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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2022‒06‒20
38 papers chosen by |
| By: | Veron, Emilien |
| Abstract: | To satisfy the objectives of the European Green Deal, a quarter of the EU's agricultural land should be organic by 2030, compared to 8.5% today. France, the largest European country in terms of agricultural production, must become a major player in this transition. However, French farmers are hesitant to convert because of the uncertainty of whether organic farming will improve their income or not. We will conduct a double comparative analysis between the dierences in income (on 103,000 observations distributed between 2004 and 2019) and the dierences in the value of agricultural land (33,000 transactions between 2015 and 2019) between organic and conventional farmers. The study shows that the current monetary incentives for conversion are very low. Panel data modelling using the Breusch-Mizon-Schmidt estimator shows no dierence in income between organic and conventional farmers, despite higher subsidies and lower costs for organic farmers. Furthermore, using an OLS regression including Ricardian theory and residential rent determinants, it is demonstrated that organic land is sold for the same price as conventional land. This result is conrmed by the Spatial Matching method, showing that organic practice does not in uence the price of land. The article shows that it is necessary to consider whether the land is organic or not when selling agricultural land. Such dierentiation in the market can help to integrate environmental externalities (better soil quality) into the land value. This price increase could encourage land conversion through an anticipated increase in farmers' income. However, at present, the low supply of organic land for sale does not allow this price increase. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:320734&r= |
| By: | Confidence Duku; Carlos Alho; Rik Leemans; Annemarie Groot |
| Abstract: | This article reviews how food system activities contribute to climate change and how dietary changes affect food systems. It shows that while emissions from food production are increasing in most regions, emissions from land use change are decreasing. Despite these trends, land use emissions remain huge and are greater than emissions from food production in some regions. While there is strong scientific consensus that climate change negatively affects food production, current scientific evidence is unclear about the impacts of climate change on post-production activities. This article also shows that dietary change has large potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Despite its potential, the costs and feasibility of dietary change are not well understood and require further research. Strategies to reduce emissions should focus on further reducing land use change as the current rate of reduction is inadequate to achieve a targeted reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Strategies must also address meat consumption in regions where it consumption is excessive. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2022–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:unadrs:320722&r= |
| By: | Thammachote, Pasakorn; Trochim, Jirapa Inthisang |
| Abstract: | The spread of COVID-19 has caused uncertainty in Thailand agricultural trade flows. This study makes a preliminary analysis to explore the impact of COVID-19 on Thailand’s agri-food export flows. • Over the past few decades, Thailand’s exports have been shifting away from agricultural to manufacturing products. However, the agricultural and food product exports remain vital to Thailand’s economy, and Thailand continues to be a net exporter of agri-food products. • Approximately 40 percent of Thailand’s agri-food products were exported to the country’s major trading partners including China, Japan, and the United States of America. Agri-food exports to intra-Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries’ have also grown rapidly, while agricultural exports to other developed countries have been relatively stagnant in recent years. • The composition of Thailand’s top ten agri-food exports has barely changed in the past two decades. Most of the top ten agri-food products exported in the period of 1998-2008 are also among top ten products between 2009-2018. While Thailand increasingly exports many high-value processed agri-food products, natural rubber and rice continue to play a dominant role, and account for one-third of total agri-food exports in value. • COVID-19 caused a disruption of the supply chain in the rubber industry in 2020. The lockdown measures in many countries led to a decline in world demand for natural rubber and both the value and volume of natural rubber exports from Thailand fell. Exports started to recover by the end of 2020 partly due to a surge in demand for medical gloves and relaxation of lockdown measures. • COVID-19 temporarily boosted the world demand for Thai rice exports in the early stages of the outbreak, as Thailand briefly benefited from the temporally export restrictions imposed by other exporting countries. However, overall, Thai rice exports declined in 2020 mainly due to a strong Baht and high production costs that weakened Thailand’s competitiveness in the world market. • A drought in 2020 lowered sugar yields causing production to fall significantly while COVID-19 reduced demand because of the lockdown measures. Combined the supply and demand shocks led to the decline in Thailand sugar exports, from a modest growth of 2 percent in 2019 to the decline of 19 percent in 2020. • The spread of COVID-19 caused a surge in demand for canned tuna, providing increased export opportunities for Thailand, which is an important exporter. However, this surge in the world market was caused by panic buying and it did not last long. • Thailand is also an important exporter of processed chicken. Exports of processed chicken were negatively affected by COVID-19 due to the disruption of transport and logistic systems resulting in higher cost for trade. • The contraction of crustaceans’ exports can be attributed both to the lockdown and strong competition in world markets. In 2020, processed crustacean exports performed better than exports of fresh and frozen crustacean due to consumer preferences. However, crustacean iv industries were badly affected overall due to the detection of a COVID-19 cluster in the fish market which led to strict regulation and closure of the market and distribution centers. • Overall, processed fruit and vegetables export values increased in 2020 but export volume dropped with all major trading partners. People bought large quantities of shelf stable products such as rice and canned fish but reduced the purchase of processed fruit and vegetables. • In conclusion, the impacts of COVID-19 on most important Thai agri-food export flows seem to be temporary as many factors leading to the surge or fall are short-lived. However, there is the possibility of increases in COVID-19-related non-tariff barriers (NTB) that originated because of food safety concerns and production standards. Small and medium exporters are likely to be most affected due to limited resources. Food safety concerns and production standards also affect upstream suppliers, small farmers, and fishers. Such NTBs can have longer term impacts on the prospects of post-COVID Thailand agri-food exports. • The changing world demand for agri-food products and potential new TBs could possibly have profound impact on Thai agri-food export flows in the future. Exporters, governments, and international organization need to work together to keep a balance between public health concerns and business operation efficiency. Promoting trade facilitation while ensuring food safety measures to safeguard public health would help Thailand gain more from exports. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2021–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miprrp:320709&r= |
