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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2020‒09‒07
thirty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Laborde Debucquet, David; Mamun, Abdullah; Martin, Will; Piñeiro, Valeria; Vos, Rob |
| Abstract: | To understand the impacts of support programs on global emissions, this paper considers the impacts of domestic subsidies, price distortions at the border, and investments in emission-reducing technologies on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. In a step towards a full evaluation of the impacts, it uses a counterfactual global model scenario showing how much emissions from agricultural production would change if agricultural support were abolished worldwide. The analysis indicates that, without subsidies paid directly to farmers, output of some emission-intensive activities and agricultural emissions would be smaller. Without agricultural trade protection, however, emissions would be higher. This is partly because protection reduces global demand more than it increases global agricultural supply, and partly because some countries that currently tax agriculture have high emission intensities. Policies that directly reduce emission intensities yield much larger reductions in emissions than those that reduce emission intensities by increasing overall productivity because overall productivity growth creates a rebound effect by reducing product prices and expanding output. A key challenge is designing policy reforms that effectively reduce emissions without jeopardizing other key goals such as improving nutrition and reducing poverty. While the scenario analysis in this paper does not propose any particular policy reform, it does provide an important building block towards a full understanding the impacts of repurposed agricultural support measures on mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change. That full analysis is being undertaken in subsequent work, which will also take account of land-use change and alternative forms of agricultural policy support to align objectives of food security, farmers’ income security, production efficiency and resilience, and environmental protection. |
| Keywords: | WORLD; agricultural policies; policies; modelling; models; agriculture; greenhouse gas emissions; subsidies; OECD; climate change; land use; agricultural production; MIRAGRODEP; agricultural incentives |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1954&r=all |
| By: | G.T. Abate; Tanguy Bernard (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Simrin Makhija; David J. Spielman |
| Abstract: | Despite a rapidly growing enthusiasm around applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to smallholder agriculture in developing countries, there are still many questions on the effectiveness of ICT-based approaches. This study assesses the effects of videomediated agricultural extension service provision on farmers' knowledge and adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices in Ethiopia. The study focuses on a program piloted by the Government of Ethiopia and Digital Green and poses three questions. First, to what extent does video-mediated extension lead to increased uptake of improved agricultural technologies and practices by smallholder farmers? Second, is video-mediated extension targeted at both spouses of the household more effective than when only targeted at the (typically male) household head? Third, how cost-effective is a video-mediated approach to extension provision? The study explores these questions with a randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the video-mediated approach as applied to three priority crops (teff, wheat, maize) and three technologies (row planting, precise seeding rates, and urea dressing). The trial was implemented in 347 kebeles (village clusters) during the 2017 meher (rainy) season in Ethiopia's four most agriculturally important regional states. Analysis of data from our surveys of 2,422 households and 896 extension agents indicates that the video-mediated approach is more effective than the conventional approach in achieving several key outcomes. Specifically, we find that videomediated extension reaches a wider audience than the conventional approach and leads to higher levels of agricultural knowledge and uptake of technologies in those kebeles randomly assigned to the program. While our results do point to greater participation and greater knowledge of female spouses in kebeles where both male and female spouses were targeted by the program, we do not find clear evidence that the more inclusive approach translated into higher uptake of the subject technologies and practices. Finally, we find that the video-mediated approach becomes less costly as the scale of operation increases. |
| Abstract: | Despite a rapidly growing enthusiasm around applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to smallholder agriculture in developing countries, there are still many questions on the effectiveness of ICT-based approaches. This study assesses the effects of videomediated agricultural extension service provision on farmers' knowledge and adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices in Ethiopia. The study focuses on a program piloted by the Government of Ethiopia and Digital Green and poses three questions. First, to what extent does video-mediated extension lead to increased uptake of improved agricultural technologies and practices by smallholder farmers? Second, is video-mediated extension targeted at both spouses of the household more effective than when only targeted at the (typically male) household head? Third, how cost-effective is a video-mediated approach to extension provision? The study explores these questions with a randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the video-mediated approach as applied to three priority crops (teff, wheat, maize) and three technologies (row planting, precise seeding rates, and urea dressing). The trial was implemented in 347 kebeles (village clusters) during the 2017 meher (rainy) season in Ethiopia's four most agriculturally important regional states. Analysis of data from our surveys of 2,422 households and 896 extension agents indicates that the video-mediated approach is more effective than the conventional approach in achieving several key outcomes. Specifically, we find that videomediated extension reaches a wider audience than the conventional approach and leads to higher levels of agricultural knowledge and uptake of technologies in those kebeles randomly assigned to the program. While our results do point to greater participation and greater knowledge of female spouses in kebeles where both male and female spouses were targeted by the program, we do not find clear evidence that the more inclusive approach translated into higher uptake of the subject technologies and practices. Finally, we find that the video-mediated approach becomes less costly as the scale of operation increases. |
| Keywords: | Crop management,Smallholders,Farmers,agricultural extension,information and communication technologies (icts),crop management,smallholders,farmers,Information and communication technologies (icts),Agricultural extension,Africa,South of Sahara,Ethiopa East Africa |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02879823&r=all |
| By: | Balana, Bedru; Oyeyemi, Motunrayo |
