Why do ICDPs fail?: The relationship between agriculture,hunting and ecotourism in wildlife conservation

We analyze why integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) fail to achieve their conservation goals. We develop a bio-economic model of open access habitat and wildlife exploitation, which is consistent with farming and hunting societies living in close proximity to forest reserves in developing countries. We show that the ICDP creates incentives to conserve habitat and wildlife, but socially optimal levels of conservation cannot be achieved, because of externalities among the local communities. We show how a social planner can achieve the socially optimal levels of habitat and wildlife by a more encompassing tax/subsidy regime.     

Tradable pollution permits in dynamic general equilibrium: Can optimality and acceptability be reconciled?

In this paper we study the dynamic general equilibrium path of an economy and the associated optimal growth path in a two-sector overlapping generation model with a stock pollutant. A sector (power generation) is polluting, and the other (final good) is not. Pollution is regulated by tradable emission permits. The issue is to see whether the optimal growth path can be replicated in equilibrium with pollution permits, given that some permits must be issued free of charge for the sake of political acceptability. We first analyze the many adverse impacts of free allowances, and then we propose a policy rule that allows optimality and acceptability to be reconciled.     

Can distortions in agriculture support structural transformation? The case of Uzbekistan

The agricultural sector plays a strategic role in the development process of a country. However, the tools used to trigger economic development are objects of controversy in theory and practice. While neoclassical theory contends that state interventions and protectionism create inefficiencies and sub-optimal allocation of resources, heterodox authors argue that those measures can be instrumental in fostering growth. Uzbekistan has applied heterodox distortive measures in agriculture. This paper investigates the implications of those distortions for the Uzbek economy. I argue that state interventions in agriculture, through surplus extraction and economies of scale, have facilitated investments in added-value industries, driving national structural transformation.     

Can unbiased be tighter? Assessment of methods to reduce the bias-variance trade-off in WTP estimation

This paper aims at verifying the claim, appeared in recent literature, that it is possible to control for response bias associated to the double bound elicitation method, while keeping gains in efficiency of the WTP estimates. Results from a Monte Carlo analysis lead, in general, to reject the claim; but when initial bids are not correctly chosen, the gains in efficiency are confirmed. An empirical application dealing with WTP estimation for drinking water quality improvements illustrates a case where a flexible modeling approach based on Copula distributions allows relevant gains with respect to the Single Bound estimator.     

The role of private information in dynamic matching and bargaining: Can it be good for efficiency?

We consider a private information replica of the dynamic matching and bargaining model of Mortensen and Wright (2002). We find that private information typically deters entry. But, the welfare can actually be higher under private information.     

Is there a trade-off between procyclicality and revisions in EC trend TFP estimations?

Potential output constitutes a central measure to determine compliance of the member states with the EU fiscal rules. The EU uses a production function approach to estimate potential output. In a Kalman filter model together with a Bayesian approach TFP is decomposed into a trend and a cycle. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between two widely discussed issues of the EC estimate of potential output, procyclicality and the extent of revisions. Procyclicality of the TFP trend depends on the prior assumptions for the residual variance of the TFP cycle equation. Exploiting this, simulations over increasing values of the priors of the residual variance of the TFP cycle equation are run for eight EU countries, leading to decreasing procyclicality of TFP trend estimates. Procyclicality of the estimated TFP trend reduces the standard error of revisions for half of the countries considered, while it implies an increase for the other countries or has no effect. Thus there is a trade-off between procyclicality of the TFP trend and the revision error, but it is not so clear cut. The standard errors of revisions of real-time estimates of the TFP trend as a criterion of model selection could improve forecasts additionally to the marginal likelihood value employed by the EC.     

Can Poverty be Alleviated in China?

The 2000s witnessed the third poverty alleviation wave in China. Compared with its predecessors, the third wave distinguished itself by new interventions and redefined standards for the National Poor Counties. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the new program using a data set consisting of 1,411 of China's western and central counties from 2000 to 2010. It combines the propensity score matching method with the difference‐in‐differences approach, which helps to avoid selection bias and track the policy impact on variables of interest at each time point. It is found that the non‐western local governments tended to manipulate data on income and output growth to maintain the special transfer payments disbursed exclusively to the National Poor Counties. It is also shown that the program failed to improve the infrastructure and sanitary conditions in general.     

