GOVERNANCE OF PRODUCTION CO‐OPERATIVES IN RUSSIAN AGRICULTURE

Many Soviet kolkhozy and sovkhozy were transformed into agricultural production co‐operatives, because the farm workers would have had large transaction costs in any other type of organization. These co‐operatives still hold a strong market position. This study explores the hypothesis that this market strength could be due to low governance costs, obtained through strong manager power. As managers want the co‐operative to survive, they make limited investments in the co‐operative and pay low wages. The members, however, do not consider this to be problematic. They appreciate the community within the village, their private plots of land and the co‐operative's services. Hence the existence of the co‐operatives is not threatened.     

A Bio-Economic Model of Community Incentives for Wildlife Management Under CAMPFIRE

This paper formulates a bio-economic model to analyze community incentives for wildlife management under benefit-sharing programs like the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe. Three agents influence the wildlife stock: a parks agency determines hunting quotas, outside poachers hunt illegally, and a local community may choose to protect wildlife by discouraging poaching. Wildlife generates revenues from hunting licenses and tourism; it also intrudes on local agriculture. We consider two benefit-sharing regimes: shares of wildlife tourism rents and shares of hunting licenses. Resource sharing does not necessarily improve community welfare or incentives for wildlife conservation. Results depend on the exact design of the benefit shares, the size of the benefits compared with agricultural losses, and the way in which the parks agency manages hunting quotas.     

INDIVIDUAL SPECIES-STATE ANALYSIS OF NATURESERVE'S "AT-RISK" CATEGORIES: HUNTING AND FISHING'S ROLE

We examine the impact of hunting and fishing on rankings in NatureServe's 2005 "at-risk" list using 24,291 observations on individual vertebrate animal species for 47 states (we omit Alaska, Hawaii, and Missouri). We use 1) a probit analysis of the binary "at-risk" designation and 2) an ordered probit analysis of the five categories of endangerment. We control for species type (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and turtles), population density, farming area, forest cover, coastline existence, endemism, and per capita income. We find that states with higher hunting and fishing participation (or higher per capita expenditures) have fewer "at-risk" species. States with larger per capita big game spending have fewer "at-risk" non–big game species. States with larger wildlife agency budgets have fewer endangered species. ( JEL Q57)     

Modelling the Effect of Chronic Wasting Disease on Recreational Hunting Site Choice Preferences and Choice Set Formation over Time

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease that affects deer, elk and other cervid wildlife species. Although there is no known link between the consumption of CWD affected meat and human health, hunters are advised to have animals from CWD affected areas tested and are advised against consuming meat from CWD infected animals (Government of Alberta 2010). We model hunter response to the knowledge that deer in a wildlife management unit have been found to have CWD in Alberta, Canada. We examine hunter site choice over two hunting seasons using revealed and stated preference data in models that incorporate preferences, choice set formation, and scale. We compare a fully endogenous choice set model using the independent availability logit model (Swait in Probabilistic choice set formation in transportation demand models. Dissertation, MIT, 1984) with the availability function approach (Cascetta and Papola in Transp Res C 9(4):249–263, 2001) that approximates choice set formation. We find that CWD incidence affects choice set formation and preferences and that ignoring choice set formation would result in biased estimates of impact and welfare measures. This study contributes to the broader recreation demand literature by incorporating choice set formation, scale and temporal impacts into a random utility model of recreation demand.     

