Job creation and job destruction in EU agriculture

This is the first paper to study job creation and destruction in EU agriculture. We disaggregate gross employment patterns and net job flows into detailed intra-sectoral labour adjustment dynamics based on a unique EU-wide farm level panel dataset for 1990–2005. We find that: (1) job creation and destruction rates in EU agriculture are comparable to other sectors; (2) there is some evidence of ongoing substitution of family labour for hired labour; (3) there are important differences in job creation and destruction rates between different Member States; (4) these differences can be attributed to structural differences across countries, sectors and farm types; (5) time variation of job reallocation fluctuates countercyclically; and (6) idiosyncratic effects are the main driver of time variance in job reallocation.     

Linking agricultural policies with obesity and noncommunicable diseases: A new perspective for a globalising world

In light of the shift in policy paradigm in agriculture from state intervention to market liberalisation and globalisation, this paper develops a series of hypotheses on the relationship between agricultural policies and consumer diets. The first hypothesis is that the paradigm shift has led to greater specialisation of production, so changing the ability and incentive for producers to supply certain foods relative to others. Second, the shift has affected farmgate prices (both up and down), so creating opportunities for the industries which purchase farm commodities (the food consuming industries – FCIs) to substitute lower priced ingredients, thereby influencing the nutritional quality and content of foods available in the marketplace. Third, it has increased the ability of the FCIs to “add value” through product innovation and marketing, creating a market characterised by highly differentiated products targeted to individualised preferences, thus increasing the acceptability of a wider variety and quantity of food products.     

Induced effects of smart food/agri-systems in Japan: Towards a structural analysis of information technology

The Japanese government decided to promote “smart society” in the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) in smart society by input-output analysis using the food industry and agriculture as examples. We define food production and agricultural activities utilizing ICT as a smart food-agri system, and try to analyze the effect of such a system on the economy as a whole. As a result, we confirmed that such a system has a large economic ripple effect on information sectors. At the same time, through these analyses, (1) we redefine information goods and service sectors, (2) we describe the new management sectors that are using these goods and services, but are not currently independent businesses, and (3) we clarify new industrial structure that exists in “smart society” using ICT.     

Price and market policy for agriculture

The focus of this policy assessment is on the recent history of regulatory measures in market-oriented economies where the dominating triad of problems is stablisation, farm income support and market surplusses. Alternative forms of intervention are reviewed with respect to their impact on domestic supply and demand, international trade, farm income and labour, and finally how they cope with the process of change in agriculture. The author concludes that stabilisation policies in agriculture are not suitable for perishables where they can easily become a burden for consumers and governments alike.     

Market constraints,misallocation, and productivity in Vietnam agriculture

We examine important changes in agriculture in Vietnam in the context of ongoing structural changes in the economy. We use a household-level panel dataset and a quantitative framework to document the extent and consequences of factor misallocation in agriculture during the period between 2006 and 2016. Despite rapid growth in agricultural productivity and a reallocation of factor inputs to more productive farmers, we find that misallocation across farmers remains high and increased during the period. Reallocation of factor inputs has not been strong enough to accommodate substantial changes in farm productivity over time. Our analysis also reveals important differences between the north and south regions.     

Promoting structural adjustment in agriculture: The economics of New Entrant Schemes for farmers

We examine the efficacy of incentives for new entrants to farming as an alternative to early retirement schemes for farmers. We briefly review previous studies on the effectiveness of Farmer Early Retirement Schemes in promoting structural adjustment in agriculture and conclude that the economic case for these schemes seems weak. We then employ a dynamic farm optimisation model, incorporating a realistic specification of farmer decision-making, on an original Northern Irish dataset to analyse ex ante the possible impacts of New Entrant Schemes. We find a more positive potential impact from these schemes, particularly the option of an interest rate subsidy on farm development loans. This is attributed to the dynamic effects of the farm investments associated with such schemes, a likely reflection of the long-term effects of differences in age related lifecycle goals. Younger farmers have a longer planning horizon and tend to invest more heavily in business growth than comparable older age groups.     

Nutrition,agriculture and the global food system in low and middle income countries

The entire food value chain and diet of low and middle income countries (LMICs) are rapidly shifting. Many of the issues addressed by the nutrition community ignore some of the major underlying shifts in purchases of consumer packaged foods and beverages. At the same time, the drivers of the food system at the farm level might be changing. There is a need for the agriculture and nutrition communities to understand these changes and focus on some of their implications for health. This rapid growth of the retail sector will change the diets of the food insecure as much as that of the food secure across rural and urban LMIC’s. This short commentary contents that current research, programs and policies are ignoring these rapid dynamic shifts.     