| By: | Saurabh Bandyopadhyay (National Council of Applied Economic Research); Laxmi Joshi (National Council of Applied Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Various policy mechanisms are available to support the positive effects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reduce the negative outcomes of economic activities on the environment through effective interventions. To preserve the integration of dairy development strategies and practices with SDGs, this paper examines the key relationships involved in this process by major stakeholders and observes critically some of the initiatives undertaken during the phases of executing the National Dairy Plan-I (NDP-I). The paper narrates how the dairy sector can actively help achieve sustainability goals recommended by the UN resolutions using the field data received from the Socio-Economic Survey of NCAER, carried out during the year 2019 for the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Increased demand for dairy products adds pressure on ecosystems, biodiversity, and the dairy sector faces greater competition for capital, labour, land, water, and energy. On the other hand, increased milk production could prompt the emergence and spread of communicable diseases. In this count, NDP-I has reportedly helped expand the milk yield through effective cattle, buffalo breeding programmes, and scientific feeding methods that have enhanced the availability and affordability of feed and fodder. The programme extended the benefits of collective bargaining capacity for the landless, marginal, and small producers through the cooperative arrangement along with measures for sustaining milk production through village-based milk procurement systems (VBMPS), which has unequivocally boosted the share of the organised market and has contributed income-generating dairy activities for the poor and marginalised section of society. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Dairy Development, Dairy Production, Dairy Cooperative Society, India |
| JEL: | Q12 Q13 Q18 |
| Date: | 2022–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nca:ncaerw:139&r= |
| By: | Subramanian, Krishnan; Bozzola, Martina; Nugent, Anne |
| Abstract: | Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could play a pivotal role in the dissemination of agricultural technologies in Eastern Africa. In this study, we analyse the role of agricultural ICT and services in driving adoption of better agricultural technologies and practices by smallholder farmers in the Teso region of Ugandan. In turn, we analyse how adoption of ICT could impact on livelihoods, food security, and market opportunities. We implemented a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) in which mobile phones were randomly pro-vided for basic ICT training and access to information about good agricultural practices, nutrition se-curity and market access via SMS services to a sample of farmers. Woman accounted for 60% of the sample. Preliminary results suggests that the provisions of mobile phone, if coupled with training on how to access relevant information have a positive impact on the livelihood status of the farmers. Women farmers seem to have a higher positive impact of the combined program of providing mobile phones plus training opportunities. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:320739&r= |
| By: | Chaowana Phetcharat; Warattaya Chinnakum |
| Abstract: | This research investigated the response of food demand to changes in price and income, as well as to determine how demographic variables make an impact on food demand of Thai rural households. Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) was used to obtain parameter estimates of the food demand for 13 food commodities. Findings shows households with more family members tended to purchase high calorie and necessary foods instead of the more expensive and unnecessary one. The percentage of adults aged over 65 had caused negative impact on the demand for rice, starches and pulses, meats and poultry. Signs of expenditure elasticities and own-price elasticities were found consistent with the consumer demand theory. Increase in household food budget led to an increase in demand of eggs and dairy products, rice, ready-to-eat foods, oils and fats, and alcoholic beverage and tobacco. Additionally, all own-price elasticities were negatively related to the budget shares of household food consumption. The households at low level of income are likely to change their budget shares toward the major food groups that provide basic nutrients (e.g., rice, fruits, vegetables, and ready-to-eat products) more than middle-and high-income groups. Estimated income elasticities with respect to rice, eggs and dairy products, fruits, ready-to-eat and instant products, and alcoholic beverage and tobacco were above 0.5 while the income elasticity of rice was in the same range for all household groups. |
| Keywords: | Expenditure elasticity; Food demand; Own-price elasticity; Poverty; Thailand |
| JEL: | O12 O15 D12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pui:dpaper:181&r= |
| By: | Sophie de Bruin; Just Denerink; Pritpal Randhawa; Idrissa Wade; Hester Biemans; Christian Siderius |
| Abstract: | Urbanization is transforming food systems across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Increases in economic inequality, combined with growing urban populations, are expected to pose a risk to future food security. This paper shows that while anticipated increases in food demand by 2050 can largely be met regionally, potential yield increases or diversification will not contribute automatically to inclusive rural transformation. Instead, urbanization may potentially increase rural inequality and poverty. Smallholder farmers located close to expanding cities risk losing their land to urbanization, while people living in rural areas far from growing urban food markets who lack access to inputs, information, and markets are at risk of losing out. For all rural food system actors to profit from growing urban markets, the patterns of urbanization, the quality of rural-urban linkages, and the functionality of secondary towns are crucial. Physical and communicative proximity to urban markets means better access to finance, inputs, information, and services. Furthermore, off-farm employment opportunities can arise in the developing value chains. To realise the opportunities, this paper identifies a range of social, physical, spatial, economic and institutional conditions that enable inclusive rural transformation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2022–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:unadrs:320721&r= |
| By: | Abay, Kibrom A.; Breisinger, Clemens; Glauber, Joseph W.; Kurdi, Sikandra; Laborde Debucquet, David; Siddig, Khalid |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the implications of the Russian-Ukraine crisis on global and regional food security. We start with a global vulnerability analysis to identify most vulnerable regions and countries. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is particularly vulnerable to trade shocks because of its high food import dependence. Thus, we provide descriptive evidence characterizing how food systems and policies impact vulnerability to the price shock in selected MENA countries: Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen. Within these countries, we show that the crisis will differentially impact poor and non-poor households as well as rural and urban households. Although the absolute level of food insecurity may still be higher in rural areas where larger numbers of poor households are located, urban poor are likely to suffer most because of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and associated hikes in food prices, especially in those countries where social protection and food subsidies are missing. On the policy side, we review lessons from previous food crises and identify actions needed to take (and to avoid) to protect most vulnerable countries and households in the short-term while also highlighting long-term policy options to diversify food, fertilizer and energy production and trade. |
| Keywords: | MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AFRICA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, EASTERN EUROPE, UKRAINE, EUROPE, food security, food crises, food prices, conflicts, fertilizers, farm inputs, poverty, economic shocks |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:menawp:39&r= |
| By: | Sunday, Nathan; Kahunde, Rehema; Atwine, Blessing; Adelaja, Adesoji; Kappiaruparampil, Justin |
