Farms’ technical inefficiencies in the presence of government programs*

We focus on determining the impacts of government programs on farms’ technical inefficiency levels. We use Kumbhakar's stochastic frontier model that accounts for both production risks and risk preferences. Our theoretical framework shows that decoupled government transfers are likely to increase (decrease) DARA (IARA) farmers’ production inefficiencies if variable inputs are risk decreasing. However, the impacts of decoupled payments cannot be anticipated if variable inputs are risk increasing. We use farm‐level data collected in Kansas to illustrate the model.     

The costs and benefits of land fragmentation of rice farms in Japan*

Land fragmentation, in which a farm operates multiple, separate plots of land, is a common phenomenon in Japan and many other countries. Usually, land fragmentation is regarded as a harmful phenomenon as it increases production costs and reduces the advantages of scale economies. However, it is also known that fragmentation may have beneficial effects in reducing risk through spatial dispersion of plots. Thus, land fragmentation has both costs and benefits, and whether it is beneficial or harmful is determined by the magnitude of these costs and benefits. This article investigates the costs and benefits of land fragmentation empirically using panel data from Japanese rice farms. The empirical results reveal that fragmentation increases production costs and offsets economies of size, and these impacts strengthen as farm size increases. Moreover, although fragmentation does reduce production risk, its monetary value is far below the cost of land fragmentation. From these findings, we conclude that land fragmentation is an impediment to efficient rice production in Japan.     

Input usage,output mix and industry deregulation: an analysis of the Australian dairy manufacturing industry*

In this paper we estimate a Translog output distance function for a balanced panel of state level data for the Australian dairy processing sector. We estimate a fixed effects specification employing Bayesian methods, with and without the imposition of monotonicity and curvature restrictions. Our results indicate that Tasmania and Victoria are the most technically efficient states with New South Wales being the least efficient. The imposition of theoretical restrictions marginally affects the results especially with respect to estimates of technical change and industry deregulation. Importantly, our bias estimates show changes in both input use and output mix that result from deregulation. Specifically, we find that deregulation has positively biased the production of butter, cheese and powders.     

Stochastic Production and Heterogeneous Risk Preferences: Commercial Fishers' Gear Choices

We present a model of fishers' gear choice, which allows for heterogeneity both in production technology and risk preferences and apply it on a panel of Swedish trawlers. Stochastic revenue functions are estimated and used to predict the mean and standard deviation of revenue for each trip. In a random-parameters logit model, we test if these predicted values explain gear choice. A majority of fishers respond positively to increased mean and negatively to increased variability of expected landing values, indicating risk aversion, but also show a strong tendency to choose the same gear used on the previous trip.     

黄土高原粮食生产潜力与增产配套技术

计算出黄土高原水土流失区各类粮食生产潜力,采用Ｈｅｌｍｕｎ ｌｉｅｔｈ估算式计算了全区粮食气候生产潜力。提出了粮食持续的战略对策。为正确指导粮食的区域平衡政策提供可靠的科学依据。     

基于柯布-道格拉斯生产函数的黑龙江省环境产业发展潜力研究

在分析黑龙江省环境产业发展现状的基础上，指出黑龙江省环境产业发展中存在的主要问题。并以柯布——道格拉斯生产函数为工具导出黑龙江省环境产业的资本产出弹性系数和劳动产出弹性系数，在此基础上计算各因素的贡献率。得出当黑龙江省环境产业进入成长期阶段时，应注重开辟环境产业发展的资金来源渠道，尽可能地加大政府、企业对环境产业的资金投入，促进环境产业潜在市场向现实市场的转化。并结合黑龙江省环境产业的实际提出具体的对策，以期为环境产业的发展提供理论指导。     

海南农垦2002～2003年度干胶生产影响因素实证分析

在分析农业生产函数原理和应用基础上,选用Cobb Douglas生产函数,引入分别反映自然、技术、物质投入的10个影响海南农垦干胶产量的因素,拟合生产函数模型,并应用SPSS软件对各影响因素进行了显著性分析,得出结论为:单位面积平均开割株数,年均干含,单位面积年有机肥施用量,胶工人数对海南农垦干胶产量具有显著的正效应影响,年割刀数和单位面积年压青有显著的负效应影响,其他因素为不显著因素。分析可能造成这种结果的原因,并提出对策。     

Specification and Estimation of Production Risk, Risk Preferences and Technical Efficiency

This article deals with specification and estimation of risk preferences, production risk, and technical inefficiency. It makes contribution in three separate areas of production economics. First, we model producers' attitude toward risk and derive risk preference functions (without assuming any parametric form of the utility function and any distribution of the error term representing production risk) when risk arises from production uncertainty and technical inefficiency. Second, the standard production risk model is extended to accommodate technical inefficiency and producers' attitude toward risk. Finally, the technical efficiency model is generalized to accommodate production risk and producers' attitude toward risk.     

