重点领域合同节水管理市场前景分析

以2015年数据作为基准年数据,依据《节水型社会建设"十三五"规划》《"十三五"新增1亿亩高效节水灌溉面积实施方案》等相关规划的约束性指标,评估"十三五"期间高效节水灌溉和工业节水方面的重点领域节水潜力。根据重点领域的节水潜力及成本估算进行节水市场需求测算,分析近期合同节水管理发展前景和主要方向,提出2020年的合同节水管理市场需求预测及产生的经济效益,为推行合同节水管理、促进节水服务产业发展提供数据支撑和信息决策。     

甘肃小杂粮生产演变特征、存在问题及对策建议

文章通过对甘肃省15年来粮食种植面积、产量、小杂粮种植面积、产量等多方数据调查,分析甘肃省小杂粮在种植面积、单产水平、粮食安全、区域优势、主产县区和种植规模等多个方面的演变特点。发现杂粮产业发展中存在的布局分散,产地市场效应不突出;良种扩繁体系缺乏,生产中良种供应短缺;适合产业化加工的专用型品种少,栽培技术粗放且不规范;加工型龙头企业数量少,产品精深开发程度低;产业扶持力度小,群众重视程度不高等方面的主要问题。提出甘肃杂粮种植规划建议和优化区域布局、强化品种扩繁体系扶持、加快选育和扩繁优质专用品种、加大龙头企业和市场培育力度、依靠科技提升产品附加值、强化优质高产栽培和精深加工技术研究与推广等若干促进产业持续发展的对策,对国内其他杂粮产区的发展具有一定的指导和借鉴意义。     

Women's Organizations and Social Capital to Reduce Prevalence of Child Malnutrition in Papua New Guinea

Drawing upon survey data in 2000, this article analyses the maturity of women's community-based organizations in Papua New Guinea (PNG), comparing autonomous organizations with those that receive external support. The results of applying the Heckman model suggest that: (1) autonomous Mothers' Groups are more efficient in improving child nutritional status in the weight-for-age measure than those externally supported; and (2) higher maturity of these groups is associated with lower occurrence of underweight. Support for existing autonomous women's organizations is a particularly relevant intervention in PNG; governance with limited trust in formal institutions and modest outreach of services remain issues for large segments of the rural population.     

昆明市森林康养产业经营战略分析

采用问卷调查法,分析昆明森林康养市场需求。结果表明:不同性别的森林康养需求存在差异。据此,昆明森林康养产业的市场定位是:根据不同性别的森林康养需求和昆明的自身优势,开发设计森林康养项目。提出了从产品、服务、人员、形象、促销方式五方面实施昆明森林康养产业的性别差异化战略,即依据男女体质和健康需求、消费心理的不同,研发设计森林康养特色产品和体验服务,组建专业人才队伍,利用昆明特色、新媒体方式做好品牌宣传,并通过激发顾客好奇心理、消费欲望发展促销手段的建议。     

Strategic pricing in a differentiated product oligopoly model: fluid milk in Boston

In an imperfectly competitive industry, differentiated products compete with each other with price rather than quantity as the strategic variable. Several previous studies have employed a generalized Nash–Bertrand model: Liang (1989) , Cotterill (1994) , Cotterill et al. (2000) , and Kinoshita et al. (2002) ; however, only Liang has explored the theoretical foundations of that model. This article generalizes the Liang two‐good model to three goods. A surprising and important result follows. Price‐conjectural variations do not exist in models with three or more goods. Price‐reaction functions, however, exist in multiple‐good models. We estimate them jointly with a brand‐level demand system to evaluate the total impact of a brand manager's price change on own quantity. In a differentiated product market, this is a useful addition to a partial demand elasticity approach, because a change in one brand's price typically engenders a price reaction by other brands that affects own quantity via substantial cross‐price elasticities among substitutes. Strategic pricing in the Boston fluid milk market was also influenced by the existence of a raw milk price support program, the Northeast Dairy Compact. We find that the advent of the Compact was a focal point event that crystallized a shift away from Nash–Bertrand to more cooperative pricing. If the downstream market is not competitive, one needs to consider strategic price reactions when designing and evaluating agricultural price programs.     

