Repurchase of renewal rights: a policy option for the National Water Initiative*

Management of the Murray–Darling river system involves a large number of users with imprecisely defined rights, and an aggregate rate of resource use that is environmentally unsustainable. One possible policy response is to make formal or informal contracts with users, under which users receive current benefits in return for a commitment to forgo usage rights in future. In this paper, this issue is explored with specific reference to the possibility of repurchasing the renewal rights for irrigation licenses.     

Effectively communicating economics to policy makers*

Many economists are concerned with communicating the results of economic analysis or the implications of economic theory to policy makers. Our effectiveness in doing this varies widely for different individuals and different issues. The present paper is an attempt to provide practical advice to enhance this effectiveness. It considers policy adoption in the light of published literature about the adoption of innovations by small business managers. A small survey of policy makers and policy advisors was conducted, providing a number of practical tips and insights.     

Toward farm-based policy analysis: concepts applied in Haiti

Many policies – on the delivery of inputs or on marketing systems, credit, or extension – influence the potential utilization of new technologies. Through 'farm-based policy analysis' it is possible to use data generated in on-farm research (OFR) to identify policy constraints to the use of new technologies, and to effectively communicate that information to policy makers. This paper describes a tentative framework for farm-based policy analysis and suggests a sequence of five steps for the analysis: (1) identify the policy-induced constraints; (2) determine the rationale behind the policy; (3) identify the decision makers to whom the results should be communicated; (4) identify solutions or policy options; and (5) communicate results to decision makers. A case of farm-based policy analysis from Haiti illustrates the concepts and methods described in the first part of the paper. On-farm experiments in Les Cayes, Haiti, confirmed a response to nitrogen in maize, but adoption of the recommended practice and consequent gains in productivity and income were constrained by the scarcity of urea in the local market. An analysis of local supply and potential local demand for urea and the potential benefits of urea application was conducted, and results communicated to two target groups of decision makers: representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for fertilizer distribution policy, and representatives of private fertilizer enterprises. These groups responded by making larger supplies of urea available to local farmers. Adoption of the fertilizer recommendation and urea sales increased. The case demonstrates the potential value of farm-based policy analysis building upon data from OFR.     

Banana policy: a European perspective

European Union banana policies do not make economic sense, and hence criticism of these policies is justified. Some facts should, though, be remembered. If the EU had chosen free trade in bananas when the Single Market was established, certain producers both inside and outside the EU would have lost income, and it proved politically impossible to choose direct financial compensation. Also, the quantitative implications of the new EU banana regime may be less than sometimes assumed, as trade has not been reduced very much. The WTO's role is not to judge the economic merits of these policies, but their legal justification.     

Fiddling while carbon burns: why climate policy needs pervasive emission pricing as well as technology promotion*

Effective climate policy requires global emissions of greenhouse gases to be cut substantially, which can be achieved by energy supply technologies with lower emissions, greater energy use efficiency and substitution in demand. For policy to be efficient requires at least fairly uniform, fairly pervasive emission pricing from taxes, permit trading or combinations of the two; and significant government support for low‐emission technologies. We compare the technology‐focused climate policies adopted by Australia and the ‘Asia–Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate’ (AP6), against this policy yardstick. We find that such policies omit the need for emission pricing to achieve abatement effectively and efficiently; they over‐prescribe which abatement actions should be used most; they make unrealistic assumptions about how much progress can be achieved by voluntarism and cooperation, in the absence of either adequate funding or mandatory policies; and they unjustifiably contrast technology‐focused policy and the Kyoto Protocol approach as the only two policies worth considering, and thus ignore important policy combinations.     

Cost-benefit analysis of the Dutch nature policy: Transaction costs and land market impacts

This paper analyses the financial and economic costs and benefits of the large scale National Ecological Network (NEN) nature conservation project in the Netherlands, taking into account transaction costs and land market impacts of different institutional arrangements. The net financial costs associated with achieving the current plan are equivalent with an annual amount €876 per hectare. Of the costs, transaction costs amount about 16% or €140 per hectare. The substantive land purchases involved in the plan will lead to land price increase of 20%. Nature management by agriculture turns out to be a relatively cheap option.     

