ASPECTS OF FARM PROFITABILITY: AN OUTMODED CONCEPT? PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

The paper begins by recording Journal articles since 1952 of relevance to farming incomes and efficiency, and follows by reviewing the literature on measuring farmers' incomes and the problems entailed, including consideration of non-farming incomes and capital gains and their relevance to agricultural policy. Definitions of ‘profit’ in selected economic texts are then compared, together with attempts to measure ‘pure profit’ from farming. Suitable charges for management and interest are then determined and estimates made of net profits and losses from different types of farming in 1986/7 and 1987/8 for both average and ‘top’ farms. Real farming incomes and capital gains from land from 1938 to 1988 are then discussed. The paper concludes by summarising why the concept of profitability from farming has now largely lost its significance—though not for all farmers.     

AIDS and agricultural production. Report of a land utilization survey,Masaka and Rakai districts of Uganda

Increased AIDS mortality and other preexisting conditions have contributed to agricultural productivity declines in the districts of Masaka and Rakai in Uganda. These two districts were the most fertile in Uganda and also had the highest HIV seroprevalence rates in Africa. 66% of study households experienced land use decline to some extent over the past 5 years. The 11% decline in poultry production and 32% decline in cattle production was reportedly due to poor management and loss of grazing land from overpopulation and larger scale farms. The most frequently reported reasons for crop reductions were death and sickness; these was estimated as affecting 8% of families with children under 5 years in the study area. Morbidity and mortality as a reason for the decline was reported two times as much as poverty and decline in international coffee prices. Other reasons for loss of productivity were food shortages and insecurity, loss of income, and reduced ability to respond to educational and medical needs. Cassava is replacing the culturally preferred matooke banana as a crop that is more disease-, pest-, and drought resistant. The banana weevil has been a recent problem. Marginal farming systems have been the most affected by declines in land use and livestock production, but fertile areas have not been spared the impact from AIDS and adult mortality. Poverty has decreased the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers in the districts. Policy has had an impact on agricultural practices: population growth and inheritance have added to loss of individual land holdings and contributed to fallow periods and infertility. Appropriate land management practices have not been adequately promoted in the agricultural extension service. Civil wars and the drop in coffee prices have reduced the number of farm laborers. Common grazing land has been turned over to large commercial ranches. Government should maintain research and monitoring of declines in food and cash crop production and manpower needs. Policy must be designed to respond to the complicated factors affecting productivity. High AIDS prevalence areas and marginal areas where reduced production effects would be the most severe must be given priority status. Development of cash crop alternatives must be examined and perhaps supported on an experimental basis by donor agencies. Maximum productivity should be encouraged by rural extension and education agencies. A number of other specific recommendations were made for individual survival strategies to maintain high agricultural productivity.     

The Local Economic Impacts of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan in Saskatchewan

The North American Waterfowl Management Plan seeks to improve wildlife habitat and increase waterfowl numbers through voluntary transactions with farmers to modify their land management practices. The impact of modified land use practices on the incomes of participating farmers and the regional economy are estimated. The compensation offered under the Plan for modification of land use is determined to adequately offset any loss in participants' income. Income losses to the community due to reduced farm input sales were more than offset by the increase in NAWMP direct expenditures (excluding compensation payments). Distributional effects and externalities must be recognized and monitored to ensure success of the program     

The Long Run Growth and Productivity Performance of the United Kingdom

This paper examines Britain's long run growth and productivity performance since the late nineteenth century, taking an international comparative perspective and disaggregating by sector. Britain was richer than the United States and Germany in 1870 largely because of high levels of labour productivity in services and agriculture rather than in industry, together with a highly favourable structure, particularly a small share of the labour force in agriculture. By 1990, the productivity gap in manufacturing had not grown bigger. Rather, the deterioration in Britain's overall comparative labour productivity position has been concentrated in services and agriculture, together with the effects of structural change, particularly the later shift of labour out of agriculture in the United States and Germany.     

HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS OF THE ACA MEDICAID EXPANSION ON HOSPITAL FINANCIAL OUTCOMES

This study examines the effect of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion on hospital financial outcomes. A key innovation relative to prior studies is that we explicitly account for heterogeneity across states in the timing and extent of the expansion as well as across hospital types. We find that Medicaid expansion led to a decrease in uncompensated care expenditures and an increase in average operating margins. The effects were larger in states where the Medicaid expansion led to a greater increase in program eligibility. Operating margins improved most for public hospitals and facilities located in rural areas. (JEL I11, I13, I18)     

The Relationship Between Economic Understanding and the Social Studies Curriculum

Much research is needed to determine the extent to which the high school social studies curriculum, and certain courses within that curriculum, contribute toward economic understanding. Boddy and Tocco report on their attempt to assess the social studies curriculum in Southwest Florida. They also single out one required course, Americanism vs. Communism, which was designed to “emphasize the free-enterprise-competitive economy of the United States,” and measure its impact on a sample of high school seniors. The findings are not encouraging. Although this study applies to one limited geographic area, others may find it interesting because it suggests the need for similar research in other parts of the nation.     

Institutions for private sector development and pro‐poor growth: Evidence from Vietnam

Using the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey 2008, we explore the differences in pro‐poor growth performance in provinces in Vietnam according to the quality of the provinces’ institutions that support private sector activity. We exploit the localized and varying effect of French colonial legacy across Vietnamese provinces to address the endogeneity of institutions. We find strong and robust evidence of a positive effect of good‐quality institutions that support private sector activity on pro‐poor growth and that enhanced working hours and hourly wage and extended income from non‐farm self‐employment play critical roles in this outcome.     

Estimating the gravity model when zero trade flows are frequent and economically determined

ABSTRACT

Since the 1950s, we have known that the presence of zero-valued dependent variables can seriously bias econometric estimates whether the zeros are included or excluded. Yet the widely-used gravity model is frequently estimated on samples that include large fractions of zeros. An influential paper by Santos Silva and Tenreyro – based on simulations that include no economically-determined zeros – concludes that the bias problems resulting from zeros and those resulting from heteroscedasticity and nonlinearity can be solved using the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum-Likelihood (PPML) model including the zero values. This paper begins by adapting the Santos Silva and Tenreyro experimental design to include economically-determined zeros to see whether this conclusion continues to hold. With this design, it finds that alternative estimators have lower bias than PPML. Changing to a Monte Carlo design that replicates the much-higher real-world frequency of predicted values near zero restores the finding of lower bias with the PPML estimator. The results highlight the need for very careful design of Monte Carlo experiments when evaluating alternative estimators of the gravity model.     

Rich Nations, Poor Nations: How Much Can Multiple Equilibria Explain?

This paper asks whether the income gap between rich and poor nations can be explained by multiple equilibria. We explore the quantitative implications of a simple two-sector general equilibrium model that gives rise to multiplicity, and calibrate the model for 127 countries. Under the assumptions of the model, around a quarter of the world’s economies are found to be in a low output equilibrium. We also find that, since the output gains associated with an equilibrium switch are sizeable, the model can explain between 15 and 25% of the variation in the logarithm of GDP per worker across countries.