacity and civil conflict. In economic models of conflict, outbreaks of violence require two things: the prize must be both valuable and contestable. This paper exploits spatial and temporal variation in contestability of land title to explore the relation between (in)secure property rights and conflict in the Brazilian Amazon. Our estimates suggest that, at the local level, assignment of secure property rights eliminates substantively all land related conflict, even without changes in enforcement. Changes in land use are also consistent with reductions in land related conflict. |
| Keywords: | war trauma, mental health, depression, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| JEL: | I1 O1 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:214&r=agr |
| By: | Samuel Marden (Department of Economics, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | In China, many fewer girls are born than would be expected given natural birth rates. This imbalance has worsened dramatically over the last 40 years. The roughly contemporaneous fall in fertility per woman is often mooted as a source of this apparent increased demand for sex selection: fewer births make it harder to have a son by chance. Despite this, causal evidence is limited. This paper exploits geographic variation in changes in fertility, arising as a consequence of China’s agricultural reforms (1978-84), to provide this evidence. Specifically, I show that households living in counties that benefitted more from the reforms, increased their fertility relative to households elsewhere. I then show that these households are also less likely to engage in sex selection. These changes appear to have been due to higher local incomes interacting with the enforcement of the One Child Policy. The timing of the changes in fertility and sex selection are informative: while fertility increased almost immediately, the decline in sex selection only emerged from the mid 1980s— contemporaneous with the widespread availability of ultrasound. These results suggest that the dramatic decline in fertility in 1970s China, as well as the smaller decline due to the One Child Policy in the 1980s, may have had an important role in fuelling the demand for sex selection. |
| JEL: | J11 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:9016&r=agr |
| By: | Nghiem Phuong Tuyen (Vietnam National University); Pam Mc Elwee (Vietnam National University); Le Hue (Vietnam National University); Vu Huong (Vietnam National University) |
| Keywords: | REDD,Carbon Payments,Climate Change |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160319&r=agr |
| By: | Raul G. Bradecina (Partido State University) |
| Keywords: | Economic Valuation,Environmental Services,Ecotourism |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160333&r=agr |
| By: | Golub,Alexander Alexandrovich; Toman,Michael A. |
| Abstract: | Improving the resilience of the economy in the face of uncertain climate change damages involves irreversible investments to scale up new technologies that are less vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The benefit of having such options includes the avoided welfare cost of diverting consumption to scaling up the new technology after production possibilities have been diminished by climate change impacts. This needs to be balanced against the upfront cost of scaling up a technology that is potentially less productive than incumbent technologies. The paper uses a real options approach to investigate this trade-off, based on numerical simulation of a multi-period model of economic growth and climate change impacts that includes a one-time cost associated with scaling up the alternative technology. The value of the option provided by investment in the more resilient technology depends on the ex-ante volatility of climate change damages, as well as how rapidly climate change degrades the productivity of the economy's established technology. In addition, the size of scale-up cost that leaves the economy indifferent between investing and not investing in the new technology can be used to define the value of early investment in the less climate change?vulnerable technology as a sort of call option. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change Economics,Science of Climate Change,ICT Policy and Strategies,Technology Industry,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases |
| Date: | 2016–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7637&r=agr |
| By: | Mohamad Taghvaee, Vahid; Parsa, Hojat |
| Abstract: | This article aims to answer the question of whether the manufacturing (and mining) and services sectors in Iran should be reconstructed or grown as before, in order to improve the environmental quality. The global warming, if not global burning, is a dire warning about environmental pollution dangers to everyone, living on the Earth. In this field, Iran is a good candidate due to its significantly high share of CO2 emissions in proportion to the low share of economic growth in the world which can be remedied by economic growth, based on Environmental Kuznets Hypothesis (EKH). We employ the Auto-Regressive Distributed Model (ARDL) to examine the long run equilibrium relationship between CO2 emission and economic growth. The results show that, regarding EKC, the nexus of CO2 emissions and economic growth in either sector is in a sharply ascending phase. It implies that if manufacturing (and mining) and services sectors inflate, the quality of environment will decline owing to the intensive and pollutant energy-using structures. Thus, rather than growing, they should be reconstructed by importing cleaner and more efficient technologies and developing internal inventions. |
| Keywords: | Environment. Manufacturing. Services. |
| JEL: | Q5 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67885&r=agr |
| By: | MUTASCU Mihai; PEREAU Jean-Christophe; URSU Eugen |
