The Collusion-deterring Effect of Pre-attributed Supplies and the Hog Auction in Quebec

The hog/pork industry in Quebec has been going through major institutional changes since 1989, the year an electronic auction was put in place to market all of the hogs in the province. Because the auction's ability to generate high prices did not meet the expectations of hog producers, the pure auction system was replaced by a hybrid one in 1994. In this system, most of the hog supply was pre-attributed to processors at a negotiated price based on the US. price while the remainder of the provincial supply of hogs was sold through the auction. In this paper, we investigate how a seemingly inefficient marketing mechanism like pre-attributions can increase the efficiency of a usually efficient mechanism like an auction. We present theoretical arguments regarding the sustainability of collusion under the pure auction and hybrid systems in addition to analyzing auction prices with modern time series tools.     

The Alberta hog industry problem of the 1960s: its definition and resolution

The hog industry in Western Canada in 1960s was in a state of turmoil associated with a vague, poorly understood production and marketing problem. Hog production was largely a supplementary farm activity producing an overfat product increasingly shunned by consumers. The structure, and also probably the existence, of the industry was in question. During the following 20 years, the industry changed fundamentally as various groups achieved a better definition and understanding of the problem. A reshaping of the industry was carried out by farmers, the Provincial Government, and a variety of agricultural professionals concerned with industry structure, emerging pork markets, physical characteristics of the product, and creation of a policy environment that provided incentives for output and productivity growth. The outcome has been the development of a viable pork industry in the Province (in spite of some past and continuing hindrances to industry growth) that has substantially solved the problem.     

中国生猪产业国际竞争力评价研究基于贸易与产业发展视角的比较分析

目的 中国是世界上最大的生猪生产国和消费国,科学评价中国生猪产业国际竞争力水平,对于提高生猪产业国际竞争力水平,促进生猪产业可持续发展,具有重要的理论和现实意义。方法 文章基于产业发展视角构建了包含资源禀赋竞争力、生产竞争力、消费竞争力和贸易竞争力4个一级指标及13个相关二级指标的生猪产业国际综合竞争力评价指标体系,利用1995—2018年生猪产业相关数据,对中国、美国、德国、巴西、西班牙、俄罗斯等生产、消费和贸易大国生猪产业国际综合竞争力进行评价,并与传统的基于贸易视角的竞争力评价结果进行对比分析。结果 研究发现,基于贸易视角与产业发展视角的测算结果存在一定差距。基于贸易视角的测算结果显示,中国生猪产业缺乏竞争力,且竞争力仍在持续减弱。基于产业发展视角的测算结果显示,中国生猪产业具有一定竞争优势。其中,中国猪肉消费竞争力极强,显著拉升了中国生猪产业国际综合竞争力水平;生产竞争力和资源禀赋竞争力也具有一定优势;贸易竞争力处于劣势地位,明显拉低了中国生猪产业国际综合竞争力水平。结论 建议中国生猪产业充分发挥巨大的内需优势,提升生猪产业国际竞争水平,实现生猪产业高质量发展。进一步提高中国生猪种业创新能力,保障优良种猪供给;提高生猪生产技术效率与经济效率,提升生猪养殖场组织化、标准化、规模化水平;稳定生猪生产饲料供给;建立生猪产业风险防范机制。     

Is Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Pork Meat Export Prices Constrained by the Supply of Live Hogs?

The impact of lags in the production and marketing of agricultural products on the degree of exchange rate pass-through in export prices is investigated. The predictions of the theoretical model are tested by investigating Canadian pork export prices in the United States and Japan. The empirical methodology accounts for unit root and cointegration using the dynamic seemingly unrelated regression framework and a minimum distance estimator. Predetermined hog supplies have a statistically significant impact on export prices of two out of three Canadian provinces. The degree of misspecification involved with standard pass-through models that do not account for production lags is also illustrated.     

Investment Under Uncertainty and Dynamic Adjustment in the Finnish Pork Industry

A stochastic dual model of investment under uncertainty is used to investigate structural adjustment in the Finnish hog industry. Value function restrictions are found to be comparable to those in existing dual models assuming deterministic state variables. The model also allows for an asymmetry in investment response during capital expansion and contraction phases. Empirical results show that investments respond negatively to increased uncertainty and that labor adjusts more slowly during contraction phases than during expansions. Results on economies of size, uncertainty effects, and adjustment rigidities have important implications for hog industry response to Finland's entry into the EU.     