| Abstract: | The agricultural sector in Nigeria is characterized by low productivity that is driven by low use of modern agricultural technologies, such as improved seed, chemical fertilizer, agrochemicals, and agricultural machinery. Poor access to credit is claimed to be one of the key barriers to adoption of these technologies. This study examines the nature of credit constraints among smallholder farmers – whether smallholders are credit constrained or not and the extent to which credit constraints emanate from supply-side or demand-side factors. Using multinomial probit and seeming unrelated simultaneous equations econometric models with data from the 2018/19 Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) for Nigeria, the study investigates the factors affecting credit access and the effects of these credit constraints on adoption of four agricultural technologies – inorganic fertilizer, improved seed, agrochemicals, and mechanization. The results show that about 27 percent of survey households were found to be credit constrained – 12.8 percent due to supply-side factors and 14.2 percent due to demand-side factors. Lack of access to information and communication technology, extension services, and insurance coverage are the major demand-side factors negatively affecting smallholder’s access to credit. Registered land tiles and livestock ownership enhance credit access. Credit constraints manifests themselves differentially on the adoption of different agricultural technologies. While adoption of inorganic fertilizer and improved seed are significantly affected by credit constraints from both the supply and the demand-sides; use of agricultural machinery is affected only by demand-side factors, while use of agrochemicals is not affected from either supply or demand-side credit factors. From a policy perspective, our findings indicate that improving credit access via supply-side interventions alone may not necessarily boost use of modern agricultural technologies by smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Demand-side factors, such as access to information, extension services, and insurance cover, should equally be addressed to mitigate the credit constraints faced by smallholders and increase their adoption of modern agricultural technologies and improve their productivity. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; credit; agriculture; technology; smallholders; agricultural extension; agricultural technology; credit access; adoption; demand-side constraints; supply-side constraints |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:nsspwp:64&r=all |
| By: | Hannah Ameye; Joachim De Weerdt; John Gibson |
| Abstract: | The nutrition transition in developing countries has increased interest in moving the measurement and analysis of nutritional choice beyond calories to a more complete understanding of macro- and micronutrient consumption. To help move the literature on data collection forward we randomly assigned six different survey modules to measure food consumption across Tanzania, three using diaries and three using recall methods. These modules were chosen to reflect the variety of modules currently in use in multi-purpose household surveys collecting food consumption expenditures in some detail at national scale. They differ by survey observation period, by length of the food recall list, by type of survey reporter (individual reporting or a single reporter per household) and by frequency of interviewer visits. From these data we calculate the percentage consumed relative to daily recommended intakes of calories, protein, fats, sugars, fiber and 16 micronutrients, taking into account age and gender. We also calculate minimum cost diets in each region, using linear programming, and cost-of-basic needs food poverty lines, the prevalence and depth of food poverty according to these lines, and the cost of targeted transfers designed to eliminate food poverty. The nutrition transition in developing countries has increased interest in moving the measurement and analysis of nutritional choice beyond calories to a more complete understanding of macro- and micronutrient consumption. To help move the literature on data collection forward we randomly assigned six different survey modules to measure food consumption across Tanzania, three using diaries and three using recall methods. These modules were chosen to reflect the variety of modules currently in use in multi-purpose household surveys collecting food consumption expenditures in some detail at national scale. They differ by survey observation period, by length of the food recall list, by type of survey reporter (individual reporting or a single reporter per household) and by frequency of interviewer visits. From these data we calculate the percentage consumed relative to daily recommended intakes of calories, protein, fats, sugars, fiber and 16 micronutrients, taking into account age and gender. We also calculate minimum cost diets in each region, using linear programming, and cost-of-basic needs food poverty lines, the prevalence and depth of food poverty according to these lines, and the cost of targeted transfers designed to eliminate food poverty. |
| Keywords: | Consumption, Household surveys, Nutrition, Poverty |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:42120&r=all |
| By: | Bryan, Elizabeth; Hagos, Fitsum; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Gemeda, Demie Abera; Yimam, Seid |
| Abstract: | Small-scale irrigation (SSI) provides great benefits to farmers in terms of increased yields and profits, better food and nutrition security and greater resilience to climate shocks. Ethiopia has high potential for expanding SSI and has invested considerably in this area in recent years. Despite these investments, several challenges to further expansion of irrigation technologies remain. Different stakeholders in the country play important roles in overcoming these barriers to further scale technologies for SSI. This paper explores institutional arrangements for the diffusion of small-scale irrigation technologies by mapping the landscape of key actors involved, their interconnections, and their influence. This paper draws on an analysis of stakeholder data collected through two participatory workshops in Ethiopia, one at the national level and one at the Oromia regional level, using the Net-Map approach. Results show the dominance of government actors in the diffusion of SSI at both the national and regional levels, while most private sector and NGO actors remain in the periphery. Participants in both workshops highlighted the need for increased financing services to support the adoption of SSI and measures aimed at increasing the supply of high-quality irrigation equipment, such as modern water lifting technologies. One notable difference between the national and regional results was that at the regional level, farmers, and to some extent traders and input suppliers, were considered to be more influential in the diffusion of irrigation technologies, while they were considered marginal actors at the national level. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; irrigation; resilience; technology; stakeholders; Net-Map; small-scale irrigation; scaling |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1950&r=all |
| By: | Ogunniyi, Adebayo; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Balana, Bedru; Andam, Kwaw S. |