| Abstract: | Uganda continues to be prone to climate shocks especially drought which has adverse impact on food security. This paper studies household resilience capacities with special focus on how different resilience capacities mitigate the impact of drought on food security. The study follows the TANGO framework and two-step factor analysis to construct resilience capacity indexes. It employs a panel data from the Uganda National Panel Surveys (UNPS) undertaken between 2010/11 and 2018/19, spanning five waves. To minimize the bias arising from subjective self-reported drought shock, we introduce an objective measure of drought from the global SPEI database into the UNPS data. We also control for attrition bias by controlling for attrition hazard estimated from the attrition function. Our analysis reveals that households in Uganda exhibit significantly low and nearly static resilience capacities. This implies majority of households in Uganda remain highly susceptible food insecurity in the event of severe drought. The study shows that building resilience capacities is an effective way of protecting households from such devastating situation. In this regard, adaptive capacity is found to be the most effective in mitigating the effect of drought on food security. Transformative capacity and absorptive capacities possess limited mitigating power. Based on significant components from each of the capacities, we recommend investing in early warning systems and wide dissemination of climate related information to enhance preparedness adaptation, encouraging and supporting formation and sustainability of informal institutions at local levels, enhancing access to communal resources, improved infrastructure and agriculture extension services by the most vulnerable groups. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2021–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miprrp:320708&r= |
| By: | Aslihan Arslan, Romina Cavatassi, Marup Hossain |
| Abstract: | Structural and rural transformation are intricately linked to food systems. Structural transformation captures a country’s level of dependence on agriculture, while rural transformation captures productivity in the agricultural sector. In particular, agri-food system and employment transitions influence structural and rural transformation and shape the spatial distribution of populations by influencing where people live, work and eat, all of which closely relate to food system transitions. Using country-level data from 85 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), this paper outlines a food systems index (FSI) and analyses the linkages between food systems and structural and rural transformation, as well as population distributions. It also selects a number of policy-relevant variables from World Development Indicators and uses machine learning methodology to shed light on patterns related to institutions, female empowerment, infrastructure, and health. The paper finds that countries in the lowest FSI group will see their youth populations more than double in the next 30 years, indicating that the food system investments of today will affect one third of global youth in the future. It also finds that structural transformation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for desirable food system outcomes. Rural transformation by itself without structural transformation is not enough either. For LMICs, broad development interventions are more important to progress food systems. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2022–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:unadrs:320720&r= |
| By: | Arslan, Aslihan; Cavatassi, Romina; Hossain, Marup |
| Abstract: | Structural and rural transformation are intricately linked to food systems. Structural transformation captures a country’s level of dependence on agriculture, while rural transformation captures productivity in the agricultural sector. In particular, agri-food system and employment transitions influence structural and rural transformation and shape the spatial distribution of populations by influencing where people live, work and eat, all of which closely relate to food system transitions. Using country-level data from 85 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), this paper outlines a food systems index (FSI) and analyses the linkages between food systems and structural and rural transformation, as well as population distributions. It also selects a number of policy-relevant variables from World Development Indicators and uses machine learning methodology to shed light on patterns related to institutions, female empowerment, infrastructure, and health. The paper finds that countries in the lowest FSI group will see their youth populations more than double in the next 30 years, indicating that the food system investments of today will affect one third of global youth in the future. It also finds that structural transformation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for desirable food system outcomes. Rural transformation by itself without structural transformation is not enough either. For LMICs, broad development interventions are more important to progress food systems. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2022–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:unadrs:320669&r= |
| By: | Miller, Cristina (U.S. Department of Agriculture); Mishra, Ashok K. (Arizona State University) |
| Abstract: | The aging of the farmer population has led to concern about a shortage of beginning farmers and ranchers. This study investigates the impact of health insurance coverage and participation in government and private insurance programs on off-farm labor allocation decisions of beginning farm-operator households in the United States. We use farm household-level data from the 2015 Agricultural Resource Management Survey and the simultaneous Probit estimation method to estimate our empirical model. Results show that beginning farm-operator households with health insurance coverage from off-farm jobs are 14% more likely to work off the farm. Our analysis also depicts a negative relationship between the receipt of counter-cyclical, conservation, risk management payments, and off-farm work by beginning farm-operator households. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Resource Management Survey, beginning farm-operator household, counter-cyclical payments, risk management payments, health insurance coverage, off-farm labor supply, two-stage simultaneous probit model |
| JEL: | C34 I13 J22 J38 J43 Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15262&r= |
| By: | Alger, Ingela; Dridi, Slimane; Stieglitz, Jonathan; Wilson, Michael |
| Abstract: | How did humans evolve from individualistic foraging to collective foraging with sex differences in food production and widespread sharing of plant and animal foods? While current models of food sharing focus on meat or cooking, considerations of the economics of foraging for extracted plant foods (e.g., roots, tubers), inferred to be important for earlier hominins (∼ 6–2.5 mya), suggest that hominins shared such foods. Here we present a conceptual and mathematical model of early hominin food production and sharing, prior to the emergence of frequent scavenging, hunting and cooking. We hypothesize that extracted plant foods were vulnerable to theft, and that male mate-guarding protected females from food theft. We identify conditions favoring plant food production and sharing across mating systems (i.e., monogamy, polygyny, promiscuity), and we assess which mating system maximizes female fitness with changes in the energetic profitability of extractive foraging. Females extract foods and share them with males only when: i) extracting rather than collecting plant foods pays off energetically; and ii) males guard females. |
| Date: | 2022–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:126959&r= |
| By: | Tra Thi Trinh (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan); Alistair Munro (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Abstract: | Forecasting the impact of climate change on migration is difficult, given widespread reliance on historical data and limited exposure to actual climate change amongst target populations. This study takes a different approach, developing a new methodology that employs a choice experiment to examine intentions to migrate among farmers living in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, one of the areas in the world most significantly affected by climate change. The respondents are asked to make migration choices for scenarios constructed using six attributes: drought intensity, flood frequency, income change from migration, migration networks, neighbors’ choices, and crop choice restriction. The results suggest that increasing the intensity/frequency of drought/flood increases the likelihood of migration; the effects are stronger for individuals with prior experience of climate change. Furthermore, the contribution of network attribute is gendered and dependent on migration experience. Finally, crop choice restriction, such as those widely employed by the Vietnamese government to control rice planting, may trigger a higher probability of migration. These findings provide insights into the debate on climate change-migration nexus in rural and lowland areas that are seriously affected by climate change. Furthermore, extensive choice experiment data on migration preferences under a diverse range of climate variabilities facilitates projections of environmentally induced migration. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; migration; choice experiment; drought and saline intrusion; flood; Vietnam; Mekong Rivers |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:22-07&r= |
