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

Kerr, Suzi; Newell, Richard G..

The theory of environmental regulation suggests that economic instruments, such as taxes and tradable permits, create more effective technology adoption incentives than conventional regulatory standards. We explore this issue for an important industry undergoing technological responses to a dramatic decrease in allowed pollution levels - the petroleum industry's phasedown of lead in gasoline. Using a panel of refineries from 1971 to 1995, we provide some of the first direct evidence that alternative policies affect the pattern of adoption in expected ways. Importantly, we find that the tradable permit system used during the lead phasedown provided incentives for more efficient technology adoption decisions. Where environmentally appropriate, this suggests...

Learning, Misallocation, and Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Malaria Therapy in Tanzania

Palavras-chave: Technology; Adoption; Diffusion; Environment; Regulation; Lead; Gasoline; Tradable permit; Incentive-based policy; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; C41; L71; O31; O33; Q28; Q48.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10834

Adhvaryu, Achyuta.

I show that malaria misdiagnosis, common in resource-poor settings, decreases the expected effectiveness of an important new therapy–since only a fraction of treated individuals have malaria–and reduces the rate of learning via increased noise. Using pilot program data from Tanzania, I exploit variation in the location and timing of survey enumeration to construct reference groups composed of randomly chosen, geographically and temporally proximate acutely ill individuals. I show that learning is stronger and adoption rates are higher in villages with more misdiagnosis. Subsidizing diagnostic tools or improving initial targeting of new technologies may thus accelerate uptake through learning.

Economic Efficiency of Smallholder Irish Potato Producers in Kenya: A Case of Nyandarua North District

Palavras-chave: Technology adoption; Learning; Malaria; Tanzania; Health Economics and Policy; International Development; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; I15; O12; O33.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/115712

Nyagaka, Daniel; Obare, Gideon A.; Nguyo, Wilson.

With declining Irish potato production trends in Kenya this paper identifies and analyses factors that influence the economic efficiency of smallholder Irish potato producers in Kenya by drawing on data from random sample of 130 smallholder farmers from Nyandarua North district. A dual stochastic parametric decomposition technique is used to disaggregate economic efficiency components and a two-limit Tobit model is used to derive efficiency indices as a function of a vector of socio-economic characteristics and institutional factors. Empirical results show decreasing returns to scale in production. The mean economic efficiency is 0.39 with a range of 0.12 - 0.66. Education, access to extension, access to credit and membership in a farmers association...

Intellectual Property Rights, Migration, and Diaspora

Palavras-chave: Efficiency; Productivity; Stochastic frontier functions; Kenya; Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Security and Poverty; Land Economics/Use; Production Economics; Productivity Analysis; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; D12; D24; O33; Q16.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/49917

Naghavi, Alireza; Strozzi, Chiara.

In this paper we study theoretically and empirically the role of the interaction between skilled migration and intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection in determining innovation in developing countries (South). We show that although emigration from the South may directly result in the well-known concept of brain drain, it also causes a brain gain effect, the extent of which depends on the level of IPRs protection in the sending country. We argue this to come from a diaspora channel through which the knowledge acquired by emigrants abroad can flow back to the South and enhance the skills of the remaining workers there. By increasing the size of the innovation sector and the skill-intensity of emigration, IPRs protection makes it more likely for...

Brown Sunsets and Green Dawns in the Industrial Sector: Environmental Innovations, Firm Behavior and the European Emission Trading

Palavras-chave: Intellectual property rights; Migration; Technology transfer; Brain gain; Diaspora; Labor and Human Capital; O34; F22; O33; J24; J61.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/115817

Borghesi, Simone; Cainelli, Giulio; Mazzanti, Massimiliano.

We study the driving forces behind the adoption of environmental innovations (EI) in the Italian industry over 2006-2008 through analyses of the new wave of Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data that covered for the first time environmental innovation adoptions. We investigate whether the first phase of EU ETS has exerted some effects on environmental innovations by using a very large sample of italian manufcturing firms. Estimates show that external forces and complementarity with other management practices are particularly relevant to increase the adoption of relatively new and radical technologies: relationships with other firms and institutions, local public funding, group membership are the key factors. The role of ETS on EI seems instead to be weak:...

Tipo: Working Paper

Palavras-chave: Environmental Innovation; Industrial Sectors; ETS; Innovation Drivers; CIS Data; Environmental Economics and Policy; C21; L2; O33; Q38; Q55.