Users and non-users of conservation areas: Are there differences in WTP,motives and the validity of responses in CVM surveys?

It is commonly assumed that respondents' lack of familiarity with the valued resource causes invalid and unreliable responses in contingent valuation surveys. With non-users' valuations, mainly motivated by non-use values, the issue is also closely linked to the discussion of the measurement of non-use values. This paper re-examines the impact of previous use on respondents' willingness to support nature conservation, their motives for valuing the resource and the validity of responses. The users' and non-users' characteristics differed, but there was no difference between the groups in their willingness to support sustained conservation. However, those planning to visit the area in the near future were more likely to pay for conservation than other respondents, even if they did not have previous use experience. Users considered their income constraint somewhat more carefully and were more aware of conservation-related issues than non-users. However, there was no difference in the validity of the WTP responses of the groups. Thus, there seems to be no rationale from a point of view of validity to restrict CVM analysis only to those individuals who have previous experience of the resource, which is in line with the basic premise of CVM. Furthermore, non-use values remained as significant motives for valuing the resource even if the use of the resource was intensive. Therefore, if the existence of a large non-use value component is considered as problematic in general, the problem is likely to exist for all respondent groups and not only for non-users.     

Can domestication of wildlife lead to conservation? The economics of tiger farming in China

Tigers are a threatened species that might soon disappear in the wild. Not only are tigers threatened by deteriorating and declining habitat, but poachers continue to kill tigers for traditional medicine, decoration pieces and so on. Although international trade in tiger products has been banned since 1987 and domestic trade within China since 1993, tigers continue to be poached and Chinese entrepreneurs have established tiger farms in anticipation of their demise. While China desires to permit sale of tiger products from captive-bred tigers, this is opposed on the grounds that it likely encourages illegal killing. Instead, wildlife conservationists lobby for more spending on anti-poaching and trade-ban enforcement. In this study, a mathematical bioeconomic model is used to investigate the issue. Simulation results indicate that, unless range states are characterized by institutions (rule of law and low corruption) similar to those found in the richest countries, reliance on enforcement alone is insufficient to guarantee survival of wild tigers. Likewise, even though conservation payments could protect wild tigers, the inability to enforce contracts militates against this. Our model indicates that wild tigers can be protected by permitting sale of products from tiger farms, although this likely requires the granting of an exclusive license to sellers. Finally, it is possible to tradeoff enforcement effort and sale of products from captive-bred animals, but such tradeoffs are worsened by deteriorating tiger habitat.     

Climate change, irrigation, and Israeli agriculture: Will warming be harmful?

This paper utilizes a Ricardian model to test the relationship between annual net revenues and climate across Israeli farms. The study finds that it is important to include the amount of irrigation water available to each farm in order to measure the response of farms to climate. With irrigation water omitted, the model predicts climate change is strictly beneficial. However, with water included, the model predicts that only modest climate changes are beneficial while drastic climate change in the long run will be harmful. Using the AOGCM Scenarios we show that farm net revenue is expected to increase. Although Israel has a relatively warm climate a mild increase in temperature is beneficial due to the ability to supply international markets with farm product early in the season.     

Too tall to be smart? The relationship between height and cognitive abilities

Recent research suggests for height–wage premiums because of differentials in cognitive abilities. This note adds to the discussion and examines whether verbal and non-verbal competencies are related to height. The results indicate that height is non-linearly associated to males' abilities.     

Eco-certification of non-timber forest products in China： addressing income generation and biodiversity conservation needs

Non-timber forest products（NTFPs） can play a key role in sustainable rural development due to their ability to support rural livelihoods while of their role and potential in conservation and development remains weak. Studies have pointed to important knowlidge gaps that may lead to serious exploitation and unsustainable use of the nanral resource ＂NTFP＂ in China. such as（I） lack of basic lknowledge on germplasm and non-existing or incomplete inventory.（2）no in-depth and long-term monitoring and institutional arrangements to ascertain sustainable extraction levels,（3）insufficient market transparency for communities.（4）incomplete knowledge of NTFP domestication and ist effects on product quality and price and the conservation of wild sources, and （5）no existing research on the full length of the commodity chain for major non-timber forest prochucts and the various actors in the chain. remote mountain regions through the sustainable management of NTFPs. The potential and challenges of oraanic,ecological and Fairtrade certification schemes in the context of smallholder farmers are discussed in more detall.     

