Can food-for-work encourage agricultural production?

Food-for-work (FFW) is the most widely used type of public works program in Ethiopia through which a high share of the food aid is distributed. This paper assesses the impacts of FFW in Tigray, a chronically food insecure region in Ethiopia, in terms of relieving liquidity constraints and thereby improving input use in agriculture. A Heckman selection model on the adoption and intensity of fertilizer use demonstrated that FFW positively influenced the decision to adopt fertilizer and there was no evidence of disincentive effect.     

Buyer power with atomistic upstream entry: Can downstream consolidation increase production and welfare?

This paper investigates the effects of buyer power on entry into an atomistic upstream market and economic welfare. Under reasonable market conditions, we show that industries with a few buyers induce more upstream entry than industries with a larger number of firms. In particular, monopsony can be more conducive to entry and lead to higher social welfare than more fragmented industry structures. This seeming paradox arises because a single buyer better internalizes the positive effects of entry on later-periods’ supply conditions than a collection of firms. This result is relevant in a number of market settings, including markets for specialized labor and processing markets for agricultural products.     

Economic development and food production–consumption balance: A growing global challenge

Rising affluence in major developing countries (principally China and India) and increasing diversion of agricultural resources for energy production (USA and Brazil) sharply increase agricultural resource demand. Food consumption and production changes during development are analyzed using resource-based cereal-equivalent measures. Diet upgrades to livestock products require fivefold increases in per capita food resource use, reflecting a consistent pattern which is only marginally affected by land base. Food consumption increases exceed production during early development, leading to imports. Consumption eventually stabilizes at high incomes, but production falls short in land-scarce countries. Pork and poultry consumption increase the most; less efficient beef and dairy production command a majority of agricultural resources.     

Can household-based food consumption surveys be used to make inferences about nutrient intakes and inadequacies? A Bangladesh case study

Household Consumption and Expenditures Surveys (HCES) are increasingly being used to make inferences about individual food consumption, despite the fact that they collect food data at only the household level. Usually the analysis assumes that the household’s food is distributed among its members in direct proportion to each member’s share of the household’s total energy requirements; what is referred to as the adult male equivalent (AME) approach. Using the 2011–2012 Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey—which collected consumption data for all members of rural households using combined 24-hour recall (24HR) and food weighing methods—this study directly compared probability-based average estimates of intakes, intake gaps, and the prevalence of inadequacies as estimated by the 24HR and those calculated using the AME approach for energy and each of four micronutrients: vitamin A, iron, zinc, and calcium.At the population level, for iron, vitamin A, and calcium, more than 97% of all individuals had the same estimated prevalence of adequate or inadequate nutrient intakes using 24HR and AME-based estimates. In the case of energy and zinc, roughly 77 and 83% of the sample population had identical adequacy statuses, respectively. The magnitude of inadequacies (the nutrient gaps) differed by 8 percentage points for energy and less than 3 percentage points for the four micronutrients. Disaggregating intakes and inadequacies by age groups revealed that the vast majority of variance between the two methods was highly concentrated in the first few years of life. Children 3 years of age and younger constituted 7.5% of the population but had 13.1% of the inconsistencies in intake adequacy status. 54% of children 3 and under had at least one pair of inconsistent prevalence estimates. While there are important differences in the levels of estimated energy and micronutrient intakes using 24HR and the AME-based estimates for children 3 and under, the results are remarkably comparable for the rest of the population.     

