Urban planning in office markets: A methodological approach

This article stresses the importance of urban planning interventions on real estate office markets in an environment increasingly characterized by globalization processes and progress of information and communication technologies, leaving behind the traditional influence of more market-related variables spread abroad vast literature. It contends that a better indirect control exerted by municipal authorities may launch the performance and characteristics of these markets. Within this scope, an innovative methodology and model are proposed, aimed at assisting municipal decisions in the definition of strategic policies concerning location or relocation of offices, and respective influences over rents. This methodology and this model have a flexible ongoing character that fits the anytime concrete features of local office markets. They are applied, as a case study, to the office market of Oporto city (Portugal). Implications for urban policy are inferred and generalized from this analysis.     

The Calculation of returns to research in distorted markets: Comment

In a recent article, Oehmke reported that a high internal rate of return for investment in research when the interaction between research and price policy costs was disregarded could become very low or even negative when the effects of research on the costs of price policy were considered. In this paper, the social returns from research in the presence of the price policies considered by Oehmke are reexamined using a simple geometric approach. The analysis suggests that an output subsidy in a small importing economy, an output subsidy in a closed economy, and a target price in a large exporting economy will on Oehmke's assumptions - cause only small reductions in the internal rate of return from investment in research. This implies that the apparent underinvestment by governments in agricultural research cannot be explained away by a large upward bias, known to governments, in measured rates of return due to failure to account for interactions between research and the costs of price policy measures.     

Price and quantity controlled agricultural markets and disequilibrium econometrics: a survey

This survey reviews the literature on estimating single markets in disequilibrium in the presence of regulated price and/or quantity controls, e.g., minimum price regimes and/or marketing quotas. Most of the literature is found to describe pure econometric technique, with only a few applications having emerged to date. Various reasons for the broad non-acceptance of this literature are offered, including a perceived lack of realism. Proposals to close this econometric theory–application gap are put forward, including: the use of effective demand concepts in specifying demand and supply functions; synthesizing some closely related literature on agricultural price/quantity controls with disequilibrium econometrics (i.e., endogenous government policy and the effects controls have on yield uncertainty and price risk); and outlining more ‘applicable’ econometric technique extensions.     

Information,efficiency, and welfare in agricultural markets

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) have spread rapidly in the developing world. There has been considerable interest in the potential role ICTs, particularly mobile phones, have begun to play in the marketing of agricultural outputs in these countries. In this article, we discuss the potential impacts ICTs may have on welfare, both in terms of potential efficiency gains (via improved arbitrage), and welfare transfers among agents in the supply chain (via reduced informational asymmetries and market power). We also review the recent empirical evidence for such effects.     

Local polynomial fitting and spatial price relationships: price transmission in EU pork markets

We study price transmission processes within EU pork marketsafter the implementation of the EU single market in 1993. Wecompare results derived from non-parametric regressions withthose obtained using alternative non-linear threshold models.Both techniques support the hypothesis that prices are transmittedacross spatially separate EU pig markets and provide evidencefor asymmetric price adjustments. They also suggest the existenceof a range of price differentials where equilibrating priceadjustments are less intense. Non-parametric techniques oftensuggest a higher degree of price transmission than that impliedby threshold models.     

Market liberalization and integration of maize markets in Malawi

The paper studies the extent of market integration of maize markets in Malawi in order to understand how it has been affected by market liberalization. Several measures of integration are introduced to analyze both the comovement of prices and the price adjustment process over time. Monthly retail prices of maize at eight main locations over the period January 1984 to December 1991 are considered. The main conclusion is that liberalization has increased market integration.     

Segmentation in the informal credit markets: the case of the Philippines

This paper explains market segmentation that occurs in the Philippine informal credit markets through the matching of borrowers and lenders by their occupational specializations to internalize transaction costs and facilitate economic activity. The regression results support a predictable pattern of matching farmer lenders with borrowers specialized in non-farm activities and trader lenders with borrowers specialized in farming.     

Local water markets for irrigation in southern Spain: A multicriteria approach

Spanish authorities have recently approved a new legislative framework for the creation of local water markets to improve allocative efficiency for this scarce resource. This paper analyses the potential impacts of the policy. A utility function for three groups of farmers was elicited, using a method that does not require interaction with the decision-makers. Utility was measured as a function of the first two moments of the distribution of total gross margin. The utility functions were then used to simulate farmers' responses to changes in the price of water.     

The economic and financial gains from water markets in Chile

Chile is one of the few countries that has encouraged the use of markets in water resource management. In order to assess the impact of water markets and transactions costs in Chile, four river valleys, the Maipo, Elqui, Limarí, and the Azapa were selected as case studies. Transactions from the Elqui and Limarí valleys, during the years 1986 to 1993, were analyzed to determine the gains-from-trade from market transfers. In the economic and financial analysis of water markets, crop budgets were used to estimate the value of water in agricultural production. The value of water-use rights to urban water-supply companies was estimated using the avoided cost of an alternative investment in a water-storage reservoir. The analysis demonstrated that the market transfer of water-use rights does produce substantial economic gains-from-trade in both the Elqui and Limarí Valleys. These economic gains produce rents for both buyers and sellers. But buyers, especially farmers growing profitable crops who buy water-use rights and individuals buying water-use rights for potable water supply, receive higher rents then sellers. Large table-grape producers in the Limarí Valley and individuals buying water for human consumption in the Elqui Valley received the highest rents. In the Elqui Valley net gains-from-trade per share were within the range of recent transfer prices of US$1000. In the Limarí Valley, gains-from-trade per share are 3.4 times the recent prices of US$3000 for a share of water from the Cogotí Reservoir. Where trading was active, especially in the Limarí Valley, transactions costs have not presented an appreciable barrier to trading. Nonetheless, in the large canal systems with fixed flow dividers in the Elqui and Maipo Valley there have been very few transactions. Various factors contribute to the lack of trading, but the absence of trading in these large canal systems highlights the costs of modifying fixed infrastructure, especially for trades between farmers.     

