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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: 2007-01-14
Papers: 35
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 Importance of Women Farmers for the Development of the
Province of Kastoria
Constantina Safiliou
2. The regional model for Mediterranean agriculture
Lobianco, Antonello; Roberto, Esposti
3. Analysis of the impact of decoupling on two Mediterranean
regions
Lobianco, Antonello; Roberto, Esposti
4. Young Women and Farming: A Case Study of Active Women Farmers
in the West Macedonia Region, Greece.
I. Gidarakou; Eleni Dimopoulou; R. Lagogianni; S.
Sotiropoulou
5. Regional Modelling for Optimal Allocation of Agricultural
Crops Considering Environmental Impacts, Housing Value and
Leisure Preferences.
Nava Haruvy; Sarit Shalhevet
6. Market Innovations and Knowledge Transfer in the Agricultural
Food Market
Marit Hoven
7. Rethinking the Role of Agriculture and Agro-Industry in the
Economic Development of Thailand: Input-Output and CGE
Analyses (Ph.D. Dissertation)
Thaiprasert, Nalitra
8. Efficiency and Technology Gap in China's Agriculture: A
Regional META-Frontier Analysis
Zhuo Chen; Shunfeng Song
9. Building a Static Farm Level Spatial Microsimulation Model:
Statistically Matching the Irish National Farm Survey to the
Irish Census of Agriculture
Stephen Hynes; Karyn Morrissey; Cathal O'donoghue
10. Transformation of Rural Patterns in Greece in a European
Regional Development Perspective (The Case of Crete)
Andreas Tsatsaris; Polixeni Iliopoulou; Panagiotis Stratakis
11. Decentralization Process of Rural Development Policy in
Greece
Pavlos Karanikolas; Sofia Hatzipanteli
12. Intra-Industry Trade, Multilateral Trade Integration, and
Invasive Species Risk
Anh Tu; John C. Beghin
13. Nontariff Barriers
John C. Beghin
14. Olive Tree Farming in Jaen: Situation With the New Cap and
Comparison With the Province Income Per Capita.
Carmen Lopez Martin; Pedro Pablo Perez Hernandez; Araceli
Rios Berjillos
15. Agro-Food Dynamics in a Region's Growth
Anastasios Michailidis; Efstratios Loizou; Konstadinos
Mattas; Aikaterini Melfou
16. Recent International and Regulatory Decisions about
Geographical Indications, The
Stephan Marette; Roxanne Clemens; Bruce A. Babcock
17. Does Agricultural Employment Benefit From Eu Support?
Sandy Dall'erba; Eveline Van Leeuwen
18. Can Risk-aversion towards fertilizer explain part of the non-
adoption puzzle for hybrid maize? Empirical evidence from
Malawi
Simtowe, Franklin
19. The Direction of Technical Change in Capital-Resource
Economies
Di Maria, Corrado; Valente, Simone
20. Mechanism Design for Biodiversity Conservation in Developing
Countries
Luca Di Corato
21. Value chain analysis and market power in the commodity
processing with application to the cocoa and coffee sectores
Christopher L. Gilbert
22. New Approach for Localization, Prediction, and Management of
Saline-Infected Soils
Naftaly Goldshlger; Vladimir Mirlas; Eyal Ben Dor; Mor Eshel
23. Rural Investment and the Cost of Income Uncertainty
T Heikkinen; K Pietola
24. The Role of Public Infraestructure in Market Development in
Rural Peru
Escobal, Javier
25. Knowledge As a Factor to Improve Competitiveness for a Firm
in Rural Norway
Knut Ingar Westeren
26. DEVELOPMENT OF VARIABLE ETHANOL SUBSIDY AND COMPARISON WITH
THE FIXED SUBSIDY
Justin Quear; Wallace E. Tyner
27. Collective Action-A Challenge and an Opportunity for Water
Governance
Maria Manuela Castro Silva
28. EU Market Access for Mediterranean Fruit and Vegetables : A
Gravity Model Assessment
Emlinger, C.; Chevassus Lozza, E.; Jacquet, F.
29. Voluntary Approaches to Food Safety : A Unified Framework
Fares, M.; Rouvi?re, E.
30. TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN THE RETAIL FOOD INDUSTRY: THE
INFLUENCE OF INVENTORY INVESTMENT, WAGE LEVELS, AND AGE OF
THE FIRM
Francisco J. M?s; Ricardo Sellers
31. Spatial Efficiency Analysis of Arable Crops in Greece
Anastassios Karaganis; Antonios Tassoulis
32. Bioethanol As Basis for Regional Development in Brazil: An
Input-Output Model With Mixed Technologies
Marcelo Pereira Da Cunha; Jose Antonio Scaramucci
33. Rural Development and Wine Tourism in Southern Italy
Donatella Di Gregorio; Elena Licari
34. Deforestation, Growth and Agglomeration Effects: Evidence
From Agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon
Danilo Igliori
35. The Role of Research in Wine: the Emergence of a Regional
Research Area in an Italian Wine Production System
Andrea Morrison; Roberta Rabellotti
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1. The Importance of Women Farmers for the Development of the
Province of Kastoria
Constantina Safiliou
According to the 1999-2000 Agricultural Census, while in the
entire country 25% of all farm owners were women, in 14 provinces,
that is in 27% of all the provinces, the percent of women was 30-
51% of all farmers/owners. In the province of Kastoria, the
increase in the percent of women farm owners was almost fourfold,
from 8.4% in 1987 to 31.3% in 2000. A recent study of these women
farm owners showed that the large majority of these women (81%)
are not only smallholders but owners of large farms (even with
more than 7.5 hectares), cultivate intensive crops and tobacco,
are actively involved in farm management and are members of
agricultural cooperatives. It is not possible for rural
development planning to ignore these women farmers. The
increasing feminization of agriculture in this province, and
probably as well in other provinces and regions, indicates an
endogenous development that needs to be built upon by further
development actions in order to improve their competitiveness.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p634&r=agr
2. The regional model for Mediterranean agriculture
Lobianco, Antonello
Roberto, Esposti
AgriPoliS is a multi-agent mixed integer linear programming (MIP)
model, spatially explicit, developed in C++ language and
suitable for long-term sim- ulations of agricultural policies.
Beyond the mixed integer programming core, the model main feature
is the interaction among a set of heterogeneous farm- ers and
between them and the environment in which they operate. In this
paper we describe an extension of the model allowing AgriPoliS to
deal with typical characters of the Mediterranean agriculture. In
particular AgriPoliS was extended to allow a generic number of
products and soil types, included perennial crops and products
with quality differentiation. Furthermore, it can explicitly take
into account irrigation.
Keywords: Mediterranean Agriculture; Common Agricultural Policy;
Agent-based Models.
