The effect of spatial interdependencies on prioritization and payments for environmental services

Empirical studies and on-the-ground policies assessing optimal selection of projects in the context of payments for environmental services programs rarely consider spatial proximity of one project to other projects. This occurs despite evidence from theoretical and ecological studies that benefits are often spatially interdependent. This paper develops a flexible construct of “spatial synergy benefits” using the principles of Newtonian gravity similar to efforts in other application areas. This approach is novel to the literature on environmental preservation and, as a systematic method, can account for a wide variety of spatial interdependencies. The empirical setting for the application is farm and forest preservation in Delaware, with a quadratic knapsack algorithm used to select the optimal set of parcels. Application results show that the specific level of the spatial synergy benefit measure does not significantly alter the number of parcels and acreage preserved, but that the composition of the optimal set changes as agglomeration preferences increase. These changes in the optimal targeted set indicate a potential bias in past research on PES selection. Policy makers informed by methods that do not explicitly account for spatial agglomeration preferences often make incorrect investment choices from a cost-effectiveness perspective.     

Spatial development policy: changing roles for local and regional authorities in the Netherlands

Implementation of spatial policy involves intervention in the land market. In the Netherlands local government also acts as a land developer. Due to an increase in activities in the land market by private actors and an increase in the geographical scale of economic and social processes, this practice is under threat. This paper analyses the background and evolution of Dutch spatial development policy during the last ten years, from the perspective of governmental directive function for spatial policy. It focuses on the multi-level governance between local and regional governments and between local government and private actors.     

中国畜牧业生态效率时空特征及溢出效应研究

目的 畜牧业已成为我国农业经济的重要支柱产业，推进畜牧业可持续发展对现代畜牧业建设具有重要意义。方法 文章综合运用非期望产出超效率EBM模型、核密度估计、标准差椭圆、空间马尔可夫链等方法，从时间和空间角度分析2002—2018年中国31省（市、自治区，不含港澳台）畜牧业生态效率的动态演化特征，并联立STIRPAT模型和动态空间杜宾模型分析影响因素的溢出效应。结果 （1）中国畜牧业生态效率整体水平较低，呈现波动上升趋势，在空间上有明显的阶梯性，逐渐形成“俱乐部收敛”式两极格局；（2）西部地区是畜牧业生态效率提高的重点区域，有加速向东部转移融合的趋势；（3）中国畜牧业生态效率的提升是一个长期且相对稳定的过程，地理空间格局对其影响显著，难以实现跨越式转移；（4）财富、人口、技术等方面因素对畜牧业生态效率表现出不同的短期和长期空间溢出效应。结论 中国畜牧业要走协同发展道路，注重生态补偿与区域联动，切实转变畜牧业发展方式，在各影响因素间寻找均衡点，构建优势互补、分工明确、竞争有度的产业生态体系，稳步实现畜牧业可持续发展，切不可急功近利。     

Time‐series econometric analyses of biofuel‐related price volatility

Time‐series econometrics studies have analyzed volatility interactions between biofuel and food and fossil fuel markets. We review data, modeling techniques and the main findings in the literature, and present our latest contributions. We identify areas for further research.     

Deforestation and land use change: sparse data environments

Understanding determinants of land use in developing countries has become a priority for researchers and policy makers with a wide range of interests. For the vast majority of these land use issues, the location of change is as important as its magnitude. This overview paper highlights new economic approaches to modeling land use determinants that combine non‐traditional data sources with novel economic models and econometric techniques. A key feature is that location is central to the analysis. All data elements include an explicit location attribute, estimation techniques include the potential for complications from spatial effects, and results are location‐specific. The paper reviews the theory underlying these models. Since this paper is intended to provide the potential new researcher with an introduction to the challenges of this analysis, we present an overview of how remotely‐sensed data are collected and processed, describe key GIS concepts and identify sources of data for this type of econometric analysis. Finally, selected papers using these techniques are reviewed.     

