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NEP: New Economics Papers
Agricultural Economics
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Edited by: Angelo Zago
http://ideas.repec.org/e/pza49.html
Universita degli Studi di Verona
Date: 2006-02-05
Papers: 22
This document is in the public domain, feel free to circulate it.
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In this issue we have:
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1. The Amenity Value of Agricultural Landscape and Rural-Urban
Land Allocation
Aliza Fleischer; Yacov Tsur
2. Rural firms, farms and the local economy - a focus on small
and medium-sized towns
Paul Courtney; Denis L?picier; Bertrand Schmitt
3. Dumping on U.S. Farmers: Are There Biases in Global
Antidumping Regulations?
Kara M. Reynolds
4. GIS-based modeling of land use systems - Common Agricultural
Policy reform and its impact on agricultural land use and
plant species richness
Jan Ole Schroers; Patrick Sheridan; Eike Rommelfanger
5. Living conditions and subjective well-being of farmers - An
ordered response analysis of regional differences and changes
over time
Hild-Marte Bj?rnsen
6. Linking models in land use simulation - Application of the
Land Use Scanner to changes in agricultural area
Aris Gaaff; Tom Kuhlman; Frank Van Tongeren
7. Multi-Objective Programming for the Allocation of Trans-
Boundary Water Resources - the Case of the Euphrates and Tigris
Mehmet Kucukmehmetoglu; Jean-Michel Guldmann
8. A spatial interaction model for agricultural uses - An
application to understand the historical evolution of land use
on a small island
Joana Gon?alves
9. CONTRIBUTION OF AFFORESTATION TO SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT
IN UKRAINE
Maria Nijnik; Arie Oskam; A. Nijnik
10. Shade-Grown Coffee: Simulation and Policy Analysis for
Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico
Blackman, Allen; Albers, Heidi; Batz, Michael; ?valos-
Sartorio, Beatriz
11. Optimal Investment under Uncertainty Regarding Income
Subsidies
Tiina Heikkinen
12. Optimal Location of New Forests in a Suburban Area
Ellen Moons; Bert Saveyn; Stef Proost; Martin Hermy
13. Estimating trade restrictiveness indices
Olarreaga, Marcelo; Nicita, Alessandro; Kee, Hiau Looi
14. The Home Market Effect and the Agricultural Sector
Dao-Zhi Zeng; Toru Kikuchi
15. How do Changes in Land Use Patterns Affect Species Diversity?
an Approach for Optimizing Landscape Configuration
Annelie Holzkamper; Ralf Seppelt; Angela Lausch
16. An institutional analysis of land markets
Barrie Needham; Arno Segeren
17. Introducing Price Signals into Land Use Planning Decision-
making - a Proposal
Paul Cheshire; Stephen Sheppard
18. Land as production factor
Paul Metzemakers; Erik Louw
19. Auctions in an outcome-based payment scheme to reward
ecological services in agriculture ? Conception,
implementation and results
Markus Groth
20. Some Issues at the Forefront of Public Policy for
Environmental Risk
Macauley, Molly
21. Market Power and Commodity Prices: Brazil, Chile and the
United States, 1820s-1930
Marcelo de Paiva Abreu; Felipe Tamega Fernandes
22. Alternate Strategies for Managing Resistance to Antibiotics
and Pesticides
Amit Batabyal; Peter Nijkamp
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1. The Amenity Value of Agricultural Landscape and Rural-Urban
Land Allocation
Aliza Fleischer
Yacov Tsur
In this paper we study agricultural-urban land allocation in
light of the rising amenity value of agricultural landscape. A
given land area is to be allocated between a number of
agricultural activities (crops) and urban use. Each activity (
crop) area generates private benefits (profit from agricultural
produce) and amenity benefits (open space, aesthetic landscape,
hiking trails). Land allocated for housing provides only private
benefits. Land markets overlook the social (environmental) role
of agricultural land and as a result lead to undersupply of
farmland. In an empirical study of an Israeli case, we find the
undersupply of farmland and the associated deadweight loss to be
substantial. Investigating effects of population and income
growth processes, we find that, contrary to market outcomes, the
socially optimal allocation may call for more farmland
preservation under either process.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.repe
c.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p55&r=agr
2. Rural firms, farms and the local economy - a focus on small
and medium-sized towns
Paul Courtney
Denis L?picier
Bertrand Schmitt
Small and medium-sized towns have traditionally formed an
integral part of the agricultural sector and wider rural economy,
acting as a source of farm inputs, a first destination of farm
outputs and as a source of consumer goods and services to farm
households. In recent years, this relationship has been
