Who are the producers and consumers? Value chains and food policy effects in the wheat sector in Pakistan

We develop a disaggregated Nominal Rate of Assistance (NRA) methodology to disentangle the welfare impacts of policies for various interest groups along the value chain (to disaggregate effects within the “producer” and “consumer” umbrellas). We apply our value chain NRA methodology to the case of Pakistan’s wheat price and trade policy. We analyze the welfare implications for various agents in the wheat-flour value chain from 2000 to 2013, a period characterized by major global price volatility and by regular adjustments of domestic policies. We find that the wheat policy has generally benefitted flour consumers and wheat traders at the expense of wheat farmers, with limited effects on flour millers. Our findings illustrate that the welfare implications of policies can be quite different within the “producer” and “consumer” umbrellas, which has potentially important implications for economic and political economy analyses and for the design of policies that aim to target the poorest groups along value chains.     

Can agricultural input subsidies reduce the gender gap in modern maize adoption? Evidence from Malawi

Nationally representative data for Malawi were used to measure the gender gap in adoption of modern maize and to investigate how, if at all, Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) has impacted the gap. Regression results show the probability of adopting modern maize was 12% lower for wives in male-headed households, and 11% lower for female household heads, than for male farmers. Receipt of subsidized input coupons had no discernible effect on modern maize adoption for male farmers. Receiving a subsidy for both seed and fertilizer increased the probability of modern maize cultivation by 222% for female household heads, suggesting the FISP has likely reduced the gender gap in adoption of modern maize in Malawi.     

Benefit or damage? The productivity effects of FDI in the Chinese food industry

We investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the total factor productivity of Chinese food firms using firm-level census data between 1998 and 2007 (174,940 sample food firms). We test for within-firm, within-industry, and vertical effects. We find that the effect of FDI on the productivity of Chinese food firms depends significantly on the type of FDI and its countries of origin. FDI from non-HMT (Hong Kong, Macaw and Taiwan) regions can improve the productivity of the invested firm, and also increases the productivity of domestic food firms through vertical industry linkages. However, domestic food firms may be crowded out by non-HMT investment in the same industry. HMT investment can generate positive within-industry productivity spillovers, but negative vertical spillovers. Our findings have immediate implications for policymakers in China, as well as for governments of less developed countries that are formulating foreign investment policies.     

Adoption of food safety and quality standards among Chilean raspberry producers – Do smallholders benefit?

The growing importance of food quality and safety standards in international markets is influencing production and marketing conditions of farmers worldwide. The effects of this development on small-scale farmers in developing countries are controversially discussed in the scientific debate. While small-scale farmers may benefit from standard compliance in terms of better market access and technology upgrading, non-compliance may lead to market exclusion and marginalization. The present study aims to identify the factors influencing a certification according to food safety and quality standards and the impact on farm management and income among exportoriented raspberry farmers in Chile. Survey data from 57 certified and 169 non-certified Chilean smallholder raspberry producers is analyzed. The analysis of the certification decision shows that small-scale farmers are less likely to implement food safety and quality standards. Once farmers are able to overcome the barriers and implement a food standard, we find that this has a positive effect on their quality performance and net raspberry income.     

Risk assessment in the international food safety policy arena. Can the multilateral institutions encourage unbiased outcomes?

Two institutions provide multilateral venues for countries to discuss food safety measures at the international level: the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) and the World Trade Organization. Both institutions encourage their Members to base food safety standards on scientific evidence.     

Can upgrading information infrastructure improve the innovation ability of companies? Empirical evidence from China

The development of information technology has become a new driving force for companies' innovation. Upgrading the information infrastructure lays a foundation for companies to use information technology to innovate; therefore, this study examines the impact of information infrastructure upgrading on companies' innovation ability and the intermediate mechanism. Using a sample of China's listed companies of A-share from 2011 to 2018, this study used the staggered difference-in-difference method to investigate the impact of information infrastructure upgrading on innovation input, innovation output and quality. The results show that upgrading information infrastructure has a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the innovation ability of companies. Companies' innovation input and output significantly increase, but innovation quality decreases. Additionally, further analysis indicates that financial constraints and managerial myopia are intermediary mechanisms for this effect. Our research results provide theoretical and empirical evidence for companies to enhance their innovation ability.     

