The Impact of Coupled and Decoupled Government Subsidies on Off-Farm Labor Participation of U.S. Farm Operators

With the 1996 Farm Act, the United States introduced payments that were designed to be "decoupled." Labor allocation choices are likely to be affected by receipt of payments, and income from off-farm jobs has been the major source of income for most farm households for sometime. This article examines whether the 1996 change has affected the off-farm labor participation of farm households. We conclude that the observed increase in off-farm participation of farm operators who received payments was not the result of the 1996 policy change. Government payments, whether coupled or decoupled, have a negative effect on off-farm labor participation.     

Modeling Farm Households' Price Responses in the Presence of Transaction Costs and Heterogeneity in Labor Markets

We develop a farm household model to analyze price responses of farm households. This model incorporates various types of transaction costs as well as labor heterogeneity. Nonproportional variable transaction costs or labor heterogeneity imply that production and consumption decisions become nonseparable, even when the household buys or sells labor. An empirical model is estimated using data from Midwest Poland. The results show that nonproportional variable transaction costs and labor heterogeneity significantly influence household behavior. Not all price elasticities, however, change significantly if these are neglected.     

A Price Analysis of U.S. Agricultural Exports in East Asian Markets

This paper examines the price competition between U.S. agricultural exports and that of its competitors in East Asia. The results show weak price competition in Japan's corn and soybean markets, and no price competition in the wheat market. U.S. cotton exports to Japan face strong price competition. In Hong Kong, U.S. market shares are low, while the demand for its rice, corn, soybeans and cotton is elastic. For South Korea and Taiwan, improved political relationships between China, South Korea, and Taiwan have caused the U.S. to lose market shares to China.     

U.S. Agricultural Trade with Mexico

Abstract

This study examined the effects of exchange rates, economic growth, trade liberalization, and export assistance programs on U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico. The Commodity Credit Corporation's GSM-102 Export Credit Guarantee Program reduces the risk associated with export financing and payment. The impact of the export credit guarantee program on U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico was estimated in an import demand model using quarterly data from 1980 to 1996. The results indicate that for every $1 of export credit guarantees, Mexican imports of U.S. farm products increased $0.30. Real income growth in Mexico, however, was the most important factor in the expansion of U.S. exports. Trade liberalization under NAFTA also increased U.S. exports to Mexico.     

Fertilizer Use, Risk, and Off-Farm Labor Markets in the Semi-Arid Tropics of India

A two-period model is developed in which a risk-averse farmer uses off-farm labor to smooth consumption, leading to greater use of fertilizer. Fertilizer demand is shown to increase with the depth of the off-farm labor market. Controlling for exogenous weather risk, farmers use more fertilizer the lower the unemployment rate and the higher the share of nonagricultural work in total off-farm labor. The results suggest that off-farm labor markets and own-farm production may be complementary in risky production environments, so that policies which promote the depth of the off-farm labor market in low-income areas may also bolster farm productivity.     

European Consumers' Willingness to Pay for U.S. Beef in Experimental Auction Markets

Consumers' willingness to pay for Irish, Norwegian, U.S. hormone-free, and U.S. hormone-treated beef was studied in an experimental auction market. We ran four simultaneous second-price auctions to elicit efficiently the complete distribution of willingness to pay differences among our four alternatives. Most participants preferred domestic to imported beef, and half the participants preferred Irish to U.S. hormone-free beef. Hormone-treated beef received the lowest mean bid, but 28% of the participants were indifferent or preferred U.S. hormone-treated to U.S. hormone-free beef.     