JEL: Q12 Q18
Date: 2006-01
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1181&r=agr
3. Analysis of the impact of decoupling on two Mediterranean
regions
Lobianco, Antonello
Roberto, Esposti
AgriPoliS is a multi-agent mixed integer linear programming (MIP)
model, spatially explicit, developed in C++ language and
suitable for long-term simulations of agricultural policies. Once
extended to deal with typical characters of the Mediterranean
agriculture, AgriPoliS is used in this paper to describe the
implementation of alternative policy cenarios and to apply them
to two regions located in Central and South Italy. Results
suggest that the effects of decoupling policies in the
Mediterranean agriculture, as implemented in the 2003 reform, are
often dominated by effects of structural trends and only a "bond
scheme" would substantially change the regional farm structures.
In no scenario we observe remarkable agricultural land
abandonment.
Keywords: Mediterranean Agriculture; Common Agricultural Policy;
Multi-Agent Model
JEL: Q12 C61 Q18
Date: 2006-09
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1182&r=agr
4. Young Women and Farming: A Case Study of Active Women Farmers
in the West Macedonia Region, Greece.
I. Gidarakou
Eleni Dimopoulou
R. Lagogianni
S. Sotiropoulou
Retaining young people in rural areas is a crucial factor in
regional development since they are considered to be the most
important human capital asset especially in promoting endogenous
development. Retaining young women is of outmost importance as
women leave more often than men rural areas due to factors such
as the existing hierarchical structure in agricultural labour and
the masculinisation of economic and leisure activities in such
areas. The ???young farmers??? EU programme, managed in
Greece by the Ministry of Rural Development & Food, aims at
improving the age structure in rural areas, attracting young
people (up to 40 years old) to agriculture and, finally,
retaining young people in rural areas. For young women, such a
programme may provide a chance to empower their position within
the household, become professional farmers, participate in
decision-making within cooperatives and other bodies involved in
agriculture and thus in decisions related to agricultural policy,
and to participate as dynamic actors in the rural development
process. In the frame of a wider research project concerning
young women farmers in the West Macedonia region, Greece, despite
a general trend indicating that young women entered the
???young farmers??? programme as farm managers but do
not actually overcome the traditional role as farmer wives or
daughters, a nucleus of young women active in agriculture with a
positive attitude towards farming is also found. The present
paper focuses on the later category. Their occupational
trajectories since the time they finished school, their entrance
and role in farming, their participation in collective bodies as
well as their attitude towards the ???young farmers???
programme as related to gender are presented and discussed. Data
were drawn through a survey and, mainly, in-depth interviews,
acquired within the aforementioned research project. The aim of
the paper is to develop a critical view of on-going policies and
policy instruments and thus to highlight the need for spatially
and socially targeted research which would, in turn, facilitate
the optimal implementation of the ???young farmers???
programme along with the empowerment of young women in the family
farm and the public image of farming and thus the re-orientation
of the attitudes of, no matter how small, a number of women
towards agriculture
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p936&r=agr
5. Regional Modelling for Optimal Allocation of Agricultural
Crops Considering Environmental Impacts, Housing Value and
Leisure Preferences.
Nava Haruvy
Sarit Shalhevet
Regional planning should consider the impact of agricultural
crops on housing value and leisure, as well as on the local
environment. We designed an optimization model for allocating
agricultural crops based on farmers profits as well as the impact
on these three factors. Each crop creates a different landscape,
as well as a different effect on shading and noise reduction.
These in turn influence the value of nearby housing and the
regional leisure opportunities. Each crop also has a positive and
negative environmental impact, including potential use of treated
wastewater as well as the effects of pesticides and fertilizers.
All these factors were combined with economic considerations to
suggest the optimal regional allocation of agricultural crops.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p822&r=agr
6. Market Innovations and Knowledge Transfer in the Agricultural
Food Market
Marit Hoven
Food markets change with increasing wealth and the globalization
of the economy. WTO and EU are challenging countries to enhance
lower level of national protection and regulation of markets,
including the markets for agricultural foods. Thus, the producers
of food are continuously exposed for competition. As an answer to
this food producers in Norway have looked for different
possibilities to keep up the level of production and
profitability. To some degree producers have adapted to new
markets by either introducing new products for a new set of
customers, or by making changes in existing products to satisfy
the customers preferences. Export of high quality sheep meat from
Norway to Japan can be mentioned as an example of market
innovations, one of the five types of innovations described by
Schumpeter (1934). In later years we have seen a tendency for
groups of customers paying more for food products of certain
origin, taste, design or other qualities. Although the
cooperatives still are dominant in food processing and marketing
in Norway, there are now an increasing number of farmers working
with market innovations outside the traditional channels.
Possibilities for success might depend on factors as culture,
price, design and more. Specialised knowledge in different
professions seems to be relevant when handling production,
processing and marketing. Questions raised in this paper are: Is
there a connection between market innovation success and the
farmer???s ability to develop and transfer knowledge? How
can we measure, understand and describe such processes?
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p352&r=agr
7. Rethinking the Role of Agriculture and Agro-Industry in the
Economic Development of Thailand: Input-Output and CGE
Analyses (Ph.D. Dissertation)
Thaiprasert, Nalitra
Thailand?s economic development has been quite successful in
terms of achieving high growth rate and reasonable per capita
income. The country?s economic performance in terms of the
transformation of production and exports are tending toward the
normal pattern of increasing share of manufactured products.
However, the major problems Thailand is still facing are the late
reduction of its agricultural labor force, inequality that has
occurred as a result of the development process, and problems in
potential of manufacturing industrial sectors. These three issues
are made the main discussions of this dissertation. In addition,
structural transformation in Thailand has posed many difficulties
for the development of Thai agriculture, which is closely related
to the welfare of the poor in the rural areas. Therefore, to
tackle income distribution problems directly requires that
farmers be given new opportunities. Agro-industry and high value-
added agricultural sectors were proposed as the key sectors to
improve inequality problems, smoothen employment transformation,
generate high growth and induce high output production, and act
as a bridge connecting Thai primary agriculture with the modern
sectors. Agro-industry was proposed to be promoted in the rural
areas for closer input locations, to shift agricultural workers
from primary agriculture, to improve the real wage of farmers,
and to prevent extensive urban migration. Qualitative analysis,
input-output analysis, SAM analysis, and CGE analysis were
applied to aid the discussions, prove the hypothesis, and achieve
the objective.
Keywords: Structural transformation; Thai agriculture; Thai agro-
industry; Income distribution; Thailand's economic
development; Thailand's economic growth; Input-output
analysis; SAM analysis; CGE analysis
JEL: O41 Y4 O4 O21 O11 O24 O13 O1 O14 O2 O18
Date: 2006-04
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1089&r=agr
8. Efficiency and Technology Gap in China's Agriculture: A
Regional META-Frontier Analysis
Zhuo Chen (the Chicago Center of Excellence in Health
Promotion Economics, The University of Chicago)
Shunfeng Song (Department of Economics, University of Nevada,
Reno)
This paper utilizes a unique county-level dataset to examine
technical efficiency and technology gap in China?s agriculture.
