Food quality in domestic markets of developing economies: a comparative study of two countries

Food quality has become an important determinant of success in global food trade and growers for international markets have to continuously adjust to buyers’ requirements. It is, however, not clear to what extent there is a demand for food quality—and how much buyers are willing to pay for it—in domestic food markets of developing economies. Based on unique comparable price and trader data in a poor country in Africa (Madagascar) and an emerging economy in Asia (India), we compare food quality and quality's pricing. We find significantly better quality and higher quality premiums (using revealed as well as stated preference methods) in India than in Madagascar. These findings are consistent with a simple theoretical model, solely based on average income gaps between the two countries.     

Determinants of Deforestation and the Economics of Protection: An Application to Mexico

We estimate the probability of deforestation at the plot level for Chiapas and Oaxaca, two poor Mexican states with high levels of biodiversity. Results highlight the importance of physio–geographic endowments as well as policy variables and allow to test explicitly for aggregation bias. They also suggest that, if combined with information on the biodiversity value of specific plots, such models could be of great relevance for policy by allowing to identify the ex ante risk of deforestation.     

Two Worlds of Venture Capital: What Happened to U.S. and Dutch Early Stage Investment?

European attempts at imitation of U.S. venture capital have been less successful in stimulating high tech start-ups. Our analysis of the differences between Dutch and U.S. developments points at institutional and organizational differences as explanatory factors. Disappointing longer term performances of Dutch IPOs have caused the closure of the Dutch Parallelmarket. Indeterminate length of life of Dutch vc funds contributed to a loss of trust in early stage IPOs. The U.S. – in contrast – benefitted from contractually fixed length of life of venture capital funds. The U.S. share of early stage investment displayed a wave-like pattern, which is positively related to the number of IPOs and of vc firms. Interconnectedness and follow-on funds depress early stage investment.     

Price predictors in an extended hedonic regression framework: An application to wholesale cattle markets in Ethiopia

Livestock markets influence income generation for producers, but also accessibility and affordability of highly nutritious animal-sourced foods for consumers. Despite their importance, the functioning of livestock markets in lower-income countries is poorly understood and rarely studied compared to more developed countries. This study analyzes wholesale cattle markets in Ethiopia using a uniquely rich large-scale dataset covering both prices and cattle characteristics in 39 markets (in both highland and lowland areas) over a 10-year period, and hedonic regression models structured to understand both cattle price formation and seasonal and secular price dynamics. We show that cattle prices are influenced by a wide range of factors, including proxies for meat quality, religious fasting practices, climate-based seasonality but also climate shocks and availability of grazing land, competition from animal traction services, and rising consumer incomes. However, the implied effects of these factors are often significantly different in highland mixed crop-livestock areas compared to agro-pastoralist lowland areas, emphasizing the dualistic nature of cattle markets in Ethiopia. The analyses help inform the systemic challenges that Ethiopia will need to overcome to meet rising demand for beef products in the face of sustained income and population growth, as well as the adverse effects of climate change.