| Abstract: | Agricultural extension plays a number of important roles in the growth and transformation of the agricultural sector, including improving agricultural productivity and food security and reducing hunger and malnutrition. Extension programs and interventions that will achieve significant impacts in terms of behavior and practice changes, as well as agricultural productivity increase, will succeed as a result of suitable policy formulation and an effective implementation process. Ultimately, agricultural extension reform requires policy vision and determination and a state-level strategy that can be implemented. This paper documents issues, challenges, constraints, and potential solutions and opportunities in implementing the national extension policy (NEP) at the state level in Nigeria, using Cross River State as a case study. We use both quantitative and qualitative methods, in the form of descriptive statistical analysis and an inclusive consultative process with a focus on the multistakeholder participatory model, respectively. The descriptive results show that, generally, there is low access to agricultural extension service across commodities and their respective values chains in Cross River State. We also document interesting insights from the multistakeholder consultative process. We find that collaboration and partnership between private and public extension service providers is key to developing a sustainable extension, advisory, and support service in Cross River State. We also found that coordination and standardization of the activities of the extension service providers is a way to avoid pollution of the agricultural innovation system in the state. Funding of extension services is another important factor affecting the effective implementation of the NEP. We therefore suggest that agricultural extension services can be funded through decentralization, involvement of farmers’ associations and nongovernmental organizations, contracting out of extension services, public-private partnerships, privatization, and embedding advisory services in other types of contracts. The results of this study further validate our approach of using multistakeholder engagement at the state level as an effective and insightful method of implementing the NEP at the state level. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; extension policies; mixed model method; implementation; qualitative analysis; quantitative analysis; extension programmes; ;multistakeholder consultation; defederalization |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1951&r=all |
| By: | Liam Wren-Lewis (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Luis Becerra-Valbuena (INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Kenneth Houngbedji (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Many countries are formalizing customary land rights systems with the aim of improving agricultural productivity and facilitating community forest management. This paper evaluates the impact on tree cover loss of the first randomized control trial of such a program. Around 70,000 landholdings were demarcated and registered in randomly chosen villages in Benin, a country with a high rate of deforestation driven by demand for agricultural land. We estimate that the program reduced the area of forest loss in treated villages, with no evidence of anticipatory deforestation or negative spillovers to other areas. Surveys indicate that possible mechanisms include an increase in tenure security and an improvement in the effectiveness of community forest management. Overall, our results suggest that formalizing customary land rights in rural areas can be an effective way to reduce forest loss while improving agricultural investments. |
| Keywords: | deforestation,Community Forest Management,agricultural investments |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02898187&r=all |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Balana, Bedru; Smart, Jenny; Edeh, Hyacinth; Oyeyemi, Motunrayo; Andam, Kwaw S. |
| Abstract: | Agricultural development has long been considered an important driver of overall economic development in developing countries such as Nigeria. Whether increasing public expenditures on agriculture (PEA) can directly improve broad dimensions of household well-being has continued to be debated. In addition, there has been growing interest in the economic flexibility of households to switch between nonfarm and farming activities. Such flexibility can potentially enhance the resilience of households to shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic in today’s rapidly changing socioeconomic environments. Direct evidence of the impact of PEA on broad development outcomes is also important in informing regional initiatives aiming to use PEA as an instrument for overall food security enhancement and poverty reduction in Africa. Using state- and local government area (LGA)-level PEA figures and household data in Nigeria, this study aims to provide initial evidence at the household level in Nigeria. The findings suggest that greater PEA shares have positive effects on various development outcomes at the household level, including consumption, poverty reduction, nonfarm capital investments, and household dietary diversity. The findings also suggest that greater PEA shares are likely to help farm households enhance their economic flexibility. These findings are consistent with the hypotheses of positive linkages between PEA and agricultural outcomes, and linkages between agricultural and nonagricultural outcomes, often advocated in the literature. PEA should be increased by increasing its share of total public expenditures through conscious efforts to reallocate existing resources, rather than trying to increase it by increasing the overall size of public expenditures. Furthermore, it remains important to identify the appropriate sources (for example, spending by LGA or state) and types of PEA (for example, recurrent or capital spending) for particular development outcomes. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; welfare; households; public expenditure; agriculture; resilience; flexibility; Coronavirus; coronavirus disease; Coronavirinae; panel data analysis; development outcomes; household-level analysis; development outcomes; public expenditures on agriculture (PEA); Covid-19; economic resilience |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1955&r=all |
| By: | Yoshioka, Nagisa; Yokoo, Hide-Fumi; Saengavut, Voravee; Bumrungkit, Siraprapa |
| Abstract: | Understanding the triggers of individual adaptation behavior is critical for empowering those who are highly vulnerable to climate change. This study explores the effect of ambiguity aversion on adaptation behaviors in the context of climate change. We conduct a field survey on 230 rice farmers in northeastern Thailand to examine the association between the elicited ambiguity aversion and the implementation of climate change adaptation. We find that ambiguity aversion does not encourage farmers’ adaptation behaviors and can even discourage the uptake of adaptation strategies. The role of ambiguity aversion varies depending on the characteristics of the adaptation strategy: Ambiguity-averse farmers are less likely to adopt adaptation strategies that entail shifts from the status quo. A deliberate approach is needed to understand farmers’ adaptation behaviors outside the laboratory setting and to reduce ambiguity in the results concerning adaptation to increasing climate risk. |