Optimal and Open Access Harvesting of Multi-Use Species in a Second-Best World

Expansion of human populations and activities has caused increased conflicts between wildlife and humans. As a result, the distinction between resource and pest species has become blurry. We propose an economically-based classification of species based on a multi-use bioeconomic model. The classification of the steady state population of a species is shown to depend on both species' density and economic factors. We extend earlier work on multi-use(resource-pest) species by applying the theoretical model to a developing country context where property rights to wildlife are imperfectly enforced, so that second-best trade measures are often applied by the international community to promote conservation. Upon calibrating the model using data for the African elephant, we derive three further results. First, when comparing the optimal stock of a multi-use species to the open access stock, we find that the ranking in terms of abundance is ambiguous. Second, and consistent with existing literature on resource management in a second-best world, our case study supports the idea that trade bans have ambiguous effectson wildlife abundance. Third, due to a bifurcation effect characterizing the multi-use model's solution, strategic and temporary subsidizing by the North may enable them to free ride on conservation efforts of the South henceforth.     

VENTURE CAPITAL AND INNOVATION: WHICH IS FIRST?

Policy‐makers typically interpret positive relations between venture capital (VC) investments and innovations as evidence that VC investments stimulate innovation (VC‐first hypothesis). This interpretation is, however, one‐sided because there may be a reverse causality that innovations induce VC investments (innovation‐first hypothesis): an arrival of new technology increases demand for VC. We analyze this causality issue of VC and innovation in the US manufacturing industry using both total factor productivity growth and patent counts as measures of innovation. We find that, consistent with the innovation‐first hypothesis, total factor productivity growth is often positively and significantly related with future VC investment. We find little evidence that supports the VC‐first hypothesis.     

Why do ICDPs fail?: The relationship between agriculture,hunting and ecotourism in wildlife conservation

We analyze why integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) fail to achieve their conservation goals. We develop a bio-economic model of open access habitat and wildlife exploitation, which is consistent with farming and hunting societies living in close proximity to forest reserves in developing countries. We show that the ICDP creates incentives to conserve habitat and wildlife, but socially optimal levels of conservation cannot be achieved, because of externalities among the local communities. We show how a social planner can achieve the socially optimal levels of habitat and wildlife by a more encompassing tax/subsidy regime.     

HUMAN CAPITAL FORMATION AND TAX EVASION

A strictly risk‐averse individual with an exogenous gross income in period one can acquire human capital in the same period and evade taxes. Period‐two income rises with educational investments in period one and can also be hidden from tax authorities. It is shown that a greater tax deductibility of educational investments and higher individual ability induce a positive correlation between tax evasion and educational investments in period two, whereas the relationship in period one is ambiguous. These theoretical predictions can explain diverse empirical findings on the correlation between education and tax evasion.     

Encephalization and division of labor by early humans

We draw on Ricardian comparative advantage between distinct persons to map out the division of labor among proto-humans in a village some 1.7 million years ago. A person specialized in maintaining a cooking fire in the village is of particular interest (Ofek, Second nature, economic origins of human evolution, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2001). We are also interested in modeling hunting by village males in teams. The large issue is whether and how specialization (division of labor) and interpersonal trade might have driven brain-expansion in early humans. We emphasize the need for early humans to develop the capacity to see themselves in others’ shoes (other-regardingness) in order for regularized trading to follow division of labor.     

STOCK‐BOND CO‐MOVEMENTS AND FLIGHT‐TO‐QUALITY IN G7 COUNTRIES: A TIME‐FREQUENCY ANALYSIS

This paper examines co‐movement between stock returns and changes in 10‐year government bond yields as well as flight‐to‐quality behaviour in G7 countries. We conduct the wavelet squared coherence analysis to explore the dynamics in both time and frequency domain. Our results provide evidence of positive co‐movements, which vary over time and across investment horizon. The higher co‐movement is found to be more concentrated in the lower frequency bands. We further analyse the dynamic nature of the scale‐dependent wavelet correlations and find that the correlations are highly volatile and significantly increase across different time scales during the episodes of equity market turbulence. The increase in correlations reflects flights from stocks to safer bond investments as a result of dramatic changes in investor sentiment and risk aversion at times of market stress.     