substantially eroded through processes socio-economic
restructuring, including the transformation of agriculture and a
decline in other primary industries. Further, a number of
endogenous and exogenous drivers have resulted in the uneven
development of rural economies throughout Europe, leading not
only to disparities but also to decline of small and medium sized
towns as thriving economic and service centres. As a result,
these settlements have received increasing attention from policy
makers aiming to both maintain the traditional socio-economic
fabric of rural areas, and to stimulate rural development through
territorial, as opposed to sectoral ? and namely agricultural
? approaches. This paper considers these two issues through an
analysis of local economic linkages in and around small and
medium-sized towns. Using primary data collected in a study of
thirty towns across five European countries, the paper examines
the degree to which local firms and farms are integrated into the
local economies of such towns relative to other sectors, and
identifies the organisational characteristics associated with
strong and weak local integration. The implications of the
findings are discussed in the context of evolving European rural
development policy.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p128&r=agr
3. Dumping on U.S. Farmers: Are There Biases in Global
Antidumping Regulations?
Kara M. Reynolds (Department of Economics, American
University)
The explosion of antidumping activity over the past 10 years has
raised concern among agriculture analysts that antidumping
regulations are biased toward imposing more protection on U.S.
agricultural goods than other products. This research fails to
find a statistically significant bias in the outcomes of
antidumping investigations involving agricultural goods compared
to other products, nor does it find significant evidence that
foreign antidumping investigations into imports of food products
have resulted in higher levels of protection than U.S.
investigations. However, the results from a comprehensive case
study analysis suggest that despite the lack of statistical
evidence of bias, U.S. agricultural producers have reason to
question the fairness of global antidumping regulations. Given
these results, government officials should consider whether U.S.
food producers could be better served by changes to both U.S.
antidumping regulations and the World Trade Organization
Antidumping Agreement.
Keywords: antidumping, agriculture trade, import protection
JEL: F13 Q17
Date: 2006-01
URL: http://d.repec.org
/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:0306&r=agr
4. GIS-based modeling of land use systems - Common Agricultural
Policy reform and its impact on agricultural land use and
plant species richness
Jan Ole Schroers
Patrick Sheridan
Eike Rommelfanger
An assessment of agricultural policy measures and their
sustainability needs to consider economic, social, and ecological
aspects. The current paradigm shift of the European Union?s
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from coupled to decoupled
transfer payments calls for such an evaluation. Land users have
to reevaluate their production program and its spatial allocation.
Consequently, agricultural policy influences regional land use
patterns and shares of land use systems, which in turn influence
regional plant species richness. Connecting land use and
ecological models allows to assess socioeconomic and ecologic
effects of policy measures by identifying interactions and
estimating potential trade-offs. The paper presents the land use
model ProLand and the fuzzy expert system UPAL. ProLand models
the regional distribution of land use systems while UPAL predicts
plant species richness. The models are connected through a GIS
and applied to a study area in Hesse, Germany, in order to
simulate the effects of changing conditions on land use, economic
and social key indicators, and plant species richness. ProLand is
a spatially explicit comparative static model that simulates a
region?s land use pattern based on natural, socioeconomic,
political, and technological parameters. The model assumes land
rent maximizing behavior of land users. It calculates and assigns
the land rent maximizing land use system for every investigated
decision unit, generally a field. A land use system is
characterized through crop rotation, corresponding outdoor
operations, animal husbandry if applicable, and the relevant
political and socioeconomic attributes. The fuzzy expert system
derives the values of ecologically relevant parameters from
several site specific attributes and land use operations. Land
use dependent site characteristics that influence plant species
richness are derived from predictions generated by ProLand.