| Keywords: | ambiguity aversion, climate change adaptation, Thailand, weather index insurance |
| JEL: | O13 Q12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:econdp:2020-06&r=all |
| By: | Alessandro Passero; Filippo Randelli |
| Abstract: | Faced with increasing risks from climate change, food systems will need to transition away from dominant industrial paradigms and move towards a more sustainable way of producing, distributing, and consuming food. One solution or one side alone though might not have the desired systemic change or might not capture the full complexity of food systems. To go beyond two known criticisms of local food sustainable initiatives, i.e. to be rather small and to be developed outside policy frameworks and/or in stark opposition to current food systems, in this paper we argue to look at new meso-spaces of network relations at local level where community members, professionals, and governments get together to share knowledge, deliberate, and collectively devise place-based strategies to address complex food systems issues. To completely understand these spaces, this article provides a conceptual framework of analysis combining ideas from environmental governance, grassroots innovations, and diverse economies. |
| Keywords: | food systems, sustainability transitions, governance, grassroots innovations, diverse economies |
| JEL: | R11 O13 O44 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2020_09.rdf&r=all |
| By: | Hameed, Abdul; Padda, Ihtsham ul Haq; Salam, Abdul |
| Abstract: | Food insecurity is the primary concern of developing countries as food deficiencies contribute to stunting and mortality in children below the age of five. This study evaluates the impact of households’ socioeconomic factors on food insecurity at national and regional level, using the HIES 2015-16 data for Pakistan. The logistic regression results depict that 38% of the households at national level experienced calorie deficiency with 40.5% in rural and 36.7% in urban areas. Households with a caloric intake deficiency in the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh are relatively higher. The socioeconomic analysis shows that age and gender (male) of the household head are positively related to food insecurity, whereas the education has a negative effect. The food insecurity in female-headed households is less likely than in male-headed households. The household size and overcrowding ratio (persons per room) in our estimated model have positive signs. Agriculture related indicators have inverse relationship with food insecurity. Poverty is also positively linked to food insecurity. In our study, safe drinking water and fuel for cooking have negative effects on food insecurity. Sanitation facilities, including toilets, are also negatively related. Present study suggests that the relationship between food insecurity and socioeconomic development should be re-examined by policy makers and government agencies. The elementary requirements of life, such as safe drinking water, fuel for cooking and sanitation, are crucial to achieving zero hunger policies. In addition, improvements in agricultural segments are vital to the rural economy and social development. The reduction in food insecurity is therefore closely related to improving farming segments, including livestock and poultry . |
| Keywords: | food insecurity; Socioeconomic; regional analysis, Pakistan |
| JEL: | O1 O12 Q1 Q18 |
| Date: | 2020–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:102290&r=all |
| By: | Allen, Summer L.; Delgado, Luciana |
| Abstract: | This study, supported by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), obtained information on a range of topics associated with food security and nutrition, gender, and water access in selected villages of Honduras. The data collection prioritized a set of communities of interest to the civil society organizations that are part of the Voice for Change Program in Honduras. The data collection, done in 2018, covered 647 households across the departments of Choluteca, Lempira, and Ocotepeque. Most households surveyed face high levels of food insecurity. Only 26% of the women between 12 and 49 years are receiving the minimum dietary diversity. Access to water and sanitation is also limited with 30% of the households sourcing their water from a well or river and 51% not treating the water before drinking it. According to the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) only 34% of women sampled are considered empowered. The survey results indicate that the biggest hurdles to women’s empowerment are the amount of time spent working and limited decision-making power regarding accessing credit and productive activities. |
| Keywords: | HONDURAS; CENTRAL AMERICA; AMERICAS; gender; women; food security; nutrition; water; households; hygiene; women's empowerment; A-WEAI; gender empowerment; dietary diversity |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1949&r=all |
| By: | Deo-Gracias Houndolo Author-Name: Assogba Hodonou Author-Name: Dislène Senan Sossou Author-Name: Rahamatou Hamidou Yacoubou |
| Abstract: | We tested a novel way of encouraging the adoption of improved maize seeds in Benin. In the treatment group, farmers were provided with intensive agricultural-extension support and a full package of inputs to test on one of their plots. In the control group, farmers were offered improved seeds, and agricultural-extension agents gave them only limited support. Our treatment was designed to encourage farmers to experiment with improved seeds by providing intensive technical support and free inputs throughout the maize crop season. Using a cluster randomized design and data on farmers’ experimental plots, we found a 23% increase in maize yields with our intervention as compared to the less resource-intensive policy solution. Further analyses suggested that it was not enough to expose farmers to a one-time resource-intensive model because the impact on their production was not long-lasting. |
| Keywords: | Adoption, agricultural technologies, maize production, randomized control trial, Benin |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:piercr:2020-15&r=all |
| By: | Motkuri, Venkatanarayana |
| Abstract: | The present note looks into production, supply and consumption of vegetables in India and impact of prices in its consumption. |
| Keywords: | Vegetables, Food, Food Prices, India |
| JEL: | Q11 Q18 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:101979&r=all |
| By: | Anais Lamour (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Subervie Julie (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | We use primary data from a choice experiment carried out with 207 coffee farmers in Costa Rica, in order to study their willingness to adopt various agroforestry systems under various types of support. We test four adaptation strategies that are based on resistant coffee varieties introduction, timber tree species production and/or shade tree density increase. Revealed preferences suggest that most of the respondents do value the introduction of resistant varieties. They are willing to plant twice the number of trees in their plantations when these are combined with resistant varieties. Conversely, all agroforestry systems requiring timber trees to be planted are chosen significantly less often and on average, their adoption would require a compensation scheme. We moreover find that a large majority of respondents is very responsive to non-monetary rewards, namely a subsidized credit, a free trial of resistant coffee seedlings or technical assistance. We conclude that each of these incentivescould be used as an incentive to induce land use changes |
