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

The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS), which involves mandates for various biofuels, is complex and has been often misinterpreted or oversimplified in previous studies. In this paper we analyze the implications of the RFS for the U.S. domestic and international ethanol markets. We demonstrate the vital role of the advanced biofuel mandate within the RFS. Impacts of changes in tariffs on imported fuel ethanol and subsidies for U.S. domestic ethanol production are examined. One of our important findings is that the RFS could result in serious misallocation of resources in both a national and international context. There is a possibility that the United States could be required to import sugarcane-based ethanol to meet the advanced biofuel mandate,...

Do Current U.S. Ethanol Policies Make Sense?

Palavras-chave: Ethanol; Trade liberalization; Renewable Fuel Standard; Mandate; Subsidies; Industrial Organization; F13; Q18; Q42; Q48.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/91832

Agri-Environmental Policy and Moral Hazard under Output Price and Production Uncertainty

Tipo: Report

Palavras-chave: Agricultural and Food Policy; Q48; Q42; Q27; Q28.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/93686

Yano, Yuki; Blandford, David.

Several theoretical and empirical models have been developed to examine how risk aversion affects compliance with agri-environmental schemes under asymmetric information and uncertainty. However, none has examined the case where the level of compliance is a continuous variable and producers face simultaneous monitoring, output price and production uncertainty. Treating conservation effort as a continuous variable, we show that risk aversion can mitigate the moral hazard problem in most cases. However, if conservation effort has a risk-increasing impact on production the effect of risk aversion on compliance is ambiguous.

Use of Penalties and Rewards in Agri-Environmental Policy

Palavras-chave: Agri-environmental schemes; Uncertainty; Moral hazard; Environmental Economics and Policy.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/44323

Yano, Yuki; Blandford, David.

Achieving high compliance rates in incentive-based agri-environmental schemes is an important issue. This paper explores the use of a mixed penalty-reward approach under heterogeneous compliance costs. Specifically, we examine the use of a “compliance reward” under asymmetric information and output price uncertainty. Using a budget-neutral approach, three possible sources of financing are considered: 1. funds obtained by reducing monitoring effort; 2. the proceeds of fines collected from participating farmers who are inspected and found not to be in compliance; and 3. money saved by reducing the number of farmers enrolled. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each source of funding and analyze them numerically for both risk-neutral and...

International Variability in Biofuel Trade: An Assessment of U.S. Policies

Palavras-chave: Agri-environmental policy; Moral hazard; Penalties; Payments for compliance; Q12; Q20; Q28; Q57.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/36873

Although the United States has typically been in a position to import ethanol, corn-based ethanol exports are surging as the domestic market becomes saturated and world prices rise due to high prices for sugar, the competing global feedstock. The U.S. is now the world’s leading ethanol producer but domestic demand is constrained because of technical limitations in the current vehicle fleet. Higher ethanol blends have been approved for use (15% rather than 10%) but a limited number of vehicles that can use such higher blends. Infrastructure constraints also affect the potential supply of higher ethanol blends. As a result of these factors, U.S. biofuel policies can have significant implications for the world ethanol market. Usage mandates under the...

The Impact of Feedstock Supply and Petroleum Price Variability on Domestic Biofuel and Feedstock Markets – The Case of the United States

Palavras-chave: Ethanol Exports; Biofuel Policies; Variability; International Relations/Trade; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/115793