THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF AGROFORESTRY TO FARMERS

Deforestation, growing scarcity of tree products, and environmentaldegradation have created serious problems for rural land usein many developing countries. Agroforestry, a system in whichwoody perennials are grown on the same land as agriculturalcrops or livestock, has been increasingly enlisted in the campaignto meet these threats to the rural economy. Case studies of twenty-one agroforestry projects in six CentralAmerican and two Caribbean countries formed the empricial basisfor the study described in this article. A focal point of analysiswas the profitability of agroforestry for farmers as a crucialincentive to adoption. The findings indicate that many agroforestry practices are profitableunder a broad range of conditions and are therefore likely tobe widely applicable. Successful projects have worked with localcommunities, responding to local needs and preferences and offeringfarmers a broad basket of species and systems from which tochoose. Demonstration plots and the use of paratechnicians havebeen low-cost and effective means of technology transfer, andapplied research has been important in identifying techniquesand practices suited to the region. Other findings have identifiedgovernment regulation of tree harvesting and insecurity of tenure—thoughnot lack of title in itself—as disincentives to adoption.      

Agricultural trade liberalization,price changes,and environmental effects

Many analyses of agricultural trade liberalization have been undertaken but few have considered the effects on the environment. For the developed countries, reducing the degree of protection would result in less intensive production; therefore, environmental stress would be reduced. A reduction of trade barriers in industrial countries would result in higher world prices and in a somewhat lower world price variability. Assuming initially no policy changes for developing countries, the question is how the liberalization would affect the environment. Higher Prices in developing countries increase the level of production by intensifying production, particularly in the commercial sector, and by an area expansion. Both result in negative environmental effects. These could be partly offset by an increase in hired labor in the commercial sector, which might reduce pressure at the frontier and on marginal lands, as well as by the income effect. These off-setting effects may be small; however, the direction of the overall environmental effects cannot be determined unambiguously without empirical examination. At the global level, the beneficial economic effects of agricultural trade liberalization probably outweigh the expected negative environmental effects in developing countries, but this cannot be unambiguously established without valuation.     

The Effect of Quotas on Domestic Product Price and Quality

A quota on foreign competition generally leads to quality upgrading (downgrading) of the low-quality (high-quality) firm, an increase in average quality, a reduction of quality differentiation, and a reduction of domestic consumer surplus, irrespective of whether the foreign firm produces higher or lower quality. Effects of a quota on industry profits and domestic welfare depend on the direction of international vertical differentiation. If the foreign firm produces low quality, both firms prices and profits rise but domestic welfare falls. This describes well some major effects of a Japanese Voluntary Export Restraint (VER) in the U.S. auto market and relevant empirical findings. If the foreign firm produces high quality, foreign profits will fall. Since domestic consumer surplus falls only unsubstantially, domestic profit gains lead to an increase of domestic welfare.I am grateful to Jim Gaisford, and Konrad Stahl, seminar participants at the Universität Mannheim and at the ZEW, and an anonymous referee for useful comments and suggestions. As Senior Fellow at the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI), Bonn, I gratefully acknowledge its continued support.     

The impact of rising oil prices on oil-importing developing countries and the scope for adjustment

Zusammenfassung Die Auswirkungen steigender ?lpreise auf die ?limportierenden Entwicklungsl?nder und der Spielraum für Anpassungen. — In diesem Aufsatz werden mit Hilfe eines Simulationsmodells sowohl die Auswirkungen steigender ?lpreise auf die ?limportierenden Entwicklungsl?nder als auch die Anpassungsma\nahmen untersucht, die dazu beitragen, diese Folgen weitgehend zu mildem. Ermittelt werden die Wirkungen auf das Wachstum des Bruttoinlandsprodukts, die Inflationsrate und die Handelsbilanz von Brasilien, Indien und Kenia. Es zeigt sich, da\ nach einer ?lpreiserh?hung das Realeinkommen am st?rksten zurückgeht und die Inflationsrate am h?chsten ist, wenn die Nominall?hne der Inflationsrate angepa\t werden. Die geringsten Einbu\en für das Realeinkommen ergeben sich, wenn die Staatsausgaben nicht durch die Inflation aufgezehrt, sondern real aufrechterhalten werden. Die Kehrseite der Medaille ist, da\ sich die Handelsbilanz bei voller Anpassung der L?hne am wenigsten und bei konstanten realen Staatsausgaben am st?rksten verschlechtert. Ein beruhigendes Ergebnis ist, da\ alternative Annahmen über die Einkommens- und Preiselastizit?ten die Resultate der verschiedenen Simulationen nicht wesentlich beeintr?chtigen.

