RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH USING SOCIO-ECONOMIC EVALUATION AND MATHEMATICAL MODELS*

A Resource Allocation System for Agricultural Research (RASAR) was developed [40] as a framework (a) to provide adequate criteria for resource allocation decisions, !(b) to guide the assessment of research, and (c) to effectively use mathematical models to generate decision-aiding information. RASAR was conceptualized as an iterative system for selecting a portfolio of research projects such that the research outputs would provide society with the potential power to change the agricultural system in ways that are expected to bring about the greatest improvement in social welfare. The ultimate goal of agricultural research was tentatively identified as having nine dimensions in three broad categories: Consumption category–(1) Quantity, (2) Quality, (3) Availability; Security category–{4) Human Safety, (5) Economic Defense, (6) Food Sources Security, (7) Conservation; Equity category–(8) Distribution, (9) Individual Rights. Subsystems within RASAR for generating socio-economic data relating to these dimensions were specified and demonstrated with case study research projects. A mathematical programming model for assimilating the complexity of criteria and data into a form which is readily usable for decision making was developed and evaluated. Un système ? allocation des fonds pour les recherches agronomiques (SAFRA) a été développé [40] comme un cadre de travail (a) pour fournir les critères nécessaircs pour décisions en matière ? allocation de fonds, (b) pour guider la répartion des recherches, el (c) pour employés efficacement des modèles mathématiques pour engendrer des informations pour aider les décisions. On a conçu le SAFRA comme système itératif pouvant être utilisé pour la sélection ? un portejeuille de projets de recherche tel que le rendement pourraient fournir avec une force potentielle à la société le possibilityé de changer le système agricole dans le sens qui permettrait la plus grande amélioration du bien-être social. Le but final de la recherche agronomique a été défini expérimentalement comme ayant nef dimensions dans trois grandes catégories: Catégorie de la consommation–(1) qitantilé, (2) qualityé, (3) disponibilité; Catégorie de la sécurité–(4) sécurité de ? homme, (5) défense économique, (6) sécurité des ressources alimentaires, (7) conservation; Catégorie ?équite–(8) distribution, (9) droits de ? individu. Pour fournir les données socio-économiques sc rapportant à ces dimensions, des sous-systèmes out étéétablis an sein du SAFRA et ils out été démontré sur la base ? une étude de projets de recherche. On a également développé et évalué un modèle mathématique de programmation pour assimiler la complexité des critères et des données sous une forme qui pent être facilement utilisée pour la prise de décisions.     

RESOURCE POLICIES,PROPERTY RIGHTS AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST*

Chicagoan theories of and policies for unpriced natural resources have gathered momentum over the past twenty years and have reached a fair degree of acceptability among some agricultural economists and some governments. The critical evaluation of the logic, explanatory and predictive power of these theories, which is undertaken in this paper, shows that this acceptability is not well founded. It is demonstrated that these theories embody substantial logical shortcomings and rely on hypotheses which may be falsified. These limitations have important implications for Chicagoan resource policies. Game theory is used to show that Pareto optimality cannot be reached when Chicagoan policies are implemented by a government, contrary to the contention of Chicagoan economists.     

COMPROMISE-RISK PROGRAMMING FOR AGRICULTURAL RESOURCE ALLOCATION PROBLEMS: AN ILLUSTRATION

This paper presents a novel approach for dealing with risk in agricultural resource allocation decisions by synthesising the conventional Markowitzean, or MOTAD, methods within a compromise programming model to generate ‘best-compromise’ solutions which come closest to an ideal point defined in terms of risk minimisation. This approach can be regarded as the compromise-risk programming model. The purpose here is to show how this ‘hybridisation’ of Markowitz/MOTAD and compromise programming approaches overcomes some of the weaknesses of the traditional approach to handling risk in resource allocation models.     

PRODUCTION SCHEDULING AND ALLOCATION: A NORMATIVE DECISION MODEL FOR SUGAR MILLING*

An inter-temporal equilibrium model is developed for the purpose of optimizing the scheduling of production in Australian sugar mills. An application of this quadratic programming model is then discussed, and the procedures used to estimate coefficients are outlined. Two tentative conclusions are that mills tend to commence crushing before the optimal starting date and that in many cases they would have been unable to cover their marginal processing costs when producing No.2 Pool sugar in recent seasons.     

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT,SUSTAINABILITY AND PROPERTY RIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND*

Sustainable land management objectives in New Zealand have recently been redefined in the Resource Management Act 1991. The new legislative framework can be viewed in part as an adjustment in existing property rights to meet resource use externalities. An understanding of the structure and characteristics of property rights in land clarifies a number of issues in the area of economic efficiency and administrative practicality, and focusses on areas where appropriate solutions to externalities may be difficult to achieve.     

MODELS OF RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN PUBLIC AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH: A SURVEY

The identification of research priorities in public agricultural research has been the focus of investigation for a broad range of analytical and empirical studies. Pressure on budgets has meant that efficient resource allocation has become increasingly important to guarantee the continued productivity of agricultural research. This paper provides an overview of the various approaches that have been used in these studies. Generalisations are drawn from the findings of this research programme.     

MATCHING FISHING CAPACITY TO THE CATCHES AVAILABLE: A PROBLEM IN RESOURCE ALLOCATION

Fish populations are examples of open-access renewable resources, and they are harvested by hunting. Fishery management is analogous to the management of the cropping of a wood, in which the trees are invisible, and keep moving around. Economic factors drive fishing fleets to a state of excess capacity and zero return to capital employed. Some form of regulation seems to be essential to enable a viable fishing industry which can regenerate its own capital to survive. The problems of management are exacerbated by excess capacity: it would be desirable if the size of the fishing fleet were matched to that required to catch the fish available. A novel method for estimating the size of fleet for which full-time fishing opportunities exist has been developed, but no mechanism exists to stimulate the development of the fleet towards that size. This, and the absence of a proper system of enforcement of internationally agreed quotas are the principal problems of fishery management.     