We classify the counties into four regions with distinctive
levels of economic development, and hence production technologies.
A meta-frontier analysis is applied to the counties. We find
that although the eastern counties have the highest efficiency
scores with respect to the regional frontier but the northeastern
region leads in terms of agricultural production technology
nationwide. Meanwhile, the mean efficiency of the northeastern
counties is particularly low, suggesting technology and knowledge
diffusion within region might help to improve production
efficiency and thus output.
Keywords: China?s grain production, county-level, metafrontier,
stochastic production frontier, technical efficiency
JEL: D24 N55 O13
Date: 2006-12
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unr:wpaper:06-005&r=agr
9. Building a Static Farm Level Spatial Microsimulation Model:
Statistically Matching the Irish National Farm Survey to the
Irish Census of Agriculture
Stephen Hynes
Karyn Morrissey
Cathal O'donoghue
This paper looks at the statistical matching technique used to
match the Irish Census of Agriculture to the Irish National Farm
Survey (NFS) to produce a farm level static spatial
microsimulation model of Irish agriculture. The match produces a
spatially disaggregated population microdata set of farm
households for all of Ireland. Using statistical matching
techniques, economists can now create more attribute rich
datasets by matching across the common variables in two or more
datasets. Static spatial microsimulation then uses these
synthetic datasets to analyse the relationships among regions and
localities and to project the spatial implications of economic
development and policy changes in rural areas. The Irish
agriculture microsimulation model uses one of many combinational
optimatisation techniques - simulated annealing - to match the
Census of Agriculture and the NFS. The static model uses this
matched NFS and Census information to produce small area (
District Electric Divisions (DED)) population microdata estimates
for a particular year. Using the matched NFS/Census microdata,
this paper will then analysis the regional farm income
distribution for Ireland.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p431&r=agr
10. Transformation of Rural Patterns in Greece in a European
Regional Development Perspective (The Case of Crete)
Andreas Tsatsaris
Polixeni Iliopoulou
Panagiotis Stratakis
Rural space in Greece is experiencing a significant
transformation. During the last four decades the traditional
urban-rural dichotomy has given its place to complex spatial
patterns which are in a process of continuous change. This change
is the result of a variety of factors such as the international
economic environment, the emergence of new economic activities in
rural areas, mainly the service sector and tourism, the changing
urban-rural relations as well as the implementation of national
and European policies for the agricultural sector and for rural
development. In addition, rural development is not any longer
dependent solely on the agricultural sector but also on the rural-
urban relationships and the presence of a large variety of
economic activities in rural areas. In this paper data concerning
demographic, economic and infrastructure characteristics of rural
areas are analyzed for the last five population Censuses,
describing the transformation of rural space in Greece. A number
of typologies of rural areas in Greece are presented for
different time periods which demonstrate the significant changes
of rural patterns in the last two decades. These typologies are
employed in order to suggest policy guidelines for rural
development in Greece. The results will be presented in a GIS
environment and when appropriate will be compared to similar
studies in Europe. Finally policies for agricultural and rural
development, in the context of European regional and spatial
development, will be examined in relation to rural patterns in
Greece and the development perspectives of rural areas.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p608&r=agr
11. Decentralization Process of Rural Development Policy in
Greece
Pavlos Karanikolas
Sofia Hatzipanteli
The decentralization process of national administrative systems,
the continuous evolution of structural policies in the EU and the
increasing reinforcement of the second Pillar of the Common
Agricultural Policy, create an entirely new setting in the field
of rural policy making and implementation. A significant
decentralization process of agricultural and rural development
policies is taking place in Greece, by means of the establishment
of a novel institutional framework and reallocation of
administrative competencies. Drawing upon a case study of the
farm modernization scheme, a pivotal rural development policy
measure, this study aims at critically assessing the
decentralization process of rural policy making and delivery in
Greece within the new institutional and administrative setting.
Research findings indicate that despite remarkable
decentralization efforts, rural development in Greece seems to
maintain its primarily state-emanated design and implementation,
in a centralized logic. Long standing top-down and sectoral
orientation in the formulation of this policy still holds,
permeating the attitude of a number of actors, whose traditional
role is challenged in the new setting. The redistribution of
responsibilities and the mere multiplication of competent
authorities do not necessarily advance the policy outcomes. What
is needed as well is a genuine delegation of competencies and
resources, coupled with a renewed awareness of integrated
policies from the actors involved at all administrative levels.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p733&r=agr
12. Intra-Industry Trade, Multilateral Trade Integration, and
Invasive Species Risk
Anh Tu
John C. Beghin (Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development (CARD)) (Food and Agricultural Policy Research
Institute (FAPRI))
We analyze the linkage between protectionism and invasive
species (IS) hazard in the context of two-way trade and
multilateral trade integration, two major features of real-world
agricultural trade. Multilateral integration includes the joint
reduction of tariffs and trade costs among trading partners.
Multilateral trade integration is more likely to increase damages
from IS than predicted by unilateral trade opening under the
classic Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson (HOS) framework because
domestic production (the base susceptible to damages) is likely
to increase with expanding export markets. A country integrating
its trade with a partner characterized by relatively higher
tariff and trade costs is also more likely to experience
increased IS damages via expanded domestic production for the
same reason. We illustrate our analytical results with a stylized
model of the world wheat market.
Keywords: exotic pest, intra-industry trade, invasive species,
liberalization, trade cost, trade integration, trade
protection, two-way trade.
Date: 2006-12
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:06-wp439&r=agr
13. Nontariff Barriers
John C. Beghin (Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development (CARD)) (Food and Agricultural Policy Research
Institute (FAPRI))
Nontariff barriers (NTBs) refer to the wide range of policy
interventions other than border tariffs that affect trade of
goods, services, and factors of production. Most taxonomies of
NTBs include market-specific trade and domestic policies
affecting trade in that market. Extended taxonomies include macro-
economic policies affecting trade. NTBs have gained importance as
tariff levels have been reduced worldwide. Common measures of
NTBs include tariff-equivalents of the NTB policy or policies and
count and frequency measures of NTBs. These NTB measures are
subsequently used in various trade models, including gravity
equations, to assess trade and/or welfare effects of the measured
NTBs.
Keywords: externality and trade, nontariff barrier, NTB,
protectionism, sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS,
standards, TBT, technical barrier to trade.
Date: 2006-12
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:06-wp438&r=agr
14. Olive Tree Farming in Jaen: Situation With the New Cap and
Comparison With the Province Income Per Capita.
Carmen Lopez Martin
Pedro Pablo Perez Hernandez
Araceli Rios Berjillos
Ja??n (province belonging to European Union) represents more
than 15% of the Spanish production of olive oil, around 7% of
European Union olive oil and more than 5% of the world production.