Passing the food and agricultural R&D buck? The United States and China

The global geographical balance of food and agricultural R&D spending is shifting, characterized by a declining U.S. share and a rising middle-income-country share, propelled heavily by the rapid rise of spending in China. Based on our newly compiled data, we estimate that China now outspends the United States on both public and private food and agricultural research on a purchasing power parity basis. The public-private orientation of the research has also changed markedly, with the private sector now accounting for around two-thirds of the food and agricultural R&D spending total in both China and the United States. Our estimates indicate that China’s private sector tilts heavily towards post-farm R&D activities, whereas the U.S. private sector is split more evenly between on-farm and post-farm spending. While the intensity of Chinese investment in food and agricultural R&D (relative to agricultural GDP) is beginning to grow, it still lags well behind the food and agricultural R&D investment intensities of the United States and other higher-income Asian countries (e.g., Japan and South Korea). The development regularities we reveal in the longer-run trends are indicative of future R&D investment patterns with potentially profound long-run implications for the size, shape and accessibility of the global stocks of scientific knowledge that underpin food and agricultural sectors worldwide.     

Disability and the Performance Paradox: Can Social Capital Bridge the Divide?

This research captures the physical and social experience of disability by analysing the practical performance problems that arise when an ill or injured employee returns to work, and documenting how those problems are interpreted. The grounded theory approach suggests an alternative to the traditional biomedical or social perspectives on disability. Field research reveals four themes: attendance, disciplinary history, peer interaction and task function. Managerial and co‐worker perceptions were significantly affected by interactions that occurred before any disability was known to exist. Historic patterns of social exchange strongly suggest that social capital theory explains problematic work performance.     

Standardized food governance? Reflections on the potential and limitations of chemical-free shrimp

Multilayered conformity-assessment systems (MCASs) are becoming an increasingly prominent governance mechanism in food and agriculture. MCASs maintain their legitimacy through the use of scientific norms and practices, as well as multiple tiers of oversight. The purported outcome is standardized conformity-assessment practices, and thus, standardized food and production practices regardless of location or producer. This article examines the ability of MCASs to enforce one form of zero tolerance standards: organics (i.e., zero-synthetic chemicals). The focus is on the governance of organic standards in the rural Indonesia, where the idea of zero tolerance is historically foreign. Drawing on a case study of an organic shrimp project in Indonesia, the ways that the social, economic, and cultural conditions of the global South affect the operations of a MCAS and the capacity of the MCAS to adapt to such conditions are examined. My findings raise questions as to the capability of MCASs to ensure standardized food governance globally.     

Why do business groups continue to matter? A study of market failure and performance among Indian manufacturers

This paper explores the nature of the influence that business groups exert in shaping performance outcomes in emerging economies. Set in India, this study used a longitudinal research design to assess the independent and collective performance impact of group affiliation and diversification both before and after economic reforms were introduced in the country. Consistent with the institutional theory perspective, results show that in the pre-reform period the group structure exerted an important positive moderating effect on the diversification-performance relationship. However, these group benefits appear to persist even after many of the sources of market failure had started to decline rapidly. This persistence of group effect may be indicative of the continued relevance of non-diversification benefits of the group structure in emerging economies. It may also be indicative of the fairly slow process of building institutional infrastructure in emerging economies where reforms are seldom introduced en masse but more a series of continuing measures as was the case in India.     

World population and food supply: can food production keep pace with population growth in the next half-century?

Criteria for assessing the adequacy of a national average diet are proposed, and the global average cereal production per capita needed to provide an adequate average diet is calculated. The technical feasibility of maintaining global food production per capita up to the year 2050 is assessed. The required input of nitrogen fertilizer is estimated and the water supply in relation to crop evapotranspiration is discussed. It is shown that maintenance of the present global cereal production per capita would be accompanied by a moderate increase in grain consumption per capita in the less-developed countries, but that this will involve a major increase in the net import of grain from the more-developed countries. Achievement of a satisfactory average diet in the less-developed countries as a whole cannot be achieved until the population of this group of countries has declined to a level substantially below its future peak.     

