Agency costs of vertical integration—the case of family firms,investor‐owned firms and cooperatives in the French wine industry

Vertical integration theory has long suggested internal costs related to changes in incentives due to vertical integration, which means that vertical integration may lead to agency costs. In this work, we specify the notion of agency costs of vertical integration and extend Ang et al. (2000)'s measurement of agency costs to provide an empirical assessment of these costs in the French wine industry. Our econometric analysis finds that the agency costs of vertical integration may reach 2–3% of sales. It also showed that operating expenses of vertical integration are lower for cooperatives than for other firms, while vertical integration is less rewarding for them. This raises questions on the relation between agency costs in cooperatives and their performance.     

Cost and environmental efficiency of rice farms in South Korea

We examine cost and nutrient use efficiency of farms and determine the cost to move farms to nutrient‐efficient operation using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with a dataset of 96 rice farms in Gangwon province of South Korea from 2003 to 2007. Our findings show that improvements in technical efficiency would result in both lower production costs and better environmental performance. It is, however, not costless for farms to move from their current operation to the environmentally efficient operation. On average, this movement would increase production costs by 119% but benefit the water system through an approximately 69% reduction in eutrofying power (EP). The average estimated cost of each EP kg of aggregate nutrient reduction is approximately one thousand two hundred won. For technically efficient farms, there is a trade‐off between cost and environmental efficiency. We also find that the environmental performance of farms varies across farms and regions. We suggest that agri‐environmental policies should be (re)designed to improve both cost and environmental performance of rice farms.     

水利风景区管理效能评估及影响因素识别——基于181个国家级水利风景区样本

基于管理规范、管理执行、管理支持和管理效益4个方面的指标构建,对中国181个国家水利风景区进行问卷调查,以评价水利风景区的管理效能。结果表明:181个水利风景区管理效能平均得分为58.4分,得分低于60分的水利风景区占54.7%,说明我国水利风景区的管理效能总体偏低;水利风景区管理效能与景区类型、批准设立时间、地域分布、所在地区域经济发展水平、主要功能、管理机构独立性差异显著,与面积大小和经营性质之间差异不显著。从分类指标看,管理效果类指标得分最低,从全部指标看,土地权属、游客控制、餐住布局、管理条例、环境保护考核、生态厕所、居民参与、资源调查、保护经费、环境保护宣传、环境保护培训、经营情况等10个指标得分低于平均分。建议破除管理体制障碍,实行分类管理,试点跨流域、市场化、多功能间生态补偿制度,实行特许经营制度,加强自然保护地监督管理,完善自然保护地制度体系。     

Land market regulation: market versus policy failures

This paper reviews the role of market failures in land markets, evidence as to their quantitative significance and the impact of land use policies designed to offset for such failures. Policies of containment and densification limit the supply of land for all urban uses. When applied as stringently as in Britain, a full net welfare evaluation shows the increased costs of space for housing substantially exceed the value of amenities generated. There is also evidence that constraints on land supply impose costs on productive uses of land in both office and retail use. Although the estimates are that these costs are considerable they relate only to the gross costs. Three possible policy changes are identified which could preserve the role of regulation in offsetting for problems of market failure while greatly relieving the costs of policy-imposed supply restrictions.     

林业上市公司经营业绩影响因素研究

以林业上市公司为研究对象,运用因子分析法对经营业绩进行评价,并在此基础对林业上市公司经营业绩的影响因素进行回归分析,以此得出林业上市公司经营业绩的影响因素。结果显示林业上市公司规模、资产负债率、总资产周转率和前五大股东持股比例与经营业绩呈正相关,而股权制衡度、董事会规模、第一大股东持股比例、两职状态和董事会独立性对经营业绩的影响不显著。研究认为,林业上市公司应引进国外资本,扩大公司规模、合理运用财务杠杆、科学选用独立董事,充分发挥独立董事的作用,实现企业效益最大化。     

Determinants of Adoption of Protected Designation of Origin Label: Evidence from the French Brie Cheese Industry

