美国农业生物技术研发投资与专利保护

现代农业生物技术在缓解全球粮食安全、资源枯竭、环境恶化等一系列重大问题中发挥了极其重要的作用。美国农业生物技术研究和产业化发展非常迅速，与其相关的知识产权制度立法也经过多次调整完善，巩固了其技术和市场优势。本文通过介绍美国农业生物技术研发投资现状，梳理其知识产权制度的发展历程，并从授权专利的申请单位类型、技术类型和前十强企业的专利集中度等方面，分析农业生物技术的专利保护进展，总结美国农业生物技术研发及其知识产权保护制度的成功经验，以期为促进我国农业生物技术创新及其知识产权保护制度的完善提供经验借鉴。     

服务投入与中国农业劳动生产率的追赶进程--对中国农业劳动生产率阶段性特征的新解释

长期以来,中国农业劳动生产率严重滞后于国际先进水平。文章对我国农业劳动生产率相对于美国的追赶进程进行了分阶段的分析,基于增长核算框架着重分析了服务投入在其中所发挥的作用。研究发现,我国农业劳动生产率在1995－2003年期间对美国的追赶效应明显,但服务投入密度提高的贡献相对偏小。我国农业劳动生产率在2003－2009年期间对美国的追赶效应更加明显,但服务投入密度相对偏低的贡献反而拖累了追赶进程。服务投入的内部结构分析显示,我国农业服务投入的发展滞后基本上是全方位的。进一步提高我国农业劳动生产率,缩小与国际先进水平的发展差距,需要充分认识到服务投入的重要性。解决我国农业服务投入发展滞后的问题需要在农业金融、农业保险、农业营销、农业物流、农业“互联网＋”和农业机械融资租赁服务等方面予以改进。     

美国农业政策的特点及启示

美国1933年后逐渐意识到"干预"农业发展的必要性,因此,建立了较为完备的农业法律体系,政府不惜投入大量资金对农民和农场主进行高额补贴,通过帮助他们获取贷款以减少后顾之忧,并通过科技的投入使其进一步增产增收。相比之下,我国农业政策具有明显的局限性和滞后性。有必要学习和借鉴美国农业政策的可取之处,充分发挥政府的引导作用,加大科技投入,处理好农业短期收益与农业可持续发展间的矛盾。     

充分发挥财政职能作用 促进农业和农村经济发展

全面建设小康社会对农业和农村发展提出了新的更高的要求。促进农业和农村快速发展 ,离不开国家财政的有力支持。长期以来 ,财政投入农业的总量不足 ,支持农业的方式是流通环节多于生产环节、间接投入多于直接投入。在农业和农村经济发展的新时期 ,国家财政应依法提高对农业的投入比例 ,调整支持农业的方式 ,以促进城乡协调发展。     

我国农业关联产业的投入产出分析

由农业投入、农业生产、农产品加工制造和农产品流通服务四环节构成的农业关联产业是一个复杂的综合体系,在我国国民经济发展中起着重要作用。根据计算,我国农业关联产业体系在国民经济中的份额远远超过了传统农业,其投入、生产、加工制造、运销服务等四部门的产出比例为0.17∶1∶2.21∶0.21;与美国和日本相比,我国农业关联产业结构中农产品加工制造和农产品运销服务环节发育程度相对较低。我国农业关联产业的影响力系数为1.0162,略大于1,总体上对国民经济发展的推动作用较为明显。     

坚信磋商价值 彰显WTO体系意义——WTO农业谈判历程再读

农业问题因其政治和经济的敏感性一直是WTO谈判中坚硬无比的骨头．无数次地挫败着人们的信心。WTO前农业谈判主席虽全身心投入谈判进程也无果而终，最终挂冠而去。坎昆会议中各成员国是各执一词，毫不相让。美国在与美洲国家磋商建立自由贸易区时，也因农业问题的复杂性而决定将其剔除出谈判议程，留给WTO去解     