Combining the minimum-variance and equally-weighted portfolios: Can portfolio performance be improved?

It is documented in the literature that due to estimation errors, mean-variance efficient portfolios deliver no higher out-of-sample Sharpe ratios than does the naïve equally-weighted portfolio (EWP). This paper demonstrates how the out-of-sample performance of the minimum-variance portfolio (MVP) can be improved in the presence of estimation errors by combining the MVP and EWP. Our results indicate that an appropriate combination of the MVP and EWP can enhance Sharpe ratios under any scenarios considered, and can also reduce the portfolio risk if short-selling is allowed. However, the combination strategy is not able to generate a lower risk level than the MVP when a short-selling restriction is imposed. We find that the optimal combination coefficient depends on the factors that greatly impact estimation errors in the MVP, including sample size, estimation method, no-short-selling restriction, and length of the out-of-sample period under consideration.     

The effects of workplace learning in higher education on employment and match quality: is there an early-career trade-off?

We investigate whether the choice for a higher education program with a substantial workplace learning component entails an early-career trade-off between on the one hand higher employment chances and better initial matches (when opting for a program with workplace learning) and on the other hand a lower risk of bad match persistence (when opting for a program without workplace learning). To this end, we rely on longitudinal data of Belgian graduates that track their careers up until the age of 29. We model the program choice, the transition to a good match and the preceding transition to a bad match simultaneously. To account for non-random selection into programs and into bad matches, the Timing of Events method is combined with an exclusion restriction. After accounting for observed and unobserved heterogeneity, we do not find evidence for a trade-off. This result contributes to the debate about the efficiency of vocationalizing tertiary education programs through the implementation of workplace learning.     

Is there a trade-off between income inequality and corruption? Evidence from Latin America

In contrast to other research, lower corruption is associated with higher income inequality. This result is consistent with the idea that the corruption–inequality relationship may be different where there is a large informal sector, as in Latin America.     

The politics of growth: Can lobbying raise growth and welfare?

We consider a setup where lobbyist firms undertake contributions to an office-motivated policy maker in exchange for profit increasing regulations, in a general equilibrium model of R&D-driven growth. We find that, despite increasing concentration—which leads to higher prices and less varieties—lobbying may stimulate growth and increase welfare by means of an expansion in aggregate demand if its real costs are small. This conclusion is supported by a simple calibration exercise.     

Can Income Inequality be Affected by the Interaction Between ICTs and Human Capital?: The Evidence from Developing Countries

Income inequality in developing countries remains a major concern. It has been established that higher inequality makes a greater proportion of the population vulnerable to poverty. This paper aimed to analyse the effect of the interaction between ICTs and human capital on income inequality in developing countries. Covering 89 developing countries for the period 2000 to 2015 and based on panel fixed effects instrumental variables technique, this study finds that the interaction between ICTs and human capital reduces overall income inequality on the one hand, and on the other, leads to an increase in the income shares of the poorest, and in particular relative to the richest in developing countries. Furthermore, the interaction between ICTs and human capital reinforces the impact of ICTs on income inequality in developing countries. These results suggest that prioritizing the acquisition of human capital by the poorest, as well as promoting access to and use of ICTs for the benefit of the poorest would significantly contribute to reduce overall income inequality and increase income shares of the poorest in developing countries.

     

Can Darwinism be ��Generalized�� and of what use would this be?

It has been suggested that, by generalizing Darwinian principles, a common foundation can be derived for all scientific disciplines dealing with evolutionary processes, especially for evolutionary economics. We show, however, that in the development of evolutionary biology, the abstract principles of so-called “Generalized Darwinism” have not been crucial for distinguishing Darwinian from non-Darwinian approaches and, hence, cannot be considered genuinely Darwinian. Moreover, we wonder what can be gained by invoking the abstract principles of Generalized Darwinism given that they do not suffice to substantiate an explanation of actual evolutionary processes. To that end, specific hypotheses are required. They neither follow from the suggested abstract principles, nor are they more easily found on that basis. Accordingly, we find little evidence in the literature for the claim that generalized Darwinian principles enhance the explanatory power of an evolutionary approach to economics.