Economic Liberalization and Productivity Growth: Further Evidence From Bangladesh

The impact of economic liberalization reforms on the productive performances of manufacturing firms remains a contentious issue in the literature. This paper attempts to contribute to the debate by empirically estimating productivity growth of Bangladesh food manufacturing using firm level data before and after reform. Empirical results show that the share of output growth was accounted for by input growth in most sectors of this industry. In some sectors, the estimated rate of total factor productivity (TFP) growth is negligible or even negative. Decomposition of the TFP growth shows that technological progress plays a significant role in TFP growth across firms within the sub-sectors of this industry. Empirical results also show that the relative contribution of capacity realization to TFP growth is not substantial in inhibiting the industry's high and sustained growth. These dismal performances indicate that the industries responded a little to the implementation of economic reforms.     

Mapping fragmentation: Electronics and automobiles in East Asia and Latin America

"Fragmentation", the relocation of processes or functions across countries in response to cost and other differences, has important implications for development. We discuss the drivers of fragmentation and map it for electronics and automotives in East Asia (EA) and Latin America. For technical reasons, electronics is fragmenting faster world-wide than the auto industry. Electronics networks are more advanced, widespread and integrated in EA than Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and are largely responsible for EA's rapid export growth. The auto network is more advanced in LAC but is slower growing and is not integrated into a regional system. Apart from Mexico, LAC lacks an electronics network, partly accounting for the region's weak export performance. We offer insights into the following: Why do industries fragment differently? How can fragmentation be measured? Why does fragmentation in developing countries concentrate on EA and LAC? Why has fragmentation evolved differently in these two regions? Can other developing regions attract and benefit from fragmentation?     

The Achievements and Failures of Argentina's Neo-liberal Economic Policies

The stability of an economic policy regime depends in large measure on either its successful authoritarian imposition or on the general acceptance by society of the distributional status quo of assets and/or income. Although Argentina's Convertibility Plan ("Currency Board" system) brought price stability and growth to the country, the inability or unwillingness of the government to attain a fiscal adjustment threatened its survival. The "fight for shares" in this "conflict society" was inherited from previous regimes. We show that this fight, previously left unresolved through inflationary finance, was subsequently left unresolved through the rapid growth of indebtedness under the Convertibility Plan. From 1999 onwards, the contradictions of the Plan became increasingly obvious and it was clear that the key to future stable economic growth was dependent on finding a way to turn the "conflict society" into a "consensus society". The construction of such a society is still a pending task for Argentina.     

Is there a slowdown in agricultural productivity growth in South America?

This article estimates agricultural productivity growth in 10 South American countries in 1969–2009 with the objective of investigating if the slowdown being measured in other countries is present in the region. Results show that productivity growth accounts for half of the three‐fold increase in agricultural output during this period and that performance is sensitive to R&D investments in the sector. The slowdown found for the 1990s to 2000s in the U.S. and some European economies does not seem to be present yet in South America. The region's total factor productivity (TFP) growth rate increased steadily from 1.07% during the 1970s to 2.29% during the 2000s. Given lags in adoption and the adaptive nature of innovations in these economies, we have yet to see the potential effects in South American agriculture of decreases in R&D in advanced economies.     

Why Not Adopt Better Institutions?

Abstract

How much growth do (economic and legal) institutions cause? To quantify this effect, we adapted the baseline regression in Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson's (2002, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4), pp. 1231–1294) seminal work on the causal relationship between the quality of institutions and differences in modern-day income levels was adapted. We found that improving institutional quality by one standard deviation increased a country's average annual growth rate by only 0.4% from 1820 to 1995.     

The Moral Setting for Governance in Keonjhar: The Cultural Framing of Public Episodes and Development Processes in Northern Orissa,India

A discussion of the theory of technology and economic growth suggests potentially negative implications for the impact of the Internet on developing countries. Technology in general is undoubtedly central to the growth process, but economists define technology in very broad terms. The impact of any particular, invented, technology is likely to be small. This theoretical perspective is supported by the empirical evidence on the limited impact of past "information revolutions" on less-developed countries (LDCs) and the present impact of the Internet on advanced economies. Furthermore, LDCs appear ill-prepared to benefit from the opportunities that the Internet does present--they lack the physical and human capital, along with the institutions required, to exploit the e-economy. Finally, even optimistic forecasts of the Internet's global economic impact are small in scale compared with the challenge of development. This has significant implications for development policy.     

