The Economic Effects of Intervention in Canadian Agriculture

Interventions affecting producers and consumers of agricultural commodities are a major topic of public debate in Canada at present. The impact of federal interventions affecting eight commodities (wheal, barley, oats, potatoes, beef, pork, poultry and eggs) is examined using concepts of nominal and effective protection. Lessons to be drawn from this analysis are that intervention is much more pervasive than is often realized, and that decisions about altering intervention must be made commodity-by-commodity because the economic situation of each is unique.
Les interventions affectant les producteurs el les consommateurs de denrées agricoles. est un sujet majeur de débat public au Canada, en ce moment. Ľimpact des interventions affectionnant huit denreés (le blé, ľorge. ľavoine, les pommes de terre. le hoeuf, le porc, la volaille el les oeufs) est examiné en utilisant des concepts de protection nominate et effective. Les conclusions devant être tirées de cette analyse, sont que ľintervention est beaucoup plus répandue que ľon peul le réaliser. et qu 'il est conseillé. en ce qui concerne les modifications sur ľintervention. de procéder denrée par denrée. car la situation économique de chacune ďentre elle est unique.     

加拿大“可抵税流转股票”政策借鉴与启示

"可抵税流转股票"(Flow-through shares)是加拿大通过财税手段鼓励矿产勘查等产业投融资的政策工具,其核心是将勘查公司享受的抵税政策"流转"(Flow-through)给投资者,由投资者享受该政策。该政策不仅适用于(固体)矿产勘查,还适用于油气资源、绿色能源,对我国政府在事关"可持续发展"领域运用"公共政策",引导鼓励民间资本投资具有一定政策借鉴意义。     

吉林省农业绿箱政策的实证研究

本文利用实证研究，以1996-2003年吉林省财政数据为依据，对照WTO规则对吉林省绿箱支持水平进行了测算，并进一步利用熵值分析方法，对绿箱支持的结构及稳定性进行了计量分析。研究结果表明，吉林省农业科技、自然灾害救助和农村扶贫方面的投资具有较高的稳定性，吉林省绿箱政策的各项投资稳定性顺序与符合效率原则的投资优先序并不完全一致，绿箱政策投资结构仍未完全理顺。     

Activists and Animal Welfare: Quality Verifications in the Canadian Pork Sector

Animal welfare is an emotive topic. Although most governments legislate against outright animal cruelty, animal welfare organisations have actively lobbied for more stringent farm animal welfare regulations. Food retailers and restaurant chains have faced pressure from animal welfare organisations to implement more stringent animal welfare requirements for their suppliers. Is the demand for more stringent farm animal welfare protocols primarily determined by a subset of consumers with very strong preferences or does it signal a more fundamental underlying change in societal preferences? Given the credence nature of farm animal welfare, whom do consumers trust for credible quality assurances? This article analyses the role of quality verification in a market characterised by consumers with heterogeneous preferences for animal welfare. Of particular interest are the relative strength of preferences for humane animal treatment assurances and the credibility of these quality claims. Using data from a Canadian survey targeted at two distinct samples – a general population group and members of animal welfare organisations – a discrete choice experiment is used to assess consumer attitudes towards animal welfare assurances for pork products. The credibility of quality verification by public sector, private sector and third party agents is assessed. Evidence confirms that consumer preferences for farm animal welfare assurance and the source of verification are indeed heterogeneous. Although a portion of consumers remain largely indifferent to pork products with animal welfare assurances, a group of highly motivated consumers exist with an economic incentive to lobby for tougher animal welfare standards.     

Obstacles Expected and Steps Required in Implementation of a Sound Policy for Canadian Agriculture1

This paper discusses the requirements for developing improved policies for agriculture. Focussing primarily on public policy, the informational needs of policy-makers and researchers are outlined. The conclusions are that more attention must be directed to goals, to policy as a process, and to communications within the overall agricultural industry. The problems of agricultural policy development are in turn shown to be related to fundamental characteristics of the society in which we live. OBSTACLES PRÉVUS ET ÉTAPES À SUIVRE DANS LA MISE EN OEUVRE D'UNE SAINE POLITIQUE POUR VAGR1CULTURE CANA-DIENNE–Le present mémoire traite des besoins délaboration de politiques améliorées pour l'agriculture. Visant surtout l'ordre public, il souligne les besoins de renseignements des createurs de programmes et des chércheurs. Les conclusions en sont que plus d'attention doit être portée awe objectifs, à la politique comme un processus, et aux communications au sein de l'ensem-ble de l'industrie agricole. II démontre aussi que les problèmes délaboration d'une politique agricole sont connexes aux caractéristiques fondamentales de lensemble de la société où nous vivons.     

