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

Kostandini, Genti; Mills, Bradford F..

Small research firms developing biotechnology applications often focus on establishing intellectual property rights (IPRs), which can then be sold to more established firms with existing market channels. This paper presents a method for valuing the IPRs for an innovation that lowers product production costs below those associated with the patented process of a monopolist. The application to Glucocerebrosidase enzyme from transgenic tobacco suggests an IPRs value of about $1.75 billion. Despite the innovator’s market power, significant surplus gains also accrue to consumers. Further, U.S. antitrust laws that prohibit IPRs acquisition by the current monopolist increase consumer welfare by almost 50%.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Biopharmaceuticals; Biopharming; Economic surplus; Imperfect competition; Intellectual property rights; Agribusiness; Demand and Price Analysis; Financial Economics; Marketing; D23; M13; D43; D60.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/56641

Biological Carbon Sinks: Transaction Costs and Governance

van Kooten, G. Cornelis.

Activities that remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in forest and agricultural ecosystems can generate CO2-offset credits that can thus substitute for CO2 emissions reduction. Are biological CO2-uptake activities competitive with CO2 offsets from reduced fossil fuel use? In this paper, it is argued that transaction costs impose a formidable obstacle to direct substitution of carbon uptake offsets for emissions reduction in trading schemes, and that separate caps should be set for emissions reduction and sink-related activities. While a tax/subsidy scheme is preferred to emissions trading for incorporating biologically-generated CO2 offsets, contracts that focus on the activity and not the amount of carbon sequestered are most likely to lead to the...

Do Leader and Organizational Characteristics Affect Scientist's Productivity? A Multilevel Analysis of Nigerian Agricultural Research System

Palavras-chave: Carbon sequestration; Transaction costs; Climate change; Environmental Economics and Policy; Land Economics/Use; Q54; Q23; Q42; H23; D23.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/45505

Ragasa, Catherine; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Abdullahi, Aliyu Sabi.

Organizations offer employees with opportunities to cultivate their innovativeness and facilitate greater productivity. In this paper we analyze preconditions for individual productivity of agricultural researchers in Nigeria, measured in terms of the self-reported number of scholarly publications and technologies produced; presence of external collaborators; number of dissemination events for publications produced; and perceived adoption level of technologies developed. It utilizes a multilevel analysis to systematically examine what characteristics of individual scientists and organizations promote greater individual productivity. The statistically significant random-effect estimates show that there is considerable variance across the 47 organizations...

Agency Theory Issues in the Food Processing Industry

Palavras-chave: Organizational culture; Multilevel analysis; Poisson; Productivity; Research; Motivation; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Productivity Analysis; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Q16; L32; D23.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/103723

Boland, Michael A.; Golden, Bill B.; Tsoodle, Leah J..

The objective is to identify significant determinants of performance for food processing firms over the 1992 to 2003 time period, focusing particularly on the issue of family control. Variables measuring firm effects such as asset size, governance, income distribution, and risk are used to explain return on equity. This study builds upon previous research by including a measure of income distribution in the food processing industry. Governance variables are found to be significant determinants of return on equity. The results found no evidence of agency problems in family-controlled firms during this time period.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Agribusiness; Institutional economics; Organizational economics; Agribusiness; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Production Economics; D23; G34; Q13; Q14.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/47203

The Choice of Participation Forms in Community-Based Group Farming and Efficiency in Team Production

Nakajima, Shinsaku; Tahara, Kengo.

Past studies suggest that family farming is more productive than farming groups, but empirical studies are not enough to conclude which is more efficient. This paper tries to econometrically analyze the efficiency difference between farming groups and family farming, using original plot yield data from a district in Japan. We accomplish this by, first, analyzing the empirical determinants behind the farmers’ choice of participation forms in farming groups based on communities. Second, we verify the presence of free-riding at community-based farming groups which adopts an income-pooling system. Results of the regression analysis showed that for the choice of participation forms in farming groups the most important factor is family labor force. Estimating...

Forest-Mill Integration: A Transaction Costs Perspective

Palavras-chave: Agricultural Collectives; Tenancy Contract; Moral Hazard; Farm Management; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Land Economics/Use; D23; D86; Q15.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51640

Niquidet, Kurt; O'Kelly, Glen.