劳动力转移、资本深化与农地流转

随着工业化和城镇化的深入,大量农村劳动力外出工作,户均资本投入增加,农业生产趋于资本深化,农地流转市场日渐活跃,过往的研究大多关注劳动力转移对农地流转的影响,少有提及资本深化是否及如何影响农地流转。本文首先建立了相关影响机制并提出研究假说,进而使用CFPS数据进行检验,不仅估算资本深化对农地流转的直接影响,也分析劳动力转移如何通过资本深化间接改变农地流转。研究结果表明,劳动力转移显著地促进了农户农业生产的资本深化进程,资本对劳动力投入进行了替代,同时,资本深化显著提升了种粮大户的农地经营规模。如果将农地流转细分为转入与转出,资本深化促进了转入,但抑制了转出。本研究对于优化农地资源配置,提高农地规模经营水平,促进农业生产提供了新的研究视角。     

Determining Opportunities for U.S. Exports of Consumer-Oriented Foods to African Regional Markets

Abstract

This study examines the level of trade between the U.S. and Africa for consumer-oriented agricultural products during the 1990s. To achieve this objective, we propose six congruent regional African markets and examine patterns of U.S. trade with Africa on consumer-oriented agricultural products. The reason for such groupings is to identify trade flow differences and similarities between the U. S. and each of these regional groups. The results shed light on the extent to which U.S. exporters of consumer food products are capitalizing on the emerging markets of Africa. The graphing technique used in the study, in combination with trend stability measures for the six proposed congruent regional African markets, introduce a method for identifying market opportunity.     

农户劳动力迁移程度对林地流转的影响分析

基于江西省集体林权制度改革项目2011—2016年的连续监测数据,考虑非农就业的内生性,采用IV-Probit模型及其估计方法,分析集体林区农户劳动力长期外出务工对林地流转的影响。结果显示:集体林区农户劳动力迁移程度对林地转入有抑制作用,但对林地转出具有促进作用,且都通过了显著性检验。因此,政府部门应该在如何推动农村劳动力实现长期、有效、稳定的非农就业转移这一问题上做出相关努力,以促进农户间的林地流转,最终实现林业规模经营的目的。     

美国农业经济学科变迁及对中国的启示

本文对美国农业经济学科不同发展阶段进行了总结,描述了美国农业经济学科如何从传统农业经济学逐渐拓展到资源与环境经济学、农村社区管理和AgribusinesS的过程,美国农业产业变迁、就业市场变动和产业外部环境变化是导致美国农业经济学科变迁的根本原因。最后,结合当前中国农业经济学科的现状,提出了相关学科发展的建议。     

Credit Constraints: Their Existence, Determinants, and Implications for U.S. Farm and Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of credit constraints on production for farm and nonfarm sole proprietorships. A propensity score-matching estimator is employed to provide unbiased estimates of the production impacts of being denied credit. The empirical results demonstrate that the value of production is significantly lower for credit-constrained sole proprietorships. If this drop in the value of production is aggregated to a national level, it constitutes only 3% and 13% of total value of production for farm and nonfarm sole proprietorships, respectively.     

U.S. Farm Policy and the Volatility of Commodity Prices and Farm Revenues

A dynamic three-commodity rational-expectations storage model is used to compare the impact of the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act of 1996 with a free-market policy, and with pre-FAIR policies. Results suggest that FAIR did not lead to significant increases in long-run price volatility or revenue volatility. The main impact of pre-FAIR, relative to the free-market regime, was to substitute government storage for private storage in a way that did little to support prices or to stabilize farm incomes. Results also indicate that U.S. grain market volatility in 1995–2000 was due to fundamental market forces and not to FAIR.     

A New U.S. Farm Household Typology: Implications for Agricultural Policy

Changes in U.S. agriculture have yielded a diversity of farm types. These changes have extended beyond the farm business and into the farm household. The objective of this research is to motivate, develop, and discuss the policy implications of a new typology of U.S. farm households, which is based on household economic theory. Using the 2003 Agricultural Resource Management Survey and statistical analysis, the U.S. Farm Household Typology identifies six mutually exclusive groups of U.S. farm households. This typology is then compared to the current Economic Research Service Farm Typology and used to investigate the distribution of government payments.