SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Kancs, d'Artis; Ciaian, Pavel; Pokrivcak, Jan.

The present study examines factor content of the CEE transition country agricultural trade. We examine the relative country abundance for labour, capital and land, and test the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) hypothesis. Our empirical findings suggest that the factor content of agricultural exports and imports is rather similar in CEE and most of the agricultural trade flows do not satisfy the HOV prediction. In order to explain the general lack of agricultural specialisation and the observed paradox in the CEE's agricultural trade, we examine the role of transaction costs and market imperfections. We find that transaction costs and market imperfections distort farm specialisation and hence factor content of agricultural trade.

Structural Change in Transition: A Role for Organizational Legitimacy? Evidence from Czech Agriculture

Palavras-chave: Factor Content; Agricultural Trade; Comparative Advantages; Transaction Cost; Agricultural and Food Policy; F12; F14; D23; Q12; Q17.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/115421

Curtiss, Jarmila; Brümmer, Bernhard; Medonos, Tomas; Weaver, Robert D..

Market liberalization in Central and Eastern Europe was targeted at establishing incentives that would improve economic performance. While substantial reorganization of enterprises is observed, firms can also be observed which devote resources towards establishing organizational legitimacy. Motivations for such behavior are considered and empirical evidence of its relationship with technical efficiency using a distance function approach is analyzed for the case of Czech agriculture. Contrary to the expectation that such behavior would be inefficient, we find that firms reap private economic gains from legitimacy efforts through improved access to agricultural land, investment subsidies and firm internal social capital. However, its effect on technical...

Tradable Substitution Rights: Simulation of the Cost-Efficiency of a Nitrogen Reduction in the Pig Finishing Sector

Palavras-chave: Organizational legitimacy; Efficiency; Structural change; Transition; Agriculture; Industrial Organization; D21; D23; D24.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/24557

Carlier, Peter Jan; Lauwers, Ludwig H.; Mathijs, Erik.

To comply with the European Nitrate Directive, the Flemish manure policy has been elaborated mainly on the base of command and control measures (maximum fertilisation limits etc.). In literature, however, tradable permits are described as a cost efficient and effective instrument. Applied to nutrient emission they might offer an alternative for the current, expensive manure policy. In this publication both policy instruments are compared by means of simulation models. Based on accountacy data from 190 pig finishing farms, it is shown that tradable rights may result in cost savings of over 88%, compared to the most cost efficient command and control model. This result indicates that tradable permits at least need to be considered as a plausible policy...

Fragile Social Norms: (un) Sustainable Exploration of Forest Products

Palavras-chave: Tradable permits; Agriculture; Command and control; Nitrogen; Linear programming; Livestock Production/Industries; C61; D23; H23; Q58; Q52.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/24746

Zylbersztajn, Decio.

The exhaustion of natural resources is a central problem in the international agenda. The particular case of Amazon forest is at the top on the international environmental discussion. Two related problems are keys to be considered in the discussion of sustainable development in this region. First the predatory use of the natural resources of the forest mainly timber and genetic resources. Second the recognition of the existence of a population of around 20 million inhabitants in the region defined as “Legal Amazon Area”, aiming the improvement on the living conditions, enhancement of income level and acceleration of development. How to match both objectives is a puzzle faced by the present generation. The region is populated by initiatives of international...

Trust and Contracting in Agri-Food Hybrid Structures

Palavras-chave: Agribusiness; Agricultural and Food Policy; Farm Management; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Risk and Uncertainty; Q01; Q56; D23.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/59117

Martino, Gaetano.

The paper aims at examining the hypothesis that the influence of trust on contract can be thought of as a dynamic factor of organizational choices in supply chains. The relationship between contract and trust is delineated on the basis of institutional environment, contractual incompleteness, safeguards and restrictive provisions. The interaction between individual and system elements in the formation of trust and its influence in hybrid contracting is considered. According to a New Institutional Economics approach and a theoretical framework is proposed. Empirical evidence is provided by a case study regarding an Italian retailer company establishing hybrid structure with its suppliers. Investments in suppliers selection provide the basis for trust...

Distributing pollution rights in cap-and-trade programs: are outcomes independent of allocation?

Palavras-chave: Hybrid structures; Trust; Contract; Agribusiness; Q13; D23.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6769

Fowlie, Meredith; Perloff, Jeffrey M..

According to the Coase theorem, if property rights to pollute are clearly established and emissions permit markets nearly eliminate transaction costs, the permit market equilibrium will be independent of how the permits are initially distributed among firms. Testing the independence of firms' permit allocations and emissions is difficult because of endogeneity and omitted variable bias. We exploit the random assignment of firms to different permit allocation cycles in Southern California's RECLAIM Program to test for a causal relationship between facility-level emissions and initial permit allocations. Our primary finding is that a null hypothesis of zero effect cannot be rejected.

GHG Trading Framework for the U.S. Biofuels Sector

Palavras-chave: Air pollution; Emissions trading; Transaction costs; Environmental Economics and Policy; D21; D23; H11; Q50; Q53; Q58.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/47002

Kumarappan, Subbu; Joshi, Satish V..

Substitution of petroleum fuels with biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel has been shown to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These GHG reductions can be traded in the emerging carbon markets, and methodologies for quantifying and trading are still being developed. The main challenges in developing such GHG trading framework are analyzed. An outline of such a framework is presented that depends on the life cycle assessment of GHG reductions, along with a combination of project specific and regional standard performance measures. The advantages of assigning GHG property and trading rights to biofuel producers are discussed. At carbon prices of $10 per metric ton, estimated additional revenues to biofuel producers range from $ 17 to 64 million dollars...

Measuring Transactions Costs from Observed Behavior: Market Choice in Peru

Palavras-chave: Biofuels; Ethanol; Biodiesel; Carbon trading; GHG emissions trading; Methodology; CCX; CDM; Maize; Lignocellulosics; Well to wheel; Life cycle analysis; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q42; D23; D4.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/54530

Vakis, Renos; Sadoulet, Elisabeth; de Janvry, Alain.

Farmers incur proportional and fixed transactions costs in selling their crops on markets. Using data for Peruvian potato farmers, we propose a method to measure these transactions costs. When opportunities exist to sell a crop on alternative markets, the observed choice of market can be used to infer a monetary measure of transactions costs in market participation. The market choice model is first estimated at the reduced form level with a conditional logit, as a function of variables that explain transactions costs. We then use these market choice equations to control for selection in predicting the idiosyncratic prices that would be received on all markets and the idiosyncratic proportional transactions costs that would be incurred to reach all markets....

An Economic Model for Bioprospecting Contracts

Palavras-chave: Transactions costs; Market choice; Information; Marketing; D23; D83; O12.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25110

Ding, Helen; Nunes, Paulo A.L.D.; Onofri, Laura.

This paper explores the use of a micro-economic model to analyse the provisions and parties of bioprospecting contracts. It focuses on the pharmaceutical industry as the representative biodiversity buyer, presenting an original theoretical framework that explains the main contract characteristics or stylised facts. Against this background, it considers the main contractors involved in these private contracts, i.e. biodiversity sellers and biodiversity buyers, analysing both the magnitude and distribution of the respective payoffs. Particular attention is devoted to the different, mixed impacts of bioprospecting contracts and patenting on social welfare. The positive welfare impacts delivered by bioprospecting contracts are associated with the potential...