Can data-driven precision marketing promote user ad clicks? Evidence from advertising in WeChat moments

Data-driven precision marketing (e.g. personalized online ads based on big data analysis or optimal personalized recommendation algorithms) has been regarded as a crucial way for manufacturers to improve the marketing effect. However, the current studies leave much to be further explored. This study constructed a conceptual model based on cue utilization theory focusing on the effects of consumer perceptions to the personalized online ads on click-through intention. Empirical results based on data from a survey of 446 WeChat moments users in China showed that: (1) consumer's ad click-through intention increased as a result of employing a higher extent of product involvement, brand familiarity, visual attractiveness and information quality to consumer; (2) trust played a role of mediation in the processes of visual attractiveness and information quality affecting click-through intention; (3) the higher product involvement also stimulated the consumer's privacy concerns, which played negative moderating effects on the positive impacts of product involvement, brand familiarity and trust on click-through intention. The findings contributed to the precision marketing literature by enriching an understanding of psychological mechanism underlying consumers' perception and cognitive factors toward the personalized online ads.     

Food consumption patterns and malnourished Indian children: Is there a link?

Despite its economic success, India has made little progress towards meeting its Millennium Development Goal targets of reducing undernourishment, particularly among children. In this paper, we use nationally representative datasets, the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS II and NFHS III) and the National Sample Survey (55th and the 61st rounds) to analyse the link, if any, between child nutritional outcomes and calorie intakes. Our analysis finds evidence of an improvement in the height-for-age z-scores, but a worsening in weight-for-height z-scores for children aged 0–3 over the period 1998/1999–2005/2006. There is also evidence of a sharp decline in per adult equivalent calorie intake from the principal food items over roughly this same period. Moreover, this decline was observed across all the expenditure quintiles. Our analysis is therefore able to identify a co-movement of declining nutritional intake for both adults and children and a lack of progress in improving nutritional outcomes of children.     

Farm locations and dwelling clusters: Do they make production and technical efficiency spatially contagious?

In the last decades, local rice supplies in the Philippines have fallen short of local demand. As a result, the Philippines has become a net importer of rice. Reacting to this situation, the Philippine government introduced the Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP) in 2012 with the belief that the Philippines can attain rice self-sufficiency. As physical farm expansion yields only 20% of the necessary increase in production, the remaining 80% must come from increased productivity. This study uses a sample of rice production areas in Central Luzon as representative of rice production in the Philippines. Stochastic production frontier analysis revealed that the average technical efficiency of farms in Central Luzon ranges between 0.76 and 0.92 in the wet and dry seasons. Increasing farm productivity can help attain the FSSP production target by potentially increasing yield per hectare. A combination of spatial econometrics with geostatistical tools demonstrated the presence of spatial dependence in yield and farm performance. Results show significant clustering of best and worst performing farms, specifically in Tarlac City. To increase farm technical efficiency and help attain food production targets at national and even global levels, policy interventions should consider focusing on geographically prioritized areas for technical efficiency improvement.     

Can small farms benefit from big companies’ initiatives to promote mechanization in Africa? A case study from Zambia

After years of neglect, there is a renewed interest in agricultural mechanization in Africa. Since government initiatives to promote mechanization are confronted with major governance challenges, private-sector initiatives may offer a promising alternative. However, given limited scientific studies on such private-sector options such approaches are often viewed skeptically. One concern is that multi-national agribusiness companies take advantage of smallholder farmers. Another concern is that mechanization causes rural unemployment. To shed light on these concerns, this paper analyzes an initiative of the agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere to promote smallholder mechanization in Zambia through a contractor model. The analysis focuses on the impact of this initiative on farmers who receive tractor services using Propensity Score Matching. The results indicate that farmers can almost double their income by cultivating a much larger share of their land. The analysis suggests that the increased income is used for children’s education and more food, but does not result in increased food diversity. The demand for hired labor increases due to land expansion and due to a shift from family labor, including that of children, to hired labor. Questions that require further investigation are identified, including strategies to incentivize tractor owners to provide services, to also increase land productivity, and to avoid new forms of dependency of agricultural laborers that may result from a shift in the timing of the labor demand.     

Community Colleges and Employers: How Can We Understand their Connection?