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Résumé Les effets des prix pétroliers accroissants sur les pays développants importants du pétrole et la marge d’ajuster. — Dans cet article les auteurs appliquent un modèle de simulation pour analyser les effets des prix pétroliers accroissants sur les pays développants importants du pétrole aussi bien que les mesures d’ajustement qui contribuent à mitiger largement cet effet. On démontre les effets sur la croissance du produit intérieur brut, le taux d’inflation et sur la balance commerciale du Brésil, de l’Inde et du Kenya. On a trouvé que le revenu réel se réduit le plus et l’inflation s’accroit le plus après une augmentation du prix pétrolier si les salaires nominaux sont ajustés suivant le taux d’inflation. L’effet le plus faible sur le revenu réel est obtenu si les dépenses du gouvernement ne sont pas érodées par l’inflation mais maintenues en terme réel. Le revers de la médaille est que la balance commerciale se détériore le moins dans le cas d’un ajustement complet des salaires et qu’elle est affectée le plus dans le cas mentionné en dernier lieu. Un résultat rassurant est que des suppositions alternatives sur les élasticités de revenu et de prix n’influencent pas significativement le résultat des simulations différentes.

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Resumen El impacto de precios del petróleo crecientes sobre los países en desarrollo importadores de petróleo y el ámbito de ajuste. — En este artículo se analizan mediante la utilización de un modelo de simulación el impacto de precios del petróleo crecientes sobre países en desarrollo importadores de petróleo como también las medidas de ajuste que ayudan a suavizar ampliamente este impacto. El modelo se aplicó para mostrar el impacto sobre el crecimiento del producto geográfico bruto, la tasa de inflaeión y la balanza comercial de Brasil, India y Kenia. Se descubrió que después de un aumento de precios del petr?leo la declinación del ingreso real es mayor y la inflaeión es la más alta si los salarios nominales se ajustan en la misma proporeión que la tasa de inflaeión. El impacto ’mas bajo sobre el ingreso real se obtiene si el gasto del Gobierno no se erosiona por la inflaeión y se mantiene en términos reales. La otra cara de la medalla es que en el caso de ajuste total de los salarios, la balanza comercial se détériora en la menor proporeión mientras que en el último caso es afectada en la mayor proporeión. Un resultado reconfortante es que suposiciones alternativas sobre elasticidades de ingresos y precios no afectan significativamente los resultados de las variadas simulaciones.

     

Arbeiten 4.0 — Folgen der Digitalisierung für die Arbeitswelt

Digitalisation will not only lead to the disappearance of jobs, the creation of new jobs and changing skill requirements in many existing jobs. It also leads to fundamental challenges for existing qualification systems as well as labour law and labour relations. New digital technologies pervasively change the content and organisation of work. They may have an impact on the actual weekly working time hours and the adoption of self-managed working time systems. The consequences, however, may differ for each worker. Accordingly, economic and policy conclusions cannot be derived for the labour market as a whole. Workers‘qualifications need not only to be adapted to changing occupational tasks. Work intensification and increasing communication flows have to be addressed as well. Furthermore, adequate human resources policies can foster the proper use of new flexible work arrangements. Crowdworking as a specific form of flexible work, however, has to be primarily integrated in existing labour legislation. That is one opinion, another author considers the forecasts doomsday prophecies that call for political action or amending the regulative framework. And he suggests that the characteristics of the digital transformation of work may mainly be firm-specific. In a social-scientific perspective there is no deterministic relationship between technology and work but the development of work has to be regarded as a strategic and political design project.     

THE SKILL COMPOSITION OF U.S. CITIES*

This article explores why the fraction of highly educated workers varies across U.S. metropolitan areas. It documents a set of facts that pose challenges for a number of theories. Notably, (i) cities are characterized by industry neutral differences in skilled labor productivity and (ii) the size of the business services sector is strongly correlated with cities' skill compositions. Motivated by these observations, I propose an input sharing model, in which nontraded business services complement skilled labor. I show that the model accounts for all of the empirical regularities documented in the article.     

20世纪70年代以来的石油和宏观经济

石油价格的提高已经被广泛地认定为是导致衰退、过度通涨、生产率下降和低经济增长的罪魁。本文将重新检验支持上述观点的依据。首先,指出把石油价格冲击解释为宏观经济波动的核心原因时所遇到的那些概念性的困难,然后追溯石油价格冲击论者是如何解释这些困难的。其次,对认为油价波动至少是美国宏观经济的一个外生变量的观点提出异议。批判性地检验那些导致很多经济学家将外生政治事件作为石油市场模型核心因素的证据,还提出了宏观经济变量与油价的"反向因果关系"的证据。再次,尽管近期的石油价格冲击没有一次被认为导致了美国的经济滞胀,石油价格冲击假说仍然被广泛认为能够解释美国20世纪70年代的滞胀。我们要证明事实并非如此。     

Designing innovative tools for improving literacy on intellectual property among SMEs

Improving intellectual property (IP) literacy among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has lately been discussed as a means for improving IP culture within these companies. Diverse public and private actors have, therefore, developed some tools to improve IP awareness and literacy in small companies. We analysed existing tools, intending to create a better design of innovative and effective IP instruments. This study is considered an important step among the first phases of designing a new artefact. The analysis used criteria created with the support of the literature and features of the tools. We further present design recommendations for improving effectiveness of new platforms that would improve IP literacy. The final recommendations suggest that new tools should rely on customisation, interaction and reliability, and their development should be based on the criteria used in the analysis.     

Hans-Jürgen Weiß 60 Jahre

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