Detailed information on crop rotation, fertilization and
pesticide strategy, and outdoor operations are considered. The
expert system then classifies natural and land use dependent site
characteristics into aggregate factors. Based on a set of rules
it assigns the number of species to the classes and thus to the
decision units. Simulation results for the study area show that
the CAP reform causes a rise in grassland area. These land use
changes mainly occur in areas currently used for arable farming
but with natural conditions favoring grassland. Plant species
richness is positively influenced by the increase in extensive
grassland area.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p613&r=agr
5. Living conditions and subjective well-being of farmers - An
ordered response analysis of regional differences and changes
over time
Hild-Marte Bj?rnsen
The liberalisation of trade with building down of tariffs and
quotas, and with subsequently lower output prices, has enforced
considerable structural changes in the agricultural sector. In
Norway, both naturally given factors such as climate and
topography, and social conditions such as a tradition for small
family farms and strong governmental regulations, contribute in
making this process even harder on the individual farmer. So how
do the farmers respond? National farm statistics show that the
amount of cultivated land stays approximately the same even
though the number of farm units and agricultural employment falls
annually. This implies that both farm size and productivity have
increased. In this paper we utilise sample survey data on living
conditions in agricultural households to examine whether we can
observe changes in farmers ?experienced utility. Have
contentment dropped and are there any obvious regional
differences in contentment? The data consists of non-overlapping
cross-sections for the years 1995 and 2002 and we make use of a
standard ordered probability model in the estimations.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.repe
c.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p95&r=agr
6. Linking models in land use simulation - Application of the
Land Use Scanner to changes in agricultural area
Aris Gaaff
Tom Kuhlman
Frank Van Tongeren
When we model land use change, we utilize ? consciously or
unconsciously ? other models as well. The variables we regard
as exogenous are often generated endogenously by a different
model. We are not always fully aware of the implications of this
for our modelling exercises. The model which generated the
demographic growth that we use in forecasting the need for
residential space may have used assumptions that are at variance
with ours. The model resulting in claims for agricultural land
may have already taken competing claims into account ? whereas
our land use model may simulate this competition all over again.
The data used for different models may not be compatible.
Conversely, our land use simulation exercises can also be used by
others as input. A model for the agricultural sector, for
instance, must consider the constraint of available land ?
especially whether the land required is available in a particular
area which is regarded as optimal for a particular production
line. Land use models can provide that input. The Agricultural
Economics Research Institute in The Hague, uses a number of
models at various spatial levels ? from the individual farm to
the global economy ? and for different purposes. Recently, the
linkages between these models have received more attention, which
also lays bare the compatibility problems between them. In order
to examine both the possibilities and the problems inherent in
these linkages, a research project on this ?model train? has
been undertaken. Based on two opposing scenarios prepared by the
Dutch Central Planning Bureau, the study calculates the long-term
consequences of these scenarios: beginning with a general
equilibrium model at global level (GTAP) through a sectoral model
at national and regional scale - the Dutch Regionalized
Agricultural Model (DRAM) ? to a model assessing ecological
effects in a local area (SOMMA). The Land Use Scanner, a land use
information system and simulation model for the Netherlands, has
been used to predict changes in the agricultural area for the
regions used in DRAM. The land claims, which are an exogenous
variable in the Land Use Scanner, were generated from projections
of future population and GDP, on the basis of their historical
correlation with land use. This project has led to interesting
insights into the problems of linking models. It is hoped that
these insights will help to improve the models we use ?
including land use models. The paper highlights the importance of
making modelling assumptions explicit, such that the outcome of
one model can indeed be a useful input into another one. The
integrated modelling approach yields more consistent projections
of land use.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p451&r=agr
7. Multi-Objective Programming for the Allocation of Trans-
Boundary Water Resources - the Case of the Euphrates and Tigris
Mehmet Kucukmehmetoglu
Jean-Michel Guldmann
The allocation of water in a multi-country river system
necessarily involves conflicting objectives, where increasing
water benefits to one country may entail losses to other
countries. This paper presents the formulation and application of
a multi-objective linear programming model, where each objective
represents the benefits to a country from using water for
agricultural, municipal, and energy uses, net of conveyance costs.