Organic or conventional? Optimal dairy farming technology under the EU milk quota system and organic subsidies

This paper assesses the competitiveness of organic and conventional dairy farms under different milk market and organic farming policy scenarios. We use a DEA-based model to estimate for each policy scenario the sample farms’ profit potential in both technologies. The model enables identification of a farm’s optimal technology based on its input–output observations. The empirical analysis is based on the annual accounts of 1300 Bavarian dairy farms. Results indicate that approximately 69% (78%) of the organic (conventional) farms have chosen their optimal farming system. The remaining organic (conventional) farmers could increase their profit on average by roughly 6% (10%) by switching to the other technology. Abolishment of the EU milk quota results in a considerable decline in the number of sample farms for which organic farming is the optimal technology, suggesting that, ceteris paribus, organic dairy farms may lose competitive advantage with the deregulation of the EU’s milk market regime in 2015. Organic maintenance payments more than double the number of farms with a higher earning potential in organic farming, but their effectiveness could decline when the milk quota is abolished.     

Can food waste behavior be managed within the B2B workplace and beyond? The roles of quality of green communication and dual mediation paths

Food waste is becoming increasingly a crucial issue to organizations, but little is known about workplace food waste reduction among frontline employees in the business-to-business (B2B) context regardless of the salience of frontline employees with such a behavior as green intermediaries in B2B supply chains. Our research seeks to fill this gap by investigating how and when quality of green communication in the B2B workplace influences frontline employees' workplace and household food waste behavior, as well as the relationship between these two types of food waste behavior among frontline employees. The dataset for this study came from sales employees in manufacturing companies based in Vietnam. The results unveiled the roles of employees' green role identity and harmonious environmental passion as the dual mediation paths for the relationship between quality of green communication and employees' intention to reduce food waste, which in turn attenuated both their workplace and household food waste behavior. The positive relationship was noted between employees' workplace food waste behavior and their household food waste behavior. The results further demonstrated the boundary condition role of household leftovers reuse routines to enhance the link between intention to reduce food waste and food waste behavior. The implications are discussed on initiatives for reducing B2B frontline employees' food waste behavior, thereby transforming them into green agents in B2B supply chains.     

For whom? – The governance of organic food and farming in the UK

The challenge of organic agriculture – that it might provide new forms of participation around food – has been hard to encapsulate in the conventional circuits of democracy. One answer to this ‘offer’ has been for consumers to purchase organic items as a way of demonstrating support for the organic sector. This paper argues that although this strategy may have been successful in the past, there is increasing evidence that there is a convergence between sections of the organic movement and the dominant multiple retailers. Through a wide range of evidence, including an analysis of how organic products are promoted and of how organic farm businesses are configured, this paper suggests that the potential of the organic movement is increasingly being circumscribed.     

Can mobile phones improve gender equality and nutrition? Panel data evidence from farm households in Uganda

Since 2000, mobile phone technologies have been widely adopted in many developing countries. Existing research shows that use of mobile phones has improved smallholder farmers’ market access and income. Beyond income, mobile phones can possibly affect other dimensions of social welfare, such as gender equality and nutrition. Such broader social welfare effects have hardly been analyzed up till now. Here, we address this research gap, using panel data from smallholder farm households in Uganda. Regression results show that mobile phone use is positively associated with household income, women empowerment, food security, and dietary quality. These results also hold after controlling for possible confounding factors. In addition to the household-level analysis, we also look at who within the household actually uses mobile phones. Gender-disaggregation suggests that female mobile phone use has stronger positive associations with social welfare than if males alone use mobile phones. We cautiously conclude that equal access to mobile phones cannot only foster economic development, but can also contribute to gender equality, food security, and broader social development. Further research is required to corroborate the findings and analyze the underlying causal mechanisms.     