The evolutionary roots of human hyper-cognition

While Professor Pagano’s general argument is attractive and may be valid, the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis that he employs is extremely implausible from a sociobiological perspective. It posits the evolution of massive social inefficiencies in hominin societies over a long period during which there was doubtless severe competition among hominin groups for the same large animal scavenging/hunting niche. I propose an alternative to this part of Pagano’s argument that renders his overall theory more plausible. In this alternative, human hyper-cognition is a social good because it supplies powerful and flexible group leadership, which was likely a key element in the evolution of hominin hyper-cognition.     

Who invests more in advanced abatement technology? Theory and evidence

We study firm investment in abatement technology under a heterogeneous‐firm framework. We find that more‐productive firms make more (less) investment in abatement technology if investment and productivity are complements (substitutes). Under linear demand, firms’ abatement investments exhibit an inverted U‐shape with respect to productivity level. This finding is in contrast to results in existing studies. We also find that in response to tightened environmental regulations, more‐productive firms raise their respective investments in abatement technology, whereas less‐productive firms do the opposite. More‐productive firms have lower pollution emission intensity. The key theoretical predictions are confirmed by empirical tests using Chinese data.     

Intangible Investment and Changing Sources of Growth in Korea

We examine how intangible investments change the sources of growth in the Korean economy. After constructing a novel industry‐level data set on intangibles, we estimate the contribution of intangible‐intensive industries and other industries to aggregate productivity growth in 1981–2008. The contribution of intangible‐intensive industries to aggregate labour productivity growth has significantly increased, whereas that of other industries has substantially decreased. The increased contribution of intangible‐intensive industries is mainly associated with total factor productivity growth rather than with input growth. This suggests that innovations related to intangible investments in these industries might become a new key source of productivity growth in Korea.     

Prices,poaching, and protein alternatives: An analysis of bushmeat consumption around Serengeti National Park,Tanzania

The consumption of meat from wild animals (or bushmeat) occurs throughout Africa and highlights the conflict between two distinct development goals: food security and biodiversity conservation. Growing human populations throughout the greater Serengeti ecosystem rely heavily on bushmeat as a source of protein, which places pressure on migratory wildlife populations. This paper uses unique data from protein consumption surveys from 131 households over 34 months in a generalizable empirical framework to estimate price, cross-price, and expenditure elasticities of protein sources, and analyze the potential economic effects of policies to mitigate bushmeat hunting and consumption. Results suggest that: (1) directly increasing the price of bushmeat through enforcement or other policies to reduce supply will have the most direct and largest effect of bushmeat consumption; (2) increasing income increases bushmeat consumption as well as consumption of other meat sources; (3) if surrounding fisheries experience a negative shock, or collapse, this will lead to a dramatic increase in bushmeat consumption. Overall, these results strongly indicate that policies to reduce bushmeat hunting while maintaining food security must be considered in a broad and comprehensive framework.     

The Warden Attitude: An Investigation of the Value of Interaction with Everyday Wildlife

Using a discrete choice experiment, we elicit valuations of engagement with ‘everyday wildlife’ through feeding garden birds. We find that bird-feeding is primarily but not exclusively motivated by the direct consumption value of interaction with wildlife. The implicit valuations given to different species suggest that people prefer birds that have aesthetic appeal and that evoke human feelings of protectiveness. These findings suggest that people derive wellbeing by adopting a warden-like role towards ‘their’ wildlife. We test for external validity by conducting a hedonic analysis of sales of bird food. We discuss some policy implications of the existence of warden attitudes.     

