The ‘Neighbourhood Effect’: A multidisciplinary assessment of the case for farmer co-ordination in agri-environmental programmes

In this paper we present a multi-disciplinary analysis of the potential impacts of undertaking similar environmental actions on multiple farms in a small geographic area, using organic farming as a proxy for a co-ordinated approach. Recent papers have called for more co-ordinated efforts between farmers in terms of their environmental actions, but there has been limited applied research demonstrating the environmental benefits or the economic and social implications to farmers of this approach. Comparative analysis of biodiversity, soil and water, and farm profitability were undertaken in England on 32 matched farms in areas of low and high organic farming concentration; qualitative interviews were also conducted with 48 farmers living in two of the eight areas. Findings demonstrate higher overall levels of biodiversity on organic farms (particularly in “hotspot” areas) but this was not universal across the species groups investigated. Higher water infiltration rates were found in organic grasslands, which could prove to be a useful measure to combat flooding. In terms of the technical efficiency of producing these environmental gains, conventional and organic farms in hotspot areas demonstrated equivalent efficiency from a financial perspective. Socio-cultural research identified the different amounts of trust farmers have in their neighbours, based in part on their performance as ‘good farmers’. We discuss the neighbourhood effect with a multi-disciplinary approach and conclude that encouraging local farmer co-ordination can have clear environmental benefits without high economic cost, but must be undertaken with caution - specifically regarding the trade-offs between benefits, local geophysical and social characteristics, and assumptions made about inter-farmer trust.     

Optimal regulation under imperfect enforcement: Permits,tickets, or both?

Economic activity is often regulated through both permits and tickets (subsequent inspections). We study the effectiveness of such policies where corruption and an underground economy make enforcement imperfect. In the theoretical model, asymmetric information justifies regulatory action which is enforced by corruptible bureaucrats. We find that regulation through permits alone is useless when corruption exists, while tickets still offer some benefit. Surprisingly, we also find that a system with both permits and tickets achieves welfare that is higher than that which can be achieved with only tickets—that combining the two mechanisms has an effect that is greater than the “sum of the parts.”     

National levels of corruption and foreign direct investment

We model the relationship between bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) and the level of corruption in multinational firms’ (MCNs’) home and host countries. We construct and test a model of bilateral FDI between countries that differ in their levels of corruption. FDI is affected negatively both by the level of corruption in the host country and by differences in home- and host-country corruption. Our model emphasizes that MNCs develop skills for dealing with home-country corruption, and these skills become a competitive advantage in similarly corrupt host countries. We test the model using data on bilateral FDI stocks among a large number of home and host countries, using a variety of specifications and estimation strategies to provide robustness. Our results show that the effects of host-country corruption and of differences in corruption levels between home and host countries are statistically and economically significant.     

Technology,market policies and institutional reform for sustainable land use in southern Mali

To identify appropriate interventions that support sustainable land use; a farm household modelling approach is applied to analyze micro-economic supply reactions to various policy measures. The modelling framework links agro-technical and economic data, and takes both production and consumption decisions into account, allowing land use and production technology adjustments in accordance with farm household objectives. Different types of farm households are distinguished on the basis of their resource endowments, savings coefficients and time discount rate. Actual and alternative (sustainable) cropping and livestock activities for different weather regimes are defined for southern Mali. The effects on sustainable land use and expected farm household welfare of adopting alternative technologies and modifying prices, transaction costs, access to credit and land taxes are demonstrated. Even with full information on sustainable technologies, strong policy interventions are required to halt soil degradation. Structural policies proved to be more effective than price policies to reduce soil degradation while maintaining positive income effects. When prices are determined endogenously, structural policy loses some effectiveness as an incentive for sustainable land use due to the effect of additional supply on local cereal and meat Prices.     

Alliances Between Brands and Social Causes: The Influence of Company Credibility on Social Responsibility Image

This research extends previous findings related to the positive influence of company credibility on a social Cause–Brand Alliance’s (CBA) persuasion mechanism. This study analyzes the mediating role of two dimensions of company credibility (trustworthiness and expertise) with regard to the influence of altruistic attributions and two types of brand–cause fit (functional and image fit) on corporate social responsibility image. A structural equation model tests the proposed framework with a sample of 299 consumers, and the results suggest that (1) image fit and altruistic attribution are cues that consumers use to evaluate company trustworthiness when linking to a social cause; (2) functional fit significantly influences perceived company expertise but not trustworthiness; and (3) trustworthiness has more weight than expertise in judgments about corporate social responsibility.     

Attitudinal loyalty and trust in entrepreneurship: building new relationships

This paper studies the impact of attitudinal loyalty and trust in entrepreneurship, following a client-focused strategy. In this context, trust and commitment are the cornerstone of relationship marketing, and contributes positively to achieving attitudinal loyalty, which is suitable for the maintenance of relationships over time. This variable also acts as a facilitator or mediator on the influence satisfaction has on loyalty. We show that satisfaction has a positive impact on trust and attitudinal loyalty. Following structural equation modelling methodology we test all the relationships in a sample composed by travel agency customers.     

Labour,leisure and household income in rural settlements: an empirical assessment in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica

The relationship between labour use, the availability of leisure time and the generation of income in rural farm households is often depicted as an implicit or explicit trade-off. This article presents a review of current theories regarding the supply, demand and use of labour at farm household level, followed by an empirical assessment of time allocation of labour and the composition of farm household income in a sample of peasant households located in different types of agrarian settlements at the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica. Structural determinants of labour use and leisure choice, as well as the relationship between household income and the availability of leisure are determined. Major differences in land use and labour allocation between settlements according to the period of colonization (old or recent) and the type of colonization (spontaneous or organized) are outlined. Small farms in organized settlements rely on labour-intensive cropping systems that guarantee higher incomes at the expense of leisure, while farms in spontaneous and more remote settlements still maintain labour-extensive production with reliance on wage labour. Empirical evidence points towards a clear trade-off between leisure-time and marginal income as well as possibilities for substitution of family labour by hired labour to increase leisure. Personal characteristics ( i.e. education, age, work attitudes) and farm characteristics ( i.e. location, farm size, lifetime) are identified as relevant factors to explain leisure choice.     

Macroeconomic Volatility during Argentina’s Import Substitution Stage

In this article, I analyze the characteristics and sources of macroeconomic volatility for the case of Argentina during the import substitution industrialization (ISI). This case is particularly relevant since Argentina has been one of the most extreme examples of macroeconomic volatility in the Latin American region. I estimated a small vector auto regression (VAR) to approximate the main dynamic features of the Argentine economy during the ISI: the balance of trade improving but the 'contractionary' effect of devaluation, and the short-run persistence of 'political-economic' switching regimes. Counterfactual experimentation showed the impossibility of reaching a complete economic stabilization during the historical period under analysis and the existence of sharp tradeoffs among the internal balance, the external balance and policy volatility. It also indicated that at least a half of the observed policy volatility could be attributed to exogenous shocks. These results suggest that the performance of the Argentine economy during the ISI could have been better under more rational policy management but, surprisingly, that the improvement would not be as large as one would expect.     

The Abatement Market A Proposal for Environmental Cooperation among Asymmetric Countries

We present a model of interaction among technologically asymmetriccountries whose use of an open-access environmental resource generatesmutual externalities. We show that countries can improve bothenvironmental quality and their individual welfare levels by buying/sellingpollution abatement. This market mechanism, which reduces incentive forfree-riding, is more effective the larger the technological gap betweencountries.