Optimal generic advertising in an imperfectly competitive food industry with variable proportions⋆

This paper determines the impact of food industry market power on farmers' incentives to promote in a situation where funds for promotion are raised through a per‐unit assessment on farm output and food industry technology is characterized by variable proportions. Specifically, building on earlier studies by Azzam [Am. J. Agric. Econ. 80 (1998) 76] and Holloway [Am. J. Agric. Econ. 73 (1991) 979], Muth's [Oxford Econ. Papers 16 (1965) 221] model is extended to consider the farm‐level impacts of generic advertising when downstream firms possess oligopoly and/or oligopsony power and advertising expenditure is endogenous at the market level. Applying the model to the US beef industry, we find that for plausible parameter values market power reduces farmers' incentives to promote. However, the disincentive is moderated by factor substitution, and effectively vanishes as the factor substitution elasticity approaches the retail demand elasticity. This suggests that the Dorfman–Steiner theorem, suitably modified to account for factor substitution, suffices to indicate optimal advertising intensity in the US beef sector.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF UNCERTAINTY IN THE MARKETING OF PERISHABLE PRODUCTS

This paper analyses the problem of marketing uncertainty for producers of perishable products. It argues that there are two main features to this marketing uncertainty: uncertainty of demand at the market price due to quality considerations; and uncertainty of transport services associated with the independence and cost of such services. Moreover a negative correlation between the uncertainties of demand and transport services may be shown theoretically to be an additional cost for producers, and as such may be sufficient to create a reversal of supply response to a given change in market conditions.     

Innovation and University‐Firm R&D Collaboration in the European Food and Drink Industry

In the National Innovation System (NIS), knowledge is produced and accumulated through interactive innovation processes that are embedded in a national context, which in turn may help determine innovation. This paper investigates how product and process innovations in the European food and drink industry are affected by: (i) NIS structure; (ii) NIS output in terms of scientific publications and the supply of graduates; (iii) NIS cohesion and coordination; (iv) NIS scientific impact and specialisation. The main source of data on innovation by firms is the EU‐EFIGE/Bruegel‐UniCredit dataset. This is supplemented by information from the International Handbook of Universities, Eurostat and a bibliometric analysis of academic research output. Our results suggest that large research institutions in the public sector may well be detrimental to interaction between university and industry and to process innovation. The indicators used for public research assessment are not necessarily the most appropriate proxies of local knowledge spillovers.     

Farmer Participation,Entry and Exit Decisions in the Italian Crop Insurance Programme

The factors affecting the demand for agricultural insurance in the USA have been extensively studied over the last two decades. However, the determinants of a farm's entry and exit decisions in the insurance market have received relatively little attention. Turnover in the insurance book of business is an important issue in most private and public crop insurance plans. Moreover, insurance markets in the EU are still largely under‐investigated. We investigate empirically the determinants of crop insurance participation in Italy. We show that the participation rate is high for large firms and that it is negatively correlated with crop diversification, which is itself a form of insurance. High premiums tend to inhibit both entry and exit from the insurance market. Larger and wealthier farms are more likely to adopt insurance and renew coverage over time. We discuss implications of our results for public intervention and the private industry. In particular, we demonstrate that the decision to drop coverage by an insured grower may differ significantly from the corresponding decision to enroll in an insurance programme by an uninsured farmer. To the extent that policymakers want to encourage participation in subsidized crop insurance programmes, education and outreach efforts toward uninsured farmers may differ substantially from those directed toward keeping insured farmers enrolled in the programme. We investigate these differences.     

A meta-analysis examining the nature of trade-offs in microfinance

This meta-analysis reviews existing evidence on the ability of microfinance institutions (MFI) to achieve social and financial goals simultaneously. Through an initial screen of 3088 articles covering empirical tests on microfinance performance trade-offs, I synthesize 623 empirical findings from 61 studies to identify the dimensions of MFI performance, and study characteristics associated with trade-offs between financial and social objectives Overall, findings suggest that depth of outreach, cost of outreach, and efficiency indicators increase the prevalence of trade-offs, while risk indicators are associated with fewer trade-offs. Profitability indicators and outreach to women are found to have no significant effect on performance trade-offs. Additionally, study characteristics suggest that using an economic frontier methodology or publishing in development journals increases the incidence of trade-offs, while time trends reveal that trade-offs become less acute as the industry matures. Consequently, MFIs face difficult decisions in relation to the possibility that social goals need be sacrificed to achieve financial sustainability.     