Future developments in global livestock and grains markets: the impacts of livestock productivity convergence in Asia-Pacific

Increasing livestock product consumption in many Asian countries has been accompanied by growth in some countries' imports of feedgrains for their domestic livestock sectors. This contributes to debate over future levels of grain imports. Yet projections often pay little attention to developments in livestock production. The impacts of technological catch-up in livestock production on trade in livestock and grains products among countries in the Asia-Pacific region are assessed. Tests are conducted of the hypothesis that productivity levels in the Asia-Pacific region are converging. Projections of livestock productivity are made and incorporated in a modified GTAP model. The consequences for regional and global trade in livestock and grains products are explored.     

Forest transition in South Korea: Reality, path and drivers

While forest transition (FT) in South Korea began in 1955, when forest cover was only 35% of national land area, significant increases in both forest cover and growing stock really occurred in the early 1970s. Using reconstructed historical records, we empirically demonstrate that (1) FT in South Korea was mainly accomplished by the recovery of degraded, non-stocked forest; and (2) one-dimensional FT analysis using forest area alone has severe limitations in diagnosing meaningful changes in forest sustainability. The key driver of FT in South Korea was the government-led reforestation policy. The comprehensive reforestation plans, started in 1973, not only provided economic incentives to the general public by establishing clear quantifiable goals, they also promoted inter-agency cooperation and coordination, especially between the energy and forest sectors, to replace firewood with fossil fuels. These government-led efforts, accompanied by rural-urban migration, brought an increase in stocked forest area and a complementary rising average growing stock level. The case of South Korea shows that FTs can be cultivated in a relatively short period of time by a central authority, even with imperfect governance and low economic development.     

Determinants of transaction activity in commercial real estate markets: evidence from European and Asia-Pacific countries

Variations in transaction activity between commercial real estate markets could have important implications for investment strategies and pricing. We consider why turnover rates, a common liquidity proxy, vary between countries and over time. We examine 38 countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific over the period 2000–2014. A conceptual framework is discussed prior to estimation of panel models that use turnover rates as the dependent variable. Our results indicate that the size and wealth of a country, the risk associated with that country and the performance of its commercial real estate market are significant factors that explain transaction activity. The quality of property rights is also an important factor.     

Of mice and men: Why the unintended consequences of carbon markets matter

Land tenure remains one of the most critical factors determining equity under REDD+, as we demonstrated through our previous article, ‘Roots of inequity: how the implementation of REDD+ reinforces past injustices”. Githiru responded to this paper, with some apparent challenges to both the empirical basis and theoretical arguments, that we had put forward. In this rebuttal, we demonstrate that there were no empirical differences between our original paper and Githiru’s response that had bearing on our findings, but that there are substantial differences in our interpretations of legality and equity, and consequently divergence about who can expect to benefit from REDD+. In a context where land ownership has historically and presently involved processes of dispossession, marginalization and even evictions, this rebuttal illustrates the complexity of the dominant discourse on land tenure and benefits under REDD+ and shows how social safeguards will need to take historical context and people’s current entitlements and agency into account, if equitable outcomes are to be defined and realized.     

有限政府与无限政府:乡村振兴中的基层政府行为研究

在乡村振兴过程中,县级及其以下的基层政府至关重要。本文以国家级贫困县栾川县的乡村振兴之路为案例,通过10天的田野调查和对23人的访谈数据,分析有限政府论与无限政府论两种理论在乡村振兴中的应用。结果发现:第一,基层政府通过寻求有限政府和无限政府之间的动态平衡,对市场要素流动和分配进行干预,这是解决乡村衰落问题,实现乡村振兴的有效路径。而基层政府在乡村振兴中发挥主导作用,是平衡社会发展效率与公平、推动城乡二元结构系统演进的需要。第二,栾川县实施乡村振兴战略的路径是,通过基层政府的干预,使市场要素向乡村旅游产业流动,具体包括资源整合、组织创新、示范带动、远近皆交、三类优先、情法结合6个方面。第三,乡村振兴背景下,有限政府与无限政府之间动态转化的完整过程可分为3个阶段,即从有限政府向无限政府延伸、无限政府与有限政府共存、再回归到有限政府。     

World food markets into the 21st century: environmental and resource constraints and policies

Projections of global food supply and demand to the year 2020 indicate that food production in the aggregate is likely to keep pace with growing populations and incomes, and that real food prices will be stable or slowly declining. This article examines the possible environmental and resource constraints to long-term food production growth and explores the implications of these possible constraints for food and resource policies. The article reviews and synthesises the evidence on biophysical limits to crop productivity; plant genetic resources and biotechnology; the availability of plant nutrients; soil and land degradation; the increasing scarcity and declining quality of water; and the impact of global climate change on agriculture.