In Canada, where public ownership of forestland is prevalent, a central decision facing policy makers is how to allocate timber resources to private forest companies. Debates tend to focus around what proportion of the annual harvest should be devoted to markets opposed to long-term contracts. To give a guide to policy makers, we surveyed forest firms from New Zealand and Sweden where this decision is based purely on a commercial basis. On average, mills source fifty percent of their fibre from the market. However, using a fractional logit model, we test whether theories from transaction cost economics influence this decision. Results are consistent with transaction cost economics; firms decrease the proportion of fibre sourced from a market with...

Comparative Advantages, Transaction Costs and Factor Content of Agricultural Trade: Empirical Evidence from CEE

Palavras-chave: Transaction costs; Forest tenure; Vertical integration; Environmental Economics and Policy; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; D23; K23; L22; L73.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/37086

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.

The Relationship Between Members’ Trust and Participation in the Governance of Cooperatives: The Role of Organizational Commitment

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

Barraud-Didier, Valérie; Henninger, Marie-Christine; El Akremi, Assâad.

The International Food and Agribusiness Management Review is published by IFAMA. www.ifama.org

Tipo: Article

Palavras-chave: Organizational commitment; Cooperative members; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Environmental Economics and Policy; Farm Management; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Land Economics/Use; Productivity Analysis; Q13; D23.

Ano: 2012

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/120855

An Economic Model for Bioprospecting Contracts

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...

Why Do Firms Strive to Be Green? Explaining the Adoption of Total Quality Environmental Management

Palavras-chave: Bioprospecting Contract; Genetic Resource; Biodiversity Buyer; Biodiversity Seller; Patenting; Welfare Analysis; Benefit Sharing; Productivity Analysis; D21; D23; D61; L14; Q57.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/7450

Harrington, Donna Ramirez; Khanna, Madhu; Deltas, George.

Many firms are undertaking environmentally friendly organizational change by applying the philosophy of Total Quality Management with its emphasis on reducing waste and increasing efficiency to improve their management of pollution. This paper investigates the factors that lead to total quality environmental management (TQEM) by large firms. We find that internal considerations stemming from a firm's technical capability, size of operations, and volume of past emissions are positively associated with the TQEM adoption decision. The first two factors are proxies for the firm's costs of adopting TQEM while the third factor is related to the benefits from increasing efficiency and waste reduction, and thus proxies for internally generated demand for TQEM. In...

Supervision and Transaction Costs: Evidence from Rice Farms in Bicol, The Philippines

Palavras-chave: Firm Organizational Structure; Regulatory and Market Pressures; Toxic Pollution; Environmental Economics and Policy; D23; M11.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/34125

Evenson, Robert E.; Kimhi, Ayal; Desilva, Sanjaya.

Labor markets in all economies are subject to transaction costs associated with recruiting, monitoring and supervising workers. Rural labor markets in developing economies, where institutions such as labor and contract law and formal employment assistance mechanisms are not in place, are regarded to be particularly sensitive to transaction cost conditions. The inherent difficulty of measuring transaction costs has limited studies on this topic. In this paper, we analyze supervision activities reported in a cross-section survey of rice farmers in the Bicol region of the Philippines. This survey is unique because it provides supervision data at the farm task level. We present a simple optimization model in which supervision intensity increases the...

Understanding Factors That Influence Breeders to Sell Bulls at Performance Tests

Palavras-chave: Transaction costs; Supervision; Labor markets; Philippines; Crop Production/Industries; 013; D23; J43; Q12.

Ano: 2000

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/28467

Lillywhite, Jay M.; Simonsen, J..

Breeders of purebred bulls have multiple avenues to market their bulls, including consignment at public auctions associated with performance tests. Purebred breeders often have the opportunity to withdraw bulls that are eligible to sell in these auctions. We examine sales data from a public auction held in conjunction with a performance bull test in Tucumcari, NM, to gain insights on breeder decisions to withdraw bulls prior to entering the sales ring. Specifically, we use a binary logit model to identify relevant characteristics that affect a breeder’s decision to withdraw a sale eligible bull from the auction.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Breeder decisions; Livestock; Performance bull test; Agribusiness; Demand and Price Analysis; Livestock Production/Industries; Productivity Analysis; C31; D23; D44; D83; M31; Q13.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/47264

Governance Control Mechanisms in Portuguese Agricultural Credit Cooperatives

Cabo, Paula; Rebelo, Joao.

Over the last decade Portuguese Agricultural Credit Cooperatives (ACCs) have increasingly face survival challenges related to their difficulty in gathering equity. The main source of ACCs equity is the net benefit; thus, understanding how ACCs governance can work on correcting bad economic performance is of crucial importance to overcome this constraint. The main objective of this paper is to describe the governance control mechanisms in the ACCs. Five governance mechanisms are identified: board and chairman change (internal mechanisms), central ACC intervention by an agent or by management board replacement and merger. Empirical analysis proved that the internal governance mechanisms activity is not related to the ACC performance. Additionally: (a) ACCs...