| By: | Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.; Nshakira-Rukundo, Emmanuel; Gebrekidan, Bisrat |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 risks rolling back many of the efforts and global successes recorded in reducing poverty and food insecurity. We undertake a systematic review of the growing microeconomic literature on the association between COVID-19 and food (in)security in Africa, discussing its implications for food policy and research. In doing so, we highlight some of the methodological weaknesses in answering policy-relevant questions on the causal link between COVID-19 and food insecurity. We also review the various coping strategies households are using to build resilience to COVID-19 and explore the role of social protection and other tools in mitigating some of the negative effects of COVID-19. This review provides evidence that COVID-19 is associated with food insecurity both ex-ante and ex-durante. There are many attempts to suggest this relationship may be causal with some robust methods in some contexts, but data limitations prevail which constrains causal learning. We also find evidence that income losses, loss of employment, and heightened food prices may be mediating the relationship between COVID-19 and food insecurity. Going further, we additionally review the mitigating role of social protection and remittances in reducing the negative effects of COVID-19 on food insecurity. Relatedly, we also show evidence that households are using various coping strategies such as food rationing and dietary change to cushion themselves against the COVID-19 shock but most of these measures remain adversely correlated with food insecurity. We end with a discussion on some potential interesting areas where future efforts can be geared to improve learning on the relationship between COVID-19, food insecurity, and building resilience to shocks. |
| Keywords: | AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; CENTRAL AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; NORTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; WEST AFRICA; food security; Coronavirus; coronavirus disease; Coronavirinae; COVID-19; food prices; resilience; shock; income |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2121&r= |
| By: | Mai, Nhat Chi |
| Abstract: | From the late eighteenth century the French colonial administration sponsored extensive exploratory missions to assess and map Indochina’s resources. These expeditions made the case that Indochina’s frontier regions held great potential for agricultural development |
| Date: | 2022–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:yzdp6&r= |
| By: | Ruben, Ruerd; Cavatassi, Romina; Lipper, Leslie; Smaling, Eric; Winter, Paul |
| Abstract: | Food systems must serve different societal, health, and environmental objectives. They therefore face numerous challenges. This paper highlights five fundamental paradigm shifts that are required to overcome trade-offs and build synergies between health and nutrition, inclusive livelihoods, environmental sustainability, and food system resilience. We focus on the challenges to raise policy ambitions, harmonize production and consumption goals, improve connectivity between these goals, strengthen food system responsiveness, and anchor inclusive and participatory governance of food systems. Taken together, these paradigm shifts shape a new narrative for food system transformation that will be capable of responding to current and future policy challenges. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2022–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:unadrs:320667&r= |
| By: | Ambler, Kate; de Brauw, Alan; Herskowitz, Sylvan; Pulido, Cristhian |
| Abstract: | Recent literature suggests that agricultural value chains are changing rapidly and places an increasing focus on the importance of actors and activities taking place in the “midstream†of these value chains, after production and prior to final sale. This article discusses the financial needs of midstream actors in agricultural value chains, emphasizing differences across midstream activities and highlighting how value chain characteristics can influence both financial needs and potential remedies. The paper concludes with a discussion of the prospects of digital financial services to alleviate financial needs of midstream actors. |
| Keywords: | WORLD; agricultural value chains; agriculture; value chains; trade; finance; digital finance services; midstream |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2122&r= |
| By: | Dieterle, Carolin |
| Abstract: | Throughout the last decade, the international donor community has developed a plethora of regulatory initiatives for responsible agricultural investments. It remains unclear how such guidelines are invoked in practice in investment cases, and whether their use can prevent conflict and protect local land rights, as promoted. Uncovering how international guidelines work necessitates an understanding of the formal-legal setting and underlying land tenure regimes that shape investment projects. In Uganda, these contexts vary from region to region and investments take place on land held under various tenure regimes, including private, state-owned, and customary land. Based on 8 months of fieldwork in Uganda, I compare three cases of large-scale land investments in different settings and argue that variation in the underlying land tenure systems determines the variation, uneven applicability and effectiveness of global governance mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Uganda; global governance; land rights; land tenure; large-scale land investment; Taylor & Francis deal |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:111962&r= |
| By: | Demissie, Birhan S.; Kasie, Tesfahun A.; Upton, Joanna B.; Blom, Sylvia A. |
| Abstract: | Climate shock, specifically drought causes serious adverse effects on household welfare in rural Ethiopia. As a direct response to such shocks, resilience and related activities become the country’s key development agenda. In this context, we examine the relationship between climate shock and household consumption and then assess how household resilience influences this relationship. By combining historical observations of climate extremes and Ethiopian Socioeconomic survey datasets, we find that both short-term and long-term droughts are significantly associated with reduced consumption, and this relationship is moderated by resilience. We look at the resilience indicators that possibly mediate the effects of drought on either realized or probabilistic measures of consumption to understand what is associated with the ability to withstand or recover quickly from drought. We reframe the resilience as capacity approach and resilience as a normative condition approach that reflect two distinct ways of inferring resilience. In the resilience as capacity approach, we model realized consumption as a dependent variable and interaction terms between drought and hypothesized resilience indicators as joint explanatory variables. From our hypothesized resilience indicators, we find some indicators that are associated with attenuating the adverse effects of drought shock on realized household consumption. These include wealth index, informal transfer, and formal transfer indicators. In the resilience as a normative condition approach, we model probabilistic household consumption as a dependent variable and same interaction terms and find income diversification, livestock diversification, and agricultural asset indicators. This study has important implications for both research and policy. The adverse effects of droughts on consumption inform the investment need and policy design around resilience. The resilience indicators associated with attenuating the adverse effects of drought shock on realized and probabilistic consumption has also important implications. First, the nexus between drought and consumption via specific resilience indicators associated with attenuating the adverse effect of drought on consumption informs policy design around these indicators. Second, our interest variable framing to identify the specific resilience indicators associated with attenuating the adverse effects of drought on both realized and probabilistic household consumption provides insight to bridge the resilience as capacity and resilience as a normative condition approaches classic debate with the question of whether resilience is a right-hand or left-hand side variable. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2021–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miprrp:320707&r= |
