OPTIMIZING THE TRANSFER OF TAX EXEMPTIONS IN NEW ZEALAND FARM DEVELOPMENT*

Farmers and their advisers frequently face complex problems involving the scheduling of claims for tax exemptions. A case in point is the New Zealand tax law allowing farmers to transfer exemptions associated with development expenditure up to specified time horizons. This paper examines procedures for solving this, and similar, problems. Linear programming could be used, but an alternative algorithm is proposed for farm advisers whose access to computing facilities is limited. The latter procedure is intended for use with forecast budgeting in farm development planning.     

PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS AND ARBITRAGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND WOOL MARKETS*

The physical characteristics of wool are important determinants of its spinning properties, yarn quality and end use. The degree to which wools from different countries of origin may be substituted has important implications for the domestic marketing policies of Australia and New Zealand. The hypothesis examined in this paper is that the differences in wool prices can be explained by differences in the physical characteristics of the wool and that objective measures of these characteristics allow for effective arbitrage between these markets. The alternative hypothesis is that premiums or discounts exist owing to country of origin. A hedonic price analysis was conducted on wool prices in Australia and New Zealand using a balanced sample of sale lot data from the 1986-87 selling season. In the year examined, there was no evidence of any price premiums associated with country of origin.     

PARTICIPATION OF FARM OWNERS IN FARM AND OFF-FARM WORK INCLUDING THE OPTION OF FULL-TIME OFF-FARM WORK

The option of working full-time off the farm is generally neglected in farmers' time allocation studies. In this paper, a generalised multinomial logit model, in which the choices are working only on the farm, allocating the time between farm and off-farm work, or working only off-farm, is estimated using Israeli data. The results show that the explanatory variables have significantly different effects on utility for off-farm workers who also work on the farm versus those who do not. There seem to be incentives to work full time rather than part time off the farm. These conclusions cannot be reached if farm owners who do not work on the farm are excluded from the estimation. The conclusions imply that policy intended to encourage pluriactivity could instead result in increased specialisation in full-time farm work or full-time off-farm work if it does not target the right incentives.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE TAX SUBSIDIES TO THE DAIRY SECTORS IN CANADA,GERMANY NEW ZEALAND AND THE UNITED STATES

Subsidies to agricultural producers through domestic tax and social programme policies are generally not included in producer subsidy equivalent (PSE) measures. This study examines the price induced distortions of domestic tax policy and social programmes on dairy trade between Canada, New Zealand, Germany, and the United States. The degree of tax subsidisation and the price subsidies needed to offset the tax and social programme advantages enjoyed by each country are estimated using a simulation model. Study findings suggest that current German taxation policy provides a substantial subsidy to dairy producers. Canadian and US farmers also have some trade advantages because of tax policy and social programmes.     

THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION SOURCES AND THE USE OF INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

The paper reviews developments in bibliograhical, statistical and market information sources over the last 25 years, particularly since the application of the computer to information processing and dissemination. It concentrates on bibliographical sources: the evolution of WAERSA from a quarterly abstract journal to a monthly one, now also accessible on-line, as well as discussing some of the other major bibliographical sources, notably the AGECON file on USDA's AGRICOLA (formerly the Bibliography of Agricultural Economics), FAO's AGRINDEX, a title-only service available as a monthly journal and on-line, the Bibliography on Agricultural Marketing from FAO's marketing division, and the information service provided by ESCA. Different methods of ‘packaging’ information are also mentioned, including regular profiles on particular topics (SDI), ‘state-of-the-arts’ reviews, and ‘start’ reports. The paucity of adequate source guides specially tailored to the needs of agricultural economists is discussed. Finally, the availability of farming and market information through videotex is described. A plea is made for greater co-operation between providers and users of information, better knowledge of and guides to sources, and for user education.     

A MODEL OF THE NEW ZEALAND SHEEP INDUSTRY*

The paper presents a model of the New Zealand Sheep Industry which predicts animal numbers in various sex/age categories. The explanatory variables used are the prices of the end products of the industry and time, to represent technological change. Prices are found to have a significant, though delayed, effect on farmers' stock decisions. Furthermore, the significance of time demonstrates improvements in some forms of animal husbandry. The relative failure of the model's latest predictions emphasizes the importance of irrational optimism in the industry.     

HERD SIZE AND UNIT COSTS OF PRODUCTION IN THE ENGLAND AND WALES DAIRY SECTOR

This paper examines the relationship between herd size and unit costs of production in the England and Wales dairy sector. Following the two-stage estimation procedure of Dawson & Hubbard (1987), longrun average cost (LAC) functions are estimated from cross-section data for five separate years between 1976/7 and 1986/7. Results show that the LAC curves are U-shaped but highly skewed, implying that considerable economies of size are present at low output levels but diseconomies at larger levels are much less marked. Over time, technological change in particular has been shifting the LAC curves downward and to the right and away from the sector's long-run equilibrium. The differential shift of cost curves, depending on the size of production, implies that technological change has been biased in favour of larger herds.     