Toward a food secure future: Ensuring food security for sustainable human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Food security remains a top development priority and global concern. It is enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Sustainable Development Goal two. Food security is also a core component of the human development and capability paradigm, since food access and entitlements are critical for reinforcing essential human capabilities. In introducing this special issue, this paper argues that agriculture is central to improving food security and reducing poverty in Africa. It suggests that realizing the potential of agriculture in Africa requires rapid increases in land productivity and increases in agricultural yields. A science-based approach that integrates gender and sustainability is critical to meet this goal, through the design and implementation of policies that improve the availability farm inputs and farm technology. The paper concludes by introducing the papers in this special issue.     

Outsourcing, performance, and the role of e-commerce: A dynamic perspective

In a highly competitive global environment, many manufacturers respond by setting up outsourcing relations for components and finished products with lower-cost producers on a contractual OEM (original equipment manufacture) basis. In the last decade, we have witnessed a spectacular growth in outsourcing activities led primarily by U.S. and Japanese companies, although their approaches to outsourcing strategy and supplier relations are different. However, outsourcing strategy is not without drawbacks. We offer a dynamic perspective of outsourcing strategy and its performance implications, in which we argue that there is an optimal degree of outsourcing. The outsourcing-performance relationship takes on an inverted-U shape, implying that as firms deviate further from their optimal degree of outsourcing, by either insourcing or outsourcing too much, their performance will suffer disproportionately. We then discuss how e-commerce affects where the optimal point of any particular firm is located, hence explicitly linking developments in e-commerce to changing outsourcing levels. We provide implications for the practice and study of outsourcing and e-commerce.     

我国城乡发展一体化与财政政策思路

城乡发展一体化是中央提出的一项重大战略决策,是解决“三农”问题、破解二元结构．推进我国经济社会长期可持续发展的重要措施。公共财政是政府履行职能和宏观调控的基本手段．在推进城乡发展一体化中担负着重要使命和职责。文章从宏观和战略的高度,深入论述了城乡发展一体化的重大战略意义．系统归纳了新世纪以来国家财政支持城乡一体化的主要政策及其成效．客观揭示了当前中国城乡一体化面临的若干主要矛盾。在此基础上,进一步提出近中期运用财政政策促进城乡一体化的基本思路。主要政策建议：一是政府基础设施投资要向农村倾斜;二是着力完善农业支持政策;三是建立与完善农村剩余劳动力有效流动和转移的新型制度政策框架;四是创新城乡基本公共服务均等化的政策体系。     

Agriculture versus fish – Norway in WTO

The Norwegian agriculture is highly protected and subsidised. The opposite is the case for fisheries and fish farming which suffer from foreign market restrictions. Using a computational general equilibrium model, the gain for Norway of a complete elimination of food subsidies and tariffs is estimated to be in the range of 1.2–2.7 per cent of GDP. Most of this gain stems from domestic farm sector liberalisation. The gain from free market access for seafood is estimated to 4.4 per cent of the seafood export value. Consequently, Norway has much to gain from offering other countries market access for agricultural products. By pursuing such a policy, Norway may also strengthen the case for fisheries and fish farming in trade talks.     

农地流转中的非农化与非粮化风险及其规避

在加快农业经营体制转变的背景下,农地流转成为必然.但是,在当前农地流转中违背“三个不得”的现象时有发生,特别是农地流转中的非农化,以及虽然从事农业,但流转的土地却不是用来种粮的非粮化.农地流转中的非农化与非粮化,对我国的粮食安全构成潜在的风险.文章力图对农地流转中的非农化和非粮化及形成机理进行分析,并阐释其危害,进而从发展家庭农场、设置耕地保护金、加大对农业的扶持、提高粮食直补和设置永久性农田基本保护区等方面进行规避风险.     

Comparing U.S. and Japanese corporate-level operating performance using financial statement data

This study uses financial statement data restated to a similar reporting basis to compare the operating performance of U.S. and Japanese companies, identifying possible strategic and environmental explanations for the differences observed. Comparisons are made for U.S. and Japanese samples as a whole, for groups of Japanese firms (keiretsu v. nonkeiretsu), and for 11 industries. The results show that neither country appears to generate systematically higher profit margins, but that U.S. firms turnover assets other than inventory more quickly and therefore have higher rates of return on assets. More intensive examination of these results suggests that environmental factors, such as cultural or structural differences, are the primary causes of the observed differences in the data analyzed.     