美国农业研发的主要领域

组织和管理工作美国联邦政府的农业研发工作由联邦农业部(USDA)进行组织和管理。其中具有农业研发职能或农业研发管理职能的部门主要包括农业研究局(ARS)、经济研究局(ERS)以及合作州研究、教育与推广局(CSREES)。其它有关部门虽然也涉及农业研发工作,但所占比例较小。USDA部级领导班子中,有1名副部长分管农业研究、教育和经济事务。ERS约拥有500名雇员,其中包括一批高素质的经济学家和社会学家。ERS主要从事农业经济和社会科学方面的研究,即农业软科学研究,运用其研究成果帮助公有和私有部门在有关农业、食品、自然资源和农村发…     

我国农业抗风险能力研究

农业是一个基础产业,也是一个高风险的产业。由于其与自然的天然联系及市场化过程中的价格变化,再加上国家长期以来投入不足,缺乏保险保障,常使农业由于抗风险能力脆弱而陷于困境。本文阐述了我国农业面临的主要风险,对当前农业抗风险能力差的原因进行剖析,并提出提高我国农业抗风险能力的对策建议。     

美国农业现代化及其启示

美国农业现代化及其启示戴军美国实现农业现代化的政策措施发达国家在４０－７０年代不同程度地实现农业现代化，美国１９１０年开始使用拖拉机，１９４０年基本实现农业现代化。分析其原因，主要得力于：（１）政府保护；（２）发达的农业教育、科研、推广体系；（３）农...     

校企关系与企业R & D投入研究

校企关系被看作是企业与高校交换创新资源的重要纽带,备受国内外学者关注，但其对企业的影响尚未得到一致结论，校企关系是否促进企业技术创新能力提升、降低企业创新投入成本有待进一步研究。以我国2009—2014 年高校上市公司为研究样本，建立回归方程模型，研究了高校和企业间关系对公司R&D投入的影响。实证研究表明，我国高校上市公司中不同属性的校企关系对企业研发投入的影响不同。其中，以高校持股比例为指征的校企关系与公司研发投入呈正相关关系，高校股权可以促进企业研发投入；以高校股东分红比例和高校从业经历高管比例为指征的校企关系与研发投入呈负相关关系，以政府补助为指征的校企关系对高校控股上市公司和非控股上市公司研发投入的影响不同。     

Forecasting the price of gold

This article seeks to evaluate the appropriateness of a variety of existing forecasting techniques (17 methods) at providing accurate and statistically significant forecasts for gold price. We report the results from the nine most competitive techniques. Special consideration is given to the ability of these techniques to provide forecasts which outperforms the random walk (RW) as we noticed that certain multivariate models (which included prices of silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium, besides gold) were also unable to outperform the RW in this case. Interestingly, the results show that none of the forecasting techniques are able to outperform the RW at horizons of 1 and 9 steps ahead, and on average, the exponential smoothing model is seen providing the best forecasts in terms of the lowest root mean squared error over the 24-month forecasting horizons. Moreover, we find that the univariate models used in this article are able to outperform the Bayesian autoregression and Bayesian vector autoregressive models, with exponential smoothing reporting statistically significant results in comparison with the former models, and classical autoregressive and the vector autoregressive models in most cases.     

Planned adaptation in risk regulation: An initial survey of US environmental, health, and safety regulation

In principle, we want regulatory programs to be based on current realities, as reflected for example in the best knowledge of relevant experts. That would imply that old rules now on the books should be consistent with today's knowledge base, not just what was known when a rule or standard was originally set. This paper reports on a survey of US programs, examining how often existing rules are actually updated in light of better knowledge, and identifies five programs that attempt to make policy routinely adaptive. These programs exhibit what we term Planned Adaptation: they both revise rules when relevant new knowledge appears, and take steps to produce such improved knowledge. While Planned Adaptation is rare, it is used in several nationally prominent programs, including air pollution, airplane safety, and drug safety. Planned Adaptation is a policy tool that deserves more attention.     