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of agro‐food firms’ adoption of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label. A unique dataset containing firm‐level cost and production information on the French Brie cheese is used, covering the period 1980–2000. The Brie cheese data are especially relevant as PDO Brie producers have coexisted with other non‐PDO producers since 1981. To evaluate the producers’ incentive to opt for PDO certification, we use a structural switching regression model which incorporates cost and production structure variables. Results show that PDO certification is less attractive the higher the costs of raw materials and the greater the size of the company. PDO Brie cheese production costs are estimated to be on average 40% higher than those for non‐PDO Brie. The PDO production process could be technically inefficient when compared with the unconstrained non‐PDO manufacturing; yet, PDO producers benefit from a price premium on their product which offsets their higher production cost.     

IMPACTS OF TAXES TO REDUCE AGRICHEMICAL USE WHEN FARM POLICY IS ENDOGENOUS

The economic impacts of policies to reduce water pollution from agriculture have been explored in a number of studies. A standard assumption in this literature is that farm income support policies are given. However, the modern public choice view of agricultural policy suggests that significant environmental initiatives in agriculture would likely be accompanied by changes in farm income policies to protect those with a significant stake in agriculture. We explore the potential effects of such compensating adjustments on the costs and effectiveness of taxes on polluting chemical inputs in US corn production. We find that compensating farm policy adjustments can greatly increase the costs and reduce the effectiveness of the environmental protection measure. The results also indicate the potentially high costs of poor policy co-ordination.     

Agricultural land protection in China: a case study of local governance in Zhejiang Province

China's rapid economic development following the 1978 reforms has resulted in significant economic, social and environmental change. One consequence of this change has been the accentuation of an existing trend of agricultural land loss and degradation. Although the 1978 reforms and their impacts have been subjected to considerable scrutiny, relatively little research has been directed towards the relationship between the evolution of local government structures and practices and the implementation of agricultural land protection policies. This paper presents an analysis of this relationship in Huzhou Municipality, Zhejiang Province. Zhejiang Province is situated on the eastern seaboard and exhibited the highest average annual per capita growth in China between 1978 and 1995. Huzhou Municipality is a growth centre in the northern part of the province. A synthesis of the factual knowledge and perceptions of 40 key-informants suggests that despite the development of a comprehensive legal framework for agricultural land protection, the interpretation of policy at local levels continues to permit the loss of agricultural land (and attendant environmental costs) to be traded-off against increased economic growth. This suggests a need to re-evaluate the role of local levels of government in China with respect to agricultural land protection issues; to look as much at the ways policies are implemented as at policies themselves. The devolution of administrative responsibility in China and the increasing influence of powerful local economic interests will provide an impetus for such a re-focussing of research at local levels.     

Energy Productivity Growth in the Dutch Greenhouse Industry

Profitability of Dutch greenhouse firms is largely dependent on energy costs, and policy makers focus on reducing the use of energy by these firms. This article uses Russell measures of TE to develop indicators of energy productivity growth. Results show that energy productivity grew by 2.8% annually in the period 1976–95, with technical progress being the key factor driving the process of productivity growth. From this we conclude that policies aiming at enhancing the adoption of technological innovations are more effective, if due attention is paid to measures for improving TE.     

Empirical evaluation of nonpoint pollution policies under agent heterogeneity: regulating intensive dairy production in the Waikato region of New Zealand*

Models used for policy evaluation rarely consider firm heterogeneity, despite its importance for instrument design. This study considers agent heterogeneity explicitly in the evaluation of policies for nonpoint pollution control through the integration of decomposition and calibration procedures for programming models. The application concerns the regulation of nitrate leaching from intensive dairy production in the Waikato region of New Zealand. Failing to represent firm heterogeneity leads to widely different estimates of mitigation costs, relative to where heterogeneity is considered. Variation in baseline emissions and the slopes of abatement cost curves between firms renders a differentiated policy less costly than a uniform standard. However, the relative values of these policies are not broadly different, as firms required to do the most abatement – intensive farms with large baseline pollutant loads – can do so more cheaply, on average.     