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT,SUSTAINABILITY AND PROPERTY RIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND*

Sustainable land management objectives in New Zealand have recently been redefined in the Resource Management Act 1991. The new legislative framework can be viewed in part as an adjustment in existing property rights to meet resource use externalities. An understanding of the structure and characteristics of property rights in land clarifies a number of issues in the area of economic efficiency and administrative practicality, and focusses on areas where appropriate solutions to externalities may be difficult to achieve.     

SOME FEATURES OF FARM INCOME AND STRUCTURE VARIATIONS IN REGIONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Farm income trends and developments in farm structure have varied within the UK in the last decade. While Wales and Northern Ireland have similarities in form structure, agricultural production has risen to a much smaller extent, and farmers have suffered more severe net income reductions, in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England and Wales. The net incomes of Cropping farms rose faster and, in England, have remained much higher than those of Dairy or Livestock farms. Large numbers of small farm businesses depend on beef cattle and sheep production and have limited development prospects. As most of their occupiers are unlikely to find other employment, structural problems will persist and policy adjustments are suggested to enable agriculture to contribute more to the economy in remote and depressed localities.     

AGRICULTURAL REFORMS IN CHILE AND NEW ZEALAND: A REVIEW*

Chile and New Zealand are both small countries for which agricultural exports are important: both undertook comprehensive economic reforms during the 1970s and 1980s respectively. Comparison of the experiences shows that macroeconomic policy, above all the resulting movements in the real exchange rate and in interest rates, has a critical impact on agriculture. In both cases, rolling back the state has encouraged private responses. In Chile the challenges ahead lie in continuing productivity improvements, and in raising the welfare of smallholders in marginal areas. Six years after the initiation of reforms, New Zealand agriculture shows a healthy recovery. Once committed to economy-wide reforms – stabilisation, adjustment, and trade liberalisation – and companion reforms of institutions, how do governments best proceed? With what reforms and in what mix, sequence, strength, and speed? For agriculture, specifically, this paper takes a close look at which reforms, or aspects of their implementation, can accelerate or slow down private investment and aggregate supply response.     

转基因大米:开拓中的新农场

<正>稻米是我国的主粮之一。我国约有1.6亿户农民从事稻米生产,近40%的粮食耕地种的是稻米。而目前,世界上还没有任何国家种植转基因水稻。这项可能是"科学史上遭到最强烈反对的技     

THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF POSSIBLE NEW ZEALAND WHEAT PRICING SCHEMES*

An empirical policy simulation analysis that was performed prior to the adoption of the revised N.Z. wheat pricing arrangements is reported. The analysis was particularly timely as it coincided with, and made an input to, discussions between the various parties attempting to derive an improved wheat pricing scheme. The implications of making N.Z. farm-gate wheat pricing more responsive to world market prices were assessed using a simulation model to distill information on the impact of alternative pricing schemes on those criteria thought to be of interest to policymakers. The results also indicated how the recently announced new scheme would have performed. This information aided public decision making, particularly in clarifying some of the trade-offs that are necessary in choosing a pricing scheme.     

NEW ZEALAND BEEF AND SHEEP SUPPLY RELATIONSHIPS

The primary purposes of this study are to measure major relationships describing the responses of different components of sheep and beef farming capital stock in New Zealand to changes in economic conditions, and to investigate the way in which this capital stock has changed over time. These objectives are pursued by attempting to specify an econometric model that recognises joint production between sheep and beef cattle and also takes account of joint firm/household decision making. Aggregate New Zealand data for the period 1952/53 to 1973/74 are fitted to the model using Full Information Maximum Likelihood estimation.     

PRODUCTION CHOICE IN THE ENGLAND AND WALES DAIRY SECTOR

This paper seeks to develop the understanding of the ways in which factors other than price influence the production decisions of dairy farmers. A theoretical model based on a profit function is used to emphasise the way in which changes in the farm's technological environment will influence its production choices. The theoretical model is used as the basis of an empirical study of production choice in the England and Wales dairy sector. Elasticities and factor biases are reported.     

MANAGEMENT AND SIZE ECONOMIES IN THE ENGLAND AND WALES DAIRY SECTOR

Analyses of size economies in the England and Wales dairy sector have generally been made on the basis of comparisons of input-output measures. These measures have been classified according to input use and farm size and have led to conclusions about efficiency and structural change. This paper examines the influence of managerial ability on economies of size using econometrically estimated long-run average cost (LAC) functions from Milk Marketing Board data for 1980/1. The results show that the LAC curve is U-shaped though skewed to exhibit greater economies than diseconomies of size. Better managed farms are shown to produce any given level of output at lower average cost. Moreover, they have larger optimal levels of output.