The Coal Crisis in Appalachia: Agrarian Transformation,Commodity Frontiers and the Geographies of Capital

Capital's commodity frontiers strategy has at once woven together regional differences within an expanding world‐system and remade the productive and reproductive activities of humans and the rest of nature. The development of successive commodity frontiers gave way to long waves of economic expansion that have been pivotal to accelerating accumulation and transcending capital's recurrent crises. In short, commodity frontiers are constitutive of world‐ecological moments premised on booms and crises of accumulation. In this paper, I examine the coal commodity frontier in Appalachia, to illustrate the region's history as one of succeeding frontiers in and out of the region over the long twentieth century of American capitalism. I argue that the origin of Appalachia's coal frontier was decisively made through the nineteenth‐century agricultural revolution expressed outside of the region. Appalachia's full‐fledged development was an outcome of capital's under‐reproduction strategies. The crisis of the region's frontier turned on a lack of surplus from under‐reproduction strategies, competing coal basins, economic diversification and competing energy sources. I find that the commodity frontier concept not only illuminates regional political economies and ecologies of difference, but also explains the production of nature of historical capitalism.     

成本收益视角下中国设施蔬菜生产效率研究以黄瓜、番茄栽培为例

目的 文章以番茄与黄瓜为例，以设施、露地蔬菜栽培宏微观数据为支撑，以纬度和降雨为划分区域依据，从成本收益及效率评价视角出发，回答中国设施农业发展方向的问题。方法 运用比较分析以及SFA-Malmquist方法，测算与拆解全要素生产率指标。结果 （1）从中国设施现状来看：中国设施蔬菜具“高产量、高收益、高价格”的“三高”优势和“收益率优势不显著、劳动生产率低”的“双重”劣势；中国设施蔬菜产业仍属“劳动密集型”产业；设施蔬菜经济投入相对较高，影响设施蔬菜的竞争力水平。（2）从设施栽培全要素生产率来看：中国设施农业全要素生产率稳定增长，但生产效率徘徊不前，栽培品种间、区域间全要素生产率增长的主要驱动因素不同。（3）对比设施和露地效率：全要素生产率的变动基本一致；生产效率表现为“设施>露地”，露地栽培种间效率差异大；技术进步增长表现为“设施<露地”，区域特征显著。结论 中国设施蔬菜全要素生产率稳定递增，属于“技术进步诱导+技术效率推动”的增长模式。     

Technical efficiency relative to a stochastic cost frontier for the England and Wales dairy sector

It has been acknowledged in the literature that productive efficiency in grain production in China has substantially improved in the post-reform period, particularly in the early 1980s. Since then, there have been several policy changes in China, which have affected the growth of the sector. Specifically, the spectacular growth of rural industries has attracted significant physical and human capital from agriculture. It is in this context that Brown's warning of China soon becoming the world's number one importer of grain has raised an important question of whether China has reached its grain production potential. Analysis of the 1994 farm household survey data indicates that the majority of the sample farmers is reasonably technically efficient in grain production but that productivity can be increased further even with the existing technology.     

Mechanization in land preparation and agricultural intensification: The case of rice farming in the Cote d'Ivoire

It is critically important to intensify farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa by disseminating improved agronomic practices and increasing the application of modern inputs. One of the region's problems is that proper land preparation is difficult due to the scarcity of draft animals and the underdevelopment of the tractor rental market. Our analysis of rice production in the Cote d'Ivoire reveals that farmers who use tractors in land preparation more intensively apply fertilizer and use more labor to carefully implement proper agronomic practices, thereby raising productivity. Thus, the diffusion of tractors appears to be key to the intensification of rice farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Who Will Feed China in the 21st Century? Income Growth and Food Demand and Supply in China

This study uses resource‐based measures to explore the evolution of China's demand and supply for food. China's dietary shift from plant to animal‐based foods, induced by its income growth, is likely to impose considerable pressure on agricultural resources. China's demand for food on this measure appears consistent with global trends, while China is an out‐performer on the supply side, producing much more food than its income level and land endowment would predict. China's current per capita income is in a range where consumption growth is high and in excess of production growth, but the gap between supply and demand is likely to diminish as population and per capita consumption growth decelerate. Continuing agricultural productivity growth and sustainable resource management will be important influences on the growth of China's future net import demand for food.     