| Keywords: | Payment for Environmental Services,Non-monetary Incentives,Climate change,Choice Experiment,Coffee,Costa Rica |
| Date: | 2020–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02892085&r=all |
| By: | Douadia Bougherara (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Margaux Lapierre (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Raphaële Préget (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Alexandre Sauquet (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Nearly all Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) offer stable annual payments over theduration of the contract. Yet AES are often intended to be a transition tool, designed totrigger changes in farming practices rather than to support them indefinitely. A decreasingsequence of payments thus appears particularly attractive as a reward structure for AES.The standard discounted utility model supports this notion by predicting that individualsshould prefer a decreasing sequence of payments if the total sum of outcomes is con-stant. Nevertheless, the literature shows that numerous mechanisms, such as increasingproductivity, anticipatory pleasure, and loss aversion, can, by contrast, incline individualsto favor an increasing sequence of payments. To understand the preferences of farmersfor different payment sequences, we propose a review of the mechanisms highlighted bythe literature in psychology and economics. We then test farmers' preferences for stable,increasing or decreasing payments through a choice experiment (CE) survey. In this sur-vey, farmers are offered hypothetical contracts rewarding the planting of cover crops. Toreduce hypothetical bias, the choice cards were designed following repeated interactionswith local stakeholders. One hundred twenty-three French farmers, about 15% of thosecontacted, responded to the survey. Overall, farmers do not present a clear willingnessto depart from the usual stable payments. Nevertheless, 17% declare a preference for in-creasing sequences of payment. Moreover, we find a significant rejection of decreasingpayments by farmers with a lower discount rate or farmers more willing to take risks thanthe median farmer, contradicting the discounted utility model |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment,Cover crops,Farming practices,Sequences of outcomes,Agri-Environmental Schemes,Discounted utility |
| Date: | 2020–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02892858&r=all |
| By: | Soria, Krista M; Horgos, Bonnie; Jones-White, Daniel; Chirikov, Igor |
| Abstract: | One in five undergraduates (22%) and graduate and professional students (19%) enrolled at large public research universities experienced food insecurity, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 31,687 undergraduate students at nine universities and 16,453 graduate and professional students from ten universities during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from the survey suggest that undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from underrepresented and marginalized backgrounds experienced significantly higher rates of food insecurity compared to their peers. Specifically Black, Hispanic and Latinx, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and international students; low-income, poor, or working-class students; students who are caregivers to adults during the pandemic; first-generation students; and students who are transgender, nonbinary, bisexual, pansexual, or queer all experienced significantly higher rates of food insecurity during the pandemic compared to their peers. |
| Keywords: | Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2020–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:cshedu:qt761144mh&r=all |
| By: | Baulch, Bob; Botha, Rosemary |
| Abstract: | Price band schemes have been used in many countries to try and set minimum and maximum prices between which staple food prices vary. This is typically done using a buffer stock scheme, which sells grain from a reserve when retail prices are higher than a pre-determined ceiling price and buys grain to store in the reserve when prices fall below a pre-determined floor price. Malawi has attempted to stabilize the price of its main staple, maize, for many years. Since 1999, this has been the dual responsibility of the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), which manages the nation’s Strategic Grain Reserve, and the Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (ADMARC), an agricultural marketing parastatal with an extensive network of depots and warehouses throughout the country. The precise division of responsibilities for maize price stabilization between the NFRA and ADMARC is unclear, although it is ADMARC which has the mandate to buy from farmers and sell to consumers while NFRA’s principal role is to manage the Strategic Grain Reserve. This note updates previous IFPRI analysis which examined, based on historical maize prices, how often ADMARC would need to intervene in different markets to defend a plausible range of ceiling and floor prices. The floor price corresponds to the minimum farmgate price announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS) at the beginning of each harvest season while the ceiling price corresponds to the sales price of maize at ADMARC depots. The price band is then the gap between the floor and ceiling price. To defend a set floor price, ADMARC would need to buy off any excess supply on the market, thereby creating an upward pressure on maize prices. Conversely, to ensure the ceiling prices are not exceeded, the NFRA would need to release maize for ADMARC to sell on the market to create a downward pressure and bring the prices down to the ceiling price. International experience indicates that defending floor/ceiling prices in all circumstances is a very expensive proposition. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:masspn:38&r=all |
| By: | Henningsen, Geraldine; Wiese, Catharina |
| Abstract: | Most environmental policies that aim to encourage households to invest in more climate- friendly technologies and retrofits, e.g., solar panels, electric cars, or attic insulation, are broadly targeted and do not take households’ individual investment behaviour into account. Scholars have, therefore, emphasised the need to account for household heterogeneity in policy design in order to ensure effective and efficient policy outcomes. However, such a policy design requires the existence of easily accessible household characteristics, which can reliably and consistently explain households’ investment behaviour in a variety of investment scenarios. Using the vast empirical literature on the determinants of households’ investments in energy-efficient home improvements as a case study, we conduct a meta-analysis to (i) determine the magnitude of the effects of easily accessible household characteristics, and; (ii) test the stability of these effects under a variety of circumstances. We integrate the empirical results from 63 publications that investigate the impact of socio-economic characteristics on households’ energy-efficiency investments and examine potential model- and sample-specific factors to explain the variation in the estimated effects. Our findings for the household characteristics: income, age, education, household size, and homeownership, show that significant effects only exist for some of these characteristics, with income and homeownership showing the greatest impact. Furthermore, the results confirm a strong situational component in the effect of these household characteristics on households’ investment decisions, which challenges the practicality of tailored policy design. |