| By: | van Berkum, Siemen; Ruben, Ruerd |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the prospects for a food system index (FSI) capturing several key components that influence differences in food system performance at the country level. The theoretical foundations and methodological approach underlying the FSI framework are outlined and its relevance for understanding major food system characteristics is illustrated. The paper focuses on major FSI differences between regions and types of countries, and compares FSI outcomes across different types of food systems and in relation to other indicators of change in the rural and economic structure. Finally, the potential of the FSI framework for identifying more coherent food system policies is explained and the challenges for further operationalization are acknowledged. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2022–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:unadrs:320668&r= |
| By: | Mahrt, Kristi; Herforth, Anna W.; Robinson, Sherman; Arndt, Channing; Headey, Derek D. |
| Abstract: | In most countries and globally, malnutrition rates exceed poverty rates. The World Bank estimates that about 9 percent (689 million) of the global population is poor, yet an estimated 25 percent (2 billion people) suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Such a discrepancy begs the question: Do standard poverty metrics poorly reflect nutritional needs? The most prevalent methodology for measuring poverty in low- and middle-income countries – the cost of basic needs approach – estimates food baskets that satisfy a dietary energy standard while reflecting consumption patterns of poor households. However, poor households typically consume monotonous diets characterized by large quantities of calorically cheap staple foods that are poor sources of nutrients. This reality creates a circular logic whereby the cost of basic nutritional needs is estimated from populations who are consuming nutritionally inadequate diets. We argue that a healthy diet is a basic need and that the standard used to calculate cost of basic needs food poverty lines should be expanded to satisfy nutritional dietary recommendations, while continuing to reflect context-specific dietary patterns. We develop an approach to estimate food poverty lines that satisfies the food group proportionality associated with healthy diet recommendations while also adhering to observed within-food group consumption patterns of poor households. Furthermore, we address the limitation of estimating a single national food basket – which fails to capture variation in local consumption patterns driven by preferences, availability, and relative prices – by estimating utility-consistent regional poverty lines. We demonstrate the approach using data from Myanmar. Energy-based poverty lines significantly underestimate the cost of acquiring a healthy diet, are severely deficient in multiple micronutrients, and therefore result in a drastic underestimate of the rate of poverty based on a healthy diet standard. The resulting higher cost of basic needs also has important implications for inclusive economic growth strategies and nutrition-sensitive food policies and social protection. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR; BURMA; SOUTHEAST ASIA; ASIA; nutrition; poverty; healthy diets; food prices; basic needs; poverty measurement; poverty lines; cost of healthy diets; cost of basic needs |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2120&r= |
| By: | Florian Bucher; Lucas Scheu; Benedikt Schröpf |
| Abstract: | This study examines the link between economic complexity and environmental quality by exploiting the similar starting points of the former socialist transition countries after the fall of the iron curtain. We refer to the extended theories of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), stating that environmental pollution follows an inverted u-shaped course with respect to economic complexity. Using comprehensive data of 27 countries for the period 1995-2017, our results show that the EKC can be found for countries whose complexity rose over time. Additionally, since the results for production-based and consumption-based CO2 emissions are similar, we can discard emissions offshoring as a major explaining factor. Consequently, our findings suggest that more complex products are the drivers of the EKC. However, as the turning point is associated with high levels of pollution, our estimates imply that complexity may even exacerbate environmental issues in the short and middle run in less developed countries. |
| Keywords: | Economic Complexity, Environmental Kuznets Curve, Former Socialist States preference transmission |
| JEL: | O44 P28 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:218_bucherscheuschroepf&r= |
| By: | Terhorst, Andrew; Garrard, Robert |
| Abstract: | Technological advances are transforming agriculture in many parts of the world. Despite the importance of agriculture to its economy, Australia lags behind other advanced economies in the adoption of digital agricultural technology. The country risks losing its comparative advantage due to a weak policy around digital agriculture. This study combines network analysis and natural language processing to assess 654 public submissions to six government inquiries addressing agricultural innovation, the digital economy, and rural broadband communication networks, held between 2016 and 2018. The analysis shows there is no consistent narrative driving policy development around digital agriculture. A fragmented policy landscape is a concern because it means that current and emerging policies may not address key issues, resulting in sub-optimal outcomes for Australian agriculture. |
| Date: | 2022–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:4nge5&r= |
| By: | Abedullah (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | Nitrogenous chemical fertilisers were introduced in 1952 in Pakistan, initially through imports, followed by phosphorus in 1959 and potassium in 1967 (NFDC 2021).[1] Upon nationalisation of the fertiliser industry in 1973, production for all fertiliser companies was undertaken and control was given to National Fertiliser Corporation (NFC). A domestic fertiliser plants such as Fauji Fertiliser Company (FFC) was Established in 1978. |
| Keywords: | Fertiliser, Subsidy, Policy Tool, Food Commodities |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:kbrief:2021:31&r= |
| By: | Wesley Howden (University of Arizona); Remy Levin (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | We study the direct impacts that long-run experiences of climate change have on individual risk preferences. Using panel surveys from Indonesia and Mexico (total N = 25,000), we link within-person changes in elicited risk preferences to state-level, lifetime experiences of climate change. In line with the predictions of a Bayesian model of learning over background climate risk, we find that in both settings increases in the experienced means of temperature and precipitation cause significant decreases in measured risk aversion, while increases in the experienced variance of temperature in Indonesia and the variance of precipitation in Mexico lead to significant increases in measured risk aversion. We replicate this analysis globally using a survey with a representative sample from 75 countries (N = 75,000) containing an elicited measure of risk preference which we link to country-level, lifetime climate experiences. We find significant results for both the means and variances of both climate variables that are consistent with our panel analyses. Across all settings, experiences of climate variance have first-order effects, with coefficient magnitudes of the standard deviation of climate 0.6-2.6 times that of the climate mean. We develop a novel method for estimating the welfare effects of observed risk preference changes using panel data, and find that the climate-induced changes in risk preferences we observe increased welfare in both Indonesia and Mexico by approximately 1%. |
| Keywords: | Risk preferences, climate change, experience effects, volatility, welfare |
| JEL: | D14 D81 D83 I31 O12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2022-13&r= |