Industry consolidation and price in the US linerboard industry

Starting from the 1980s, the US paper and paperboard industry has recorded an increasing degree of consolidation through mergers and acquisitions. This strategy, combined with voluntary downtime, is adopted by producers as a method to tackle excess capacity and to reduce costs in order to improve profitability. In this study, we investigate the impact of industry consolidation on price in the linerboard industry. We estimate a dynamic demand/supply system model that explicitly incorporates market structure. We find a low own-price elasticity of linerboard demand and an insignificant substitute effect of plastic containers. Additionally, linerboard price does not seem to respond to current demand and adjusts slowly across time. Moreover, industry-operating rate shows a positive, statistically significant, but small impact on price. Although those findings suggest an oligopoly market and some degree of barometric price leadership, market concentration shows no statistically significant effect on price.     

探矿企业制度建设中的经济与法理关系

矿产勘查属于矿业,非矿勘查属于技术服务业和建筑业.找到并查明的矿产地,具有产品和生产要素的双重性.矿权市场具有产品市场和生产要素市场的双重性.对于采矿生产来说,矿产地具有要素投入和中问投入的双重性.矿产勘查属于知识生产,但其产品不是独立信息产品,其使用价值必须依附于特定矿产地,因此对探矿企业财产权的保护,不能简单照搬知识产权制度.而是必须依靠物权制度.探矿过程是一个资本运动增值的过程,要遵循一般经济规律和自己的特有经济规律.     

Scale Effects and Mark-ups in the US Food and Fibre Industries: Capital Investment and Import Penetration Impacts

Capital investment patterns and import penetration are often alleged to influence firms' costs and prices, and thus economic performance. We examine the impacts of these factors on measures of scale economies, input demand/composition, and market power in the US food and fibre industries. Flexible variable cost functions incorporating quasi-fixity of three categories of private (internal) capital and two external technological and trade (import) factors represent the cost structures of the two industries. Pricing equations, based on inverse demand functions including import prices, represent output decisions. Cost and demand elasticities constructed from this model indicate reduced manufacturing costs from technical and trade, scale and capital effects. This increased cost efficiency arises largely from materials savings in the textiles industry and reduced labour use in the food industry. Mark-up behaviour is exhibited for most of the sample period in the textiles industry, and neither industry appears heavily affected by import prices.     

舟山国家远洋渔业基地的金融支持研究

2014年国家农业部批复同意并支持舟山建设国家远洋渔业基地,这不仅意味着舟山远洋渔业产业布局迎来新的发展机遇,同时也给地方金融支持带来巨大挑战及空间,文章以此为契机通过对区域内相关企业、金融机构及政府的实地调研,总结了舟山国家远洋渔业基地建设中的金融支持现状,指出了单一金融供给体系造成供需矛盾突出;政府融资服务平台受限,资本运作方式单一;行业风险保障机制不足,信用链脆弱等金融支持存在的问题,并从积极搭建多元化金融供给体系;鼓励金融机构进行特色金融产品创新;设立远洋渔业产业基金,丰富政府资本运作方式;扩大保险覆盖范围,提升市场化保障机制方面具体提出了构建舟山国家远洋渔业基地的金融支持对策,从而实现通过金融支持促进远洋渔业产业链整合升级以及区域性远洋渔业产业集聚区的形成。     

Demand for improved fish feed in the presence of a subsidy: a double hurdle application in Kenya

Fish farming households’ demand for improved fish feed from the private market in Kenya is potentially influenced by the government's feed subsidy program. This article applies the double‐hurdle model to a cross‐section of fish farms to analyze demand for improved fish feed from private markets, and whether the government feed subsidy program has an effect on private demand for improved feed. The results indicate that households’ decisions to participate in the improved feed market are affected by the quantity of improved feed received from the government. Once the participation decision has been made, we find evidence of crowding‐in of the private improved feed sector; that is, the government's allocations of subsidized feed appear to increase private sector demand. In addition, the price of improved feed negatively affects the quantity purchased as expected. Education, extension contacts, and ease of marketing matured fish increase household propensity to purchase improved feed commercially. Policies that help reduce the price of improved feed such as reduction in tariffs on imported feeds and feed ingredients will foster demand for the feed, as will policies that facilitate marketing of fish at reasonable prices by households.     