| Abstract: | The paper explores the causality between carbon emission and economic growth in the case of France, for the period 1983Q2-2015Q2, by following a wavelet approach. The study offers detailed information of this nexus, for different frequencies and sub-periods of time, revealing the lead-lag nexus between variables under cyclical and anti-cyclical shocks. \r\nDifferent environmental-growth hypotheses are found in the case of France, for a given period of investigation, which varie from sub-periods to sub-periods, from short to medium and long terms, under particular national and international economic contexts. |
| Keywords: | Carbon emissions, Growth, Effects, Wavelet analysis |
| JEL: | C1 O1 Q5 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2016-10&r=agr |
| By: | Saowalak Roongtawanreongsri (Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University); Prakart Sawangchote (Prince of Songkla University); Sara Bumrungsri (Prince of Songkla University); Chaisri Suksaroj (Prince of Songkla University) |
| Keywords: | Economic Benefit,Management Options,Forest |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160341&r=agr |
| By: | Vorhies,Francis; Wilkinson,Emily |
| Abstract: | Many ex ante measures taken to reduce disaster risk can deliver co-benefits that are not dependent on disasters occurring. In fact, building resilience to climate extremes and disasters can achieve multiple objectives. These are secondary to the main objective of disaster risk management of avoiding disaster losses, but identifying and measuring additional co-benefits can enhance the attractiveness of disaster risk management investments. Co-benefits are often economic, such as investment in dams or irrigation to reduce drought risk generating greater productivity; but they can also include significant environmental and social benefits. This paper identifies some of the potential categories of co-benefits associated with disaster risk management investments, expanding on typologies created by agencies seeking to promote social and environmental safeguarding in their work. The paper looks at previous studies on disaster risk management where co-benefits are mentioned but not explored in any detail. The paper examines two new case studies where environmental and socioeconomic co-benefits were uncovered in an irrigation project to reduce drought risk, and an urban flood risk management project, in Jamaica and Mexico, respectively. This review points to several challenges in traditional cost-benefit analysis techniques and puts forward alternative approaches to identify environmental and socioeconomic co-benefits when planning disaster risk management investments. The authors argue that a comprehensive disaster risk management co-benefits framework is needed that includes and categorizes all potential positive environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Co-benefits research focused on revisiting existing cases and developing new case studies could play an important role in this regard. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change Economics,Hazard Risk Management,Economic Theory&Research,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Environmental Economics&Policies |
| Date: | 2016–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7633&r=agr |
| By: | Fander Falconi (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Ecuador); Jesus Ramos-Martin (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Ecuador); Pedro Cango (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Ecuador) |
| Abstract: | The existence of unequal exchange between rich and poor countries is being demonstrated in the literature for some time, explained by differences in labour costs that reflected in the prices of traded goods. In recent years, research has also demonstrated that the lack of inclusion of the environmental impacts in prices of traded goods reflected an ecologically unequal exchange. This paper contributes to the discussion with the new coined concept of caloric unequal exchange that reflects the deterioration of terms of trade for food in terms of calories. Using last FAO data available, exports and imports from and to Latin America and the Caribbean are analysed for the period 1961 through 2011 in volume, value and calories and for different groups of products. The conclusion is reached that although calories exported by the region to the rest of the world are more expensive that those imported, the ratio is deteriorating over time. This trend is found to be different depending on the partner involved. In all cases, the region is helping the rest of the world in improving their diets at a lower cost. This result confirms the loss of natural funds such as soil and nutrients, which can be seen as a de-capitalisation of exporting countries. A side result is that globalisation is homogenising diets over time, concentrating most of food consumption in a reduced number of products, and therefore increasing interdependency among countries and affecting food security. This new debate is found to be useful for designing trade and development policies in the countries analysed. |
| Keywords: | Caloric unequal exchange, Latin America, terms of trade, food |
| JEL: | F14 F18 N56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:flc:flcwps:2016_05&r=agr |
