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

Hirschauer, Norbert; Musshoff, Oliver; Scheerer, Sebastian.

The probability that buyers are deceived with regard to the quality or safety of purchased products (moral hazard) increases with the profits which suppliers can earn through opportunistic behaviour. It decreases with the probability and level of losses that result from disclosure of malpractice. It also decreases with protective factors rooted in the suppliers' social contexts - such as values, emotional bonds etc. - that shield them from yielding to economic temptations. This paper describes how a systematic analysis of economic incentives and social context factors can be provided through an interdisciplinary approach which combines the analytical powers of microeconomics (game theory) and criminology (control theories). The approach is discussed with...

ASYMMETRY IN RAW MILK SAFETY PERCEPTIONS AND INFORMATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR RISK IN FRESH PRODUCE MARKETING AND POLICY

Palavras-chave: Asymmetric information; Behavioural food risks; Control theories; Game theory; Moral hazard; Opportunistic malpractice; Agribusiness; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; A13; K32; K42.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25688

Knutson, Ronald D.; Currier, Russell W.; Ribera, Luis A.; Goeringer, L. Paul.

Scientific evidence clearly indicates that consumption of raw milk carries substantial disease-inducing health risks. While federal U.S. policy mandates that milk moving in interstate commerce be pasteurized; within 41 of 50 states, raw milk can be obtained for consumption. Warning labels notwithstanding, a segment of U.S. consumers pays higher prices for higher-risk raw milk than for either organic or conventional milk. The behavioral factors leading to raw milk consumption are explored. The paternalistic regulatory options for reducing the risk associated with drinking raw milk are identified. Implications for fresh produce sold directly from farms to consumers or through farmers markets are drawn.

Attitudes of College Students towards Agriculture, Food and the Role of Government

Palavras-chave: Raw milk; Pasteurization; Health risks; Behavioral economics; Bounded rationality; Paternalistic regulations; Public health; HACCP; GLOBALG.A.P.; Agricultural and Food Policy; Consumer/Household Economics; Demand and Price Analysis; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; Health Economics and Policy; A12; A13; A14; D11; D18; D46; D71; D78; D82; I18; K23; K32; Q11; Q18.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/116440

Carreira, Rita I.; Mane, R.; Danforth, Diana M.; Wailes, Eric J..

In 2002 and 2007 we surveyed Agribusiness students’ attitudes about agriculture, farming, food and agricultural policies. Responses were analyzed by year and student characteristics including farm background, citizenship and gender. Citizenship was a significant variable explaining differences in agreement with statements. Year and interactions with year were not significant.

Casting the naturalization of asylum seekers as an economic problem

Palavras-chave: Agricultural policy; Farming; Logistic regression; Student attitudes; Agricultural and Food Policy; Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession; A13; A22; C42; Q18.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6806

Stark, Oded.

The naturalization of asylum seekers is modeled as an economic problem. In choosing their level of investment in host-country-specific human capital, asylum seekers take into consideration the probability of their being naturalized. The government of the host country chooses the probability of naturalization that most encourages the acquisition of such human capital. That human capital, in turn, increases the asylum seekers’ productivity and earnings and, consequently, maximizes the government’s tax receipts if the asylum seekers are allowed to stay permanently. Conditions are presented under which the optimal level of investment in the host-country-specific human capital is positive, and rises in the probability of naturalization. The asylum seeker’s...

Ethical challenges of the globalization process

Palavras-chave: The probability of naturalization; Investment in host-country-specific human capital; Economic behavior of asylum seekers; Economic behavior of the government of the host country; Stackelberg game; Financial Economics; Labor and Human Capital; Political Economy; A13; F20; J24; J41; J61.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/62160

Balj, Branko; Maric, Radenko.

Whereas roots of globalization are far reaching, it is primarily a modern age phenomenon. Modern business operation and the world economy are characterized by domination of multinational corporations, strong presence of the government in economy and the long-term tendency towards globalization in manufacturing, trading and consumption in the world. Containing both risks and opportunities, globalization is a problem of manifold nature. For some it means regression and falling into “neocolonialism”, the others glorify it. It is logical to ask the following questions: What are the consequences of globalization for governments, nations, companies and individuals? What are the business, social and ethical issues it causes? In one word, is it possible to be...

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Globalization; Ethics; Strategy of business ethic; Corporative responsibility; Behavior.; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; A13; F23; M14.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/94562

Homo Agricola considered as Homo Economicus and Homo Politicus

Zawojska, Aldona.

The paper is of descriptive character and is based on literature review. It reviews the concept of homo economicus and homo politicus in the history of economic thought and tries to discover their characteristics in homo agricola. As demonstrated, one component of homo agricola can be of economic and another one of political nature. Those components can be separated or can be together. Agricultural economists, however, in their sophisticated mathematical models seem to reduce farmers’ behaviour to economic behaviour or rather to self-interested homo economicus. Institutional economics, social economics and socio-economics are closer to actual human nature, than homo economicus. The further research challenge before agricultural academia is to develop the...