The CAMPFIRE programme in Zimbabwe: Payments for wildlife services

Payments for environmental services (PES) have been distinguished from the more common integrated conservation and development projects on the grounds that PES are direct, more cost-effective, less complex institutionally, and therefore more likely to produce the desired results. Both kinds of schemes aim to achieve similar conservation outcomes, however, and generally function in analogous social, political and economic environments. Given the relative novelty of PES, what lessons can be learnt and applied from earlier initiatives? In this paper, we describe the evolution over the first 12 years (1989-2001) of Zimbabwe's Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE), a community-based natural resource management programme in which Rural District Councils, on behalf of communities on communal land, are granted the authority to market access to wildlife in their district to safari operators. These in turn sell hunting and photographic safaris to mostly foreign sport hunters and eco-tourists. The District Councils pay the communities a dividend according to an agreed formula. In practice, there have been some underpayments and frequent delays. During 1989-2001, CAMPFIRE generated over US$20 million of transfers to the participating communities, 89% of which came from sport hunting. The scale of benefits varied greatly across districts, wards and households. Twelve of the 37 districts with authority to market wildlife produced 97% of all CAMPFIRE revenues, reflecting the variability in wildlife resources and local institutional arrangements. The programme has been widely emulated in southern and eastern Africa. We suggest five main lessons for emerging PES schemes: community-level commercial transactions can seldom be pursued in isolation; non-differentiated payments weaken incentives; start-up costs can be high and may need to be underwritten; competitive bidding can allow service providers to hold on to rents; and schemes must be flexible and adaptive.     

WHAT MAKES INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL FLOWS PROMOTE ECONOMIC GROWTH? AN INTERNATIONAL CROSS‐COUNTRY ANALYSIS

This paper re‐examines the relationship between international capital flows and economic growth within the context of various ‘conditional factors’ that possibly have the potential to influence such relationships. It achieves this by employing panel data for 80 countries that cover 1976–2007. International capital inflow is broken down into foreign direct investments (FDI) and foreign portfolio investments (FPI). We find interesting evidence that only FDI has a positive effect on growth and that FPI has an unfavorable, if not negative, effect on growth. The conditional variables of banking liberalization, high‐income level, twin crises, lower corruption, and human capital mitigate the positive impacts of FDI on growth. In contrast, the middle‐income level and good shareholder protection have a positive effect. As concerns FPI, the level of financial liberalization, being in a Latin American region, the wealth of countries, and market governance all influence the way that FPI affects growth, whereas the conditional variables of twin crises and human capital do not influence the effect of FPI on economic growth.     

The Impact of Foreign Aid Linked to Infrastructure and Pollution Abatement

This paper studies the macroeconomic effects of foreign aid taking into account environmental quality. We develop a dynamic equilibrium model in which public investments in both infrastructure and pollution abatement can be co‐financed using domestic resources and international aid. We consider untied aid, aid fully tied to either infrastructure or abatement and aid equally tied to both expenditures. We find that when the extent to which agents are affected by environmental problems is taken into account, then, regardless of the chances of substitution between factors, transfers linked to both infrastructure and pollution abatement may be the best welfare‐enhancing alternative.     

Within-family inequalities in human capital accumulation in India

We investigate within-family inequalities in human capital accumulation in India. Indicators of the children's current stock of human capital and of investment into their continued human capital accumulation are analyzed, distinguishing between time investments and pecuniary investment into school quality. We employ a within-family model using sibship fixed effects, and find mostly negative birth order effects; that is, earlier-born children are better off. However, for time investments there is a tendency toward more positive birth order effects, especially in poor and large families. This suggests that that opportunity cost of child time matters; in poor and large families the older, more productive, siblings often need to work. The most plausible explanation for negative birth order effects in general is resource dilution at an early age. Older siblings were only children at an early age, and therefore benefited from more parental resources.     

The regional distribution of foreign investment in Russia

This article conducts a plant‐level study of the factors affecting foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to a large opening economy endowed with specific factor advantages. We conclude that the distribution of FDI in Russian regions depends on market access and can be most notably described by the knowledge‐capital framework. Factor endowments built by natural resources are more successful in explaining the location decisions of export–platform affiliates. The impact of natural resources depends on how the availability of these resources is measured. The results reject the crowding out effects of resource FDI and prove co‐location mode, when service investments are attracted to resource‐rich regions. Labour cost advantages better explain the preferences of non‐trading service affiliates.