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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2017‒11‒05
eighteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Shota Moriwaki |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to measure agricultural waste and estimate the environmental Kuznets curve in four East Asian countries using time series data from the 1960s to the 2010s. Positive nutrient balance (NB) suggests there is pressure on arable land, causing water pollution and greenhouse gases. For crop farming, only China's NB per arable land unit (NBAL) has risen recently, while NB per product (NBP) in all four countries has declined. Regarding livestock farming, NBAL in all countries except Japan has risen. Even more recently, China's NBP has risen differently to other countries' movements. The estimation results of the environmental Kuznets curve suggest China's NBAL will rise continuously with gross domestic product per capita increases in crop farming. For livestock farming, the estimated indexes are confirmed to have worsened with the advance of economic growth. |
| Keywords: | nutrient balance, farm gateway method, environmental Kuznets curve, breaking point unit-root test, non-linear co-integrating |
| Date: | 2017–09–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201734&r=agr |
| By: | Gharad Bryan; Jonathan de Quidt; Tom Wilkening; Nitin Yadav |
| Abstract: | Small farms and fragmented plots are hallmarks of agriculture in less-developed countries, and there is evidence of high returns to land consolidation and reallocation. Complementarities, holdout and asymmetric information mean that private trade will be slow to reallocate land, and imply that market design has the potential to contribute to the development process. Complexity concerns are, however, paramount. We present results from a framed field experiment with Kenyan farmers, comparing the performance of several continuous-time land exchanges. Farmers are able to achieve high degrees of efficiency, and to comprehend and gain from a relatively complicated package exchange. |
| Keywords: | market design, field experiments, economic development, land trade |
| JEL: | C93 O13 Q15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6557&r=agr |
| By: | Lili Yan ING (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)); Olivier CADOT |
| Abstract: | To measure Ad valorem tariff equivalents (AVEs) of non-tariff measures (NTMs), we propose a new alternative that relies on the estimation of bilateral trade flows on two-way panels at the HS 2-digit level with importer, exporter, and product fixed effects and interaction terms between NTM variables and a full vector of country-specific characters. Our results show AVEs for technical barriers to trade measures on manufactured products, for ASEAN countries and the whole sample are 4.5% and 5%, respectively. The AVEs for sanitary and phytosanitary measures on agricultural and food products for ASEAN countries and the whole sample are 6.5% and 6.7%, respectively. It should be noted that AVEs can mean very different things depending on whether they play as correction of a market failure. This depends on the technical capabilities of domestic regulatory agencies. |
| Keywords: | Non-tariff measures, ad valorem equivalent, trade, tariff, regional trade, ASEAN |
| JEL: | F1 F5 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2017-09&r=agr |
| By: | John Gibson and Alessandro Romeo |
| Abstract: | Fiscal-food policies use taxes to alter relative food prices so as to change diets and are suggested for reducing non-communicable diseases in the Pacific. Price elasticity estimates used by advocates of fiscal-food policies are often biased and may make policy makers too optimistic about small taxes on unhealthy food and drink inducing big changes in diets. The bias is illustrated using the example of the demand for soft drinks in a household survey from the Solomon Islands, with further evidence from Papua New Guinea. About one-third of consumer response to soft drink price variation in the Solomon Islands is on the quantity margin, with two-thirds on the quality margin. If the quality response is wrongly treated as a quantity response to price—as in most studies—the price elasticity of soft drink demand is exaggerated by a factor of two in Papua New Guinea and three in the Solomon Islands. |
| Keywords: | demand, household surveys, quality, soft drink taxes, Melanesia |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201730&r=agr |
| By: | Gema Aparicio (Independent Scholar, Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A); Ángel Luis González-Esteban (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain); Vicente Pinilla (Universidad de Zaragoza and Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón, Zaragoza, Spain); Raúl Serrano (Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain) |
| Abstract: | In the last two hundred years, agricultural trade has grown at a remarkably rapid rate. In the first globalizing wave, international trade was based on the exchange of primary products for manufactured goods. This provided important opportunities for complementarity in certain countries on the periphery that took advantage of the opportunity to base their economic development on the growth of their exports and the linkages between them and the rest of the economy. However, most of the agricultural exporting countries, obtained few benefits from this model of development. In the second wave of globalisation, an intra-industrial trade increasingly replaced this pattern of trade. In addition, the more developed countries tended to protect their agricultural production, which have been a major obstacle to agricultural trade. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Trade, Globalisation, World Periphery |
| JEL: | F14 N50 N70 Q17 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1706&r=agr |