Olive oil represents more than 90% of the income in Jaen
agricultural sector and agricultural sector contributes with 15%
of GDP province in 2003. The aims of this paper is to show the
evolution of the main socioeconomic variables of this farming
during the nineties decade in one province belonging to the most
significant region in the world and compare during the nineties
the income per capita in this province with the income in the
olive oil. The variables analysed in each plantation are:
productivity or cultivation yield on Hectare; labour work;
cultivation expenses without including labour work; Agriculture
Common Policy subventions; standar gross margin (according to
directions of the European Union Agriculture General Board) and
net margin. On the other hand, the main macroeconomics variables
used are: Gross Internal Product, Population, labour work and
productivity of labour. The information farms reflected in this
paper is based upon four investigations and previous research
carried out by the same authors. The secondary data has been got
from Institutions and Public Statistics from Andalusian Regional
Government. The original investigations were funded by the
Department of Agriculture of the Andalusian Regional Government -
Consejer??a de Agricultura y Pesca de la Junta de Andaluc??a-
and La General (one of the savings bank in Spain). It has
consisted in four surveys during the years 1991, 1994, 1999 and
2000. The first step in the methodology has been to design the
sample and questionaires, after that, field camp was implemented
and data processing, creating for that purpose an information
system pattern (simulator-programme). Results files, ordered
according to user???s likes, can be incorporated to other
systems or be analysed with conventional statistics software (
SPSS for instance). Main results are shown in charts and tables.
After getting results we project the predictable Common
Organisation of the Market (CMO) reform on olive tree farming.
The recent reform of olive oil will reduce the subventions and
the income of the farmer. And we also show the impact of that
reduction on farming margins and the consecuences in the income
per capita province.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p639&r=agr
15. Agro-Food Dynamics in a Region's Growth
Anastasios Michailidis
Efstratios Loizou
Konstadinos Mattas
Aikaterini Melfou
Regional development depends highly in the allocation of
developing funds -through development policies- among the various
sectors of regional economies. In order to safeguard the most
efficient use of investments analytical tools visualizing the
economy as a whole in the form of a general equilibrium should be
adopted. In this paper the role of agro-food sectors and
agriculture in regional economic growth is examined. Despite the
diminishing contribution of agriculture and agro-food sectors in
the formation of an economy???s gross output and employment,
their indirect influence upon the rest of the economy most of the
times is not completely cast up. It is evidence that over the
last two decades the share of agriculture in Greece???s GDP
is substantially dropped. This fact many times used as a guide to
support decisions in directing regional developing funds far from
agriculture. On the other side, food sector???s share in
processing industries is growing and its contribution and
interrelation with other sectors has not been well assessed. Thus
in the present paper, the indirect contribution of agro-food
sectors in a region???s economy is measured and compared to
non-agricultural sectors. Linkage relationships and
interdependencies between food and non-food sectors are sought
and their role in strengthening the regions growth is
contemplated. The identification of such relationships is very
important, as the path to development in some regions is very
sensitive to sectoral interdependencies. To accomplish the
aforementioned objectives, an Input-Output framework was employed
in a regional level (Thessalia, Greece). Utilizing an employment
based Location Quotient (LQ), developed by Flegg et al (1995) -
the FLQ- the national I-O table is regionalized for the Greek (
NUTS 2) region. The regionalization procedure was performed by
following the hybrid GRIT technique. Employing the regional I-O
table, linkage coefficients, that identify the dynamics of key
sectors, were estimated. In addition the regional output
generated due to food sector and non-food sector activity traced
out to compare the relative dynamics. Results clearly demonstrate
that the nexus of food non-food sectors is determinant in
regional growth plans and the particular interdependencies, in
every particular region, must carefully considered.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p854&r=agr
16. Recent International and Regulatory Decisions about
Geographical Indications, The
Stephan Marette (Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development (CARD)) (Food and Agricultural Policy Research
Institute (FAPRI))
Roxanne Clemens (Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development (CARD)) (Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research
and Information Center (MATRIC))
Bruce A. Babcock (Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development (CARD)) (Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research
and Information Center (MATRIC))
As worldwide consumer demand for high-quality products and for
information about these products increases, labels and
geographical indications (GIs) can serve to signal quality traits
to consumers. However, GI systems among countries are not
homogeneous and can be used as trade barriers against competition.
Philosophical differences between the European Union and the
United States about how GIs should be registered and protected
led to the formation of a WTO dispute settlement panel. In this
paper we discuss the issues behind the dispute, the World Trade
Organization (WTO) panel decision, and the EU response to the
panel decision leading to the new Regulation 510/2006. Given the
potential for GI labels to supply consumer information, context
is provided for the discussion using recent literature on product
labeling. Implications are drawn regarding the importance of the
panel decision and the EU response relative to GI issues yet to
be negotiated under the Doha Round.
Keywords: geographical indications, product labels, trade
barriers.
Date: 2007-01
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:07-mwp10&r=agr
17. Does Agricultural Employment Benefit From Eu Support?
Sandy Dall'erba
Eveline Van Leeuwen
Studies dealing with the impact of public support on employment
have given varying results, depending on the estimation process,
sample and type of subsidy. In this paper, we investigate the
impact of support from the Common Agricultural Policy and
Objective 5 funds on agricultural employment changes in European
regions. We use a spatial econometric approach to consider the
fact that employment dynamics in one region also depend on the
dynamics of its neighbors. Our conclusions raise interesting
issues for the ongoing debate on the role of support to the
agricultural sector and provide several policy perspectives for
the new member countries where this sector still influences
economic performance.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p96&r=agr
18. Can Risk-aversion towards fertilizer explain part of the non-
adoption puzzle for hybrid maize? Empirical evidence from
Malawi
Simtowe, Franklin
This study investigates the linkage between attitudes towards
risk and adoption. We empirically examine the relative risk
premium related to fertilizer-use among 404 farmers from Malawi
and examine the relationship between risk aversion on fertilizer-
use and the adoption of hybrid maize. Results show that Malawian
farmers exhibit absolute Arrow-Pratt risk aversion towards the
use of fertilizer. The findings also reveal that risk aversion
towards the use of fertilizer is strongly associated with low
intensity of hybrid maize adoption and that other than the safety
net programs, human and financial capital variables such as age,
household size, land size and off-farm income can be helpful in
explaining the non-adoption puzzle. While safety net programs
such as the free input distribution increase the likelihood of
adoption, they are associated with low adoption intensity for
hybrid maize. A key lesson is that when considering promoting a
technology, it is important to assess the profit distribution
associated with the use of complementary inputs and its
implications for risk preference among technology users in order
to avoid formulating misguiding policies.