Location and uptake: integrated household and GIS analysis of technology adoption and land use, with application to smallholder dairy farms in Kenya

CIS‐derived measures of location and space have increasingly been used in models of land use and ecology. However, they have made few inroads into the literature on technology adoption in developing countries, which continues to rely mainly on survey‐derived information. Location, with all its dimensions of market access, demographics and agro‐climate, nevertheless remains key to understanding potential for technology use. The measures of location typically used in the adoption literature, such as locational dummy variables that proxy a range of locational factors, now appear relatively crude given the increased availability of more explicit GIs‐derived measures. This paper attempts to demonstrate the usefulness of integrating CIS‐measures into analysis of technology uptake, for better differentiating and understanding locational effects. A set of GIs‐derived measures of market access and agro‐climate are included in a standard household model of technology uptake, applied to smallholder dairy farms in Kenya, using a sample of 3330 geo‐referenced farm households. The three technologies examined are keeping of dairy cattle, planting of specialised fodder, and use of concentrate feed. Logit estimations are conducted that significantly differentiate effects of individual household characteristics from those related to location. The predicted values of the locational variables are then used to make spatial predictions of technology potential. Comparisons are made with estimations based only on survey data, which demonstrate that while overall explanatory power may not improve with CIS‐derived variables, the latter yield more practical interpretations, which is further demonstrated through predictions of technology uptake change with a shift in infrastructure policy. Although requiring large geo‐referenced data sets and high resolution GIS layers, the methodology demonstrates the potential to better unravel the multiple effects of location on farmer decisions on technology and land use.     

Rural non‐farm diversification,agricultural feminisation and women's autonomy in the farm: evidence from India

This study contributes to the literature on the interlinkage between household non‐farm diversification (HND), agricultural feminisation and female autonomy in farming. The study uses unit‐level data from the Indian Human Development Survey for the years 2004 ‐ 2005 and 2011 ‐ 2012. The paper employs instrumental variable regression methods to study such interlinkages. The results show HND to be a significant factor contributing to the feminisation of agriculture. The study finds some evidence that the phenomenon is distress driven. Further, greater participation of women in agriculture, as well as women's access to land rights, significantly contributes to female autonomy in farm decision‐making. The results are robust to the use of alternative indicators of agricultural feminisation.     

Spatially explicit micro-level modelling of land use change at the rural–urban interface

This paper describes micro‐economic models of land use change applicable to the rural‐urban interface in the US. Use of a spatially explicit micro‐level modelling approach permits the analysis of regional patterns of land use as the aggregate outcomes of many, disparate individual land use decisions distributed across space. In contrast to the models featured by Nelson and Geoghegan, we focus on models that require spatially articulated data on parcel‐level land use changes through time. In characterising the spatially disaggregated models, we highlight issues uniquely related to the management and generation of spatial data and the estimation of micro‐level spatial models.     

Home‐grown food and the benefits of sharing: The “intergenerational pact” in postsocialist Moldova

The policy literature on postsocialist Europe tends to frame smallholders' practices of food self‐provisioning and sharing as driven by necessity and proposes land consolidation to increase productivity and efficiency. However, these practices generate nonfinancial benefits, which need to be accounted for. In this paper, I test the socio‐economic relevance of these practices in the Republic of Moldova, the country with the highest density of farming households in Europe and whose government has embraced the rural modernization agenda to integrate into the EU economic space. I carry out quantitative estimates using the household budget survey and complement the results with qualitative insights from an original smallholder survey. I find that food self‐provisioning and sharing are positively related to subjective well‐being and that there is an “intergenerational pact,” with home‐grown food flowing from late‐adulthood smallholders to urban‐based young families and the vulnerable elderly. A counterfactual analysis shows that poverty and inequality would be higher in the absence of donated food, especially in urban areas. The preservation of smallholder farming through widespread access to land could thus help fight poverty and provide social benefits vis‐à‐vis land consolidation.     