To populate or preserve? Evolving political-demographic and environmental paradigms in Israeli land-use policy

There has been a recent proliferation of national land-use policies that emphasize protecting open space and ecosystem integrity. However, countries grappling with internal political conflict, or that are engaged in military conflicts with neighboring countries, have priorities that focus on control of land in areas where state sovereignty is perceived to be threatened. These two concerns, political-demographic control and environmental protection, create very different paradigms for how to think about open space policy. The objective of this paper is to consider the impact of competing paradigms in land-use policy formulation and implementation—one that encourages sprawl and the other that encourages compact development and the preservation of open space. We use Israel as a case study where both political demography and environmental land-use paradigms are currently influencing policy and planning. We explore the historical evolution of both land-use paradigms and consider how they are currently competing in the formulation and execution of land-use policy decisions. We consider how these distinct priorities are playing out in current discourse and policy implementation, and characterize the past, current and prospective future physical outcomes of policies on the landscape. Our goal is to alert policy makers and land-use scholars of the subtle and contradictory influence of political-demographic land-use priorities with regard to their potential impact on the successful implementation of environmental policies. The Israeli case study is indicative of a diversity of countries that have a history of political-demographic land-use policies, but have also begun to adopt environmentally motivated policies.     

The role of dairy company policies in support of farm green infrastructure in the absence of government stewardship payments

Intensive dairy farming has substantial impacts on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Determining how to mitigate them while increasing production is driving the quest for sustainable milk production internationally. Green infrastructure (G.I.) provides private and public ecosystem services, including mitigation of farming environmental impacts. However, there are implementation barriers among farmers. New Zealand government supports farmer self-regulation as long as farmers meet environmental targets. Farmers are neither compensated for reducing environmental impacts, nor for setting aside G.I. in support of nature conservation. Dairy companies are under increasing pressure to ensure socially acceptable milk production practices among farmer suppliers. They may play a role in encouraging farmers to implement G.I. as a way of helping farmers meet regulatory compliance, and best farming practice. Using a content analysis of company policies, the role of dairy companies in encouraging G.I. among farmers is explored. Results indicate companies are concerned about the effects, and perception, of poor environmental farming practices on their profitability, and have developed some riparian G.I. policies, with government and farmer support. However, policies are farm-focused and are limited to one year, and thus lack the capacity to encourage G.I. in support of key ecosystem services, such as water cleansing and support for indigenous biodiversity that require landscape scaled networks and longer periods. Even at the farm scale, a majority of companies lack policies that encourage significant G.I. networks. Policies suggest companies, and by extension farmers, lack sufficient motivation to protect or restore them voluntarily. Under these conditions, significant G.I. is unlikely to develop under self-regulation, unless supplemented through motivating government stewardship payments.     

Incentivizing sustainable rangeland practices and policies in Colombia’s Orinoco region

Livestock grazing, along with agriculture, are key drivers of deforestation and land degradation that subsequently affect ecosystem service provision in the tropics. Although environmental and agricultural policies may curtail these negative effects, information is needed on how specific programs and instruments could be used to incentivize ranchers into adopting rangeland practices to achieve land conservation. We examine what encourages livestock ranchers to adopt more sustainable rangeland practices with various technical and conservation attributes in Colombia’s Orinoco region. First, we analyze a management alternative based on an improved pasture (IP) approach traditionally used in tropical South America, and another practice that promotes silvopastoral systems (SP) that better sustain the long term provision of ecosystem services. Second, we assess the influence that technical assistance and conservation payment instruments can have on the adoption of the IP or SP programs. Using expert-based elicitation, questionnaires, choice experiments, and econometrics, we found that when either SP or IP management alternatives include a complete technical assistance program (CTAP), emphasizing forage or cattle production, the propensity to adopt the conservation focused SP alternative significantly increases. The SP alternative with CTAP for cattle production was valued by ranchers at $290 ha/year and the CTAP prioritizing forage production was valued at $233 per ha/year. Nonetheless, a basic technical assistance program for cattle production using the IP alternative was valued at $128, but when including the CTAP, the value increased to $262. Adopting conservation practices in the form of compensation payments for not grazing portions of their land in the SP was valued by ranchers at an average of $8 and $10 in the IP. Our findings show that decisions to adopt conservation oriented rangeland practices and policies are not strictly based on monetary payments for ecosystem services alone, but also on technical support.     