Keywords: Adoption; hybrid maize; fertilizer; risk-aversion;
Malawi
JEL: Q01
Date: 2006-09-20
Date: 2006-12-20
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1241&r=agr
19. The Direction of Technical Change in Capital-Resource
Economies
Di Maria, Corrado
Valente, Simone
We analyze a multi-sector growth model with directed technical
change where man-made capital and exhaustible resources are
essential for production. The relative profitability of factor-
specific innovations endogenously determines whether technical
progress will be capital- or resource-augmenting. We show that
convergence to balanced growth implies zero capital-augmenting
innovations: in the long run, the economy exhibits purely
resource-augmenting technical change. This result provides sound
microfoundations for the broad class of models of
exogenous/endogenous growth where resource-augmenting progress is
required to sustain consumption in the long run, contradicting
the view that these models are conceptually biased in favor of
sustainability.
Keywords: Endogenous Growth; Directed Technical Change;
Exhaustible Resources; Sustainability
JEL: Q32 O33 O31 O32
Date: 2006-03-07
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1040&r=agr
20. Mechanism Design for Biodiversity Conservation in Developing
Countries
Luca Di Corato (University of Padua and University of York)
In this paper the theory and practical limits of a voluntary
incentive program for the conservation of biodiversity are
presented. The design of conservation contracts in the context of
still forested areas in developing countries is considered. The
aim of the governmental agency implementing the conservation
program is to induce the landowners to set aside a part of their
land from agriculture conversion, compensating them for the
resulting profit loss. The optimal contract scheme needs to deal
with information asymmetry on the opportunity cost of
conservation and reduces the information rents due to the
landholder incentive to misreport her "type". I show how
information asymmetry can seriously impact on the optimal
mechanism design and may lead to contracts by which types cannot
be separated and/or landholders may receive some payments even if
they are conserving the same extent of land they would have
conserved without contract.
JEL: D82 D86 Q57 Q58
Date: 2006-12
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pad:wpaper:0034&r=agr
21. Value chain analysis and market power in the commodity
processing with application to the cocoa and coffee sectores
Christopher L. Gilbert
Value chain analysis extends traditional supply chain analysis
by locating values to each stage of the chain. This can result in
a ?cake division? fallacy in which value at one stage is seen
as being at the expense of value at another. Over the past three
decades, the coffee and cocoa industries have witnessed dramatic
falls in the producer (i.e. farmer) share in rental price. Both
industries are highly concentrated at the processing stage.
Nevertheless, developments in the producer and retail markets are
largely unconnected and there is no evidence the falls in the
producer share are the result of exercise of monopoly-monopsony
power. The explanation of declining producer shares is more
straightforward ? processing, marketing and distribution costs,
incurred in consuming countries have tended to increase over time
while production costs at the origin have declined.
Date: 2006
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpde:0701&r=agr
22. New Approach for Localization, Prediction, and Management of
Saline-Infected Soils
Naftaly Goldshlger
Vladimir Mirlas
Eyal Ben Dor
Mor Eshel
Numerous cultivated fields are prone to salinization processes,
mostly as a result of the use of low quality irrigation water.
The degradation of soils in the Jezra???el Valley, one of
Israel's most important agricultural areas, is a good example to
this phenomenon. In this area, increasing salinity caused by
irrigation with domestic effluent water was observed. An increase
in the soil salinity is followed with an increase in the soil SAR,
that deteriorate soil structure and infiltration rate. The main
reason of soil salinization near local water reservoirs is the
transition from seasonal reservoirs of winter flood water to an
annual water reservoir that collect domestic effluents as well.
As a result an increase of the fields water table in the vicinity
of the reservoir is evident. This complicated phenomenon
emphasizes the importance of testing and mapping the changes in
the soil properties caused by irrigation with low water quality
to improve the soil and water management in arid regions and
prevent the adverse effect to the environment. Soil sampling to
determine changes in soil salinity is time consuming. An
alternative method is suggested based on remote sensing
methodology. In each of the research sites chemical data such as,
EC and SAR were acquired from analysis of soil samples and from
remote sensing data, using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR),
Electromagnetic Conductivity & Susceptibility (EM). All the
mentioned data were applied to GIS analysis. Within the
agricultural land, a geo-referenced data base of the changes in
the soil's salinity was built, allowing us to map and predict the
salinization phenomena for optimal management of the soil
salinization processes. The primary spectroscopic results showed
that the main mineral found in the soil profile (0-60 cm) were
gypsum and sodium chlorite. The primary GPR and EM results showed
that there is a possibility to identified buried layers and to
observed lateral and vertical changes in the soils profiles.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p23&r=agr
23. Rural Investment and the Cost of Income Uncertainty
T Heikkinen
K Pietola
This paper studies optimal investment decision in agriculture
under diminishing income expectations. The goal is to study the
cost of income uncertainty and its implications to the efficiency
of investment subsidies. Investment decision is modelled as a
Markov decision process, extended to account for risk. Applying a
stochastic programming approach, the cost of imperfect
information is evaluated as the difference between the
profitability of investment under stable income and under
uncertain income. Computational experiments demonstrate that the
cost of imperfect information can be high, deteriorating the
efficiency of investment subsidies. Also, examples suggest that
the optimal timing of the investment can be sensitive to risk.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p51&r=agr
24. The Role of Public Infraestructure in Market Development in
Rural Peru
Escobal, Javier
This Study provides a conceptual framework to study the impact
of rural infrastructure investment in market development and in
the enhancement of income generating opportunities for the poor
in rural Peru. The study uses descriptive methods and regression
analysis together with relatively new impact evaluation
techniques, like propensity score matching, to understand the
causal paths through which the access to new or improved
infrastructure services affect the livelihood strategies and
livelihood outcomes of rural households. The data sources
included in this study include regional time series data, several
cross-section household level data sets coming from rural
representative Living Standard Measurement Surveys; a household
panel data set coming from the same source, together with
specialized surveys developed by the author. The analysis shows
that there are important complementarities in rural
infrastructure investment. That is, even if any particular
infrastructure investment (related to roads, electricity,
telecommunication, water, or sanitation services) may be subject
to diminishing returns, if done in isolation, this effect can be
overcome if it is done in combination with other investments. In
this way it is possible to get a sustained growth effect on rural
incomes from infrastructure investment. The study shows that
infrastructure investments reduce transaction costs and enhances
the opportunities for spatial arbitrage, paving the way for
improving market efficiency. However, the study warns that
efficiency and equity gains may not occur simultaneously, because
those that are better off in rural areas may obtain higher
returns to infrastructure investments because of a larger private
asset base or because of a better access to other public
infrastructure.
Keywords: Peru; rural infrastructure; poverty; economic
geography; rural roads; impact evaluation; non-
agricultural employment
JEL: I38 D23 R12 Q13 O18
Date: 2005-04
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:727&r=agr
25. Knowledge As a Factor to Improve Competitiveness for a Firm
in Rural Norway
Knut Ingar Westeren
Aker Verdal produces steel jackets for the offshore industry and
is situated in Tr??ndelag in peripheral Norway. The firm has
about 600 employees and a yearly production value of about 200
mill. $. The main competitors are in the southern part of Europe,
for example Dragados in Spain. The wage level at Dragados is
about 50% lower than at Aker Verdal, but Aker has won several
contracts in the later years. One reason for this is that Aker
has a knowledge component that contributes to the compensation
for higher wage costs. The firm wants to analyze how it acquires
and develops knowledge capital by looking at: ?? Identification:
What are the central knowledge processes that take place ??