| By: | K.S. Aditya, S.P. Subash, K.V. Praveen, M.L. Nithyashree, N. Bhuvana and Akriti Sharma |
| Abstract: | In this article, we have analysed farmers' awareness about Minimum Support Price (MSP) and its impact on diversification of crops grown in India. We used nationally representative data collected by National Sample Survey Office, 70th round data. The data revealed that only 23.72 and 20.04 per cent of farmers in the rural agricultural households in India are aware of MSP of crops grown by them in kharif and rabi season, respectively. From the results of probit model, it is inferred that MSP needs to be backed up by effective procurement coupled with awareness creation by extension system to enable more number of farmers to take benefit of this safety net. We have also explored the relationship between farmers' awareness about MSP and decision to go for crop specialization using Heckman selection model. The study shows that farmers' knowledge of MSP had not lead to specialization. |
| Keywords: | agricultural policy, crop diversification, Minimum Support Price, crop specialization |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201737&r=agr |
| By: | Diana De Alwis; Ilan Noy |
| Abstract: | We measure to cost of extreme weather events (droughts and floods) on health care in Sri Lanka. We find that frequently occurring local floods and droughts impose a significant risk to health when individuals are exposed directly to these hazards, and when their communities are exposed, even if they themselves are unaffected. Those impacts, and especially the indirect spillover effects to households that are not directly affected, are associated with the land-use in the affected regions and with access to sanitation and hygiene. Finally, both direct and indirect risks associated with flood and drought on health have an economic cost; our estimates suggest Sri Lanka spends 52.8 million USD per year directly on the health care costs associated with floods and droughts, divided almost equally between the public and household sectors, and 22% vs. 78% between floods and droughts, respectively. In Sri Lanka, both the frequency and the intensity of droughts and floods are likely to increase because of climatic change. Consequently, the health burden associated with these events is only likely to increase, demanding precious resources that are required elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | Sri Lanka, flood, drought, health impact |
| JEL: | I15 Q54 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6520&r=agr |
| By: | Wolfgang Habla; Ralph Winkler |
| Abstract: | We analyse a principal-agent relationship in the context of international climate policy. Principals in two countries first decide whether to merge domestic emission permit markets to an international market, then delegate the domestic permit supply to an agent. We find that principals select agents caring less for environmental damages than they do themselves in case of an international market regime, while they opt for self-representation in case of domestic markets. This strategic delegation incentive renders the linking of permit markets less attractive and constitutes a novel explanation for the reluctance to establish non-cooperative international permit markets. |
| Keywords: | non-cooperative climate policy, political economy, emissions trading, linking of permit markets, strategic delegation, strategic voting |
| JEL: | D72 H23 H41 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6515&r=agr |
| By: | Arbuckle, J. Gordon, Jr.; Lasley, Paul |
| Date: | 2015–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genstf:201512101604181231&r=agr |
| By: | Mohammed B. Degnet; Edwin van der Werf; Verina Ingram; Justus Wesseler |
| Abstract: | With the rapid expansion of private forest plantations worldwide, their impacts on local development are under scrutiny by NGOs and researchers alike. This study investigates the impacts of private forest plantations on local infrastructure and social services in rural Tanzania. We take a comparative approach involving households living in villages adjacent to private forest plantations and households in villages adjacent to a state-owned plantation. We use survey data from 338 households to analyze their perceptions about the impacts of the plantations on the number and quality of roads, bridges, and health centers, as well as on school enrolment and quality of education. We triangulate the results from a logistic regression model with observations of the size and quality of infrastructure and social services in the villages and with findings from focus group discussions. The results show that the private forest plantations have positively affected local infrastructure and social services in adjacent villages. The results suggest that large-scale private forest plantations can contribute to rural development in developing countries. We highlight the importance of taking into account the perceptions of various groups in society when assessing the sustainability of forestry investments and their impacts on local communities. |
| Keywords: | private forest plantations, infrastructure, public goods, perceptions, socio-economic impacts, Tanzania |
| JEL: | H41 M14 Q01 Q15 Q23 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6690&r=agr |
| By: | Wolfgang Buchholz; Michael Eichenseer |
| Abstract: | From the perspective of standard public good theory the total amount of greenhouse gas mitigation (or public good supply in general) will be lower in a leader-follower game than in a simultaneous Nash game so that strategic leadership is disadvantageous for climate policy. We show that this need no longer be true when the leading country has the option to employ a technology by which it can reduce its abatement costs and thus improve the productivity of its contribution technology. Our general result is illustrated by an example with Cobb-Douglas preferences and, finally, an empirical application to global climate policy is briefly discussed. |