| Keywords: | Household heterogeneity, Environmental policy, Climate, Meta analysis |
| JEL: | D10 D11 D12 Q40 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:101701&r=all |
| By: | Quentin Stoeffler; Michael Carter; Catherine Guirkinger; Wouter Gelade |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether agricultural insurance can boost investment by small scale farmers in West Africa. We conduct a randomized evaluation to analyze the impacts of index insurance for cotton farmers in Burkina Faso. We find no impact of insurance on cotton, but, consistent with microeconomic theory, we find significant spillover impacts on investment in other agricultural activities. Furthermore, the effects of insurance payouts on farmers hit by a shock confirm the potential of index insurance as a risk-management tool. However, we uncover important flaws in the implementation of the project that limited its impacts. Overall, this study suggests a promising role of index insurance for stimulating investment, but also draws attention to key challenges for an efficient delivery of insurance to small farmers. Finally, the hybrid, mixed methods RCT design that we employ offers lessons for the evaluation of complex interventions where trust, understanding and timing are all important. |
| JEL: | G22 I38 O12 O13 Q12 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27564&r=all |
| By: | Arsel, M. |
| Abstract: | The elevation of sustainability from being one of the more peripheral goals in the MDGs to titular status in the SDGs could be interpreted as a sign that the international development sector has finally recognized the gravity of the ecological challenge facing humanity. Similarly, the geographic and conceptual shift from the MDGs’ focus on the developing world to SDGs’ global framing could be read as an acknowledgement that sustainability is not a problem that needs to be tackled ‘out there’ but systemic in nature. Nevertheless, the paper argues that the SDGs are unlikely to bring about the necessary transformations as long as the primacy of economic growth is not challenged. This cannot be achieved by simply recognizing the validity of environmental limits and adapting a degrowth position. It is also necessary to recognize that transformation to sustainability is inherently a conflictual process. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable Development Goals, limits, degrowth, environmental conflict, Earthrise |
| Date: | 2020–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:euriss:129596&r=all |
| By: | Deininger,Klaus W.; Ali,Daniel Ayalew; Kussul,Nataliia; Lavreniuk,Mykola; Nivievskyi,Oleg |
| Abstract: | To overcome the constraints for policy and practice posed by limited availability of data on crop rotation, this paper applies machine learning to freely available satellite imagery to identify the rotational practices of more than 7,000 villages in Ukraine. Rotation effects estimated based on combining these data with survey-based yield information point toward statistically significant and economically meaningful effects that differ from what has been reported in the literature, highlighting the value of this approach. Independently derived indices of vegetative development and soil water content produce similar results, not only supporting the robustness of the results, but also suggesting that the opportunities for spatial and temporal disaggregation inherent in such data offer tremendous unexploited opportunities for policy-relevant analysis. |
| Date: | 2020–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9306&r=all |
| By: | Paulina Concha Larrauri; Upmanu Lall |
| Abstract: | Frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) is a commodity traded in the International Commodity Exchange. The FCOJ future price volatility is high because the world's orange production is concentrated in a few places, which results in extreme sensitivity to weather and disease. Most of the oranges produced in the United States are from Florida. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issues orange production forecasts on the second week of each month from October to July. The October forecast in particular seems to affect FCOJ price volatility. We assess how a prediction of the directionality and magnitude of the error of the USDA October forecast could affect the decision making process of multiple FCOJ market participants, and if the "production uncertainty" of the forecast could be reduced by incorporating other climate variables. The models developed open up the opportunity to assess the application of the resulting probabilistic forecasts of the USDA production forecast error on the trading decisions of the different FCOJ stakeholders, and to perhaps consider the inclusion of climate predictors in the USDA forecast. |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2007.03015&r=all |
| By: | Zaourak,Gabriel Roberto |
| Abstract: | What is the efficiency cost of rent-seeking activities in Argentina? This paper quantitatively shows that rent-seeking activities in the form of bribes have aggregate effects through two channels. First, they generate misallocation of resources across firms because they prevent resources from flowing to the most productive firms, reallocating resources instead to those that succeed at rent-seeking. Second, such activities affect the allocation of resources within firms because rent-seeking drives resources away from innovation. These two channels can help in understanding why Argentina has more misallocation across firms and less investment in research and development, compared with developed economies, explaining a sizable portion of Argentina's low productivity. |
| Keywords: | International Trade and Trade Rules,Employment and Unemployment,Innovation,National Governance,Government Policies,Quality of Life&Leisure,Social Analysis,Youth and Governance,Labor Markets,Rural Labor Markets |
| Date: | 2020–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9293&r=all |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Smart, Jenny; Edeh, Hyacinth; Oyeyemi, Motunrayo; Balana, Bedru; Andam, Kwaw S. |