Investigating improved pasture productivity change on the New South Wales tablelands

The productivity of improved pastures in Australia's southeastern grazing regions is now believed to be in a state of long-term decline. As yet, there is little economic evidence to support this perception. The analysis reported in this paper seeks to examine improved pasture Productivity change from an economic standpoint in a major Australian grazing area. The analysis rests on the central proposition that the Productivity of the livestock enterprises is a direct reflection of pasture productivity. Using both index number and econometric methods, the results indicate that while the annual growth in livestock and hence, improved pasture productivity has been positive over the period, there has been a significant decline in legume pasture productivity. Because these pastures comprise the bulk of improved pastures, the livestock Productivity of all improved pastures has declined in recent years. In contrast, the growth in livestock productivity from the perennial grass pastures continues to be high. The main reasons for legume pasture livestock productivity decline appear to be various important biological Problems and the long-term decline farmers' terms-of-trade.     

Why diversity and expectations matter

This article was delivered in a session entitled Insights from a behavioral lens: why perceptions and diversity matter. In the article, I ask whether a diverse academic workforce is an asset to a University, and more generally to society, and conclude that it is. Although this conclusion is based on empirical data from US universities, the message is universal. Even when correcting for years of experience, rank, and nature of appointment and women's work‐life situation, there is still a negative expectation bias, whereby women and minority candidates are not expected to be as good as male researchers (a bias that also exists in the case of the appointment of female Chief Executive Officers). On the other hand, more women and minority appointments increase the productivity of women students.     

An Analysis of the Linkage Between Agricultural Exports and Economic Growth in Pakistan

Summary

This article examines the relationship between agricultural exports and economic growth. Pakistan is used as a case study due to its large amounts of agricultural exports which have competed with industry for government support. This study estimates three simultaneous equations representing GDP, agricultural exports, and total imports while incorporating factors such as income remittances from abroad, investment, and manufactured exports as independent variables. The timing of this information is critical as Pakistan's policy makers now face major agricultural reforms in their quest for development. The estimation results show that a favorable relationship exists between agricultural exports and growth in GDP.     

Agricultural policy and productivity: evidence from Brazilian censuses

Brazil's economic strategy has shifted hesitatingly during the last several decades from one of producer protection to trade competitiveness. Exploiting the variations these shifts have afforded, we use a sequence of decennial agricultural censuses to examine Brazilian policy implications for agricultural competitiveness and efficiency. Total factor productivity is decomposed into best‐technology and efficiency elements, each subject to policy influence. We find technology growth, at 4.5% per annum, to have been extraordinarily high, particularly in the south. But because productivity among average producers has fallen rapidly behind that on the technical frontier, total productivity growth has been a much more modest 2.6% per year. Public agricultural research programs most benefit the country's technological leaders, widening the gap between frontier and average producer. Credit, education, and road construction policies instead narrow that gap. Credit and road programs especially enhance efficiency in the south, where efficiency losses have been greatest.     

Trade-offs between high class land and development: Recent and future pressures on Auckland's valuable soil resources