This paper uses an original, nationally representative survey of manufacturing establishments to shed light on the interaction of employers with community colleges, including information on skill requirements and human resource practices. We test three hypotheses: that high‐skill employers use community colleges, that community colleges are a substitute for employer‐based training, and that community colleges are a complement to so‐called “high‐road” or “high‐commitment” human resource practices. We find limited utilization of community colleges by employers, but those that do establish a relationship are generally satisfied. Employers that demand high skills are more likely to use community colleges, as are “high‐commitment” firms.     

Can Fund Managers Select Outperforming REITs? Examining Fund Holdings and Trades

Despite at least six empirical studies published since 2000 designed to assess fund managers’ Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)‐selection ability, their skill remains in question. Unlike previous studies, we examine fund holdings and trades of REITs to answer this question. This approach allows us to explicitly account for portfolio rebalancing that alters REIT‐characteristic weights of fund portfolios. Results show that fund managers, after controlling for property type, size and momentum, generated significant positive alpha with their securities‐selection ability. To understand the sources of such ability, we examine whether fund managers who followed certain trading strategies outperformed relative to other managers. The potential trading strategies are based on public information related to geographic concentration, net‐asset‐value‐to‐price ratios, income and appreciation styles and leverage of the underlying REITs. Comparative and regression analyses show that none of the strategies fully explains why fund managers were able to select REITs that outperformed. We surmise that the outperformance mainly derives from the endemic abilities of managers to uniquely process REIT‐specific information and generate private valuation beliefs that lead to profitable investment decisions.     

Can Oxford heal itself?

The fast-growing HMO was hammered on Wall Street after revealing its massive computer problems. Those foul-ups are being fixed, but now comes the hard part--reclaiming the trust of stunned shareholders and outraged doctors.     

The effect of using consumption taxes on foods to promote climate friendly diets – The case of Denmark

Agriculture is responsible for 17–35% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions with livestock production contributing by approximately 18–22% of global emissions. Due to high monitoring costs and low technical potential for emission reductions, a tax on consumption may be a more efficient policy instrument to decrease emissions from agriculture than a tax based directly on emissions from production. In this study, we look at the effect of internalising the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions through a tax based on CO₂ equivalents for 23 different foods. Furthermore, we compare the loss in consumer surplus and the changed dietary composition for different taxation scenarios. In the most efficient scenario, we find a decrease in the carbon footprint from foods for an average household of 2.3–8.8% at a cost of 0.15–1.73 DKK per kg CO₂ equivalent whereas the most effective scenario led to a decrease in the carbon footprint of 10.4–19.4%, but at a cost of 3.53–6.90 DKK per kg CO₂ equivalent. The derived consequences for health show that scenarios where consumers are not compensated for the increase in taxation level lead to a decrease in the total daily amount of kJ consumed, whereas scenarios where the consumers are compensated lead to an increase. Most scenarios lead to a decrease in the consumption of saturated fat. Compensated scenarios leads to an increase in the consumption of added sugar, whereas uncompensated scenarios lead to almost no change or a decrease. Generally, the results show a low cost potential for using consumption taxes to promote climate friendly diets.     

Excess capacity and the degree of collusion: The Norwegian experience, 1967–82

The short run interaction between capacity utilization and the price-cost margin is investigated. The findings indicate that the emergence of unplanned excess capacity will in most cases provoke an initial narrowing of the price-cost margin. However, the price-cost margin will often rise again when the excess capacity lasts for an extended time period. The total response is still likely to be a decrease of the price-cost margin.     

Buy or make? Agricultural production diversity,markets and dietary diversity in Afghanistan

Increasing on-farm production diversity and improving markets are recognized as ways to improve the dietary diversity of smallholders. Using instrumental variable methods to account for endogeneity, we study the interplay of production diversity, markets and diets in the context of seasonality in Afghanistan. We confirm an important seasonal dimension to the interplay. Improved crop diversity over the year is positively associated with dietary diversity in the regular season, but not in the lean season. Livestock species diversity remains important for dietary diversity throughout the year, but particularly so in the lean season when the influence of cropping diversity is low. Market aspects become important for dietary diversity specifically in the lean season.     

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.     

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.