我国食用农产品无缝隙化安全监管体系研究

食品安全关系到人民的健康、社会的稳定和国民经济的发展,但我国目前食用农产品安全状况触目惊心,解决这一问题迫在眉睫。文章分析了我国食用农产品安全的现状和存在的问题,从理论上探讨了食用农产品安全的外部性和信息不对称问题,在借鉴发达国家食品安全管理经验的基础上,根据无缝隙组织理论提出构建我国食用农产品安全监管体系的构想。     

农业劳动力在区域农业间互补性流动研究——劳动力与资本的替代效应对我国农业产出的影响

农业劳动力转移植根于农业与工业发展不均衡的二元经济结构。这一特点使我们的注意力主要集中在农业人口向工业或城市转移上,但随着农村经济的发展,中国自身区域间农业发展的差异性也逐渐显露出来,使得以均质二元经济为基础的发展政策也产生了一定的局限性。因此,在我国不同区域间农业发展不均衡的条件下,可以通过农业劳动力在区域农业间互补性流动以促进农业产出增长,为我国解决二元经济问题提供一个新的思路。     

The Strategy and structure of top 100 Japanese industrial enterprises 1950–1970

This paper examines the strategic and structural development of the 100 largest Japanese manufacturing enterprises between 1950 and 1970. Unlike other studies of Japanese business the author focuses not only on some of the key differences between Western and Japanese firms such as the emergence of widely diversified industrial groups, but also on similarities. Using the model developed originally by Channon the author traces the development of diversification in Japan and the emergence of the multidivisional forms of organization which as in the West prove to be the major strategic and structural forms in Japan by 1970.     

Stabilizing food markets in eastern and southern Africa

A major challenge for agricultural policy in Africa is how to address the market instability-related causes of low farm productivity and food insecurity. This paper highlights structural changes affecting the behavior of food markets in eastern and southern Africa and discusses their implications for the design of strategies to stabilize food prices. These changes include (1) an increasing trend in maize prices toward import parity levels, reflecting an emerging structural maize deficit in much of the region; (2) increasingly diversified food consumption patterns in both rural and urban areas; (3) highly concentrated marketed maize surplus, which have largely unrecognized implications for the magnitude of price risk faced by most farm households; and (4) the strategic interactions between private and public marketing actors leading in some cases to heightened market instability and food crises. In the prevailing dual market environment now characterizing most of the region, greater coordination, transparency, and consultation between private and public market actors is needed to achieve reasonable levels of food price stability and predictability.     

Labor productivity and employment gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa

Drawing on a new set of nationally representative, internationally comparable household surveys, this paper provides an overview of key features of structural transformation – labor allocation and labor productivity – in four African economies. New, micro-based measures of sector labor allocation and cross-sector productivity differentials describe the incentives households face when allocating their labor. These measures are similar to national accounts-based measures that are typically used to characterize structural change. However, because agricultural workers supply far fewer hours of labor per year than do workers in other sectors in all of the countries analyzed, productivity gaps shrink by half, on average, when expressed on a per-hour basis. Underlying the productivity gaps that are prominently reflected in national accounts data are large employment gaps, which call into question the productivity gains that laborers can achieve through structural transformation. Furthermore, agriculture’s continued relevance to structural change in Sub-Saharan Africa is highlighted by the strong linkages observed between rural non-farm activities and primary agricultural production.     

Rising real wages,mechanization and growing advantage of large farms: Evidence from Indonesia

This paper examines dynamic patterns of land use, capital investments and wages in agriculture using farm panel data from Indonesia. The empirical analysis shows that with an increase in real wages that prevailed in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in rural areas, relatively larger farmers increased the size of operational farm land by renting in land as well as used more hired-in machines through machine rental and/or service providers, which induces the substitution of labor by machines. Machines and land are complementary and, consistently, the inverse farm size-productivity relationship tends to be reversed among relatively large holders. The results support growing (diminishing) advantage of large (small) farms in the presence of rapidly rising real wages and have food security policy implications to many Asian countries where real wages are rapidly rising and small farms are predominant.