Measurement: What kind of indicators can be used ?? Management:
How is management of knowledge integrated in the general
management of the firm In this paper we will look at a case study
and see how that can be understood in a theoretical framework. We
will also analyze the advantages and disadvantages of peripheral
location and its influence on knowledge creation and development.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p582&r=agr
26. DEVELOPMENT OF VARIABLE ETHANOL SUBSIDY AND COMPARISON WITH
THE FIXED SUBSIDY
Justin Quear
Wallace E. Tyner (Department of Agricultural Economics,
College of Agriculture, Purdue University)
The federal government currently subsidizes ethanol with a fixed
payment of $.51/gallon of ethanol blended with gasoline. Ethanol
profitability is closely linked to the prices of corn and ethanol.
The purpose of this paper was to develop a variable subsidy
based on corn and ethanol prices and then to compare that
variable subsidy with the fixed subsidy. This analysis proceeded
in several distinct steps: ? First, we estimated ethanol
profitability over a wide range of ethanol, corn, and distillers
grains prices. ? This data was used in a regression analysis to
estimate the ethanol profitability from the set of corn and
ethanol prices. The regression coefficients became the basis for
the variable subsidy. ? A version of the subsidy that used
gasoline prices instead of ethanol prices was also developed. ?
Administratively, it would be burdensome to have a subsidy that
changed every month, so we implemented both variable subsidies
using quarterly data. ? We then compared the average annual
government cost and monthly private profitability using
historical data and assuming the variable subsidy and the $0.51
fixed subsidy was applied. When using historic gasoline and corn
prices from the last ten years, the variable rate subsidy cost
the government nearly 40% less than the flat rate subsidy. Profit
received by producers on average is a little less; however,
producer?s risk is lower with the variable subsidy than the
flat rate subsidy.
Keywords: Ethanol, variable subsidy, energy policy, ethanol
economics
JEL: Q48 Q42 Q28
Date: 2006
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pae:wpaper:06-16&r=agr
27. Collective Action-A Challenge and an Opportunity for Water
Governance
Maria Manuela Castro Silva
This paper addresses the motivations that drive participation in
groups concerning water protection and provides a review of the
key role collective action plays in accessing and managing water
resources. It also analyses the conditions and factors which make
such organizations effective in solving shared problems and in
faciliting and institutionalizing negotiation platforms.
Collective action heavily relies on the social capital existing
in a community to accomplish goals and objectives. These social
networks allow for flow of information, serving not only to
criticize but also to purpose a different course in environmental
and particularly, water management. The vital role of collective
action and other "major groups" in sustainable development was
recognized in Chapter 27[2] of Agenda 21, leading to revised
arrangements for consultative relationship between the United
Nations and non-governmental organizations which are, indeed,
collective voluntary action. The coalition building capacity
suggesting the mobilization of civil society in the sense of
organized interests can supplement the ultimate responsibility of
the traditional democratic institutions according to the
implementation of the Aarthus Principles. Modern governance calls
for consensus, seeking processes with organized interests, a good
culture of consultation and participation. Collective action
meets these goals, as offers the chances for environmental
effectiveness, contributing to information generation and
creation of relevant knowledge. These factors may relieve the
legislator, affecting the way in which powers are exercised at
European level, particularly as regards the five principles of
good governance, namely openness, participation, accountability,
effectiveness and coherence. Most problems with water resource
management are felt at the lowest levels and changes in water
management are required down to the individual action, reasons
why the development strategies call for extensive pro-active
participation (at different levels, sectors and scales) upholding
the principles of subsidiarity. Finally, this paper also
highlights the role performed by collective action in increasing
advocacy skills and capacity, contributing to strengthening
governance at the local level through favoring the enabling
environment for water protection and conservation.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p659&r=agr
28. EU Market Access for Mediterranean Fruit and Vegetables : A
Gravity Model Assessment
Emlinger, C.
Chevassus Lozza, E.
Jacquet, F.
Since 1995, a liberalization process - the so-called Barcelona
Process - has taken place in the Mediterranean area. Its aim is
to establish by 2010 a free trade area in the Mediterranean Basin.
For the moment full liberalization concerns trade in industrial
products, but agriculture remains sensitive. Among agricultural
products, the fruit and vegetables (F&V) sector is essential for
Mediterranean countries, and the EU is their major trading
partner. In this context, two questions arise: firstly, to what
extent does protection influence trade for the Mediterranean
countries compared to other countries? Secondly, what impact
would greater liberalization in the F&V trade between the EU and
Mediterranean Countries have? Our model, based on the new
developments of the gravity trade model, focuses on the
difficulties Mediterranean countries face in entering the EU
market, compared to other EU partners, considering the relative
impact of the different trade costs. The model is estimated at
the product level, in a sector which is highly specific: some
products may be very perishable and thus particularly time-
sensitive. The Mediterranean basin appears as a highly
heterogeneous country bloc. Beside the actual level of
preferences allowed by the EU, two main elements vary according
to the exporting country: its tariff sensitivity and its "non-
tariff" trade resistance. Thus, with respect to Euromed
liberalization, the higher the tariff sensitivity, the higher the
impact liberalization has on trade, and this impact can be
limited by a high trade resistance (NTB, logistic constraints...).
...French Abstract : Depuis 1995, le processus de Barcelone est
? l'origine d'une lib?ralisation progressive des ?changes de
part et d'autre de la M?diterran?e. Alors que ce processus a
pour objectif l'?tablissement en 2010 d'une zone de libre
?change dans le bassin M?diterran?en, cette lib?ralisation
est pour l'instant assez restreinte en ce qui concerne les
produits agricoles. Malgr? certaines pr?f?rences, ceux-ci se
heurtent encore ? des protections importantes et complexes, tout
particuli?rement pour les fruits et l?gumes (F&L) (prix
d'entr?e, contingent, calendriers). L'importance de ces produits
dans ces ?changes et leur r?le dans l'?conomie des Pays Tiers
M?diterran?ens (PTM) nous am?ne ? nous poser la question du
r?le des protections dans la d?termination des ?changes. Dans
quelle mesure ces protections influencent elles le commerce de
F&L en provenance des PTM, compar? aux autres pays ? Plus
g?n?ralement, quels seraient les impacts d'une plus grande
lib?ralisation des ?changes de F&L entre l'Union Europ?enne et
les PTM ? Notre mod?le, bas? sur les r?cents d?veloppements
du mod?le de gravit? mesure l'acc?s au march? europ?en pour
les PTM, compar? aux autres fournisseurs de l'Union Europ?enne,
en consid?rant en particulier l'impact relatif des diff?rentes
" r?sistances " aux ?changes. Le mod?le est estim? ? un
niveau d?sagr?g? (niveau " produit ") et prend en compte une
des principales caract?ristiques du secteur des fruits et
l?gumes qui est la p?rissabilit? des produits. Cette
sp?cificit? joue un r?le essentiel dans la d?termination des
co?ts de transport pour les diff?rents produits. Les r?sultats
mettent en ?vidence une importante h?t?rog?n?it? du bassin
M?diterran?en en ce qui concerne l'acc?s au march? Europ?en.