This model extends the Euphrates and Tigris River Basin Model (
ETRBM), presented in Kucukmehmetoglu and Guldmann (2004), with
the three objective functions representing the net water benefits
to the three riparian countries ? Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The
model is used to delineate the set of non-inferior solutions (
Pareto frontiers), where no individual country benefit can be
increased without reducing the benefits of at least another
country. These Pareto frontiers, and the underlying water
resources allocations, are graphically displayed and analyzed
under different scenarios related to river flow, electricity
price, and agricultural productivity. The trade-offs between the
three benefits are assessed, providing the basis for possible
compromises among the three countries. Potential policy
implications for trans-boundary water resources utilization are
discussed.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.repec
.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p9&r=agr
8. A spatial interaction model for agricultural uses - An
application to understand the historical evolution of land use
on a small island
Joana Gon?alves
The agenda is to explain the historical evolution of land uses
in small islands. First we assess the capacity of the island
territory for different uses based on agronomic analysis and
transform these capacities in attraction coeficients. Then we
design a spatial interaction model with five different sectores
which employment can be closely related with surface area.
Finally we use historical data on population and main export
crops in order to calibrate the model for each historical period.
Therefore, based on data on the export crop and on the population
it is possible to estimate the different land use of the island
for all the sectors.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p258&r=agr
9. CONTRIBUTION OF AFFORESTATION TO SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT
IN UKRAINE
Maria Nijnik
Arie Oskam
A. Nijnik
This paper focuses on the establishment of forest plantations on
bare lands and marginal agricultural lands: a multifunctional
afforestation programme for Ukraine is elaborated. The multiple
forest functions are limited in this research to wood production
and erosion prevention. Ukraine is faced with erosion on 35% of
its arable lands. Some 20 million ha of lands are experiencing
various stages of erosion, and it is increasing with time.
Erosion is especially harmful in the Carpathian Mountains where
it causes windthrows and floods, and in the Steppe zone where it
results in blowing up sands. Along with exploration of the
expanded timber supply from the newly created forest plantations,
soil protection forest functions therefore are examined. The
proposition that forest cover affects the rates of soil erosion
is tested empirically by means of regression analysis. The
results of the estimations show a statistically significant
negative relationship between soil erosion and forest cover in
Ukraine and across the forestry zones. Using the results of the
analysis, indicative estimates of the soil protection role of the
forests are computed. Further discussion focuses on the proposed
expansion of forest cover and on the potential positive effects
for agriculture due to erosion prevention. Calculations have been
made at different levels of detail. By using a simulation
technique and cost-benefit analysis, in combination with LP
modelling, it is revealed that for the discount rate of 4%,
planting trees on bare lands, except in the Polissja and the
Crimea, is an economically efficient means to address wood
production and erosion prevention. Results are highly dependent
on the relevant discount rate. For marginal agricultural lands
mixed results are obtained. Moreover, there is a difference
between estimated benefits for agriculture and benefits for the
planter of the trees. It seems therefore necessary that e.g. the
government balances costs and benefits to provide incentives for
the planter of the trees. Finally, the research comes up with
some practical suggestions for forest management decisions.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p746&r=agr
10. Shade-Grown Coffee: Simulation and Policy Analysis for
Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico
Blackman, Allen (Resources For the Future)
Albers, Heidi
Batz, Michael (Resources For the Future)
?valos-Sartorio, Beatriz
Shade-grown coffee provides a livelihood to many farmers,
protects biodiversity, and creates environmental services. Many
shade-coffee farmers have abandoned production in recent years,
however, in response to declines in international coffee prices.
This paper builds a farmer decision model under price uncertainty
and uses simulation analysis of that model to examine the likely
impact of various policies on abandonment of shade-coffee
plantations. Using information from coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, this
paper examines the role of various constraints in abandonment
decisions, reveals the importance of the timing of policies, and
characterizes the current situation in the study region.
Keywords: coffee farming, decision analysis, numerical modeling,
Monte Carlo, price variability
JEL: O13 Q17 Q12 Q23 Q24
URL: http://d.repec
.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-05-61&r=agr
11. Optimal Investment under Uncertainty Regarding Income
Subsidies
Tiina Heikkinen
This paper studies optimal investment in Finnish agriculture
under uncertainty regarding future income subsidies. The approach
is based on stochastic programming. A multi-stage stochastic
programming model is studied, where the farmer has the option to
postpone the investment decision. The optimal investment problem
is a modified optimal stopping problem. The value of information
is evaluated as the difference between the profitability of
investment under stable income subsidies and under uncertain
subsidies. This difference measures the cost due to imperfect
information, reducing the incentive to make investments. The need
to maintain productivity enhancing investments in rural regions
motivates the development of stable income support programs.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p656&r=agr
12. Optimal Location of New Forests in a Suburban Area
Ellen Moons
Bert Saveyn
Stef Proost
Martin Hermy
In this paper we develop a methodology to select a combination
of forest sites that maximizes net social benefits taking into
account restrictions on the total surface/size of new forest land.