Ano: 2012

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/121701

The 2008 WITCH Model: New Model Features and Baseline

Bosetti, Valentina; De Cian, Enrica; Sgobbi, Alessandra; Tavoni, Massimo.

WITCH is an energy-economy-climate model developed by the climate change group at FEEM. The model has been extensively used in the past 3 years for the economic analysis of climate change policies. WITCH is a hybrid top-down economic model with a representation of the energy sector of medium complexity. Two distinguishing features of the WITCH model are the representation of endogenous technological change and the game–theoretic set-up. Technological change is driven by innovation and diffusion processes, both of which feature international spillovers. World countries are grouped in 12 regions which interact with each other in a setting of strategic interdependence. This paper describes the updating of the base year data to 2005 and some new features: the...

The Economics of Technology Diffusion: Implications for Climate Policy in Developing Countries

Palavras-chave: Climate Policy; Hybrid Modelling; Integrated Assessment; Technological Change; Environmental Economics and Policy; O33; O41; Q43.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/55284

Blackman, Allen.

Recent efforts to forge a consensus on the role developing countries should play in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions have focused attention on climate friendly technologies (CFTs), most notably those that enhance energy efficiency. In the medium term, the effectiveness of technology-based climate strategies will depend critically on the rates at which CFTs diffuse in developing countries. This paper reviews some of the key findings of the economics research on technology diffusion and assesses the implications for climate policy. The most obvious lessons from this research are that widespread diffusion of CFTs may take decades, and that diffusion rates in developing and industrialized countries are likely to be quite different. In addition, the...

Community Pressure and Clean Technology in the Informal Sector: An Econometric Analysis of the Adoption of Propane by Traditional Mexican Brickmakers

Palavras-chave: Technology diffusion; Climate change; Developing countries; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O33; O38; Q25; Q28; O48.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10574

Blackman, Allen; Bannister, Geoffrey J..

In many developing countries the informal sector, comprised of low-technology unlicensed micro-enterprises, is a major source of pollution. Environmental management in this sector is exceptionally challenging. Though clean technologies offer a means of mitigating the problem, to our knowledge there has been no rigorous empirical research on why informal (or even small-scale) firms do and do not adopt them. As a first step towards filling this gap, this paper presents the results of an econometric analysis of the diffusion of propane among informal 'traditional' brickmakers in Cd. Juárez, Mexico--a leading source of air pollution owing to their reliance on cheap, highly polluting fuels such as used tires and scrap wood. The two key policy implications of...

An impact evaluation of technology adoption by smallholders in Sichuan, China: the case of sweet potato-pig systems

Palavras-chave: Environment; Community pressure; Clean technology; Informal sector; Technology adoption; Brickmaking; Mexico; Environmental Economics and Policy; O17; O22; O33; Q25; C25; L61.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10529

Lapar, Ma. Lucila A.; Ngoc Toan, Nguyen; Zou, Chengyi; Liu, Jinyuan; Li, Xianglin; Randolph, Thomas F..

We employ propensity score matching (PSM) framework to examine the impact of sweet potato-based feed technology adoption on household-based pig production in Sichuan, China. An ex post survey in six villages was conducted in 2009, of which five villages were in project intervention sites (exposed area) and one village in the same township but not exposed to project intervention (non-exposed area). We randomly selected 111 households in the exposed areas from the list of households previously interviewed in a baseline survey and 53 households from non-exposed area. Matching estimators such as nearest neighbor matching (NNM), radius matching (RM) and kernel matching (KM) were used to estimate average treatment effects. Results indicate positive net benefit...

Romanian Maize - Distorted Prices and Producer Efficiency

Palavras-chave: Technology adoption; Impact assessment; Crop-livestock systems; Livestock Production/Industries; Production Economics; O22; O33; Q16.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/100577

Sauer, Johannes; Balint, Borbala.

This study tackles the decomposition of efficiency with respect to agricultural production in transition economies by using a case study on small scale maize farmers in Romania. The underlying modelling assumption is that farmers in transition countries still face heavily distorted price systems. To capture such distortions a stochastic shadow cost frontier model is formulated to investigate the systematic input specific allocative inefficiency. We further adjust the underlying cost frontier by incorporating shadow price corrections and subsequently reveal evidence on farm specific technical inefficiency. Different models are estimated due to the imposition of curvature correctness. The empirical results confirm the underlying hypothesis of enduring...