Marketing Specialty Hogs: A Comparative Analysis of Two Firms from Iowa

We study business organization and coordination of specialty-market hog production using a comparative analysis of two Iowa firms marketing niche pork. We analyze each firm's management of five key organizational challenges: planning and logistics, quality assurance, process verification and management of "credence attributes," business structure, and profit sharing. Although each firm is engaged in essentially the same activity, there are substantial differences across the two firms in the way production and marketing are coordinated. These differences are partly explained by the relative size and age of each firm, but also by the formal organizational separation between marketing and production activities in one of the firms.     

Interrogating sustainable productivism: Lessons from the ‘Almerían miracle’

Many have suggested that a new form of sustainable agricultural productivism is needed in response to the challenges to food security posed by climate change and population growth. This paper employs elements of ecological modernisation theory and focusses on sustainability challenges and solutions, as well as the knowledge networks and production rationale to assess whether the intensive horticultural industry located in the Spanish province of Almería represents sustainable productivism. The Almerían horticultural industry, lauded as an example of neo-endogenous growth, manifests a range of sustainable technologies addressing environmental impacts. Yet, we argue that Almerían horticulture represents ‘weak ecological modernisation’ and its main sustainability challenges are posed by water scarcity, a demand led production rationale and the precarious situation of family farms that at present provide a degree of economic embeddedness in this highly industrialised production model. A competitive imperative yields marketing organisations huge sway in production decision-making, and while a cost-price squeeze has driven efficiency in the use of farm inputs and product innovation, it has paradoxically made further advances in sustainable water management very difficult to achieve. Transforming the Almerían horticultural industry into a truly sustainable model of productivism would require the concerted efforts of individual farmers and marketing organisations as well as regional and local water governance institutions and land use planning. A significant obstacle to this remains the dominant normative perception that justifies groundwater abstraction on the grounds of its high economic returns and the perceived inability of small farmers to invest in desalinated water or further technological solutions.     

On the Number and Heterogeneity of Bidders in Livestock Auctions

We show in the context of livestock auctions that a seller's revenue may increase or decrease as the number of buyers increases, whether the additional bidder wins or not an object. Additional bidders who fill part of their demand from an outside source may have an even more adverse effect on prices. We use data from the Quebec daily hog auction to measure the effect of new bidders on auction prices. Variations in the number of bidders come from the entry and exit of Quebec packers and sporadic invitations extended to Ontario packers. We find that entry by Quebec packers had a significant positive impact on hog auction prices but that sporadic participation by Ontario packers did not have a significant impact on hog prices.     

Hog Industry Structure and the Stringency of Environmental Regulation

The paper develops a comparative statics model of long‐run industry equilibrium in the presence of size‐based environmental regulation stringency and applies the model to the U.S. hog industry. The economic model shows that when size‐based environmental stringency is also size biased, large farms downsize, expand, or do neither depending on how environmental stringency shifts their marginal production cost relative to their average cost. Empirical testing using data from the top‐ten hog‐producing states suggests that environmental regulation stringency has limited impact on small farms and leads to a reduction in the number of large farms. Results cannot reject positive size bias at the farm level due to the stringency of environmental regulation.     

Derived Demand for Refrigerated Truck Transport: A Gravity Model Analysis of Canadian Pork Exports to the United States

Gravity models have a long history in the empirical analysis of trade flows and market penetration, but lack a strong economic foundation. This paper demonstrates that the gravity model can be reconciled with existing economic theory within the framework of an interregional trade model. An empirical gravity model of interregional trade is specified for Canadian pork exports to the United States. The estimated results show that, among other things, demand for transport is highly elastic, suggesting that pork producers and truckers have a mutual interest in exploring means to lower freight costs. Finally, the gravity model is used to identify potential markets for each of the five major exporting provinces. The Canadian pork industry has its best opportunity for further penetration in Illinois, Texas, New York and New Jersey.     

Do Alternative Marketing Arrangements Increase Pork Packers' Market Power?

In this article we use structural econometrics to formally test whether the use of the alternative marketing arrangements (AMAs) by pork packers is the source of their market power on the spot (cash) market for live hogs. We specify the pork packers' conjectures of the change in the industry total market procurement of live hogs through the spot market with respect to their AMAs stocks. The test is carried out using the mandatory price reporting data. Our results show that pork packers have statistically significant market power on the spot market for live hogs, but the source of that market power cannot be narrowed down to the existence of AMAs stocks.     