En effet, si le niveau des pr?f?rences accord?es par l'UE pour
les diff?rents PTM est variable, la sensibilit? des
exportations aux protections ainsi que les barri?res aux
?changes autres que tarifaires sont ?galement tr?s variables
selon les pays. Ainsi, si les impacts d'une lib?ralisation des
?changes sont d'autant plus ?lev?s que la sensibilit? des
?changes aux protections est importante, ces impacts peuvent
?tre limit?s par les autres r?sistances aux ?changes (BNT,
contraintes logistiques...).
Keywords: FRUIT AND VEGETABLES; EU-MED AGREEMENT; GRAVITY MODELS;
TRANSPORT COST; TARIFFS
JEL: F13 F17 Q17 Q18
Date: 2006
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umr:wpaper:200616&r=agr
29. Voluntary Approaches to Food Safety : A Unified Framework
Fares, M.
Rouvi?re, E.
The emergence and the multiplication of safety quality
management system within the food supply chain were extensively
analyzed in the food safety literature. Some papers deal more
specifically with the voluntary implementation by firms of these
systems (Segerson, 1999; Venturini, 2003; Noelke & Caswell, 2000).
Our paper develops a unified analytical framework of this
burgeoning literature. We show three original results: (i) when
the mandatory threat is strong, the voluntary adoption of safety
measures can be implemented without the need of a cost
differential assumption (Segerson, 1999), or a reputation effect (
Venturini, 2003); (ii) when the mandatory threat is weak, the
reputation effect and the liability rule may induce the voluntary
adoption only when there is a "hard" response from the consumers;
iii) when the response from consumers is "soft", a well designed
contract offered by the retailer in the supply chain can induce
the firm to implement voluntary safety measures. ...French
Abstract : Ces derni?res ann?es en ?conomie agro-alimentaire,
la multiplication et le d?veloppement de syst?mes de management
de la qualit? (SMQ) au sein de l'offre alimentaire ont fait
l'objet un int?r?t particulier. Cependant, seules quelques
recherches traitent formellement de l'adoption volontaire de tels
syst?mes par les entreprises (Segerson, 1999; Venturini, 2003;
Noelke & Caswell, 2000). Dans cet article, nous proposons un
cadre analytique unifi? de cette litt?rature ?mergente.
Premi?rement, nous rel?chons les hypoth?ses d'existence d'un
diff?rentiel de co?t entre des SMQ volontaire et r?glementaire
Sergerson, 1999) ou d'un stock de r?putation (Venturini, 2003).
Nous montrons ainsi qu'une menace r?glementaire forte est une
condition n?cessaire et suffisante ? l'adoption volontaire par
les entreprises d'un SMQ. Deuxi?mement, nous distinguons deux
situations lorsque la menace r?glementaire est faible. D'une
part, suite ? une contamination sanitaire quand la r?ponse des
consommateurs ou du march? est " forte ", les effets de
r?putation et le " design " de la r?gle de responsabilit?
jouent comme des incitations ? l'adoption volontaire. D'autre
part, quand la r?ponse des consommateurs (du march?) est "
molle ", seul le contrat qu'offre le distributeur ? l'entreprise
peut induire une adoption volontaire.
Keywords: VOLUNTARY APPROACHES; FOOD SAFETY; SUPPLY CHAIN
JEL: Q18 L51 L81
Date: 2006
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umr:wpaper:200615&r=agr
30. TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN THE RETAIL FOOD INDUSTRY: THE
INFLUENCE OF INVENTORY INVESTMENT, WAGE LEVELS, AND AGE OF
THE FIRM
Francisco J. M?s (Universidad de Alicante)
Ricardo Sellers (Universidad de Alicante)
The objective of this paper is to estimate technical efficiency
in retailing; and the influence of inventory investment, wage
levels, and firm age on this efficiency. We use the output
supermarket chains? sales volume, calculated isolating the
retailer price effect on its sales revenue. This output allows us
to estimate a strictly technical concept of efficiency. The
methodology is based on the estimation of a stochastic parametric
function. The empirical analyses applied to panel data on a
sample of 42 supermarket chains between 2000 and 2002 show that
inventory investment and wage level have an impact on technical
efficiency. In comparison, the effect of these factors on
efficiency calculated through a monetary output (sales revenue)
shows some differences that could be due to aspects related to
product prices. El objetivo de este trabajo se centra en la
estimaci?n de la eficiencia t?cnica en distribuci?n comercial
minorista, as? como en analizar la influencia que la inversi?n
en existencias, el nivel de salarios y la edad de la empresa
tienen sobre dicha eficiencia. A tal efecto, se utiliza un output
que pretende aislar el efecto de los precios de cada cadena de
supermercados analizada, lo que permite estimar un concepto de
eficiencia estrictamente t?cnico. La metodolog?a se basa en la
estimaci?n de una frontera param?trica de naturaleza
estoc?stica. Los resultados de la aplicaci?n emp?rica sobre
una muestra de 42 cadenas de supermercados que operan en Espa?a
entre 2000 y 2002 muestran que la inversi?n en existencias y el
nivel de salarios ejercen una influencia positiva sobre la
eficiencia. Por comparaci?n, el efecto de estos factores sobre
la eficiencia econ?mica muestra algunas diferencias que podr?an
ser atribuidas al efecto de los precios aplicados por los
distribuidores.
Keywords: Eficiencia, distribuci?n comercial minorista,
supermercados efficiency, retailing, supermarkets.