R&D, Innovation and Growth: Evidence from Four Manufacturing Sectors in OECD Countries

Palavras-chave: Efficiency; Shadow cost frontier; Transitional agriculture; Functional consistency; Demand and Price Analysis; C40; D24; O33.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/21410

Ulku, Hulya.

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between R&D intensity, rate of innovation and the growth rate of output in four manufacturing sectors from 17 OECD countries. The findings suggest that the knowledge stock is the main determinant of innovation in all four manufacturing sectors and that R&D intensity increases innovation in the chemicals and the electrical and electronics sector. In addition, the rate of innovation has a positive effect on the growth rate of output in all sectors except for the drugs and medical sector. These results lend strong support for the non-scale endogenous growth models. *I am grateful to Adam Jaffe for his invaluable suggestions and comments.

Effects of the CDM on Poverty Eradication and Global Climate Protection

Palavras-chave: Non-scale endogenous growth; R&D; Patent; Innovation; Output growth; System GMM; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O14; O30; O31; O33; O41.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/30542

Rubbelke, Dirk T.G.; Rive, Nathan.

In an impure public good model we analyze the effects of CDM transfers on poverty as well as on the global climate protection level. We construct an analytical model of a developing and an industrialized region, both of which independently seek to maximize their utility – a function of private consumption, domestic air quality, and global climate protection. They do so by distributing their finite expenditures across (1) the aggregate consumption good, (2) end-of-pipe pollution control technologies, and (3) greenhouse gas abatement. Based on our analytical findings, we develop two sets of simulations for China in which we vary the rate of the CDM transfer. The simulations differ by the assumption of China’s domestic air quality policy – the first assumes a...

Estimation of Actual and potential adoption rates and determinants of a new technology not universally known in the population: The case of NERICA rice varieties in Guinea

Palavras-chave: Ancillary Benefits; CDM; Climate Policy; Impure Public Goods; Transfers; Abatement Technology; Environmental Economics and Policy; Food Security and Poverty; Q54; H23; H41; O33.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/46650

Diagne, Aliou; Sogbossi, Marie-Josee; Simtowe, Franklin; Diawara, Sekou; Diallo, Abdoulaye Sadio; Barry, Alpha Bacar.

The NERICA (New Rice for Africa) rice varieties, developed by the Africa Rice Center during the 1990s, are providing hopes for raising the productivity of upland rice farmers in Africa because of their reported high yield potential and adaptability to the African conditions. The varieties are new and not widely disseminated in farming communities and there is lot of interest in the donor community in knowing their potential for widespread adoption across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, when a technology is new and the target population is not universally exposed it, the observed sample adoption rate and classical models of adoption widely used in adoption studies does not inform reliably on its potential adoption and constraint to it in the full...

The Environment and Directed Technical Change: Comment

Palavras-chave: NERICA varieties; Technology Diffusion and adoption; Average Treatment Effect; Guinea; International Development; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods; C13; O33; Q12; Q16.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51644

Hourcade, Jean-Charles; Pottier, Antonin; Espagne, Etienne.

This paper discusses the growth model with environmental constraints recently presented in (Acemoglu et al., 2011) which focuses on the redirection of technical change by climate policies with research subsidies and a carbon tax. First, Acemoglu et al.'s model and chosen parameters yield numerical results that do not support the conclusion that ambitious climate policies can be conducted “without sacrificing (much or any) long-run growth”. Second, they select unrealistic key parameters for carbon sinks and elasticity of substitution. We find that more realistic parameters lead to very different results. Third, the model leads to an unrealistic conclusion when used to analyse endogenous growth, suggesting specification problems.

Tipo: Working Paper

Palavras-chave: Technological Change; Endogenous Growth; Climate; Energy Substitutability; Environmental Economics and Policy; O30; O33; Q43; Q54; Q56.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/120046

Green Revolution Technology Takes Root in Africa The Promise and Challenge of the Ministry of Agriculture/SG2000 Experiment with Improved Cereals Technology in Ethiopia

Howard, Julie A.; Kelly, Valerie A.; Stepanek, Julie; Crawford, Eric W.; Demeke, Mulat; Maredia, Mywish K..