| Keywords: | public goods, leadership, choice of technology, climate policy |
| JEL: | C72 H41 O31 Q54 Q55 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6352&r=agr |
| By: | A.A. Yusuf; E.L. Roos; J.M. Horridge |
| Abstract: | Palm oil has become increasingly important in Indonesian export. Indonesian economic growth, particularly in forest-rich regions of the country depends on the expansion of palm oil production. On the other hand, the Indonesian government is committed to reduce carbon emissions from land use change to which the conversion from natural forest to palm oil has greatly contributed. Indonesia introduced a moratorium of conversion from natural forest to palm oil land. Using a dynamic, bottom-up inter-regional computable general equilibrium of the Indonesian economy, we assess several scenarios of the moratorium and discuss its impact on the national as well as regional economy. The results suggest that the moratorium reduces Indonesian economic growth, and other macroeconomic indicators, but international transfers ($10/tCO2 emissions avoided) can more than compensate the welfare loss. However, the impact varies across regions. Sumatera which is highly-dependent on oil palm; of which its economy is less broad-based and its carbon stock of its forest is no longer high, receives fewer transfers and suffer a great economic loss. In the meantime, Kalimantan which is relatively less dependent on oil palm than Sumatera and its forest carbon stock is still high, receives more transfers and get greater benefit. This result suggest that additional policy measures anticipating the unbalanced impact of the transfers is required if the trade-off between conservation and reducing inter-regional economic disparity needs to be reconciled. |
| Keywords: | palm oil, carbon emissions, computable general equilibrium, Indonesia |
| JEL: | R10 R11 R13 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cop:wpaper:g-276&r=agr |
| By: | Plastina, Alejandro; Johanns, Ann |
| Date: | 2015–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genstf:201512152041331255&r=agr |
| By: | Fadzilah Majid Cooke, Johan Nordensvard, Gusni Bin Saat, and Frauke Urban |
| Abstract: | Hydropower dams have been criticised for their social and environmental implications. There have been attempts to create international social standards for hydropower dam projects, but these standards have had limited impact. This article uses an extended environmental justice framework to make sense of the resettlement and compensation schemes for Indigenous peoples who were resettled for the construction of the Bakun dam in Borneo, East Malaysia. The article therefore analyses the social protection measures designed for the protection of Indigenous peoples and their livelihoods. The case study is based on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with local communities, institutional actors in Malaysia, Chinese actors and dam builders. The article concludes that the social protection policies did not protect Indigenous people and their land sufficiently, but it facilitated a commodification process of both land and people. This should also be understood as a colonisation of their land and their cultures. |
| Keywords: | environmental justice, indigenous groups, social protection, hydropower dams, Malaysia |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201732&r=agr |
| By: | Bayramoglu, Basak; Finus, Michael; Jaques, Jean-Francois |
| Date: | 2016–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eid:wpaper:58130&r=agr |
| By: | Roesel, Felix |
| Abstract: | Left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles share higher road accident risks under left-hand traffic because of blind spot areas. Due to low import prices, the number of wrong-hand drive vehicles skyrockets in emerging countries like Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. I identify the causal effect of wrong-hand drive vehicles on road safety employing a new \backward version" of the synthetic control method. Sweden switched from left-hand to right-hand traffcin 1967. Before 1967, however, almost all Swedish vehicles were LHD for reasons of international trade and Swedish customer demand. I match on accident figures in the period after 1967, when both Sweden and other European countries drove on the right and used LHD vehicles. Results show that right-hand traffic decreased road fatality, injury and accident risk in Sweden by a proximately 30 percent. An earlier switch would have saved more than 4,000 lives between 1953 and 1966. |
| Keywords: | road accidents,Sweden,natural experiment,synthetic control method |
| JEL: | R41 K32 C53 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tudcep:1517&r=agr |
| By: | Jorge Alvarez (IMF) |
| Abstract: | A key feature of developing economies is that wages in the agricultural sector are significantly below those of other sectors. Using a panel data set on the universe of formal workers in Brazil, I use information on workers that switch sectors to decompose the drivers of this inter-sector gap. I find that most of the gap between sectors is explained by unobservable differences in the skill composition of workers, as opposed to differential pay of workers with similar skills. The evidence speaks against the existence of large short-term wage gains from the reallocation of workers out of agriculture and favors recently proposed Roy models of inter-sector sorting as drivers of lower average wages in agriculture. A calibrated model of worker sorting can account for the wage gap observed in 1996 Brazil and a share of both the wage gap decline and the diminishing worker participation in agriculture observed during the period between 1996 and 2013. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:825&r=agr |
| By: | Montoya Gómez, Ana Maria; Zimmer, Markus |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc17:168273&r=agr |