Spatial dependency and technical efficiency: an application of a Bayesian stochastic frontier model to irrigated and rainfed rice farmers in Bohol,Philippines

We investigated the role of spatial dependency in the technical efficiency estimates of rice farmers using panel data from the Central Visayan island of Bohol in the Philippines. Household‐level data were collected from irrigated and rainfed agro‐ecosystems. In each ecosystem, the geographical information on residential and farm‐plot neighborhood structures was recorded to compare household‐level spatial dependency among four types of neighborhoods. A Bayesian stochastic frontier approach that integrates spatial dependency was used to address the effects of neighborhood structures on farmers’ performance. Incorporating the spatial dimension into the neighborhood structures allowed for identification of the relationships between spatial dependency and technical efficiency through comparison with nonspatial models. The neighborhood structure at the residence and plot levels were defined with a spatial weight matrix where cut‐off distances ranged from 100 to 1,000 m. We found that spatial dependency exists at the residential and plot levels and is stronger for irrigated farms than rainfed farms. We also found that technical inefficiency levels decrease as spatial effects are more taken into account. Because the spatial effects increase with a shorter network distance, the decreasing technical inefficiency implies that the unobserved inefficiencies can be explained better by considering small networks of relatively close farmers over large networks of distant farmers.     

A review of spatial planning in Ghana's socio-economic development trajectory: A sustainable development perspective

This study provides a review of spatial planning in the context of Ghana's socio-economic development trajectory. Spatial planning has been integral to the economic policies of the country since colonial rule. Yet, its role has been overshadowed by the domain of socio-economic planning. Drawing from published literature, policy documents, legislative frameworks and interviews, this study reveals the different context and scope within which spatial planning has been implemented in Ghana, and the successes and failures thereof. While the colonial governments employed spatial planning on limited scale and for exploitative purposes, post-colonial governments have implemented broad-based planning grounded in the ‘genuine’ aspiration to promote a spatially balanced development. This study argues that post-independence planning has not been successfully implemented compared to pre-independence planning due to a myriad of factors including rapid urban growth, inadequate staffing, low capacity, lack of institutional coordination, political interference in planning, complex land tenure and evolving land markets among others. Consequently, urban centres in Ghana are beset with problems such as poor environmental conditions, poor infrastructure and service delivery, and uncontrolled growth; and these are inimical to sustainable urban development. The study lauds renewed efforts to transform planning in the spirit of sustainable development through the national urban policy framework and a proposed land use and spatial planning bill; the latter proposes planning based on spatial development framework, and a repeal of an obsolete 1945 planning ordinance that has underlain planning since. It is argued that if supported and harmonised the two initiatives present the best planning framework in the 21st century Ghana.     

城市扩张与集约农业背景下浅层地下水重金属污染特征空间分析

地下水是城乡结合部和农村地区的重要饮用水源之一,城市的扩张和农业集约经营对地下水的影响日益明显。本文以典型区—沈阳沈北新区为例,以地下水重金属为评价指标,采用经典统计和地统计的方法,分析城乡交错地区地下水污染程度和空间分异性特征,旨在为类似地区土地利用规划和地下水环境管理提供科学依据。结果显示:Fe、Mn超标率较高,分布范围较广;Cd、Hg分布集中,受城镇化的影响较为明显;Pb与集中养殖产业分布关系密切;As的分布与当地化工企业有关;Fe、Mn空间变异性强,空间异质性主要受自然条件等结构性因素控制;Cd、Pb、Hg空间变异性中等,As空间变异性弱,Cd、Pb、Hg、As这四种元素空间异质性的形成主要受人为活动等随机因素的影响;初步发现Fe和Mn,Mn和As有相似的来源。     