| By: | Chloé Le bail (LISN - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique - CentraleSupélec - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CPU - Cognition, Perception et Usages - LISN - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique - CentraleSupélec - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IaH - Interaction avec l'Humain - LISN - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique - CentraleSupélec - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marianne Cerf (SADAPT - Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement : Activités, Produits, Territoires - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Gwenola Yannou-Le Bris (SayFood - Paris-Saclay Food and Bioproduct Engineering - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | The relocation of food systems in territories pursues both a political and civic ambition to reconnect agriculture and food, and to face the challenges of sustainable development. It calls upon ergonomics because such an evolution cannot be achieved without work transformations. The present article is based on an exploratory case study which was conducted on the Paris-Saclay territory. The study concerns the supply of local products to staff canteens. It focuses on actors whose positions (farm manager, restaurant manager) and experiences reveal an ongoing or "practise-based" redesign of intra and inter-organisation coordination processes that aims to support the development of the local food system. The case study highlights the elasticity of the territorial definition experienced by the actors involved in the development of a local food system according to the social and cultural values they defend. The actors appropriate and change the organisation of a local food system which crosses the boundaries of their own organisations. In this article we propose to approach the inter-organisational change that results from the re-localization of food in and through the territories. We define such a change as a collective design process which creates a dialogue between two coordination re-design processes, one at the level of each organisation and the other at the level of inter-organisational relations. Finally, we define a unique and situated "territorialisation work" that includes the activities of the coordination re-design, and which aims to develop a geographical, cultural and/or political space that the actors identify as a territory, in order for this space to fit in with their vision of what local and sustainable food means. We discuss the implications of the results for both ergonomic analysis and intervention. Haut de page Entrées d'index |
| Abstract: | La relocalisation des systèmes alimentaires dans les territoires s'inscrit dans une volonté politique et citoyenne de reconnecter agriculture et alimentation, et de répondre aux enjeux du développement durable. Elle interpelle l'ergonomie, car une telle évolution ne peut s'entendre sans mutations du travail. Cet article repose sur une étude de cas exploratoire qui a été conduite sur le plateau de Saclay. L'étude concerne l'approvisionnement de cantines d'entreprise en produits locaux. Elle s'intéresse à des acteurs dont les statuts (responsable d'exploitation agricole, responsable de restaurant) et les expériences permettent de révéler une reconception progressive et « dans l'usage » des processus de coordination intra et inter-organisationnelles. L'étude de cas éclaire également l'élasticité de la définition territoriale saisie par ces acteurs impliqués dans le développement d'un système alimentaire local à l'aulne des valeurs sociales et culturelles qu'ils défendent. Ces acteurs s'approprient et modifient l'organisation d'un système qui traverse les frontières de leurs organisations. Nous proposons ici d'aborder le changement inter-organisationnel induit par la relocalisation de l'alimentation dans et par les territoires. Nous définissons ce changement comme un processus de conception collective mettant en dialogue deux processus de reconception des coordinations, l'un à l'échelle de l'organisation et l'autre à l'échelle des relations inter-organisationnelles. Finalement, nous caractérisons un « travail de territorialisation », singulier et situé, qui d'une part inclut ces activités de reconception des coordinations ; et d'autre part vise à faire évoluer un espace géographique, culturel et/ou politique, que les acteurs identifient comme territoire, pour que cet espace corresponde à leur vision du local et du durable. Nous discutons des implications de ces résultats pour l'analyse et l'intervention ergonomiques. |
| Keywords: | local food system,inter-organizational coordination,intra-organizational coordination,organizational design,territorialisation work,système alimentaire local,coordination inter-organisationnelle,coordination intra-organisationnelle,reconception organisationnelle,travail de territorialisation |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03640227&r= |
| By: | Carl Gaigne (SMART-LERECO - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - INSTITUT AGRO Agrocampus Ouest - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Anne-Célia Disdier (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Cristina Herghelegiu (European Commission [Brussels]) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether standards raise the quality of traded products by correcting market failures associated with information asymmetry on product attributes. Matching a panel of French firmproduct-destination export data with a dataset on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBTs), we find that such quality standards enforced on products by destination countries: (i) favor the export probability of high-quality firms provided that their productivity is high enough; (ii) raise the export sales of high-productivity high-quality firms at the expense of low-productivity and low-quality firms; (iii) improve the average quality of consumption goods exported by France. We then develop a simple new trade model under uncertainty about product quality, in which heterogeneous firms can strategically invest in quality signaling, to rationalize these empirical results on quality and selection effects. |
| Abstract: | Nous examinons si les normes améliorent la qualité des produits échangés en corrigeant les défaillances du marché associées à l'asymétrie d'information sur les attributs des produits. A partir de données sur les exportations françaises au niveau entreprise-produitdestination et sur les mesures sanitaires et phytosanitaires (SPS) et les obstacles techniques au commerce (OTC) appliquées par les pays étrangers, nous constatons que ces normes de qualité a (i) favorisent la probabilité d'exportation des entreprises françaises offrant des produits de haute qualité, à condition que leur productivité soit suffisamment élevée, (ii) augmentent les ventes à l'exportation des entreprises à forte productivité au détriment des entreprises à faible productivité, et (iii) améliorent la qualité moyenne des biens de consommation exportés par la France. Afin de rationaliser ces résultats empiriques sur les effets de qualité et de sélection, nous développons ensuite un nouveau modèle de commerce internationale avec incertitude sur la qualité des produits et des entreprises hétérogènes pouvant investir stratégiquement dans le signalement de la qualité. |
| Keywords: | Firm exports,Quality standards,Information asymmetry,Product quality,Heterogeneity,Exportation,Normes de qualité,Asymétrie d’information,Qualité des produits,Hétérogénéité |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03623098&r= |
| By: | Hirschler, Olivier; Osterburg, Bernhard; Weimar, Holger; Glasenapp, Sebastian; Ohmes, Marie-Friederike |