The framing of innovation among European research funding actors: Assessing the potential for ‘responsible research and innovation’ in the food and health domain

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has recently emerged as a new framework for science and technology governance. The concept articulates the need for mutual exchange by which societal actors become responsive to each other early on in the process of innovation, with a view to facilitate ethically acceptable and sustainable innovation. There is relatively limited evidence to explore the extent to which the process of research and innovation under the terms of RRI is realised in practice, particularly in the context of food and health research. Although research to date has been examining innovation from the point of view of inputs and outputs—R&D funding and patents—we propose to examine the cognitive framing of innovation that shapes decisions of those who constitute a part of the innovation chain. This paper explores how the concept of innovation is understood and used in policy implementation, with a particular focus upon ‘food and health’ science and research policy and funding. Our analysis is based on 55 interviews of various actors engaged in research funding decision-making across eight European countries. Three themes emerged from the analysis: concept of innovation; conditions for innovation; and drivers of innovation; through these themes, the cognitive framing was drawn out. The cognitive framing suggests that innovation in the food and health domain is perceived to be focused on biosciences and marketable applications to the neglect of social sciences and broader public interest; that the “innovation network” is primarily viewed as centred around scientific/technical and industrial actors; and that the demand-pull dynamic is relevant to innovation in the area of food and health, despite having been relegated in contemporary thinking and policies around innovation. These findings point to the inadequate consideration of the normative issues—how problems are to be defined and addressed—among national research funders in the food and health domain, and indicate a gap between the ideas of innovation under the terms of RRI and innovation as conceptualised by those involved in its governance.     

Can biotechnology reach the poor? The adequacy of information and seed delivery

The paper examines the expectation that biotechnology can provide significant benefits for smallholder farmers. It uses evidence from current seed systems and variety choice in developing countries. In particular, it examines the adequacy of information flow and the performance of seed markets. Many of the biotechnology innovations proposed for use by smallholders feature qualities that may not be immediately obvious to farmers; implications are drawn for the potential demand for these transgenic varieties. The adequacy of seed systems is also examined, including the characteristics of local seed diffusion and the experience of commercial seed enterprises. The paper concludes that investments in public biotechnology must be accompanied by policies that encourage commercial seed system development and that empower farmers to be able to take full advantage of new technology.     

Do markets and trade help or hurt the global food system adapt to climate change?

Rapidly expanding global trade in the past three decades has lifted millions out of people out of poverty. Trade has also reduced manufacturing wages in high income countries and made entire industries uncompetitive in some communities, giving rise to nationalist politics that seek to stop or reverse further trade expansion in the United States and Europe. Given complex and uncertain political support for trade, how might changes in trade policy affect the global food system’s ability to adapt to climate change? Here we argue that we can best understand food security in a changing climate as a double exposure: the exposure of people and processes to both economic and climate-related shocks and stressors. Trade can help us adapt to climate change, or not. If trade restrictions proliferate, double exposure to both a rapidly changing climate and volatile markets will likely jeopardize the food security of millions. A changing climate will present both opportunities and challenges for the global food system, and adapting to its many impacts will affect food availability, food access, food utilization and food security stability for the poorest people across the world. Global trade can continue to play a central role in assuring that global food system adapts to a changing climate. This potential will only be realized, however, if trade is managed in ways that maximize the benefits of broadened access to new markets while minimizing the risks of increased exposure to international competition and market volatility. For regions like Africa, for example, enhanced transportation networks combined with greater national reserves of cash and enhanced social safety nets could reduce the impact of ‘double exposure’ on food security.     

Pay and Job Rank among Academic Economists in the UK: Is Gender Relevant?

This article presents and explores a rich new data source to analyse the determinants of pay and job rank among academic economists in the UK. Characteristics associated with individual productivity and workplace features are found to be important determinants of the relative wage and promotion structure in this sector. However, there is also a substantial unexplained gender pay gap. Men are considerably more likely to work in higher paid job ranks where there are also substantial within-rank gender pay gaps. We show that the nature of the gender pay gap has changed over the last two decades; but its size has not, suggesting a role for suitable policy intervention.