基于空间面板杜宾模型的农村金融发展与农村经济增长关系研究

长期以来,农村金融发展与农村经济增长之间的关系受到国内外众多学者的关注。文章基于柯布-道格拉斯生产函数,考虑到空间溢出效应,将资本因素划分为农村金融发展的规模、效率和结构3个纬度,结合劳动力投入量,通过构建前沿的计量经济学空间面板Durbin模型,对我国30个省市2000~2009年农村金融发展与农村经济增长的关系进行了分析。结果表明,在样本期间,我国农村经济增长存在显著的空间集聚现象;农村金融规模、效率、结构与农村经济增长之间存在显著的相关关系,其中,农村金融规模和农村金融结构对农村经济存在反向作用,而农村金融效率对农村经济具有显著而正向的直接影响且存在正向空间溢出效应,成为影响农村经济增长的关键因素。农村金融发展与农村经济增长之间的良好互动机制尚未建立。因此,各省市在加大农村金融投资规模的同时,要努力提高农村金融资源配置效率。     

工业智能化如何影响城乡收入差距——来自农业转移劳动力就业视角的解释

随着智能制造装备在各行业的不断普及,其对劳动力就业的影响逐渐加深。基于2001~2016年中国省级面板数据与流动人口监测数据,本研究从劳动力的就业行为与收入视角,采用动态空间面板模型评估了工业智能化对城乡收入差距的影响。结果表明,工业智能化显著扩大了城乡收入差距。在人口大规模跨区域流动背景下,这一效应具有明显的空间外溢性。进一步的检验与机制分析发现,工业智能化显著降低了农业转移人口的收入水平与工作稳定性,不利于农业转移人口稳定迁移,且这种影响存在明显的个体异质性。本研究的研究结论为政府持续加大农村教育投入与职业技能培训投入给予了实证支持,也为推进财政体制改革方向提供了启示。     

Do housing prices promote total factor productivity? Evidence from spatial panel data models in explaining the mediating role of population density

The issue of what to promote in total factor productivity (TFP) in urban areas has been widely discussed in academia and housing prices and population density are confirmed to be two of the most essential driving factors. However, research into the interaction of housing prices and population density with TFP has been neglected, with no previous studies taking spatial factors into consideration, which may bias the results. From this perspective, using spatial panel data models and employing instrumental variables to solve the endogenous problem, this study examines the impact of housing prices on TFP through the mediating effect of population density for 283 Chinese cities during the period 2000–2013, and confirms that the mediating effect accounts for 18.70 % of the total effect. The results show the positive and significant association of housing prices with TFP and the inverted U-shape of population density. The underlying logic is that housing prices change population density by attracting people with high purchasing power and discouraging those unable to afford housing, whereas increased density helps to promote productivity since the settled inhabitants always have highly developed work skills and are well educated. The influencing mechanism of housing prices on TFP through population density is analyzed, namely the spillover effect. We find that the spillover effect exists in the eastern and central regions, as well as first, second, and third tier cities, while for western regions and fifth tier cities, population mobility and increased in housing prices slows their economic development. There is no evidence of any spillover effect in fourth tier cities. A discussion and suggested policy implications are also provided.     

UK Land Use Futures: Policy influence and challenges for the coming decades

This paper, originally contributed as part of the government's Foresight investigation of Land Use Futures, considers the likely shape of policies affecting UK rural land use up to 2060, based on literature review, analysis of past and current trends and drivers, and discussion with selected policy experts. The postwar, centralised approach to spatial planning and countryside management has come under increasing challenge from domestic and international needs and concerns. European policy influence has increased in respect of agriculture and the natural environment. Zoning of land-use and a restrictive approach to built development have gradually weakened, and land-use drivers have become more multifunctional. Policy has moved away from a ‘top-down’ process designed in Whitehall towards a multi-layered structure within which international agreements and negotiations must be reconciled with regional and local, partnership-based approaches to planning and management, via national frameworks and a complex mix of regulatory and market-based instruments. Climate and energy policy, as well as policies on food and health, will require new and more diverse forms of development. A major challenge for the future could be the extent to which current, multi-layered spatial planning policies can accommodate the scale of change implied by the new mix of drivers from other policy areas. There is the possibility of an increasingly differentiated response across the UK countryside, as well as much more radical change in the system driven from the centre, as pressures increase.