| Abstract: | Peat is a fossil material and is since decades the major growing media constituent for horticulture in Europe. Because of its climate impacts, some European countries developed national strategies to reduce peat use. A coordinated European action would bring fairer and more effective impacts than isolated national strategies. The replacement of peat is possible using alternative growing media constituents based on biomass. Potential limitations of the resource availability for the production of alternative growing media constituents is one of the major concerns of the growing media industry. Although this paper does not constitute a final evaluation, it aims to initiate further discussions and investigations on this aspect of peat reduction. We compare potential amounts for the supply and demand of raw materials for the production of wood fibres, composted bark, green compost and coir pith in European countries. Moreover, we discuss the economic and legal conditions for the availability of alternatives. Our findings suggest that the resource supply does not generally indicate a limitation to an extended use of alternative growing media constituents in Europe. In a maximal demand scenario, the amounts considered would also be sufficient to completely replace peat. However, in this scenario, the current supply for nationally sourced alternative materials could be scarce for some countries like the Netherlands or the Baltic States. Competition for wood resources, e.g., with the energy sector, could limit their use in the growing media sector. Moreover, the conditions set by the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 might hamper a large use of wood fibres as growing media constituent. For bark, green waste and coir by-products, an increased demand from the growing media sector may support mobilization of additional resources. For coir by-products, a future rise of the international demand might lead to a strong competition and an exhaustion of the world's potential. Transportation costs play an important role for the access to biomass potentials. They could be reduced with the development of the infrastructure for processing available resources. Other growing media constituents like Sphagnum are not significantly used today but could represent additional potentials for the replacement of peat in future. In order to avoid displacement effects, the focus of peat substitution should be set on potential amounts of biomass that are currently not or not fully used, or the creation of new potentials. |
| Keywords: | growing media,horticulture,peat,peat alternatives,availability,biomass resources,Kultursubstrate,Gartenbau,Torf,Torfersatz,Verfügbarkeit,Biomasse |
| JEL: | Q21 Q31 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:jhtiwp:190&r= |
| By: | Kannan, Elumalai; Kumar, Anjani |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses relative contribution of intensive and extensive margins to growth in India’s agricultural exports for the period 2001 to 2020. Two alternative approaches are employed to estimating export margins: the traditional approach of using export volume across product lines, and a robust method proposed by Hummels and Klenow (2005). The paper also examines the determinants of export margins through a standard gravity model. Traditional method of decomposing export growth shown that intensification of the export of existing products to existing destinations dominated export growth. The contribution of export diversification to export growth has remained subdued in the last two decades. Within the extensive margin, contribution of product diversification to export growth was more important than the contribution of geographic diversification. According to the Hummels and Klenow approach, during the 2001 to 2020 period, the extensive margin grew at 1.24 percent per annum, while the intensive margin increased at 0.23 percent. The contribution of growth at the extensive margin increased from 58.8 percent in 2001 to 70.2 percent in 2020. Gravity model results revealed that, among other variables, a positive and significant effect of free trade agreement on export margins. Broadly the study results point out that India’s exports along the extensive margin has not been fully exploited and that export diversification holds the key to higher export growth in agricultural products. There is wide scope for expansion of India’s agricultural exports through development of new product varieties and new markets. |
| Keywords: | INDIA; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; agricultural trade; trade; agriculture; exports; models; diversification; export margins; export decomposition; gravity model; export growth; agricultural trade specialization; trade openness; revealed comparative advantage; mobility of comparative advantage |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2119&r= |
| By: | Theriault, Veronique; Tschirley, David; Maredia, Mywish |
| Abstract: | On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Responding to the call of the WHO, the government of Mali, along with many other governments worldwide, started to implement containment and mitigation measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. One year and half later, the pandemic continues to ravage populations worldwide, including in Mali. Beyond health effects, the pandemic has affected how Malians, in both rural and urban areas, eat, work, and live. Utilizing secondary data plus a nationally representative phone survey conducted by PRCI six months into the pandemic, we report on some of the effects of COVID-19 on food security in urban and rural Mali. This policy research note looks especially at food availability and accessibility through changes in the agricultural sector, employment/income, and food consumption. The PRCI survey in Mali was part of a multi-country study across African countries: Kenya, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, and Zambia (Maredia et. al., 2021). The same sampling and overall design methods were used in every country. What follows is a summary of those methods and is shared nearly in its entirety by all country policy research notes on this topic. Findings indicate that rural and urban populations have been similarly highly impacted by COVID-19, highlighting the integration of food and labor markets at a national scale. It is likely that the pandemic will be a lingering grave concern for some time in Mali and many other countries, based on the fact that the country has been through three waves of the pandemic, there is continuing emergence of new variants, and the pace of vaccination is slow. There is need for expanded social safety net programs to support affected households in both rural and urban areas. It is critical to prioritize mass vaccination of the population to facilitate faster return to normal participation in economic activities. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Health Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2021–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miprpr:320706&r= |
| By: | Pablo Delgado Perea |
| Abstract: | We use Spain as a study case in order to analyse the evolution of meat consumption from the second half of the twentieth century until today. To do this, we built a database of meat consumption using all possible sources: FAO, Ministry Food Balance, Household Budget Surveys and Food Consumption Panel. There are two main contributions. First, we disagree with the idea that the consumption of meat in Spain has been growing steadily since the fifties, as some economic historians have previously reported. Second, we observe two different food consumption models. One characterized by the increase in standardized meat consumption and the other featured by the decrease in meat consumption as well as the rise in the consumption of processed and elaborated meat. |
| Keywords: | nutritional transition, meat, Spain, consumption |
| JEL: | N34 N54 O13 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:seh:wpaper:2205&r= |
| By: | Daniel Mirza (LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [2022-...] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - Université de Clermont-Ferrand, UT - Université de Tours, CEPII - Centre d'études prospectives et d'informations internationales); Elena Stancanelli (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - 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); Thierry Verdier (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - 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: | This paper adds to the scant literature on the impact of terrorism on consumer behavior, focusing on household spending on goods that are sensitive to brain-stress neurocircuitry. These include sweet-and fat-rich foods but also home necessities and female-personal-hygiene products, the only female-targeted good in our data. We examine unique continuous in-homescanner expenditure data for a representative sample of about 15,000 French households, observed in the days before and after the terrorist attack at the Bataclan concert-hall. We find that the attack increased expenditure on sugar-rich food by over 5% but not that on salty food or soda drinks. Spending on home maintenance products went up by almost 9%. We detect an increase of 23.5% in expenditure on women's personal hygiene products. We conclude that these effects are short-lived and driven by the responses of households with children, youths, and those residing within a few-hours ride of the place of the attack. |
| Keywords: | Conflict economics,Household economics,Stress,Food Consumption |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03659739&r= |
| By: | Tröster, Bernhard; Gunter, Ulrich |
