Influence of livelihoods on climate change adaptation for smallholder farmers in the Mekong Delta Vietnam

Farmers in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta face a wide range of climate-related and hydrological factors which threaten rice production. Smallholder farmers must adapt to climate change to sustain rice production as their central and most important livelihood activity. A sample was stratified across agro-ecological areas in the Delta affected by flooding, alluvial soils, acid sulphate soils, and saline water intrusion and by derived farmer typologies. A rural livelihoods approach was used in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to identify and enumerate enabling and constraining adaptation factors. Smallholders experienced diverse natural hazards such as floods, abnormal rains, high temperatures, water scarcity, and salinity intrusion specific to the agro-ecological areas. Adaptation was constrained by labour shortages, water quality, topography, access to combine harvesters, transportation infrastructure, dryers and household savings. Adaptation was enabled by farming techniques and experience, cooperative groups, water quantity, access to information, and ability to purchase agro-chemicals through credit. Small farmers (< 1?ha) were more constrained than large farmers (> 1?ha) who had an expanded livelihood asset base. A range of policy implications are discussed, but adaptation is not just about technological fixes but requires overall improvements in a range of human, social and financial components.     

A method for reducing information asymmetry in destination–airline relationships

We propose a measure of business risk in air travel demand at the route level that can reduce information asymmetry during route development negotiations between tourism destinations and airlines. Aviation-exposed risk (AER) conveys information about the level of uncertainty with regard to air travel demand from an airline’s perspective. Using AER, tourism destinations and air service development teams can evaluate their risks from the perspective of the airline and its network. From there, an assessment can be made as to the value of air services in certain circumstances, including whether a direct underwrite or risk share between airlines and destinations is viable and necessary. By applying a portfolio analysis to an airline’s network, we find evidence that AER does indeed mimic the actual capacity distribution of the network. This provides support for AER as a useful risk measure to be used in practice.     

The public house and its role in society's margins

The aim of this conceptual paper is to explore the contribution of the British public house (pub) to marginalised sections of the community. There is a long tradition that celebrates the pub's quasi-egalitarian ethos as welcoming people from all walks of life. However, increased financial pressures on the pub sector dictate an evolution in this role, especially towards disadvantaged sections of society. This situation merits further examination by researchers, managers and policy makers. The paper draws on evidence from different traditions of research including management, sociology, history and geography, to develop a conceptual framework highlighting the issues facing these stakeholders in today's business environment.     

COMPETITION VERSUS STABILITY IN BANKING

COLLECTED WORKS OF WALTER BAGEHOT: THE ECONOMIC ESSAYS, VOLUMES IX—XI, edited by Norman St John Stevas     

农民权益保障视角下的土地征用程序研究*——以河北省5个建设项目为例

[目的]以河北省奥运村核心区、京张高铁、大唐电厂、京蔚高速、延崇高速5个建设项目为研究对象,分析我国现行征地程序制度在实际实施中存在的问题,并提出有针对性的政策建议,为我国征地程序的完善和征地工作的开展提供参考。[方法]通过问卷调查和访谈了解农民对于征地的认知,从自由的事先知情的同意(FPIC)原则的4个方面对征地程序制度及实施情况进行对比分析。[结果](1)我国的土地征用程序不能完全符合FPIC原则,(2)征地程序实施的偏差使农民权益受损,(3)征地中的非正式治理方式激化征地矛盾,(4)政府和农民的对立关系破坏平等协商机制,(5)政府对不同规模征地项目的实施行为存在明显差异。[结论]保障农民权益和减少用地矛盾需要从FPIC层面完善征地程序,增强在实施中的程序公开和透明,并打破政府和农民之间的对话壁垒,实现协商的"全过程性"和"灵活性"。     

The economic role of Russia's subsistence agriculture in the transition process

In this article, we analyze the role of subsistence‐oriented agriculture in Russia in the 1990s. We start out by discussing the diverging economic effects of the growth of subsistence agriculture in Russia since the transition process started. The quantitative analysis of this sector's role is carried out by means of an applied computable general equilibrium (CGE) model applying a 1994 social accounting matrix (SAM) as base year data. The novelty of the article is to disaggregate primary agricultural production not by products but by farm types, which enables us to distinguish their institutional and economic characteristics. The model also explicitly differentiates between marketed and subsistence consumption or formal and informal marketing activities of agricultural producers. We simulate two ex post and two ex ante experiments. The results of the first backward‐looking experiment highlight that Russia's subsistence agriculture was an important buffer against further agricultural output declines during transition and, hence, against food insecurity. A simulation, which looks into the effects of a devaluation of the Russian ruble, shows that the financial crisis should have increased the relative competitiveness particularly of large‐scale crop farms versus small‐scale farms. Two forward‐looking experiments indicate that efficiency enhancing institutional change would benefit both large‐scale and small‐scale farms. However, within small‐scale agriculture, a shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture would take place.     

UNDERWRITING ASSISTANCE TO THE AUSTRALIAN WHEAT INDUSTRY — AN APPLICATION OF OPTION PRICING THEORY

For the ten crop seasons 1979-80 to 1988-89, returns to producers in the Australian wheat industry were underwritten by a government-guaranteed price floor. Similar schemes operate in other rural industries (dairy, apples and pears, dried fruits). Although the underwriting provisions have only been triggered once (in the 1986-87 season), the provision of this scheme has acted to reduce the risk normally associated with returns to producers of wheat in all years of its operation. This reduction in risk has been granted free-of-charge by the Commonwealth Government. The guaranteed price can be viewed as a put option taken out by the Government on behalf of growers — it gives growers the option to sell to the Australian Wheat Board at this floor price. The aim of this paper is to apply to this underwriting arrangement the Black-Scholes formula for valuing options, in order to estimate the cost that growers would otherwise have had to pay to obtain cover (through put options) equivalent to the guaranteed price. We also estimate the magnitude of this form of assistance to the industry, which (until now) has not been taken into account unless the returns to growers fell below the guaranteed price.