循环经济型主导产业分级评价模型研究

基于循环经济原理选择区域主导产业是区域实现可持续发展的保证,有利于从源头预防区域结构性环境污染,促进经济与环境双赢.循环经济型主导产业分级评价模型是从经济属性和环境属性两方面建立评价指标体系,运用层次分析法确定指标权重,建立分级评价标准对区域主导产业进行筛选.本文以海南省为例,根据评价模型确定出海南省四个主导产业和五个...     

生猪价格的省域空间溢出效应及其动态关联分析——基于空间面板模型和DY分解

目的 分析生猪价格的省际空间溢出效应,并通过各省域间价格联动效应探究我国生猪价格体系的传导机制,对治理我国生猪产业区域不均衡发展问题具有重要意义。方法 文章建立空间杜宾模型探索生猪价格的空间传导特性,引入溢出效应分解分析替代品价格、成本要素对省域生猪价格的冲击效应,并运用广义预测误差分解测定省际生猪价格关联水平及方向。结果 （1）我国生猪价格波动具有显著空间相关性和异质性,其空间集聚特征随时间推移愈发显著,产业布局呈现“高—高南部簇拥,低—低东向西扩”的空间演变特征。（2）省内替代品价格、成本要素对生猪价格波动的影响显著但作用力度有限,省际溢出效应是生猪价格发生空间传导的主导因素。（3）鸡肉价格与省内、省外的生猪价格存在密切正向关联;牛肉价格波动推动本省生猪价格同步波动;豆粕价格波动对本省或邻省生猪价格均起到正向推动作用;玉米价格变化引起本省或邻省生猪价格的负向变化。（4）辽宁、河北、吉林、河南等省的正向净关联度较大,属于波动“主导者”或“发动者”;上海、广西、重庆等省市的负净关联度较大,隶属价格波动的“接收者”;江苏、湖南、福建等省市的关联度和全国平均关联度持平,在价格波动传导体系中属于波动“中介者”。结论 有关部门应针对不同省域在生猪价格传导体系中所发挥职能的不同,分级管控生猪价格,同时促进地方畜牧业经济发展,不断优化我国生猪养殖产业区域布局。     

Economic Liberalization and Productivity Growth: Further Evidence From Bangladesh

The impact of economic liberalization reforms on the productive performances of manufacturing firms remains a contentious issue in the literature. This paper attempts to contribute to the debate by empirically estimating productivity growth of Bangladesh food manufacturing using firm level data before and after reform. Empirical results show that the share of output growth was accounted for by input growth in most sectors of this industry. In some sectors, the estimated rate of total factor productivity (TFP) growth is negligible or even negative. Decomposition of the TFP growth shows that technological progress plays a significant role in TFP growth across firms within the sub-sectors of this industry. Empirical results also show that the relative contribution of capacity realization to TFP growth is not substantial in inhibiting the industry's high and sustained growth. These dismal performances indicate that the industries responded a little to the implementation of economic reforms.     

资本运营与林业企业改革

本文通过总结各位专家对资本运营的理解 ,界定了林业资本运营的概念 ,并归纳其重要特征。并进一步论证资本运营是深化林业企业改革和从整体上搞活林业经济的重要思路 ,有利于盘活国有林业资产存量 ,有利于进一步推动现代林业企业制度的建立与完善 ,有利于林业产业结构和企业结构的调整 ,有利于林业企业的成长和扩张 ,有助于提高林业经济整体效益。     

Relationship between urban construction land expansion and population/economic growth in Liaoning Province,China

The rapid expansion of urban construction land will lead to decoupling from the trend of economic development and population growth. A previous study have shown that there is a long-term bidirectional causal relationship between urban land expansion and economic and population growth. To further explore this relationship, we used remote sensing and statistical data combined with center-of-gravity shift index, coordination degree model, Theil index, and Tapio elastic decoupling index. The main results were as follows: (1) The urban construction land expansion in Liaoning Province has obvious geographical location characteristics, and it can be classified in three types: only along the traffic lines expansion, only along the coastline, along the rivers and traffic lines concurrently. (2) The per capita construction land area (PCCLA) is growing rapidly, and by 2015, 13 cities (all except Benxi) of the province exceeded the national standard for PCCLA (120 m²). Three of these cities (Yingkou, Dalian, and Huludao) exceeded the standard by more than 100%. The uncoordinated areas of land and population urbanization spread from coastal areas to central and western areas and finally to the entire province. (3) The correlation between urban construction land expansion and economic growth has changed from weak positive to strong negative decoupling. After 2010, the decoupling index for all cities became negative. In Huludao, Chaoyang, Panjin, Dalian, Shenyang, and Jinzhou, the construction land expansion was more than 3%, coupled with a 1% decrease in non-agricultural GDP. For other cities, the construction land expansion was less than 3% for a 1% decrease in non-agricultural GDP. These results demonstrate that the rapid growth of construction land was related to a negative economic growth. The findings also suggest that under the current pattern of economic growth, it may be difficult to control the expansion of construction land. New construction land should be reasonably planned and managed, and the dependence of economic growth on construction land and speed of population urbanization is a new challenge that should be reexamined by the local government.     

