Explaining Differences in Milk Quota Values: The Role of Economic Efficiency

This article explores the relationship between milk quota values and economic efficiency in order to analyze government interventions in quota allocations among producers. For this purpose, we estimate quota values using a panel of Spanish dairy farms. Quota values are then decomposed into economic efficiency, price, and scale effects in order to assess the relative influence of these factors. We find that efficiency is important in explaining quota values but is uncorrelated with observable farm characteristics. This casts doubts on the government's ability to allocate quotas to efficient farms.     

Dynamic Efficiency Measurement: Theory and Application

Nonparametric dynamic measures of production efficiency are developed in the context of an adjustment-cost technology and intertemporal cost minimization. Bounds on each efficiency measure are derived for each firm using a nonparametric revealed preference approach. Long-run efficiency measures indicate the relative efficiency of both variable and dynamic factors while short-run measures of efficiency indicate whether variable inputs are employed efficiently in the production process. The efficiency measures are temporal in nature by describing the degree of efficiency of the firm at a particular point along its adjustment path. The empirical implementation is illustrated for a balanced panel of Pennsylvania dairy operators during 1986–1992.     

金沙江干热河谷植被生态恢复区生态经济价值评估--以元谋县为例

应用生态经济学的理论方法对金沙江干热河谷元谋小垮山流域新银合欢人工植被恢复区的生态经济价值进行了量化评估;结果表明,该流域自1988年开始进行人工恢复16年来。绿化及周边推广面积达71．2hm^2。所带来的生态服务功能价值已超过3280．56万元,其中直接使用价值为264．34万元,占总生态经济价值的8．06％。间接使用价值为3016．23万元。占总生态经济价值的91．94％。间接使用价值中净化环境服务功能的生态经济价值仅以CO2固定和释放O2、吸收有害气体SO2和阻滞烟尘价值就达到了2296．71万元。占总生态经济价值的70．01％;可以看出。该流域的生态经济价值主要来源于间接使用价值。     

Farm Household Production Efficiency: Evidence from The Gambia

This article investigates the economic efficiency of farm households, with an application to The Gambia. The efficiency analysis is conducted not at the farm level but at the household level, thus capturing the importance of off-farm activities. Output-based measures of technical, allocative, and scale efficiency are generated using nonparametric measurements. An econometric analysis of factors affecting the efficiency indexes is then conducted using a Tobit model. Technical efficiency is fairly high indicating that access to technology is not a severe constraint for most farm households. The cost of scale inefficiency is modest. Allocative inefficiency by contrast is found to be important for the majority of farm households. On the basis of the Tobit results, imperfections in markets for financial capital and nonfarm employment contribute to significant allocative inefficiency.     

Forecast Encompassing as the Necessary Condition to Reject Futures Market Efficiency: Fluid Milk Futures

The traditional necessary condition for futures market inefficiency is the existence of alternative forecasting methods that produce mean squared forecast errors smaller than the futures market. Here, a more exacting requirement for futures market efficiency is proposed—forecast encompassing. Using the procedure of Harvey and Newbold , multiple forecast encompassing is tested using Chicago Mercantile Exchange fluid milk futures. Time series models and USDA experts provide competing forecasts. Results suggest milk futures do not encompass the information contained in the USDA forecasts at a two-quarter horizon. While the competing forecasts generate positive revenues, it is unlikely that returns exceed transaction costs in this relatively new market.     

征地制度改革的公平与效率解析

始于计划经济时期的征地制度，为我国工业化初期的经济发展做出了不可替代的贡献，但是，也严重侵害了农民的利益．制度所表现出的制度非均衡性，随着社会主义市场经济的逐渐完善，表现尤为明显，改革征地制度，提高征地补偿已是大势所趋。本文从社会经济发展和福利的角度出发，用公平和效率构造拉弗曲线，来说明征地制度制度变迁的方向。     

玛纳斯河流域农业开发与水资源分配格局的改变及其生态效应

水作为绿洲环境和经济建设的主要限制因素，直接决定着经济建设的规模、方向和水平。玛纳斯河流域农业开发，改变了流域水资源的自然分配格局，一方面发挥了水资源利用的潜力，扩大了灌溉绿洲面积，创造了更适于农业生产和人类生活的绿洲小气候。另一方面，人类不合理的开发活动造成水量的地域分配平衡、盐量平均、生态平衡及生物多样性遭受破坏，对人类的生存与发展又构成了一定的威胁。玛纳斯河流域作为新疆干旱区典型的内陆河，生态环境和农业生产的可持续发展均取决于对整个流域水资源的集约高效利用。     

The Allocation of Nutrient Load Reduction across a Watershed: Assessing Delivery Coefficients as an Implementation Tool

Delivery coefficients have long been used in economic analysis of policies that seek to address environmental problems like water pollution. However, the derivation and validity of delivery coefficients have not been examined carefully by empirical analyses. We derived estimates of delivery coefficients and then evaluated them as a bridge between complex simulation models and economic policies like water quality trading. We found that the allocations achieved outcomes that differed from intended water quality targets by less than 10% in most cases. For the least-cost allocation with heterogeneous costs, cost savings significantly outweighed deviations from water quality targets.     

黄河采取调水调沙并非最佳选择

我国近年来所采取的以水冲沙的治理方式不能从根本上解决黄河泛滥的问题,反而造成了黄河河床上升、渤海水质连年恶化、黄河上游地区水土流失严重等问题。对策:源头地区以恢复生态面貌为主,中游地区治理水土流失与污染防治并重,下游地区营造植被与疏浚措施相结合;在黄河流域内应减少耗水量大的农作物的播种面积。     

The Contribution of Unmeasurable Inputs to Fisheries Production: An Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Fishing Vessels in the English Channel

Variations in the efficiency of demersal trawlers operating in the English Channel were examined through the estimation of a stochastic frontier production function. The most important measurable factor affecting efficiency was the age of the vessel. However, unmeasurable factors accounted for about 65% of the variation in efficiency, and as much as 9% of the total variation in catches between boats. It is postulated that most of this variation was due to differences in skipper and crew skill. In contrast, "luck" accounted for around 11% of the variation in catches between boats.     