| Abstract: | Growing agriculture remains important for countries like Nigeria where, despite economic transformation at sectoral levels, a significant share of employment still originates from the agricultural sector. The question has continued to be debated of whether increasing Public Expenditures on Agriculture (PEA) is the way to grow agriculture. The needed evidence-base for this debate, while gradually growing, has remained insufficient in African countries, including Nigeria. This has been particularly the case as regards to evidence on the effects of PEA at household levels. This study attempted to partially fill this gap, using state and local government area (LGA)-level PEA figures and household data in Nigeria. The findings suggest that PEA has positive effects on household-level agricultural outcomes in various dimensions, including overall production levels, profits, access to public extension services or subsidized fertilizer, as well as private investments and, in some cases, agricultural mechanization. These patterns generally underscore the hypothesis that increasing direct support to the agricultural sector is likely to have greater effects on agricultural outcomes, compared to alternative strategies of developing agriculture indirectly through the support of other social-sectors like education, health, social safety-nets, among others. Increasing PEA by increasing the agricultural share of public expenditures (PE), while keeping the overall size of PE constant, is found to be particularly effective, compared to alternative approaches of increasing the overall size of PE while keeping agricultural share unchanged. Such patterns may suggest that Ricardian Equivalence partly holds. Furthermore, different agricultural outcomes are found to respond to PEA from different sources (e.g., LGA or State), and types (e.g., recurrent or capital spending). Enhancing research capacity to identify appropriate sources and types of PEA for particular agricultural outcomes remains important. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; public expenditure; agriculture; households; employment; spending; public sector; panel data analysis; household-level analysis; agricultural employment; Public Expenditures on Agriculture (PEA) |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1952&r=all |
| By: | Julia M. Puaschunder (The New School, Department of Economics, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, New York USA) |
| Abstract: | Mapping Climate Justice proposes a 3-dimensional environmental justice approach to share economic benefits and the burden of climate change right, just and fair around the globe. Scientific data is backed by ethical imperatives. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) gains and losses of a warming globe are captured to be distributed unequal around the world. The ethical climatorial imperative demands for an equalization of the gains of climate change around the globe in order to offset losses incurred due to climate change (Kant 1783/1993; Puaschunder 2017b, c; Rawls 1971). First, climate justice within a country should pay tribute to the fact that low- and high-income households carry the same burden proportional to their disposable income, for instance, enabled through a progressive carbon taxation, consumption tax to curb harmful behavior and/or corporate inheritance tax to reap benefits of past wealth accumulation that may have caused climate change (Puaschunder 2017c). Secondly, fair climate change change burden sharing between countries ensures those countries benefiting more from a warmer environment also bear a higher responsibility regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts (Puaschunder 2019). Thirdly, climate justice over time is proposed in an innovative climate change burden sharing bonds strategy, which distributes the benefits and burdens of a warming earth Pareto-optimal among generations (Puaschunder 2016a). All these recommendations are aimed at sharing the burden but also the benefits of climate change within society in an economically efficient, legally equitable and practically feasible way now and also between generations. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Climate Change, Climate Change Gains, Climate Change Losses, Climate Justice, Industry, Macroeconomic Modelling, Service, Taxation, United States, World |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:kpaper:0024jmp&r=all |
| By: | Joseph E. Aldy; Matthew Kotchen; Mary F. Evans; Meredith Fowlie; Arik Levinson; Karen Palmer |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the treatment of co-benefits in benefit-cost analysis of federal air quality regulations. Using a comprehensive data set on all major Clean Air Act rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency over the period 1997-2019, we show that (1) co-benefits make up a significant share of the monetized benefits; (2) among the categories of co-benefits, those associated with reductions in fine particulate matter are the most significant; and (3) co-benefits have been pivotal to the quantified net benefit calculation in exactly half of cases. Motivated by these trends, we develop a simple conceptual framework that illustrates a critical point: co-benefits are simply a semantic category of benefits that should be included in benefit-cost analyses. We also address common concerns about whether the inclusion of co-benefits is problematic because of alternative regulatory approaches that may be more cost-effective and the possibility for double counting. |
| JEL: | D61 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27603&r=all |
| By: | Hamed Sambo (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - UP13 - Université Paris 13) |
| Abstract: | In most countries, migration is a common phenomenon that can have both positive and negative effects on the living conditions of households in the locality of origin. This paper offers new evidence concerning the effect of migration on the food security of households left behind. The evidence is provided for Ethiopia, a country where internal migration is more predominant, and where food insecurity is still acute. The analysis is based on the 2013/2014 and 2015/2016 Ethiopian Socioeconomic Surveys (ESS), which are both nationally representative. In order to address the self-selection bias of migration, the estimation strategy used relies on the Heckman two-stage estimate and several robustness tests. The result indicates that migration negatively affects household per capita calorie intake while it leads to an improvement of their dietary diversity. However, the overall result is more inclined towards a negative effect of migration on the food security of migrant households in Ethiopia. Policies aimed at improving food security in Ethiopia should therefore consider those households among the priority targets. |
| Keywords: | Migration,Food security,Households,Ethiopia |
| Date: | 2020–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02881695&r=all |
| By: | Beghin, John C.; Schweizer, Heidi |
| Abstract: | This article tracks the recent evolution of salient trade costs in agricultural and food markets. We review ways to measure costs and conditions for policy prescriptions to reduce them when feasible. We pay attention to transportation costs, border measures, and standard-like nontariff measures. By pointing out limitations in current approaches and recent developments, we hope to improve our understanding of their effects. We suggest promising directions for further research and investigation of agricultural trade costs, including on the emerging debate on gene-editing and trade, transportation costs, and mainstreaming recent approaches in disentangling effects of trade costs on supply, demand, trade, prices, and welfare. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2020–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nbaesp:304761&r=all |
| By: | Joachim Vandercasteelen; Luc Christiaensen |