| Abstract: | The prices of cash crops are crucial to the livelihood of millions of households in developing countries. While the influence of financial investors on the determination of global commodity prices on derivative exchanges is extensively discussed, the role of physical actors in the global value chains (GVCs) is largely disregarded in the 'financialization of commodities' debate. This excludes, however, the interlinked activities of GCV lead firms in financial and physical commodity markets, by which prices are transmitted to producer countries. We, therefore, relate the buying and pricing strategies of lead firms in the coffee, cocoa and cotton GVCs with their activities as hedgers on commodity derivatives markets. Based on Open Interest (OI) data in the Commitments of Traders (COT) database, a measure of buying and selling pressure by trader categories is applied in a GARCH model. Our findings show that liquidity provision by hedgers allows speculators' position takings to drive returns of global benchmark prices. We identify elaborated financial hedging and physical price-setting strategies as a determinant of hedgers' activities on derivative markets, which contributes to price transmission through GVCs and thereby expose smallholder and other actors in cash crops in producer countries to price risks. |
| Keywords: | Financialization,Cash crops,Price transmission,Global Value Chains,Hedging,GARCH Models |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:oefsew:68&r= |
| By: | Lewis, David; Biggs, Stephen; Justice, Scott |
| Abstract: | Motivation - Agricultural mechanization was once a mainstream issue. From the 1990s onwards it received less priority, as public policy concern for equitable economic development in rural areas faded. Despite recent signs of renewed interest, questions of rural mechanization require more systematic attention. After a long period of neglect, our knowledge is in disarray. Purpose - This paper traces the evolution of thinking about rural mechanization. It examines how three increasingly important factors affect or potentially affect mechanization: (a) expansion of capital goods markets, (b) evolving urban-rural linkages, (c) climate crisis. Approach - The paper reviews the literature that documents longstanding debates, and that which records changes in the rural areas of the global south in the 2010s. Findings - Public policy for rural mechanization was often seen in the 1960s as central to rural development. When neo-liberal economics rose in the 1980s, it was thought issues of mechanization could be left to the suppliers and customers in the market. In the meantime, and especially in Asia, many rural operations have been mechanized, but these changes have attracted relatively little attention from either researchers or policy-makers. In the 2010s, the pattern of mechanization has been influenced by changes in the production of machinery and the way that suppliers try to sway policy-makers towards favouring their products; by changes in the relations between urban and rural areas, including the emergence of rural labour shortage and the availability of remittances for capital investment; and by the challenges posed to farmers by global heating and the climate crisis. Each of these trends is potentially disruptive, risking disjuncture between our understandings of the changing realities of ‘real world’ rural livelihoods and wider political economy on the one hand, and the need to ensure the relevance of research agendas to policy priorities on the other. Policy implications – Policy makers need to embrace a more holistic view of mechanization based on evidence from multidisciplinary research. Policy needs rebalancing to enable a more integrated view of national economies; a greater recognition of the realities of mechanization for smaller farmers and small to medium entrepreneurs; and improved data collection, including experimenting with public-private partnerships for data collection. |
| Keywords: | rural mechanization; urban-rural links; Internal OA fund |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112769&r= |
| By: | Koen van Ruijven (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Joep Tijm (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | We find strong associations between house prices and environmental factors that are directly noticeable. This mainly concerns noise pollution and the amount of greenery and water in close proximity to a house. The strong negative associations for noise are mainly found in low levels (below 40 dB) and at high levels (above 65 dB). We find positive effects up to 200 meters for the presence of greenery and water. After 200 meters we find no, or only a small negative association with house prices. Surprisingly, air pollution is only weakly related to housing prices. These results follow from research in which we relate house prices to this set of environmental factors. We find the strongest price effects for greenery and water within 50 meters of a house. In particular, the price relationship for greenery decreases the further away the greenery is from a house. For example, we see that a 10% increase in the percentage of grass and shrubs (trees) within 50 meters is associated with a 1% to 4% (1% to 3%) increase in house prices. For water, we find that a comparable 10% increase is associated with a 0.5% to 1.5% increase in house prices. Our results have important policy implications, as they suggest that households have a limited willingness to pay for environmental goods that they do not directly notice. This result is especially relevant for air pollution. Recent studies indicate that health costs are significantly higher than our estimates of what households seem willing to pay for better air quality. This suggests that households are not fully aware of the effects of local air pollution on their health when purchasing their home. |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:438&r= |
| By: | De Juan Fernández, Aránzazu; Poncela, Pilar; Rodríguez Caballero, Carlos Vladimir; Ruiz Ortega, Esther |
| Abstract: | In this paper,we surve yrecent econometric contributions t omeasure the relationship between economic activity and climate change.Due to the critical relevance of these effectsfor the well-being of future generations,there is an explosion of publications devoted to measuring this relationship and its main channels.The relation between economic activity andclimate change is complex with the possibility of causality running in both directions. Starting from economic activity,the channels that relate economic activity and climate changeare energy consumption and the consequent pollution. Hence, we first describe the main econometric contributions about the interactions between economic activity and energy consumption, moving then to describing the contributions on the interactions between economicactivity and pollution. Finally, we look at the main results on the relationship between climate change and economic activity. An important consequence of climate change is the increasing occurrence of extreme weather phenomena. Therefore,we also survey contributions on the economice effects of catastrophic climate phenomena. |
| Keywords: | Catastrophic Weather; Energy Consumption; Environmental Kuznets Curve; Global Warming; Greenhouse Gases; Temperature Trends |
| Date: | 2022–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:wsrepe:35044&r= |
| By: | Ramandeep Kumar Sharma (Mississippi State University [Mississippi]); Khushdeep Dharni (Punjab Agricultural University); Akashdeep Smagh; Pushpinder Vashisht |
| Abstract: | Logistics plays an important role in determining the profits for a business enterprise through a dual influence on revenues and costs. Logistics are considered critical in the growth and performance of the food processing sector. The present study was undertaken to examine the relative performance of food processing units in India on the basis of logistics cost. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to study the relative performance and the set considered for analysis consisted of 32 food processing units with the period of analysis covering 5 years from 2007-2011. Results indicate that no food processing unit was efficient throughout the period of analysis. Logistic regression results indicate that with a unit increase in logistics cost likelihood of the firm being efficient decreased 0.642 times. The results of the study underline the criticality of logistics management in the context of the food processing sector in India. For improving firm efficiency, it is imperative for Indian food processing companies to ensure efficiency in logistics operations. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03644190&r= |