Examining the relationship between farm size and productive efficiency: a Bayesian directional distance function approach

Achieving sustainable food security and increased farm income will depend on how efficient production systems are in converting available inputs to produce outputs. Using data from Malawi, we estimate a Bayesian directional technology distance function to examine the relationship between farm size and technical efficiency. Our results support the existence of an inverse relationship between farm size and productive efficiency, where small farms are more efficient than large farms. On average, farms exhibit inefficiency levels of 60%, suggesting that productivity could be improved substantially. Improving productive efficiency and food security will require farms to operate in ways where the size of cultivated area is matched by nonland production inputs such as labor, fertilizer, and improved seeds. The results highlight the need for policies that could incentivize farmers to adopt productivity‐enhancing technologies and, where possible, to allocate excess land to lease markets.     

Impacts of price and exchange rate policies on pesticide use in the Philippines

Pesticide prices can influence producer decisions to apply pesticides as opposed to nonchemical means of pest control. Those prices are are turn influenced by price and exchange rate policies. The effective rate of protection for nine pesticides commonly applied to vegetables in the Philippines was calculated to determine whether government policies are creating incentives or disincentives to adopt more integrated pest management methods. Calculations found that direct price policies, primarily through an import tariff, tax pesticide use while an overvalued exchange rate subsidizes pesticide use. The net effect is a 6 to 8% pesticide subsidy. This subsidy results in economic surplus gains to vegetable producers and consumers when negative externalities associated with pesticide use are not accounted for. However, recent analysis of human health effects of pesticide use on rice in the Philippines demonstrates that these externalities can be substantial.     

Factors Affecting Capacity Utilisation in English Channel Fisheries

The harvesting capacity of the European fishing fleet far exceeds the reproductive potential of the resource base. As a result, most European Union fisheries are both biologically and economically over‐exploited. A series of fleet‐reduction policies have been introduced in order to bring the harvesting capacity in line with target output levels. However, the existence of unutilised capacity may reduce the effectiveness of these schemes as the remaining vessels may increase their individual capacity utilisation (CU), thus offsetting the effects of fleet reduction. In this paper, the effects of stock abundance, output prices, fuel prices and fleet size on the rate of capacity utilisation are examined for a range of UK fleet segments operating in the English Channel. Estimates of CU are derived using data envelopment analysis. Results indicate that the average beam trawl vessel, using existing physical inputs, could potentially increase its revenue by a further 50%, assuming current fish stock levels and unrestricted access to resources. The average gill net vessel could similarly increase its output by 43%, scallop dredge by 28% and otter trawl by 14%. The results suggest that changes in stock abundance are the main factor affecting CU, with no significant trends being observed for the economic variables.     

Environmental efficiency and the impact of regulation in dryland organic vine production