Labour Migration as a Social Security Mechanism for Smallholder Households in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Cameroon

Labour migration is traditionally considered to be a way of protecting household members at the migrant's place of origin from economic pitfalls by receipt of remittances. More recently, young urban migrants from rural regions have been observed to neglect their traditional obligations to support their elderly parents, especially if they do not intend to return to their native village, do not expect any sizeable inheritance and have no reciprocal insurance commitment with their parents. Under such circumstances, rural people are exposed to the risk of staying without support in times of economic crises or during their old age. This paper analyses the potential of migration with remittance strategies in stabilizing the income of rural households. The analytical results are based on a microeconomic survey from Cameroon in 1991/92. A Probit model is applied to analyse access to remittances and a Tobit model to look into their extent. A major result of this analysis is that migration with remittance strategies fails as a social security mechanism when the potential remitter does not expect any sizeable inheritance.     

Water scarcity and the impact of improved irrigation management: a computable general equilibrium analysis

Increasing water scarcity combined with an increasing demand for food and water for irrigation call for a careful revision of water use in agriculture. Currently, less than 60% of all the water used for irrigation is effectively used by crops. Based on the new version of the GTAP‐W model we analyze the effect of potential water savings and the welfare implications of improvements in irrigation efficiency worldwide. The results show that a water policy directed to improve irrigation efficiency led to global and regional water savings, but it is not beneficial for all regions. The final effect on regional welfare will depend on the interaction of several different causes. For instance, higher irrigation efficiency changes opportunity costs and reverses comparative advantages, modifying regional trade patterns and welfare. For water‐stressed regions the effects on welfare are mostly positive. For nonwater scarce regions the results are more mixed and mostly negative. The results show that exports of virtual water are not exclusive of water abundant regions.     

The War on Terroir: Geographical Indications as a Transatlantic Trade Conflict

Terroir, the concept of an essential link between location of production and a specific quality attribute, is emerging as a contentious issue in trade negotiations and disputes. This issue is manifest through disputes and disagreements about appropriate protection of ‘geographical indications’ (GIs). This paper explores the differences in approach taken by the EU and the US towards GI protection, and illustrates the nature of the legal and economic arguments. The transatlantic dispute is spreading to other countries through the inclusion of GI protection in regional and bilateral trade pacts. It also has implications for the eventual conclusion of the WTO Doha Round negotiations, as the terroir issue arises in both the agricultural and the Trade‐Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agendas, once again pitting the US and EU as protagonists. But there are signs of change in these positions as the GI system in the EU comes under review and producers in the US reconsider the possible advantages of location‐based identifiers. These issues are important in a number of food sectors, and are likely to be persistent. They deserve more attention from practising applied economists than they have yet received.     

Land speculation and interest rate subsidies as a cause of deforestation: The role of cattle ranching in Costa Rica

Land speculation by cattle ranchers is considered a principal cause of deforestation in Latin America, in particular in combination with (previously) widely provided interest rate subsidies. Proof for the hypothesis that land speculation leads to inflated rates of investment in land is, however, relatively limited and invariably related to the question of whether land prices tend to rise over time. Based on the Neoclassical investment theory with adjustment costs we develop a stochastic cattle ranching model in which land prices are modelled as geometric Brownian motion, to evaluate the effect of expected fluctuations in land prices on land investment decisions by cattle ranchers in Latin America. For a case study in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica, results show that the expected rate of investment is almost 35% underestimated in case land prices are assumed constant instead of fluctuating according to the standard deviation, while abolition of interest rate subsidies leads to an almost 15% decrease in the expected rate of investment. Consequently, it is shown that variability in land prices alone is a sufficient condition for land speculation, inflated rates of investment in land, larger farm sizes and, thus, higher rates of deforestation in agrarian frontier areas, while this process is further promoted by subsidized livestock credit or any other form of agricultural subsidy that increases the marginal production value of land.     

企业制定目标责任书中绩效工具的综合运用——以中发实业(集团)有限公司为例

本文以企业与各个业务单元签订年度目标责任书为主线,以中发集团年度经营计划管理为例,通过分析企业各业务单元制定的年度经营计划、年度财务预算、工作任务分解、月度/季度工作计划例会、半年/年度绩效考评整个过程,将平衡计分卡,关键业绩指标,工作任务分解等绩效考核工具综合运用到企业年度目标责任书考核工作之中。     

嵌入视野下农业规模经营的实践机理——基于汨罗市C村“千亩大户”的个案分析

在快速城镇化背景下,农业规模经营成为实现我国农业现代化的重要途径。本文从农地流转、劳资利用、农业服务和政府补贴四个角度分析"千亩大户"实现农业规模经营并保持稳定收益的实践逻辑。内生性农业规模经营主体通过集体嵌入、社会嵌入、市场嵌入及行政嵌入突破农业规模经营的多重困境,一是基于集体所有制的中介机制实现低成本的农地规模流转;二是基于熟人社会的人情机制维系道义化的劳资利用关系;三是基于自由市场的竞争机制生成互补性的农业服务共营体系;四是基于政策干预的补贴机制建立一种风险与收益低度平衡的盈利模式。嵌入视野下农地规模经营的实践机理对理解我国规模农业发展的支撑体系具有现实意义。