We use GIS technology to estimate for each site the major cost
and benefit elements including lost agricultural output, timber
and hunting values, carbon sequestration, non-use and recreation
benefits. Special emphasis is placed on the recreational value of
a potential site as this raises two issues. First, the recreation
benefits of a base site estimated via the travel cost method need
to be transferred to all potential sites. Second, the recreation
benefit of each potential site depends on the existing sites and
on the other sites that are in the selection. We show that the
same ?amount? of afforestation (i.e. the same total surface
divided into multiple sites at varying locations) creates a wide
range of potential net social benefits due to the role of a
varying set of recreation substitutes.We show that the net social
benefit of new forest combinations respecting the area
constraints may differ up to a factor 21. The substitution effect
between forests, both new and existing, turned out to be the
dominant factor in the benefit estimation. Compared to the
existing literature, our paper improves the methodology by
working with realistically feasible sites rather than grid sites,
by including the complex recreation substitution effects between
potential sites and by including all costs and benefits of
afforestation bringing the analysis closer to a real cost benefit
analysis.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.repe
c.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p58&r=agr
13. Estimating trade restrictiveness indices
Olarreaga, Marcelo
Nicita, Alessandro
Kee, Hiau Looi
The objective of this paper is to provide indicators of trade
restrictiveness that include both measures of tariff and
nontariff barriers for 91 develo ping and industrial countries.
For each country, the authors estimate three trade
restrictiveness indices. The first one summarizes the degree of
trade distortions that each country imposes on itself through its
own trade policies. The second one focuses on the trade
distortions imposed by each country on its import bundle. The
last index focuses on market access and summarizes the trade
distortions imposed by the rest of the world on each country ' s
export bundle. All indices are estimated for the broad aggregates
of manufacturing and agriculture products. Results suggest that
poor countries (and those with the highest poverty headcount)
tend to be more restrictive, but they also face the highest trade
barriers on their export bundle. This is partly explained by the
fact that agriculture protection is generally larger than
manufacturing protection. Nontariff barriers contribute more than
70 percent on average to world protection, underlying their
importance for any study on trade protection.
Keywords: Free Trade,Economic Theory & Research,Trade Policy,
Consumption,Markets and Market Access
Date: 2006-02-01
URL: http://d.repec.org
/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3840&r=agr
14. The Home Market Effect and the Agricultural Sector
Dao-Zhi Zeng
Toru Kikuchi
The "home market effect" (HME) is an essential topic of the new
trade theory. Assuming the transport costs only for the
manufacturing goods, Krugman (1980) shows that the country with
bigger market size is a net exporter. The assumption of free
transport of the agricultural good was shown mattering a great
deal rather than being innocuous by Davis (1998). Particularly,
when manufacturing and agricultural goods have identical
transport costs, the HME disappears. However, we find that the
homogeneous-agricultural-good assumption in Davis' model derives
the discontinuity of inverse demand functions, which causes the
disappearance of the HME. After establishing an analytical
solvable model and assuming two differentiated agricultural goods
in two countries, we find that the HME does exist even if the
transport cost of the agricultural goods is positive.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p135&r=agr