Organic agriculture figures prominently in the policies adopted by the EU to improve the environmental impact of agriculture. It may also potentially provide other benefits such as high-quality, health-enhancing food products and advancements in rural development. Recent years have brought new research to assess the environmental and economic implications of organic conversion. Economic efficiency comparisons between organic and conventional farms have been extended to include environmental performance. The inclusion of this variable in efficiency analysis may be useful when assessing the potential impact of suggestions to improve environmental regulations and policies. This paper applies the environmental efficiency model to the analysis of different technologies and calculates productivity and efficiency with and without environmental impacts. In the empirical part of the paper Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and bootstrap techniques are applied to detect and measure differences between organic and conventional agriculture aggregate efficiency and productivity in a sample of vineyard farms operating in semiarid, non-irrigated conditions in Navarre (Spain), taking farms’ nitrogen surplus and pesticide toxicity indicators to consideration. The results for these particular agronomic conditions suggest that organic agriculture is more environmentally efficient than conventional agriculture in dryland farming, in that it achieves a more favorable production to environmental impact ratio. Nevertheless, conversion to organic production methods for extensive vine cultivation under arid conditions does not guarantee substantial environmental gains, since the organic farms in our sample do not display inferior levels of pollution emissions per unit input as extensive conventional production. The overall environmental efficiency of organic farming is largely attributable to the fact that organic farms come closer to the frontier of their own technology. We find no significant technological differences in environmental productivity, however. In terms of policy implications, these findings suggest that the tightening of specific environmental restrictions in organic standards should involve consideration of technological differences in environmental productivity between organic and other alternative technologies. If organic technology is less productive, more restrictive regulation could undermine the economic viability of farms, and thus undermine the other benefits of organic farming. The results also indicate that, at the local level, it could be convenient to address part of organic subsidies to further improvements in the control of pollution from fertilizers and pesticides.     

Directions in Rural Development Policy – Lessons from Both Sides of the AtlanticRichtlinien für die ländliche Entwicklungspolitik – Beispiele von diesseits und jenseits des AtlantiksLes orientations de la politique de développement rural – Enseignements en provenance des deux côtés de l’Atlantique

Directions in Rural Development Policy – Lessons from Both Sides of the Atlantic A workshop comparing rural development policies in Europe and the US found differences in the social values that shape them. These include different attachments to place, concerns with lagging regions, and interests in the assessment of public interventions. There is also a difference in coverage. In the EU environmental and landscape issues form part of the CAP’s Rural Development Pillar, using agriculture as an instrument, whereas in the US these are handled by other policies, some of which can claim deeper historical roots. In the context of rural development policy, the EU attaches intrinsic value to the environment, while in the US the focus is more on economic spin-offs from environmental quality. There are also differences in governance; a complete US view requires taking in Federal, State and local initiatives whereas in the EU a more organised framework is apparent. Nevertheless, when policy is viewed from a bottom-up perspective many common features are found. Improving human and social capital and infrastructure are key factors to stimulating economic development on both sides of the Atlantic, though only some of these drivers form part of the CAP’s Pillar II. While in the EU the role of rural development is set to expand, this is far less certain in the US where the emphasis on agricultural support is likely to continue to dominate the political agenda.     

四川省城市承载力评价

截至2015年底,四川省城镇化率为47.7%,低于全国平均水平8.4个百分点,城镇化率总体较低。"十三五"时期四川省每年将有超过100万人进城落户,城镇化率年均提升1.2个百分点。新型城镇化的推进应以城市承载力为基础。2011—2015年四川省城市承载力处于预警状态,社会承载力对四川省城市承载力贡献最大,经济、环境和资源承载力的贡献次之。从四川省各城市来看,承载力水平偏低,经济和资源承载力是制约四川省地级市城市承载力提高的重要因素。     

Winners and losers from food industry policy: An application to Danish food industry firms

Policy impacts on food industry firms are investigated. A new approach is presented for the analysis of food industry policies that focuses on food industry firms. Data from a survey of Danish firms in 2003-2004 are used to define and construct tables of winners and losers from 30 regulatory areas. Two forms of statistical test are employed in a grid-search to identify association between regulatory areas, types of firms, and patterns of winning and losing. Results indicate that the type of firm, rather than the policy instrument, determines patterns of winning and losing. Upstream and downstream ownership of assets by food industry firms, and their trade orientation, are shown to be the most important variables. For several policy areas the pattern of winning and losing is found not to be associated with any specific firm types, which indicates that their impact is neutral across all types of firms studied. Firm size was found to be poorly associated with firms' capacity to win and lose from several policies involving high-investment compliance.