JEL: L25 L81 M11
Date: 2006-12
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasec:2006-15&r=agr
31. Spatial Efficiency Analysis of Arable Crops in Greece
Anastassios Karaganis
Antonios Tassoulis
This paper aims at the analysis of determinants of efficiency of
arable crops in a spatial context in Greece. Moreover it suggests
policy interventions in order to diminish regional inequalities
in efficiency and to raise the average level of efficiency, so as
Greek arable crops will follow the new CAP framework which
imposes single area payment scheme (SAPS). Efficiency will be
estimated within the production function framework using a quasi-
production function. In empirical analysis production functions
are specified as spatially seemingly unrelated regression
equations (spatial SURE). In the paper spatial lag and spatial
error specifications as well as common SURE estimations are
tested. Data come from National Statistical Service.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p616&r=agr
32. Bioethanol As Basis for Regional Development in Brazil: An
Input-Output Model With Mixed Technologies
Marcelo Pereira Da Cunha
Jose Antonio Scaramucci
Many issues of strategic importance that have emerged in recent
years are contributing to the formulation of national policies
for promoting biofuels worldwide. In the developed countries,
such initiatives result mainly from concerns on energy security
and greenhouse gases emissions. Developing countries envisage
biofuels as a potential means to improve access to energy,
increase income and employment, alleviate poverty, spur rural
development, reduce oil imports and enhance exports of biomass
products. These interests converge as to render bioethanol trade
a unique opportunity for sustainable development. Despite its
simplicity and ease of use, the basic input-output (i-o) model
does not allow the representation of technology-differentiated
sectors producing the same good or service. For instance, in
Brazil, sugarcane can be collected manually or via harvesting
machines and alcohol can be produced in plants appended to a
sugar mill or in autonomous distilleries. An i-o model with mixed
technologies was constructed for the purposes of the study. A
linear technology is used to represent the sugarcane and ethanol
sectors, whereas the remaining industries are characterized by
the usual Leontief production function. Activity levels for the
linear-technology sectors are set by a scenario analysis,
avoiding the use of much more complicated mathematical tools,
such as a computable general equilibrium (cge) model. The
construction of the database was done in two stages. Firstly, an
i-o table containing 42 sector and 80 commodities was estimated
for the base year of 2002. Secondly, the sugarcane and ethanol
industries were disaggregated from the sectors they appear in
IBGE economic tables, based on detailed engineering information
obtained from experts and specialized publications. The extended
input-output model with mixed technologies was used to analyze
the socioeconomic impacts of a large-scale expansion of
bioethanol production in Brazil so as to replace 5% of the
estimated global demand for gasoline in 2025. The resulting
direct, indirect and induced effects indicate that if ethanol
production is augmented in nearly 800%, GDP would increase by a
factor of 11.4%, equivalent to approximately the entire economy
in the Northeast region of Brazil, and more than 5 million of
jobs would be created.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p242&r=agr
33. Rural Development and Wine Tourism in Southern Italy
Donatella Di Gregorio
Elena Licari
Tourism provides communities with an opportunity to display
their region???s distinct and unique cultural and natural
assets while creating employment and diversifying the regional
economy. A diverse economy is one that can cope with the changes
experienced in our current environment. Tourism is an industry
like any other and requires sound planning and a firm commitment
from the community to make it work. Like all economic activities
the benefits of tourism may create social and environmental
impacts which need to be managed through a partnership approach
and appropriate planning at a local level. Wine sector has shown
significant growth in the last decade and the related tourism
activity has also increased, particularly in the Mediterranean
countries. Wine tourism is defined as tourism in which the
opportunity for wine related experiences contributes
significantly to the reason for travel to the destination or to
itinerary planning while at the destination. Wine tourism has
been identified as sector that could be drivers for increased
tourism in the Mediterranean region, both by attracting more
visitors and extending the length of stay and spending of current
visitors. The general purpose of the paper is to undertake a
review of existing wine tourism activities, identify areas for
growth and make recommendations with respect to an action plan
that will develop wine, tourism and expand tourism growth in the
Mediterranean region. Historically, in fact, in southern Italy
viticulture has had role of great importance in agricultural
field. From over 2000 years wine is made by traditional methods
and especially in this area have place most of the autochthonous
grape varieties. The development of wine tourism in conjunction
with the spread of the industry has become important to the
viability of regional economies and the industry's many smaller
businesses. The policies that lie behind the development of the
wine industry have important implications for the development of
other industries in the Mediterranean area, notably: - as a model
for the development of high-value industries on a sustainable
basis in the agricultural sector; - as a model of collaborative
development for other manufacturing industries
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p626&r=agr
34. Deforestation, Growth and Agglomeration Effects: Evidence
From Agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon
Danilo Igliori
The role of population growth and migration has been emphasized
as a key variable to explain deforestation and land conversion in
developing countries. In early studies a
???Malthusian??? process is put forward to associate the
growing demand for resources caused by larger populations in
frontier areas. Recent empirical research has also focused on the
role of population primarily as a measure for local demand and
pressure over natural resources. The spatial distribution of
human population and economic activities is remarkably uneven. At
any geographical scale we find that different forms of
agglomerations are pervasive. On the one hand, in central
countries or regions, agglomeration is reflected in ???large
varieties of cities as shown by the stability of urban hierarchy
within most countries???. On the other, less developed
regions faces a dynamic process where new agglomerations form and
develop as a result of frontier expansion. The recent literature
on spatial economics has emphasized the role of agglomeration and
clustering of economic activities as fundamental causes of an
enhanced level of local economic performance, creating
externalities that cause firms to grow faster and larger than
they otherwise would do. However, very little has been done to
examine the presence of agglomeration economies on economic
performance of agricultural activities. The Brazilian Amazon is
perhaps one of the most interesting regions for analysing
eventual relationships between agglomeration economies, economic
growth and deforestation. In this paper we empirically examine
whether an initial level of agglomeration impacts the subsequent
economic growth and deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon.
We also test whether congestion effects at the higher levels of
agglomeration limit these impacts by a non-linear relationship.
The regression estimates indicate that there is a significant non-
linear association between the initial intensity of agglomeration
with both growth and land conversion in subsequent periods. We
also find evidence of other factors associated with growth and
land conversion.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p719&r=agr
35. The Role of Research in Wine: the Emergence of a Regional
Research Area in an Italian Wine Production System
Andrea Morrison
Roberta Rabellotti
The process of technological modernisation of the wine industry
has increasingly become a global phenomenon involving both
traditional wine producing countries ??? such as France,
Italy and Portugal ??? as well as new emerging producers
???as the US, Australia, South Africa, Chile and Argentina.
At this respect, the literature (Aylward, 2003; Unwin, 1991)
remarks that in the industry the process of technological
renovation has been spurred by the consistent investment of new
producer countries, as California, Australia, New Zealand and
South Africa, in creating or strengthening research institutions.
These efforts have led to the creation of a specialised wine
research system. Conversely, it seems that producers in
traditional wine producing areas have often been locked in old
technologies and methods of production, due to path dependency.
The aim of this paper is to shed some light on how old producing
countries have reacted to the increased technological competition
by emerging producers. In particular we focus on role played by
research organisations (e.g. universities, public research
centres) and intermediate institutions (e.g. sectoral
associations, extension agencies, technological transfer centres)
in generating and diffusing knowledge within the industry. The
paper is based on first and second hand information collected in
Piemonte, where it is located one of the most important Italian
wine cluster. There, we have conducted an extensive fieldwork and
interviewed several key informants working at research
organisations; extension agencies, associations of producers and
other associations acting as opinion/lobbying groups. The
information collected are elaborated to reconstruct a detailed
picture of actors, linkages and processes underpinning the
regional innovation and production wine system.
Date: 2006-08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p199&r=agr
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