While the Government Office for Science commissioned this review, the views are those of the author, are independent of Government, and do not constitute Government policy.     

Is PPGIS good enough? An empirical evaluation of the quality of PPGIS crowd-sourced spatial data for conservation planning

A significant barrier to the use of public participation GIS (PPGIS) and crowd-sourcing for conservation planning is uncertainty about the quality of the spatial data generated. This study examines the quality of PPGIS data for use in conservation planning. We evaluate two dimensions of spatial data quality, positional accuracy and data completeness using empirical PPGIS data from a statewide study of public lands in Victoria, Australia. Using an expert-derived spatial conservation model for Victoria as a benchmark, we quantify the performance of a crowd-sourced public in their capacity to accurately and comprehensively identify areas of high conservation importance in the PPGIS process. About 70% of PPGIS points that identified biological/conservation values were spatially coincident (position accurate) with modeled areas of high conservation importance, with greater accuracy associated with locations in existing protected areas. PPGIS data had less positional accuracy when participants identified biological values in urban areas and on non-public lands in general. The PPGIS process did not comprehensively identify all the largest, contiguous areas of high conservation importance in the state, missing about 20% of areas, primarily on small public land units in less densely populated regions of the state. Preferences for increased conservation/protection were over-represented in areas proximate to the Melbourne urban area and under-represented in more remote statewide locations. Our results indicate that if PPGIS data is to be integrated into spatial models for conservation planning, it is important to account for the spatial accuracy and completeness limitations identified in this study (i.e., urban areas, non-public lands, and smaller remote locations). The spatial accuracy and completeness of PPGIS data in this study suggests spatial data quality may be “good enough” to complement biological data in conservation planning but perhaps not good enough to overcome the mistrust associated with crowd-sourced knowledge. Recommendations to improve PPGIS data quality for prospective conservation planning applications are discussed.     

Introduction to the special issue on spatial analysis for agricultural economists

The goal of this special issue is to introduce agricultural economists to new analytical approaches involving spatial data. This paper provides a brief history of the special issue and an introduction to von Thünen's model of the determinants of land use and rent that underlies all spatial analysis.     

“国家—农民—村庄”视角下的中国农地集体化研究评述

研究目的：从国家、农民和村庄三个视角,评述国内外有关中国农地集体化的研究文献,深入探讨农地制度变迁的复杂成因与历史过程。研究方法：文献研究法。研究结果：从国家视角来看,已有研究以现代国家建设为基本脉络,将农地集体化视为一项革命性的制度安排,其成因可从国家推动集体化的原因和采取的措施来分析;从农民视角来看,已有研究关注农民的能动性,既分析了他们在情感、认知、观念和行为上的变化,也可从中见证国家治理现代化的实践探索;作为连接国家与农民的中介,村庄兼具文化上的“共同体”和利益上的“博弈场”两种属性,该视角侧重考察农地集体化的微观机制,分析各主体在文化和利益驱动下的互动关系。研究结论：集体化是准确把握我国农地制度为何坚持“集体所有”不动摇的关键,未来可从强化学科交叉、促进理论提炼,超越单一视角、寻求整体理解,以及突破方法局限、增进多元认知等方面入手,以便在更广阔的理论对话上有所提升,构建更具中国特色的理论表达。     

Spatial dynamic analysis of productivity growth of agri‐food companies

This study analyzes the spatial dynamics in productivity growth and its components for a sample of agri‐food companies in Murcia (Spain) over the period 2005–2014. We find that productivity growth of a company is related to productivity growth of neighboring companies, in both the short and long term. The marginal effects of the different factors on productivity growth are stronger in the short run rather than in the long run. Land characteristics and economic territorial conditions have the largest marginal effect on productivity growth and its components. This study contributes to the existing literature by including spatial interactions in the analysis of productivity growth.