Joint production under uncertainty and multifunctionality of agriculture: policy considerations and applied analysis

The impact of various policy instruments on the production ofenvironmental goods that are complementary to or competing withagricultural commodities is analysed in the light of the uncertaintyin output prices and farmers' risk aversion. Some theoreticalassessments are first summarised and then tested on a case studyconcerning beef and grassland biodiversity production in Montsdu Cantal, France. The results of simulations carried out bymathematical programming farm-level models show that joint commodityand non-commodity production is nearly independent of the degreeof farmers' risk aversion, and that commodity-linked policyinstruments are not suitable for the production of environmentalgoods even under uncertainty.     

过度养殖的制度诱因分析及政策建议

过度养殖极易导致海水养殖产业遭到环境惩罚和市场惩罚,对产业的长期发展构成了严重威胁。这一现象之所以会普遍存在,根本原因是我国现存制度存在一定的不足。本文旨在通过分析海水养殖产业的制度环境,找到过度养殖的制度诱因,并在此基础上提出政策建议。研究结果表明,制度诱因主要包括产权安排未能遵循激励相容原则,新品种推广未能完全坚持预防原则以及立法未能彻底贯彻可执行性原则。政策建议包括赋予养殖业者长期有保障的海域使用权,适当限制新品种的扩散进行以及赋予行业协会管理产业的权利来解决。     

Land use policy of a city state: The Singapore case

The author notes that the city state of Singapore disfavours the adoption of a rigid land use policy. The massive land use reorganization programmes implemented by the various statutory agencies are based on the principle of flexibility. The land development strategies are meritocratic in nature and problem-solving in orientation. An effective land acquisition procedure adopted has contributed significantly to the success in many of the land reorganization projects. Certain contradictions in land space utilization are highlighted.     

相机抉择的棉花滑准税政策效应分析

该文对2005年开始实施的棉花进口滑准税政策出台背景、不断调整的原因与绩效进行系统分析,进而探讨滑准税政策实施对棉花生产者、棉花经营者和棉纺企业的利弊影响,在此基础上,综合国内外面临的经济形势以及贸易环境,提出了进一步完善棉花产销及贸易政策的建议。     

The incidence of agricultural policy on the land market in Poland: Two-dimensional and multilevel analysis

Research has shown that the reform of the CAP which broke the link between subsidies and production (the decoupling reform) has had little effect on farmers’ demand for land under the SPS (Single Payment Scheme) system. For this reason, in the conditions of the SPS, there is petrifaction of the structure of agricultural land, and an upward trend in prices on the market for agricultural land should not be expected to continue in the long term. Under the conditions of the SAPS (Single Area Payment Scheme), which applies in the EU-12 new Member States, the position in the market for agricultural land is different. However, most research carried out in Europe relates to the SPS system, where marginal changes in the value of land are identified as a result of the incidence of agricultural policy, as well as quantitative and qualitative attributes of particular properties. Under SAPS, these issues have not been sufficiently investigated. The authors have attempted to fill that gap, constructing a two-dimensional and multilevel econometric model for land prices in a leading agricultural region of Poland based on a sample of 653 transactions in the years 2010–2013. The aim is to determine how policy, as well as various quantitative and qualitative features, including location factors, affect the prices of land under SAPS. The results indicate, among other things, the key importance of the functional type of rural areas – properties in agrotouristic areas gained 43% higher prices on average than those in agricultural areas. Another finding of interest is that LFA and agro-environmental payments decapitalise the value of land.     

我国水产品冷链物流需求分析及政策建议

物流需求是物流能力供给的基础,准确的物流需求预测对于政府制定产业发展规划和引导社会投资具有较强的指导意义。本文针对我国水产品冷链物流发展中呈现出的需求规模增大、需求结构多样、系统性较强等特点,提出现阶段政府应积极创建合理规划的体系和政策环境,通过改进冷链物流供给体系的方式加强冷链物流基础设施建设,从而促进冷链系统和我国水产品冷链物流业健康、稳定的可持续发展。     

Updating an input–output table for use in policy analysis

The long lag in the publication of input–output tables is one of the central constraints in applied general equilibrium analysis. Model builders often use out-dated databases leading to analyses that are inappropriate for the policy questions being addressed. This occurs particularly when there exists a significant structural change in the economy. We discuss the updating of an input–output table of the Philippines by simulation technique. A detailed computable general equilibrium model of the Philippine economy with comparative static and forecasting capabilities is utilised. The data are drawn from known percentage changes of macroeconomic variables such as those in the national accounts and structural variables such as employment and output by industry.