EFFECT OF TENURE RELATIONSHIPS ON RESOURCE EFFICIENCY*

This article outlines a method for developing optimum landlord-tenant relationships. The representative farm analysis indicates that resource efficiency is highest when the tenant's net return is maximized and production costs are shared equally between landlord and tenant. Maximizing returns to either lease participant, with the tenant paying all production costs, results in less efficient use of resources, negative capital accumulation over time, and/or an undesirable distribution of total farm returns. Resource efficiency is shown to be superior on owner-operator farms as compared to landlord-tenant operations. Nevertheless, similarities between owner-operator and landlord-tenant operations suggest that part ownership can continue to grow with only a small loss in resource efficiency when forward planning is employed. L'ÉTAT DES RELATIONS ENTRE FERMIERS ET PROPRIÉTAIRES SUR L'EFFICACITÉ DES RESSOURCES – Cet article souligne une méthode permettant d'optimiser les rapports entre le propriétaire et le fermier. L'ana-lyse des fermes révèle que l'efficacité des ressources est la plus étevée quand d'une part le profit net du fermier est maximisé et quand d'autre part les coûts de production sont portagés équitablement entre le propriétaire et son fermier. Le fait de maximiser les rendements pour les parties prenantes du bail, avec le fermier payant tous les coûts de production, s'accompagne d'une moin-dre efficacité dans l'utilisation des ressources, d'une desaccumulation du capital dans le temps et, ou d'une distribution inopportune des bénéfices totaux agricoles. L'efficacité des ressources est reconnue comme étant supérieure dans les exploitations gérées par leurs propriétaires que dans celles gérées pai des fermiers. Néanmoins, des similarités entre ces deux types de fermes suggèrent qu'une propriété partielle peut continuer à croître avec une perte sensible au niveau de l'efficacité des ressources quand une p/anification du futur est utilisée.     

RESOURCE PRODUCTIVITY,RETURNS TO SCALE AND FARM SIZE IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE: SOME RECENT EVIDENCE*

A perceptible technological transformation has been under way in India during the last few years. The output of total foodgrains increased sharply between 1967-68 and 1970-71 over previous years. There is enough evidence to show that the technological change has resulted in an upward shift in production functions for major crops, especially for wheat.     

PRODUCER COOPERATIVES,INPUT PRICING AND LAND ALLOCATION

This paper considers input pricing rules for a producer cooperative which supplies its members with two inputs: a publicly provided private input (water), and a local public input (road services). An Israeli Moshav which allocates land equally among producers is a good example. The cooperative uses a two-part pricing rule: a product-dependent uniform fee (head tax) and a user charge per unit of the private input. Discrimination of head tax among the producer groups is shown to dominate that of user charge in the short run. However, land reallocation among producers can result in a Pareto-superior pricing rule and the Henry George theorem emerges in the long run. Thus, allowing land leasing while maintaining equal rights to land increases producer welfare.     

NONPOINT POLLUTION,WEEDS AND RISK

Nonpoint pollution from agricultural production continues to force regulators to rethink policies aimed at reducing input sources such as herbicides and fertilisers. This paper considers how a producer's choice of an input strategy defined by application rate or persistence affects input-use patterns, and consequently, nonpoint pollution. Working within an endogenous risk framework, we explore how input sets with herbicides defined either as self-insurance or self-protection are affected by increased risk of herbicide treatment failure. Our results suggest that increased risk will generally decrease both herbicide and fertiliser application rates, resulting in the use of less flexible and less persistent herbicides. In addition, a quantity constraint policy restricting the amount of herbicide applied will decrease the amount of fertiliser applied.     

中国国土资源经济研究院

<正>中国国土资源经济研究院是国土资源部直属的从事国土资源经济研究和管理基础业务支撑的事业单位。挂靠的社团组织有:中国地质矿产经济学     

我国水资源的分配体系及其有效性分析

地表水的有效配置要求水资源的用水权是可转让的,地下水的有效配置则要求考虑使用者成本。而我国现行的水资源由行政分配,用水权无法转让,而且实行国家养水,福利供水政策,导致水过低,造成目前用水浪费,污染严重的局面,从水资源有效配置的角度出发,分析了我国水资源分配体系中存在的问题及影响因素,并就如何提高水资源的配置效率提供了一些建议。     

环境与自然资源经济学研究的新趋势

在总结欧美发达国家环境与自然资源经济学研究成果的基础上,系统地论述了本学科研究的新课题和发展趋势。不确定性问题研究及新理论工具的引入将是本学科理论创新的焦点：环境与资源价值评估主要集中于发展新的方法和检验假设;资源经济学研究,将把生态效益、环境效益、政策法规引入资源开发模型;经济增长与环境、资源的相互关系,将成为重要的研究课题;应用研究与交叉学科研究将成为本学科未来发展的主题。     

广西矿产资源开发与生态环境保护

本文基于可持续发展的目标与要求,阐述了矿产资源开发与生态环境保护的对立统一关系.指出了广西矿产资源开发中存在的主要问题以及它们产生的主客观因素.在此基础上,提出了促进广西矿产资源可持续开发利用和环境保护必须加强矿业法制建设和宣传教育、强化规划、加大科技投入等对策和建议.