| Abstract: | Post-Harvest Losses (PHL) are considered to pose important economic losses for farmers in developing countries. This paper examines the effects of an intervention in Tanzania, aimed at reducing PHL of maize growing farmers during maize storage. Farmers were invited to attend a training on best practices in post-harvest maize management, and a randomized subset of trainees received the opportunity to buy an improved storage facility (silos) at a substantially discounted price. Data collected at 30 days and 90 days after harvest, however, do not point to significant impacts of the treatments offered to the farmers. Receiving training on best practices improved stated knowledge, but training nor the opportunity to purchase an improved storage had a significant effect on maize storage and sales behavior, physical PHL during storage, or the quality of the stored maize. The paper explores potential explanations, and provides some policy recommendations for future learning and decision-making on how to address PHL issues in developing countries. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:42020&r=all |
| By: | Hughes, David W. |
| Abstract: | Analyzed here are responses to a U.S. Census Bureau survey of U.S. businesses to provide a snapshot regarding the changing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business activity. The analysis focused on small agricultural processing and marketing firms. The small business pulse survey is being conducted for nonfarm, single-location employment businesses with at least one but less than 500 employers and with annual receipts of at least $1,000. The sampled businesses include all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. While the survey has been conducted on a weekly basis since April 26 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020), the emphasis here is on data originally analyzed in Hughes (2020) for the week of May 17-23, 2020, versus data for the week of June 21-27, 2020 (the latter being the most recently reported data at the time of this publication). While the survey asked several questions, all reported values are for a single question: “Overall, how has this business been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?” As in the earlier study, the discussion is limited to sectors that process or market agricultural products in either the food (e.g., food manufacturers or grocery stores) or nonfood (e.g., textile mills or paper manufacturers) areas. For comparison, the impact across all surveyed businesses for both periods is also reported. This document is organized as follows. First, the June 21-27 survey results are analyzed with the emphasis on how sectors involved in processing or marketing agricultural products compare to survey results reported across all U.S. small businesses. Second, the impact of COVID-19 on business activities for 11 sectors examined in May 17-23, 2020, versus June 17-23, 2020, are compared. Third, conclusions are drawn. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2020–09–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:utaeer:304963&r=all |
| By: | Mario BIGGERI; Alessandro CARRARO; Federico CIANI; Donato ROMANO |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2020_08.rdf&r=all |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Win, Myat Thida; Masias, Ian |
| Abstract: | Agricultural equipment retailers (ER) in Myanmar were originally interviewed by telephone in late May 2020 to determine how their businesses were being affected by COVID-19 related restrictions. The results of that survey were published in Myanmar Strategy Support Program Policy Note 09. To trace the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economic activities, a second phone survey of ERs was done in late June 2020. This Policy Note reports on the results of this second survey. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, equipment, farm equipment, supply chains, policies, sales, arid zones, Covid-19, retailers, agricultural equipment retailers (ERs), agricultural equipment sales, equipment availability, equipment price |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:16&r=all |
| By: | Richard Hornbeck |
| Abstract: | The 1930's American Dust Bowl created archetypal "Dust Bowl migrants," refugees from environmental collapse and economic upheaval. I examine this archetype, comparing migration from more-eroded counties and less-eroded counties to distinguish Dust Bowl migrants from other migrants in this era. Migrants from more-eroded counties were more "negatively selected," in years of education, than other migrants who were "positively selected." These Dust Bowl migrants struggled economically, especially in California. Despite migrants' struggles, however, I estimate strikingly modest impacts of the Dust Bowl on average incomes that contrast with its enduring impacts on agricultural land. |
| JEL: | N32 N52 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27656&r=all |
| By: | Pascaline Dupas; Basimenye Nhlema; Zachary Wagner; Aaron Wolf; Emily Wroe |
| Abstract: | Using data from an 18-month randomized trial, we estimate large and sustained impacts on water purification and child health of a program providing monthly coupons for free water treatment solution (diluted chlorine) to households with young children. The program is more effective and much more cost-effective than asking Community Health Workers (CHWs) to distribute free chlorine to households during routine monthly visits. That is because only 40% of households make use of free chlorine, targeting through CHWs is worse than self-targeting through coupon redemption, and water treatment promotion by CHWs does not increase chlorine use among free chlorine beneficiaries. Non- use of free chlorine is driven by households who have a protected water source and those who report that chlorine makes water taste bad. |
| JEL: | D10 D12 I11 I12 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27570&r=all |
| By: | Cecilia Bellora (CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales - Centre d'analyse stratégique); Jean-Christophe Bureau (ECO-PUB - Economie Publique - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Basak Bayramoglu (ECO-PUB - Economie Publique - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Estelle Gozlan (ECO-PUB - Economie Publique - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Sébastien Jean (CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales - Centre d'analyse stratégique, ECO-PUB - Economie Publique - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | International trade has a direct impact on EU biodiversity, imported invasive species and pathogens, being an example. Trade also impacts global biodiversity, for instance through the ‘virtual' water, land, and deforestation contained in EU imports. Economic theory shows that trade with countries that fail to protect a renewable resource can be detrimental for all. Protecting global biodiversity calls for a variety of instruments, at the EU border as well as in the provisions of preferential agreements. The EU already includes biodiversity-re lated non-trade provisions in trade agreements, but these provisions are not legally binding and hardly effective. This is partly explained by the complexity of the issues posed by biodiversity: since there is no simple synthetic indicator, policy instruments are difficult to enforce. However, an effort to specify measurable and verifiable commitments is needed; more binding mechanisms, along with transparent and automatic sanctions in case of non-compliance should be considered. |
| Keywords: | International trade,Biodiversity |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02887592&r=all |