Trust and Contracting in Agri-Food Hybrid Structures

Palavras-chave: Cooperatives; Credit; Governance; Multinomial logit; Agricultural Finance; D23; L29 .

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25338

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...

Determinantes dos arranjos contratuais1: O caso da transação produtor-processador de carne bovina no Uruguai

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

Ano: 2007

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

Mondelli, Mario P.; Zylbersztajn, Decio.

What are the determinants of the commercial channel choice in the beef producers-processors transactions? The question refers to the coordination and production control problem associated to changes in consumer’s awareness of specific attributes in food products. Two contractual arrangements coexist in this transaction: direct-contracting and broker-induced transactions Transaction Cost Economic offers helpful insights to understand the reason for the development and adaptations of different contractual arrangement moved by transaction cost economizing perspective. The empirical analysis is focused in the Uruguayan beef agro-industrial system. Analysis integrates (i) institutional and organizational changes in the beef industry; (ii) based on the analysis...

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Vertical Coordination; Beef System; Contractual arrangement; Transaction Cost Economics; Agribusiness; D23; L14; Q13.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/61237

Industrialization and Contracting in U.S. Agriculture

Ahearn, Mary Clare; Korb, Penelope J.; Banker, David E..

This paper examines the industrialization process of U.S. agriculture by examining the trends in the number of farms, the concentration of production during the last decade, and the dynamics of farm survivability, entry, and exit underlying aggregate statistics. We next examine vertical coordination as part of the industrialization process and highlight contracting in the poultry industry. The analysis provides evidence that production is continuing to be concentrated on a smaller number of farms at a relatively rapid rate, in spite of the stability in the number of farms. Although contracting clearly dominates the broiler industry, it is less prevalent in egg and turkey production, where other forms of vertical coordination are likely established.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Broilers; Contracting; Eggs; Industrialization; Poultry; Structural change; Turkeys; Vertical integration; D23; D40; L11; L14 L22; L23; Q12.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/43511

Production Inefficiency in Fed Cattle Marketing and the Value of Sorting Pens into Alternative Marketing Groups Using Ultrasound Technology

Koontz, Stephen R.; Hoag, Dana L.; Brethour, John R.; Walker, Jodine L..

The cattle industry batch markets animals in pens. Because of this, animals within any one pen can be both underfed and overfed. Thus, there is a production inefficiency associated with batch marketing. We simulate the value of sorting animals through weight and ultrasound measurements from original pens into smaller alternative marketing groups. Sorting exploits the production inefficiency and enables cattle feeding enterprises to avoid meat quality discounts, capture premiums, more efficiently use feed resources, and increase returns. The value of sorting is between $15 and $25 per head, with declining marginal returns as the number of sort groups increases.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Cattle feeding; Production efficiency; Simulation; Sorting; Value-based marketing; Ultrasound; Agribusiness; Livestock Production/Industries; Marketing; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; C15; D21; D23; Q12.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/47266

Factor Content of Agricultural Trade

Kancs, d'Artis; Ciaian, Pavel.

Replaced with revised version of paper 08/25/09.

Governance Control Mechanisms in Portuguese Agricultural Credit Cooperatives

Palavras-chave: Factor content; Heckscher-Ohlin; Factor abundance; Agricultural trade; International Relations/Trade; F12; F14; D23; Q12; Q17.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/44458

Cabo, Paula; Rebelo, Joao.

Contract and Exit Decisions in Finisher Hog Production

Palavras-chave: Cooperatives; Credit; Governance; Multinominal logit; Agricultural Finance; D23; L29.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/24623

Dong, Fengxia; Hennessy, David A.; Jensen, Helen H..

Finisher hog production in North America has seen a shift toward larger production units and contract-organized production since circa 1990. Given the efficiency gains and conversion costs associated with contract production, growers may have to choose between long term commitment through investments and atrophy with intent to exit in the intermediate term. A model is developed to show that growers with any of three efficiency attributes (lower innate hazard of exit, variable costs, or fixed contract adoption costs) are not only more likely to contract but will also produce more and expend more on lowering business survival risks. Using the 2004 U.S. Agricultural Resource Management Survey for hogs, a recursive bivariate probit model is estimated in which...