Pleasure and belief in Hume's Decision Process

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce explicitly pleasure and belief in what aims at being a Humean theory of decision, like the one developed in Diaye and Lapidus (2005a). Although we support the idea that Hume was in some way a hedonist – evidently different from Bentham's or Jevons' way – we lay emphasis less on continuity than on the specific kind of hedonism encountered in Hume's writings (chiefly the Treatise, the second Enquiry, the Dissertation, or some of his Essays). Such hedonism clearly contrasts to its standard modern inheritance, expressed by the relation between preferences and utility.

The reason for such a difference with the usual approach lies in the mental process that Hume puts to the fore in order to explain the way pleasure determines desires and volition. Whereas pleasure is primarily, in Hume's words, an impression of sensation, it takes place in the birth of passions as reflecting an idea of pleasure, whose “force and vivacity” is precisely a “belief”, transferred to the direct passions of desire or volition that come immediately before action. As a result, from a Humean point of view, “belief” deals with decision under risk or uncertainty, as well as with intertemporal decision and indiscrimination problems.

The latter are explored within a formal framework, and it is shown that the relation of pleasure is transformed by belief into a non-empty class of relations of desire, among which at least one is a preorder.     

The greenhouse effect: Damages,costs and abatement

The buildup of so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — CO₂ in particular-appears to be having an adverse impact on the global climate. This paper briefly reviews current expectations with regard to physical and biological effects, their potential costs to society, and likely costs of abatement. For a worst case scenario it is impossible to assess, in economic terms, the full range of possible non-linear synergistic effects. In the most favorable (although not necessarily likely) case (of slow-paced climate change), however, it seems likely that the impacts are within the affordable range, at least in the industrialized countries of the world. In the third world the notion of affordability is of doubtful relevance, making the problem of quantitative evaluation almost impossible. We tentatively assess the lower limit of quantifiable climate-induced damages at $30 to $35 per ton of CO₂ equivalent, worldwide, with the major damages being concentrated in regions most adversely affected by sea-level rise. The non-quantifiable environmental damages are also significant and should by no means be disregarded.The costs and benefits of (1) reducing CFC use and (2) reducing fossil fuel consumption, as a means of abatement, are considered in some detail. This strategy has remarkably high indirect benefits in terms of reduced air pollution damage and even direct cost savings to consumers. The indirect benefits of reduced air pollution and its associated health and environmental effects from fossil-fuel combustion in the industrialized countries range from $20 to $60 per ton of CO₂ eliminated. In addition, there is good evidence that modest (e.g. 25%) reductions in CO₂ emissions may be achievable by the U.S. (and, by implication, for other countries) by a combination of increased energy efficiency and restructuring that would permit simultaneous direct economic benefits (savings) to energy consumers of the order of $50 per ton of CO₂ saved. A higher level of overall emissions reduction — possibly approaching 50% — could probably be achieved, at little or not net cost, by taking advantage of these savings.We suggest the use of taxes on fossil fuel extraction (or a carbon tax) as a reasonable way of inducing the structural changes that would be required to achieve significant reduction in energy use and CO₂ emissions. To minimize the economic burden (and create a political constituency in support of the approach) we suggest the substitution of resource-based taxes in general for other types of taxes (on labor, income, real estate, or trade) that are now the main sources of government revenue. While it is conceded that it would be difficult to calculate the optimal tax on extractive resources, we do not think this is a necessary prerequisite to policy-making. In fact, we note that the existing tax system has never been optimized according to theoretical principles, and is far from optimal by any reasonable criteria.During the academic year 1989–90 Dr. Ayres was at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria.During the summer of 1989 Mr. Walter was a member of the Young Scientists' Summer Program at IIASA.     