Production risk,risk aversion and the determination of risk attitudes among Spanish rice producers

Agricultural production is subject to risk and the attitudes of producers toward risk will influence input choices insofar as these affect production risk. Risk attitudes in turn may be affected by certain socioeconomic characteristics of producers. Using 2004 survey data from a cross‐section of 130 Spanish rice farms, we estimate risk‐aversion coefficients of farmers and investigate the influence of a series of socioeconomic variables on their risk attitudes. Our results show that farmers exhibit risk‐averse behavior and that risk attitudes are related to a series of socioeconomic characteristics. In particular, the belief that the farm will continue after the producer retires is found to increase the degree of risk aversion, while age is found to have nonlinear effects on risk aversion. Off‐farm income, especially from nonagricultural activities, is found to reduce risk aversion. Neither the educational level of the producer nor the presence of dependents on the household is found to have an effect on risk preferences. Regarding the production technology, we find that land, labor, and fitosanitary products are risk‐reducing inputs, whereas capital, seeds, and fertilizer all increase risk.     

基于投入产出分析法的节水经济效益分析

基于投入产出分析方法,考虑节水调节因素,建立水资源投入产出关系表和水资源投入消费关系表,对节水调节的经济效益进行定量分析。分析结果表明,在水资源供给总量一定的前提下,发展节水调节系统可持续提高社会产出,是维护区域水环境经济系统可持续发展的重要手段。     

城市土地价格膨胀的影响

研究目的:近年来我国许多城市的土地价格已经很高且上涨速度很快,有的城市已经出现经济泡沫,危害了国民经济的发展。研究方法:联系实际进行理论分析。研究结果:城市地价上涨,加深了土地供给与需求之间的矛盾,影响社会和经济的发展。研究结论:土地价格持续、迅速的增加给经济带来的影响是巨大的,如不采取有力措施遏止土地价格上涨的趋势,势必会成为我国经济发展的一大障碍,国家有关部门及相关专家应密切关注这一问题的发展动向,及时出台相关合理的、科学的土地政策,消除隐患。     

Impacts of agricultural price support policy on price variability and welfare: Evidence from China's soybean market

China is a predominant soybean importer; thus, its domestic soybean policies have a large impact on world soybean market dynamics. We develop the first aggregate structural econometric model of China's soybean market and link it to the rest of the world (ROW), which allows us to analyze the impacts of China's soybean price support policy that ran from 2008 to 2013. We investigate the impacts of China's policy on the variability of their domestic and world soybean prices, and adopt a Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the effects on distributional and aggregate welfare. Our results indicate: (a) after China's soybean price support policy, price transmission elasticity decreases, China's domestic price variability decreases, and world price variability increases; (b) China's producer surplus increases, consumer surplus decreases and the net welfare change in their domestic market is negative; and (c) although soybean exporting countries in the ROW experience significant welfare gains, the world net welfare change is negative.     

中国农村劳动力转移对林业经济发展的动态影响效应研究?

基于1995~2012的统计数据,运用状态空间模型分析方法研究了中国农村劳动力转移对林业产业产出和林业产业结构的影响。结果表明：中国农村劳动力转移对林业产业产出和林业产业结构的影响弹性呈现出完全相反的态势,中国农村劳动力转移促使林业产业总产值不断提高,并且影响效应越来越大,农村劳动力转移使得林业第一产业产值与第二产业产值之间的差距逐步拉大。因此,应重视农村劳动力技术培训,提高劳动力的整体素质;调整林业产业结构与农村劳动力的转移相适应;积极探索新的发展模式和发展机会,吸纳劳动力就业,带动中国经济的整体协调发展。     

论房价对中国产出和通货膨胀率的影响

研究目的：运用IS — LM模型和总供求模型分析住房价格对产出和通货膨胀率的影响机制,并应用中国的数据进行计量检验。研究方法：理论 — 实证分析。研究结果：（1）住房价格对产出缺口的影响是显著的,影响大小为0.76;（2）住房价格的快速上涨易导致投资主导型的经济出现过热,并加剧经济结构的失衡;（3）住房价格与通货膨胀率互为Granger因,房价的上涨在短期刺激经济增长的同时,最终推动物价水平的上涨。研究结论：住房价格波动对中国宏观经济具有显著影响,已经在货币政策传导机制中发挥作用,宏观经济政策应关注住房价格的波动,并采取适当措施来稳定住房价格,降低房价波动对宏观经济的冲击。     

对农用地价值功能及其价格构成的新思考

文章首先对农用地价值功能进行了分析，认为农用地不仅具有生产价值功能和资产增殖价值功能．还具有生态环境价值功能、社会保障价值功能、社会稳定价值功能及其他价值功能。接着，对农用地价格构成进行了探析．将农用地价格分解为经济收益价格、生态收益价格与社会收益价格三个部分，以往的农用地估价注重的是经济收益价值．而忽视了生态收益价值与社会收益价值。