Soil quality and fertilizer use rates among smallholder farmers in western Kenya

Studies of fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa have been dominated by analyses of economic and market factors having to do with infrastructure, institutions, and incentives that prevent or foster increased fertilizer demand, largely ignoring how soil fertility status conditions farmer demand for fertilizer. We apply a switching regression model to data from 260 farm households in western Kenya in order to allow for the possibility of discontinuities in fertilizer demand based on a soil carbon content (SCC) threshold. We find that the usual factors reflecting liquidity and quasi-fixed inputs are important on high-SCC plots but not on those with poorer soils. External inputs become less effective on soils with low SCC, hence the discernible shift in behaviors across soil quality regimes. For many farmers, improved fertilizer market conditions alone may be insufficient to stimulate increased fertilizer use without complementary improvements in the biophysical conditions that affect conditional factor demand.     

Unconventional adjustment strategies for rural households in the less developed areas in Greece

International competition in agricultural production is intensifying following the implementation of the 1993 accord of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The production of conventional farm products in surplus is being discouraged by means of indirect economic disincentives. The Common Agricultural Policy has already adjusted to unprotected national markets within the European Union and greater market orientation is being achieved mainly through price reductions. Farmers in the less developed areas in Greece, where agricultural activity is still the main source of income and employment, have been responding to policy reforms by seeking part-time employment and income in non-farm enterprises. The adoption of alternative, unconventional farm enterprises that use farm resources in an innovative and quantitatively different way does have the potential for bringing in a new source of income to farm business. For the purpose of this research three adjustment strategies were recognised. The ‘conventional’ (no change) pathway is based on traditional, region-specific products, production methods and services. The adoption of the ‘new crop’ pathway refers to the redeployment of resources into new agricultural products, whereas farms on the market integration Pathway redeploy resources into new marketing services and agricultural product processing on the farm. The new crop and the market integration pathways are identified as unconventional adjustment strategies. Results derived from multinomial logit analysis highlight the major constraints and opportunities associated with the adoption of new crops and market integration practices. Farmers who have adopted unconventional practices are influenced by factors external to the farm. such as contacts with institutions, and have a high probability of having higher debts. These farmers are likely to depend heavily on seasonal labour and rented land. The fact that market integration activities are associated with smaller farms in conjunction with off-farm work signifies the importance of establishing an integrated rural development policy approach. Public policy involvement in enhancing dissemination of information concerning unconventional enterprises is emphasised.     

国内外水产养殖保险市场的比较研究

长期以来我国水产养殖保险市场跟现实需求并不相称,一方面养殖者对保险有迫切需要,另一方面保险公司因为赔付率过高而不敢承保。论文通过与该市场开展较好的地区（或国家）比较,分析了造成我国市场失灵既有市场原因、行业自身原因,也有政府原因,认为在当前情况下政府提供有效支持是助其摆脱困境的可行之策,并就经济学依据、有效途径、注意问题做相关论述。     

结构方程模型森林康养消费需求因素分析

以计划行为理论为基础进行设计问卷,结合实地调研与在线问卷调查数据,运用结构方程模型研究现阶段中国居民森林康养消费需求的影响机制。结果表明:中国森林康养产业普及程度较浅,深度的森林康养内容认知与发展进展很浅薄;森林康养消费需求会促使居民的消费行为,而态度、知觉控制会显著正向影响居民的消费需求,态度、规范与知觉控制之间影响显著。因此,应设计多层次森林康养产品,鼓励森林康养养老,助力脱贫攻坚;提升居民参与森林康养的客观能力,奠定消费战略的基础;研究康养理论,推行康养理念,设计康养服务产品;政企协力推进,构建政-企-森-居-社会协调发展新模式,以便促进森林康养良好发展。     

Agriculture,transportation, and the COVID-19 crisis

In this short paper, I assess how COVID-19-related disruptions in transportation services, as well as new demands for transportation services, could impact Canadian agricultural supply chains. The brief analysis reveals that agricultural access to bulk ocean freight, rail movement, and trucking has generally improved in the pandemic, bolstered by the reduced demand for these transportation services by other sectors of the economy. The intermodal containerized movement of grains and food products has seen some disruption from the lack of empty containers in North America. The widespread consumer adoption of physical distancing measures has vastly increased the demand for retail food pickup and delivery services to the point where these services are being rationed by long wait times. From a policy perspective, there is an apparent need for (a) continued supply chain monitoring and industry engagement, (b) the proactive development of strategies to deal with absenteeism and other potential threats to the supply chain, and (c) an assessment of the economic and health merits of providing additional public resources to provide greater access to grocery pickup and delivery services.