The Role of Political Institutions in the Resolution of Economic Crises: The Case of Argentina 2001–05

Many financial crises during the last decade have derived more directly from political than purely economic problems. When democratic institutions, government transparency, regulatory oversight or the rule of law break down, the likelihood that politicians will implement unsustainable economic policies rises. The economics literature analyses the role of poorly functioning government institutions in allowing a nation to slip into financial crisis. However, the literature on the effectiveness of post-crisis reforms focuses almost exclusively on whether the stated post-crisis policies are appropriate from an economic viewpoint. Oddly, that literature fails to examine the status of the underlying governmental deficiencies, assuming implicitly that they have been remedied. Because economic reforms are feasible only with wide political and social consensus, two important post-crisis issues are essential to the success of such reforms; namely, the political situation and politicians' management of economic policy. Political failures are particularly relevant to the Argentine financial crisis that began in December 2001. This paper identifies those political issues, which derived from an unstable political structure characterized by corruption and fragmented power between provinces and the federal government. Critically, the rule of law had been undermined in 1991. Interestingly, these same shortcomings still pervaded Argentina in 2004. The resultant lack of political consensus continues to delay implementation of the structural reforms necessary to return to sustainable economic growth. Social confidence in the government is low; the independence of the Supreme Court has been shattered; and the rule of law continues to be eroded, as the government tramples on the property rights of private firms and public debt-holders. Because it seems unlikely that Argentina can overcome its political deficiencies in the near future, its prospects for full economic recovery are limited, regardless of which economic reforms it implements.     

中国家具产业发展的地区差异与演化路径研究——基于泰尔指数的测度

为测度中国家具产业的地区差异并探寻中国家具产业的路径演变,基于2004—2015年中国28个省级行政区域家具产业发展的纵向数据,采用泰尔指数方法测度了全国家具产业的区域差异,探讨了中国家具产业发展的地区差异程度的域内差异和域间差异及其地理维度上的演变路径。研究发现:2004—2015年中国家具产业的整体差异呈现出逐步缩小的趋势;2004—2008年总体差异由区域间差异主导,2009—2015年则为区域内差异主导;2004—2015年中国家具产业经历"萌芽期""发展期"和"多元发展期"其对应的区域转移为"北移""中聚"和"西拓"。因此,缩小中国家具产业区域差异的重点是域内差异,同时要施行多方向演变共同发展的战略方针。     

Payoffs from research and development along the Australian food value chain: a general equilibrium analysis

The payoffs and distribution of payoffs from research and development (R&D) along the food value chain depend on many interacting economic factors. To quantify these, we have developed a general equilibrium model of the Australian economy with detailed farming, processing and marketing information. We use the model to assess potential payoffs and distributions from various R&D scenarios that lead to demand expansion and productivity improvement. We find that productivity improvement caused by R&D is unambiguously beneficial to the whole economy while the benefits of export or domestic market demand expansion mainly accrue to the primary producers and processing industry, when the economy is at full employment. Also, productivity improvement from R&D on‐farm may benefit processors while improvements postfarm may benefit farmers.     

西南地区旅游业经济增长对产业集聚的影响

本文根据2008-2019年我国西南地区旅游业的面板数据,对西南地区旅游业的产业集聚水平用区位熵这一指标进行测度,在区位熵计算地区产业集聚水平的基础之上,通过建立面板固定效应模型来实证分析西南地区旅游业经济增长对旅游业产业集聚的影响。实证分析结果表明,在本文选取的统计期间内,从旅游业的角度来看,旅游业经济增长以及旅游业规模经济对其产业集聚效应具有显著的积极影响作用,财政支出指标对其具有一定的负面作用。