Traceability in the Canadian Red Meat Sector: Do Consumers Care?

Increased traceability of food and food ingredients through the agri-food chain has featured in recent industry initiatives in the Canadian livestock sector and is an important facet of the new Canadian Agricultural Policy Framework (APF). While traceability is usually implicitly associated with ensuring food safety and delivering quality assurances, there has been very little economic analysis of the functions of traceability systems and the value that consumers place on traceability assurances. This paper examines the economic incentives for implementing traceability systems in the meat and livestock sector. Experimental auctions are used to assess the willingness to pay of Canadian consumers for a traceability assurance, a food safety assurance, and an on-farm production method assurance for beef and pork products. Results from these laboratory market experiments provide insights into the relative value for Canadian consumers of traceability and quality assurances. Traceability, in the absence of quality verification, is of limited value to individual consumers. Bundling traceability with quality assurances has the potential to deliver more value.     

Competition Policy and Food Sector in the European Union

The article reviews the enforcement of the EU competition policy in the food sector in order to evaluate its actual ability to promote a fair and efficient food supply. Competition policy is scrutinized stemming from the different perspectives offered by 3 antitrust schools, namely, the Harvard, the Chicago, and the post-Chicago Schools. The main finding of the article is that with reforms carried out in the 1990s, EU competition policy has followed the shift that occurred in the United States since the late 1970s from the traditionalist Harvard School to the Chicago and post-Chicago Schools of antitrust. The general effect of this shift has been a significant drop in antitrust enforcement and merger control activity. As a consequence, currently competition policy is not able to tackle the wide range of social and economic problems associated with the overwhelming power of large agrofood corporations.     

Modeling and Measuring Productivity in the Agri-Food Sector: Trends, Causes and Effects

This article overviews recent trends in modeling and measuring productivity patterns, and in distinguishing their determinants and implications, for the agri-food sector. Theoretical methodologies as well as empirical implementation and results are discussed, with a view toward identifying those with potential for facilitating understanding of productivity measures, and ultimately using them for policy guidance. Productivity growth evidence for the food systems of the U.S., Canada and the U.K. is summarized, and recent studies distinguishing underlying causes of production structure patterns and linking them with market-structure patterns are reviewed, as a basis for assessing the key messages from and trends in this literature.
L'auteurfait un survol de révolution récente dans les domaines de la modélisation et de la mesure des courbes de productivité ainsi que de la caractérisation de leurs determinants et de leurs significations pour le secteur agroalimentaire. Il passe en revue les méthodes théoriques aussi bien que les applications empiriques et leurs résultats afin d'en dégager ceux qui pourraient faciliter la comprehension des mesures de la productivité et qui, éventuellement, pourraient servir de guide awe décideurs. L'auteur analyse les signes de croissance de la productivité des filières agroalimentaires observés aux Etats-Unis, au Canada et au Royaume-Uni. Enfln il examine les études récentes sur les causes sous-jacentes des évolutions des structures de production et sur leurs liens avec l'évolution des structures de marché, dans le but d'en dégager les messages et les tendances dés.     

“工业反哺农业、城市支持农村”的经济学分析

本文论证了实施反哺农业和支持农村的战略，并不意味着实行对农业的保护政策，而是顺应经济发展规律的要求，创造良好的劳动力流动的环境，建立有保障的资金向农业、农村流动的机制，增强农业基本资源和生产条件的可持续性，提高农村的社会发展水平，形成一个和谐、平衡的城乡关系格局。本文还探讨了反哺农业的条件和时机，并就如何实施反哺农业和支持农村的战略提出若干政策建议。     

我国市场农业相关因子的实证分析及政策建议

文章利用C—D生产函数,对全国28个省份的2000—2003年相关数据进行实证分析,得出东部省份市场农业的主要影响因子为交通里程和商贸从业人数,中部省份市场农业的主要影响因子为商贸从业人数,西部省份市场农业的主要影响因子分别为通讯条件和商贸从业人数。在此基础上,文章提出要大力培养农村市场营销人才,加强农产品物流企业建设,稳步推进农村公路建设,实施通讯设施区域化建设战略。