In 1993, the Sasakawa/Global 2000 Program (SG) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) began a joint program to demonstrate that substantial productivity increases could be achieved when farmers were given appropriate extension messages and agricultural inputs were delivered on time at reasonable prices. The program provided credit, inputs and extension assistance to participants willing to establish half-hectare demonstration plots on their own land. In 1995, the MOA/SG demonstration program reached more than 3,500 farmers. During the same year MOA launched the New Extension Program (NEP) based on SG principles but managed independently. By 1997, NEP was managing the bulk of the demonstration plots. Although the MOA/SG program is widely considered to be a...

Tipo: Report

Palavras-chave: Food security; Food policy; Agricultural inputs; Ethiopia; Crop Production/Industries; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Downloads July 2008 - June 2009: 15; O33.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/54667

STRENGTHENING RURAL AMERICA’S POSITION IN THE GLOBAL BROADBAND ADOPTION RACE

Determinants of Food Industry Performance – Empirical Evidence Based on a Survey

Barnes, James N..

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Broadband; Rural America; Economic Development; Internet; Rural Regions; Agribusiness; R12; O33; O57; R11.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/100896

Furtan, William Hartley; Sauer, Johannes.

This paper empirically investigates the determinants of firms’ performance in the agri-food sector by using recent survey data for Denmark. Treating sales per employee as a proxy for value addition we estimate several bootstrapped regression models to draw conclusions on the marginal effects of potential performance determinants such as the form and nature of ownership, stage of the food chain and commodity sector, new product development, staff quality, firms’ competitive stance, and elements of firms’ strategy. To draw robust inferences we apply, besides the ordinary heteroscedasticity corrected Tobit ML-estimator, a nonparametric least absolute deviations estimator (LAD/CLAD) based on a quantile regression procedure. The results indicate that we cannot...

DISTORTED PRICES AND PRODUCER EFFICIENCY - ROMANIAN MAIZE

Palavras-chave: Value added; Innovation; Organizational type; Agribusiness; Q13; O31; O33.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6422

Balint, Borbala; Sauer, Johannes.

This research aims at shedding empirical light on the relative efficiency of small-scale maize producers in Romania. Farmers in transition countries still face heavily distorted price systems resulting from imperfect market conditions and socioeconomic and institutional constraints. To capture such distortions we formulate a stochastic shadow-cost frontier model to investigate the systematic input-specific allocative inefficiency. We further adjust the underlying cost frontier by incorporating shadow price corrections and subsequently reveal evidence on farm specific technical inefficiency. Different models are estimated due to the imposition of curvature correctness and the effects on the individual efficiency estimates are shown. The empirical results...

Willingness to Pay for Information Programs about E-Commerce: Results from a Convenience Sample of Rural Louisiana Businesses

Palavras-chave: Efficiency; Shadow Cost Frontier; Functional Consistency; Maize; Romania; Crop Production/Industries; C40; D24; O33.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/14958

Watson, Susan; Nwoha, Ogbonnaya John; Kennedy, Gary A.; Rea, Kenneth.

The probability of a business paying various amounts of money for an e-commerce presence ultimately depends on demographic features, experiences with e-commerce from a buyer’s and seller’s perspective, technological expertise, and knowledge of e-commerce opportunities and limitations. Estimating functions to assign probabilities associated with the willingness to pay for an e-commerce presence will assist in forecasting regional likelihood of certain profiles paying various monetary amounts for an e-commerce presence. In addition, if services are provided at no cost by a third party, value to a society will be maximized by selecting profiles with the highest willingness to pay.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: E-commerce; Internet; Rural businesses; Technology; Willingness to pay; A14; C25; D21; O13; O14; O33; Q16.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/43502

PROFIT EFFICIENCY AMONG BANGLADESHI RICE FARMERS

Rahman, Sanzidur.

Production inefficiency is usually analysed by its two components - technical efficiency and allocative efficiency. In this study we provide a direct measure of production efficiency of the Bangladeshi rice farmers using a stochastic profit frontier and inefficiency effects model. The data, which is for 1996, includes seven conventional inputs and several other background factors affecting production of modern or high yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice spread across 21 villages in three agro-ecological regions of Bangladesh. The results show that there are high levels of inefficiency in modern rice cultivation. The mean level of profit efficiency is 77% suggesting that an estimated 23% of the profit is lost due to a combination of both technical and...