15. How do Changes in Land Use Patterns Affect Species Diversity?
an Approach for Optimizing Landscape Configuration
Annelie Holzkamper
Ralf Seppelt
Angela Lausch
Heterogeneity of agricultural landscapes is supposed to be of
significant importance for species diversity in agroecosystems (
Weibull et al. 2003). Thus it is necessary to account for
structural aspects of landscapes in land management decision
processes. Spatial optimization models of land use can serve as
tools for decision support. These models can aim at various
landscape functions like nutrient leaching and economical aspects
Seppelt and Voinov 2002), water quality (Randhir et al. 2000) or
habitat suitability (Nevo and Garcia 1996). However neighbourhood
effects stay unconsidered in these approaches. In this paper we
present an optimization model concept that aims at maximizing
habitat suitability of selected species by identifying optimum
spatial configurations of agricultural land use patterns. Bird
species with diverging habitat requirements were chosen as target
species. Habitat suitability models for these species are used to
set up the performance criterion. Landscape structure is
quantified by landscape metrics (McGarigal et al. 2002) estimated
within the species home range. Statistical significance of these
metrics for species presence was proven by a logistic regression
model (Fielding and Haworth 1995). The landscape is represented
by a grid based data set. Based on a genetic algorithm the
optimization task is to identify an optimum configuration of
model units. These model units are defined by contiguous cells of
identical land use. Within this concept we can study how optimum
but possibly artificial landscapes vary in structure depending on
the selected species for which habitat suitability is maximized.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.repe
c.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p67&r=agr
16. An institutional analysis of land markets
Barrie Needham
Arno Segeren
For many years, land markets have been analyzed as though
parcels of land were being traded in a frictionless market
subject to no rules. To the extent that there were rules which
could not be ignored ? such as land-use regulations ? the
effect of these was incorporated as ?distortions? to the
market. An institutional analysis of land markets, on the
contrary, starts by looking the the rules which structure the
exchange of rights in land. These are the formal rules regulating
such things as access to the market, which rights may be traded
and which not, land-use and environmental rules, fiscal rules,
inheritance rules. Then there are the informal rules, customary
practices, taken-for-granted ways of doing things. All those
rules create a structure which affects the availability of
information, risk and uncertainty, transaction costs,
organizations for buyers and sellers and brokers, etc. It is
assumed that people act in a rational way within that structure.
The results are the market outcomes: what is traded where, by
whom, in what volume, at what price? This paper sets out the
method for such an institutional analysis and applies it to two
land markets in the Netherlands ? for agricultural land and for
land on industrial estates. The results of applying this analysis
allow market outcomes to be explained better than by an analysis
which ignores institutions. The paper is based on research
carried out by the authors at the Netherlands Institute for
Spatial Research (Ruimtelijk Planbureau).
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p582&r=agr
17. Introducing Price Signals into Land Use Planning Decision-
making - a Proposal
Paul Cheshire
Stephen Sheppard
Although directed to the British system of land use planning
this paper has relevance for many OECD countries. The paper
starts by characterising the basic features of planning systems
which seek to impose 'growth boundaries' as has been the case in
Britain since 1947. In contrast to the planning literature this
analyses such policies as an issue of resource allocation. A
conclusion is that the system explicitly excludes any use of
price signals from its decisions and effectively determines the
supply of land for any use by fiat. Cumulatively over time the
result has been to generate major distortions in land market
prices. Because the planning system has deliberately constrained
the supply of space, and space is an attribute of housing which
is income elastic in demand, rising incomes not only drive rising
real house prices but also mean that land prices have risen
considerably faster than house prices. Several housing attributes
other than garden space are to a degree substitutes for land but
the underlying cause of the inelastic supply of housing in the UK
is the constraint on land supply. The final section proposes a
way of including the information embodied in the price premiums
of neighbouring parcels of land zoned for different uses in
determining land supply while safeguarding the underlying
purposes of land use regulation. Such premiums signal the
relative scarcity of land for different uses at each location and
should become a key element in planning decision-making. If they
were above some threshold, this should provide a presumption of
development unless maintaining the land in its current use could
be shown to be in the public interest. If combined with Impact
Fees, such a change would not only make housing supply more
elastic and the system more transparent but would help to
distance land availability decisions from the political process.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.repe
c.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p42&r=agr
18. Land as production factor
Paul Metzemakers
Erik Louw
To justify industrial land development, municipal planning
officials frequently use the argument that unrestricted
availability of business sites will foster economic development
and employment growth. However, to date convincing evidence to
support this claim does not exist. So empirical research into
this subject is warranted. Furthermore, this relationship
implicitly assumes that the acreage of land, necessary for firms
to be able to conduct their business, is a production factor like
labour and capital. Unfortunately, research on land use from this
perspective has since long disappeared from mainstream economic
theory. Ample research is done on land use in relation to firm
location, both empirically and theoretically. However, the amount
of land as a production factor for firms is generally disregarded.
This lack of theory may hinder research into the claim made by
planning officials. Therefore, present paper seeks to reintroduce
land as a production factor in economic theory. In this article
we explore to what extent land can be regarded as a production
factor. We aim to integrate this view into established economic
models from urban land economics and real estate theory. We do so
at the macro and at the micro economic level. At the macro level,
the available amount of industrial land could be a factor in
national economic growth, just like growth of the labour force.