Sustainable land management is essential to meeting the global challenge of securing soil and water resources that can support an ever increasing population. In Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, population growth is forecast to increase from 1.5 to 2.5 million by 2040 which will put immense pressure on the region's soil resources. The objective of this study was to robustly quantify the amount of high class land (Land Use Capability Classes 1–3) that has been converted, and what is likely to occur, to urban development in Auckland using both long term trend records and future growth projections.Spatial analysis indicated that over the various spanning datasets 10,399 ha (or 8.3%) of Auckland's high class land has been converted to urban development through incremental urban extension, operative/approved greenfields and building consents. Of this, 10,080 ha of high class land was converted to development between the years, 1975 and 2012. The rate of urban extension onto high class land has accelerated since 1996. Furthermore, the majority of land allocated to urban extension since 1996 has been high class land. Looking into the near future, lodged/future greenfield developments equate to an additional potential development of 6010 ha (or 4.8%) of current high class land. Future growth pressures indicate that this trade-off will continue.There is a real need to analyse the economic benefits and long term sustainability of future development against the protection of high class land for current and future production requirements. Further research should account for the true cost of lost provisioning, regulating and cultural soil ecosystem services to ensure that these values are recognised and considered not only by urban planners but also by both policy and decision makers.     

Evidence of climate change impacts on crop comparative advantage and land use

Relative agricultural productivity shocks emerging from climate change will alter regional cropland use. Land allocations are sensitive to crop profits that in turn depend on yield effects induced by changes in climate and technology. We develop and apply an integrated framework to assess the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity and land use for the U.S. Northern Great Plains. Crop-specific yield–weather models reveal crop comparative advantage due to differential yield impacts of weather across the region's major crops, that is, alfalfa, wheat, soybeans, and maize. We define crop profits as a function of the weather-driven yields, which are then used to model land use allocation decisions. This ultimately allows us to simulate the impact of climate change under the RCP4.5 emissions scenario on land allocated to the region's major crops as well as to grass/pasture. Upon removing the trends effects in yields, climate change is projected to lower yields by 33–64% over 2031–2055 relative to 1981–2005, with soybean being the least and alfalfa the most affected crops. Yield projections applied to the land use model at present-day input costs and output prices reveals that Dakotas’ grass acreage will increase by up to 23%, displacing croplands. Wheat acreage is expected to increase by up to 54% in select southeastern counties of North Dakota and South Dakota, where maize/soy acreage had increased by up to 58% during 1995–2016.     

Green Revolution,Market Regulation and Agricultural Productivity in South India

Abstract

In the first phase of green revolution, the Southern Indian state of Karnataka enjoyed significant growth of productivity of foodgrains but there was stagnation in the second phase (1980-81 to 1989-90).

The regulated markets offered no significant price advantage for foodgrains, nor do they have any impact on productivity. Hence, regulation of more markets cannot play a significant role in ending the stagnation in the foodgrains sector.     

An Empirical Investigation of Short- and Long-run Agricultural Wage Formation in Ghana

Abstract

It is difficult for both analytical and empirical reasons to identify the precise contours of the Post‐Mao Chinese model of development and there is much that remains unclear or contested. However, the general contours suggest a pattern of development increasingly close to the familiar East Asian model of developmental dictatorship, though with distinctive characteristics deriving from China's size and complexity and its state‐socialist heritage. Although evaluations of Chinese developmental performance have tended to be generally positive, there has been a recent escalation of serious problems which threaten to undermine previous achievements, pose questions about the prospects for sustainability and make the task of evaluation more complex and contestable than before. In consequence, conventional arguments about the superiority of the “Asian” approach to economic reform and the trade‐off between economic growth and political liberalization are losing force.     

Agricultural sustainability of small-scale farms in Lacluta,Timor Leste

Despite the trend of dwindling productivity, tribal people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) still practise shifting cultivation as a dominant hill farming system to support their livelihood. Drawing on an empirical study in Khagrachari district of the CHT, this research examined how far the production from present shifting cultivation supports the tribal people's livelihood and what alternative livelihood strategies they have adopted for subsistence by using data on input/output and income/expenditures, and analysing current government policies. The findings showed that productivity declined markedly, yields were almost equal to input values and farmers experienced food shortages for at least two to six months in a year. To make a living, farmers have adopted new occupations such as wage labour, animal husbandry, cultivation of annual monocrops and extraction and selling of forest products. Policy analysis indicates that previous policies were unable to reduce shifting cultivation intensity or improve tribal people's livelihoods or the region's forest resources. Reorientation of government policies, easy access to institutional support and the active participation of local people in development intervention are of the utmost importance in order to find alternative land uses for sustainable hill farming, to improve the farmer's living standards and to conserve forests and protect watersheds.