Solidarity Economies in Marche, Italy: current trends and perspectives

Palavras-chave: Agriculture; Economics; Politics; History of economic thought; Agricultural and Food Policy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Political Economy; Q1; A13; P4; B0.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/90835

Belletti, Matteo; Orazi, Francesco; Socci, Marco; Giovagnoli, Marco; Pojaghi, Barbara.

The paper illustrates selected results of an exploratory research study coordinated by the “Solidarity Economy Network” of the Marche Region in Italy (REES Marche) in 2010-2011. The study was funded by Banca Popolare Etica, it involved three Universities of the Region (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Università di Macerata, Università di Camerino), adopting an interdisciplinary approach. It aimed at investigating the cultural, economic and political determinants that characterize the world of critical consumption, examining a sample of 20 GAS (Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, Solidarity Purchasing Groups), 182 GAS members and 50 firms (among which 20 agricultural GAS suppliers). Data was collected through ad hoc questionnaires, in depth interviews and...

Tipo: Presentation

Palavras-chave: Critical consumption; Active citizenship; Territorial networks; Alternative and non-market relations; Short food supply chain; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; A13; D12; Z13; Q12; Q56; Q57..

Ano: 2012

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/124127

Sustainable Decision-making: The State of the Art from an Economics Perspective

Toman, Michael.

Government, corporate and other decision makers are more and more often being urged to 'act sustainably' and to pursue policy paths toward 'sustainable development.' However, application of these concepts is hampered by serious interdisciplinary disagreements about the interactions of humans with their environment. Moreover, reducing disagreements about sustainability cannot be achieved solely through an improvement in scientific knowledge. These observations lead me to express skepticism about the capacity of any more or less mechanistic rule, economic, scientific or otherwise, to provide definitive and reliable answers about sustainable policies or conduct. However, there are processes and procedures that can help guide decision-making. I underscore the...

The Fragility of Social Capital

Palavras-chave: Sustainable development; Cost-benefit analysis; Intergenerational equity; Multicriteria analysis; Social values; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; A12; A13; B41; D61; D63; H43; Q28.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10602

Antoci, Angelo; Sabatini, Fabio; Sodini, Mauro.

This paper addresses two hot topics of the contemporary debate, social capital and economic growth. Our theoretical analysis sheds light on decisive but so far neglected issues: how does social capital accumulate over time? Which is the relationship between social capital, technical progress and economic growth in the long run? The analysis shows that the economy may be attracted by alternative steady states, depending on the initial social capital endowments and cultural exogenous parameters representing the relevance of social interaction and trust in well-being and production. When material consumption and relational goods are substitutable, the choice to devote more and more time to private activities may lead the economy to a “social poverty trap”,...

Transfer of Institutions: Actors and Constraints - The Russian Case in a Global Context

Palavras-chave: Economic Growth; Technical Progress; Social Interactions; Social Capital; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; A13; D03; O43; Z13.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/50401

Oleinik, Anton.

Modernity is usually thought as a complex society with clearly differentiated spheres of everyday life. It means, in particular, that economic rules do not interfere with the norms structuring political, social, scientific and other interactions. The complex, differentiated society sharply contrasts with a "small" and homogeneous "pre-modern" society. The process of modernization, i.e. differentiation of the spheres of everyday life, can take various forms. In an advanced country it relies on internal forces. Modernization in this context looks like an evolutionary, "bottom-up" development. In a backward country (Russia and Germany in the first half of the 20th century), modernization requires a strong governmental (from the top to the bottom)...

Understanding and Managing Behavioural Risks -The Case of Food Risks Caused by Malpractice in Poultry Production

Palavras-chave: State bureaucracy; Economic backwardness; Catch-up modernization; Conservative modernization; Opportunism; Institutional constraints; Power; Authority; Invidious comparison; Institutional importation; Democracy; Shared mental model; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; A13; A14; B15; B25; B52; D73; H83; K42; N40; O17; P21; P37; P51.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/26333

Hirschauer, Norbert; Zwoll, Stefan.

The probability that actors in economic relationships break rules increases with the profits they thus expect to earn. It decreases with the probability and level of short- and long-term losses resulting from disclosure. It also decreases with the level of social context factors and intrinsic values which shield actors from yielding to economic temptations. This paper assesses the relative merits of various scientific approaches concerned with risks in economic relationships and outlines their contribution to the study of opportunistic rule-breaking. Since the identification of (misdirected) economic incentives faced by firms and individuals represents the starting point for a systematic analysis of opportunism in any field, we also outline a microeconomic...