At the micro level we consider whether the theory of individual
firms? production function is able to incorporate the amount of
land as production factor. We commence this paper with a
historical overview of the treatment of land in economic theory,
before we pursue a theoretical framework that incorporates land
as a factor of production. The paper concludes with a comparison
between land and the established production factors labour and
capital.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p220&r=agr
19. Auctions in an outcome-based payment scheme to reward
ecological services in agriculture ? Conception,
implementation and results
Markus Groth
This paper presents an outcome-based payment scheme to reward
ecological services in agriculture. It was designed by a research
group from the Georg-August-University of Goettingen. Starting in
January 2004 the payment scheme is tested upon it?s
implementation as an agri-environmental program in a model-region
administrative district Northeim in the south of Lower Saxony
? Germany). The intention of the program is to overcome the
disadvantages of existing and mostly action-orientated agri-
environmental programs, especially those in the European Union.
The design of the payment scheme is based on fundamental criteria
of market economy such as supply and demand and it integrates
auctions as an award procedure. Furthermore it is outcome-based
and considers the interests of the local people and the relevant
stakeholders and their demand for botanical diversity. The main
research topic is to explore the use of auction in agri-
environmental programs seen from an transaction cost economics
point of view. Therefor the relevant farmers transaction costs
will be measured. In the course of this research it is essential
to analyse the practical relevance of transaction costs and to
draw conclusions to their theoretical foundation. Results as well
as of the first auction and two surveys of local farmers already
show, that this payment scheme is not just an theoretical
construct but that it is already practicable in the model-region.
However further research is needed to make sure that at the end
of the current case study this payment scheme is authorised from
an ecological economics point of view and has a high potential to
be a part of a sustainable future agri-environmental policy in
Germany and the European Union.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p180&r=agr
20. Some Issues at the Forefront of Public Policy for
Environmental Risk
Macauley, Molly (Resources For the Future)
The lay of the policy land for addressing and managing
environmental risk includes the hillock of the precautionary
principle, the mountain of the practice and ethics of monetary
valuation, and the tectonic plates of real-world innovations in
markets and trading exchanges for nonmarketed environmental goods.
This paper offers an overview of these contemporary and as yet
unresolved issues and asks how each might be addressed in
disparate environmental risks such as lightning, climate change,
and severe weather. The overview focuses on issues that may be of
interest to the American Meteorological Society?s annual policy
colloquium.
Keywords: risk, environment, public policy, economics
JEL: Q00 D89
URL: http://d.repec
.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-06-01&r=agr
21. Market Power and Commodity Prices: Brazil, Chile and the
United States, 1820s-1930
Marcelo de Paiva Abreu (Department of Economics PUC-Rio)
Felipe Tamega Fernandes
The paper focuses on market power by certain countries in
specific commodity markets as a crucial factor in explaining the
level of protection. It is argued that a country which is a price
maker in the world market of a specific commodity might affect
its world price through export taxes, import taxes and commodity
stockpiling. Standard reduced form equations were estimated to
test if significant market shares in international markets of
Brazilian coffee, Chilean saltpetre and US cotton implied
domestic variables were relevant for the determination of the
corresponding world commodity prices. Results suggest the
producers succeeded in passing through increases in internal
costs to the relevant world commodity price.
JEL: N71 N76 F13 F14
Date: 2005-12
URL: http://d.repec.org/
n?u=RePEc:rio:texdis:511&r=agr
22. Alternate Strategies for Managing Resistance to Antibiotics
and Pesticides
Amit Batabyal
Peter Nijkamp
How should one manage the problem of resistance to antibiotics
and pesticides? Although the salience of this question has now
been recognized, the formal modeling of this question is very
much in its infancy. Consequently, we have three objectives in
this paper. First, we construct a dynamic and stochastic model of
antibiotic or pesticide use. Second, we analyze two different
strategies (interventionist and non-interventionist) for
overseeing the problem of resistance. Finally, we identify a
specific probability function and we show that whether the
problem of resistance is best addressed with an interventionist
strategy or a non-interventionist strategy depends fundamentally
on this probability function.
Date: 2005-08
URL: http://d.rep
ec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa05p161&r=agr
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