Globalization,Neoliberalism and the attack on social security

Neoliberal political movements advocate privatization of public pension systems. Globalization imposes pressure on nations to conform to neoliberal policy views with respect to the design and structure of social insurance, including public pension systems. The paper begins with an investigation of the economic, ethical and ideological dimensions of the privatization debates in the U.S.; it argues that privatization advocates may be largely moved by ideology, since the other reasons advanced appear weak or unfounded. The second part discusses the history of Social Security, the purposes for its creation, and some of its economic effects. Differences between public and private pension systems are considered. A brief international comparison of some aspects of public pension system finance and benefit structures is presented. The final section considers the ethical, macroeconomic and distributional implications of privatization, prefunding and payroll tax funding, and argues for a pay as you go system financed with income taxes. In order to promote equity, economic security, community, and social cohesion, public pension systems should be universal in coverage. In order to reduce the inequality, income insecurity, and aged poverty generated by market economies, public pension systems ought to be progressive: benefit/contribution ratios should be inversely proportional to income, and progressive income taxes should finance the system. To promote economic growth, the systems should be financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, and should not be prefunded except for an emergency reserve. The fiscal policy recommendations partially depend upon the theory developed by Abba Lerner in the 1940s, and recently advanced by Wynne Godley and Randy Wray: Lerner's “principle of functional finance.”     

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: TRACING THE FLOW OF BASIC RESEARCH THROUGH MANUFACTURING AND TRADE

This paper describes flows of basic research through the US economy during the late 20th century. In addition, the paper studies the effect of the flows on scientific papers in industries and fields. This article differs from others in its use of measures of science rather than technology. Together, its results present a picture of the structure of basic research flows in a modern, science-intensive economy. Basic research flows are large within petrochemicals and drugs, and within software and communications. Flows of chemistry, physics, and engineering are common throughout all industries – biology and medicine are almost confined to petrochemicals and drugs; and computer science is nearly as restricted to software and communications. In general, basic research flows are more concentrated within scientific fields than within industries. Our findings concerning the production of scientific papers indicate that the effect of a 1% change in academic R&D spillovers significantly exceeds that of industrial spillovers. In addition, within-field effects exceed effects between-fields, while within- and between-industry effects are roughly equal. It follows that scientific fields limit basic research flows more than industries do, perhaps because large firms implicitly span a range of industries.     

Valuing Mangrove-Fishery Linkages – A Case Study of Campeche, Mexico

This paper explores the value of mangrove systems as a breeding and nursery habitat for off-shore fisheries, focusing on mangrove-shrimp production linkages in Campeche State, Mexico. We develop an open access fishery model to account explicitly for the effect of mangrove area on carrying capacity and thus production. From the long-run equilibrium conditions of the model we are able to establish the key parameters determining the comparative static effects of a change in mangrove area on this equilibrium. We then estimate empirically the effects of changes in mangrove area in the Laguna de Terminos on the production and value of shrimp harvests in Campeche over 1980–90. Our findings suggest that mangroves are an important and essential input into the Campeche shrimp fishery, but that the low levels of deforestation between 1980 and 1990 mean that the resulting losses to the shrimp fishery are still comparatively small. Over-exploitation of the fishery due to open access conditions remains the more pervasive threat, and without better management any long-run benefits of protecting mangrove habitat are likely to be dissipated.     

Interest on reserves and inflation

The payment of interest on reserves has been a common practice in inflationary economies. This policy may seem paradoxical since it involves returning part of the seigniorage, generated by the inflation process, with the intention to finance the fiscal deficit. This paper argues that the motivation for this policy can be captured by the discretionary regime, where the policymaker pays interest on reserves because he is concerned with the erosion of real liquidity by inflation, which is in part beyond his control. However, this policy is an unlikely outcome in the commitment regime, where the policymaker is in full control of inflation.     

An Economic Analysis and Simulation of Woodfuel Management in the Sahel

This paper presents an economic framework and a computationalmethodology for assessing the evolution of woodfuel supply costsand the spatial distribution of biomass in a Sahelian woodlandsetting. Spatial data on standing stock and the costs oftransport to market are used to construct a supply curve for fuelto a fuel-consuming location. Given an exogenously specifieddemand, the model simulates, period by period, the extraction,regeneration, and transport of wood fuels. The model is appliedto evaluate the benefits and ecological impacts of scenarios forwoodland management around the city of N'Djamena, Chad.