| By: | Belayneh, Demissie |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to explore the extent to which government policies geared towards “transforming” pastoral way of living into sedentary agriculturalists in pastoral communities of southern Ethiopia had eroded social capital, customary institutions, and livelihoods and deteriorated the living conditions of the very people they are intended to benefit and the resources they are meant to manage. While the essence of building on social capital and local indigenous institutions in the management of common property resources is gaining grounds in the recent times, most government policies in pastoral areas of Africa are drawn on the over-riding dominant narrative of the theory of ‘tragedy of commons’. It is argued that important as these explanations could be, they do not fully illuminate the underlying causation of social and ecological calamity, institutional degradation and the erosion of indigenous resource management and conflict resolution mechanisms. Based on extensive literature review on the Borana- a predominantly pastoral community inhabiting the dry lands of Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya - this study contends that contrary to the "tragedy of the commons" thesis and other neo-Malthusian explanations, the weakening and disintegration of communal resource management regimes in Borana is a crucial factor behind rangeland degradation, increased livestock mortality and rising vulnerability of pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in the Horn of Africa. It attempts to expose how this ill-intentioned government policy have eroded customary resource management, conflict resolution and livelihood resilience practices, and paved the way distrust and non-cooperation; rangeland resource degradation; livelihood vulnerabilities, and perpetuation of conflicts in the area. The conclusion is that while the tragedy of commons narrative has some grain of truth in some contexts, scholars and policy makers should also look into how best common property resources can be managed by capitalizing on social capitals and customary institutions rather than destroying them, as successful management of natural resources require both an understanding of ecosystem processes and of the interactions between people and the ecosystem. |
| Keywords: | rangeland; natural resource management; social capital; Borana pastoralists; Ethiopia |
| JEL: | Q2 |
| Date: | 2016–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70780&r=agr |
| By: | Jin Jianjun (College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University); Gao Yiwei (College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University); Wang Xiaomin (College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University); Pham Khanh Nam (University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City) |
| Keywords: | Climate Change,Adaptation,Risk Preferences |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160323&r=agr |
| By: | Liu Zhaoyang (Downing College, University of Cambridge); Andreas Kontoleon (University of Cambridge); Xu Jintao (National School of Development, Peking University) |
| Keywords: | Natural Forest Protection,China |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160329&r=agr |
| By: | Katherine Simpson (Economics Division, University of Stirling); Nick Hanley (Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | Offering several advantages over traditional “hold the line” flood defences, including the supply of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and habitat provision, managed realignment is increasingly being used as a flood defence option. This paper seeks to add to the growing literature on public perceptions of the benefits of managed realignment by examining local resident’s knowledge of estuarine management issues and identifying their willingness to pay (WTP) towards a new managed realignment scheme on the Tay Estuary, Scotland. Results showed that the majority of respondents were not aware of flood risk issues on the estuary or of different flood defence options. Furthermore a “miss-match” between flood risk perceptions was highlighted with respondents stating they were not at risk from flooding when in fact they lived in a flood risk zone. Household mean WTP for a specific managed realignment scheme was calculated as £43 per annum. Significant drivers of WTP included respondents perceived flood risk and worries about the state of existing flood defences. There was also significant spatial heterogeneity with those living closest to the scheme being WTP the most. Prior knowledge of flood risk issues and managed realignment was found not to significantly affect WTP. |
| Keywords: | Contingent valuation, Information, Knowledge, Ecosystem Services, Flooding, Flood Risk |
| JEL: | Q51 Q57 D83 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sss:wpaper:2016-06&r=agr |
| By: | Di Corato, Luca (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Brady, Mark (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact that subsidies paid to passive farmers have on the lease of land and on the speed of land development. First, we find that, even if delaying land development, paying passive farmers increases the value of the land. Second, when bargaining for the lease of land, we show that the agreement between the parties is conditional on an underlying development project passing a threshold level in terms of profitability. Third, we identify the conditions leading to a Pareto improvement. Last, we illustrate our findings by considering the establishment of an energy crop on leased land. |
| Keywords: | Real Options; Land development; Passive Farming; Nash Bargaining |
| JEL: | C61 Q15 R14 |
| Date: | 2016–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slueko:2016_004&r=agr |
| By: | Chou Phanith (Faculty of Development Studies, Royal University of Phnom Penh) |
| Keywords: | Flood, Cambodia |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016039&r=agr |
| By: | Phung Thanh Binh (Schoolf of Economics, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City); Xueqin Zhu (Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Group, Wageningen University); Rolf Groeneveld (Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Group, Wageningen University); Ekko van Ierland (Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Group, Wageningen University) |
| Keywords: | Flood mitigation, Vietnam |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160311&r=agr |
| By: | Loan T. Le (Faculty of Economics, Nong Lam University) |
| Keywords: | Biofuel, cost effectiveness |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr20160315&r=agr |