Quel prix pour la sécurite alimentaire? Une évaluation contingente suite à la crise européenne de la ≪ vache folle ≫

L'hypothèse d'une éventuelle contamination humaine par la maladie de Creutzfeldt‐Jakob, par le biais du prion de I'encéphalite spongiforme bovine (ESB), faite en 1996 par le ministre de la santé anglais a étéè l'origine d'une perte de confiance des consommateurs dans la viande de b?uf. Lew comportement en France a étéétudié a partir d'une enquête menée en 1997, auprés d'un échantillon représentatif de 700 personnes résidant dans l'agglomération de Rennes en Bretagne. L'enquête présente aux personnes interrogées un scénario contingent visant èévaluer leur consentement è payer (CAP) afin de disposer d'une viande pour laquelle tout risque de contamination par l'ESB est écarté. Un processus original de révélation des CAP a été utilisé, combinant la méthode du référendum et un système d'enchères. Le CAP moyen obtenu est relativement élevé puisqu'il atteint 22 % du prix initial de la viande. Un modéle micro‐économique visant è expliquer la valeur du CAP du consommateur pour une sécurité alimentaire totale par rapport è l'ESB est alors présenté. De cette formalisation micro‐economique découle une spécification économétrique correspondant au modele multinomial logit ordonnéè seuils connus. Parmi les variables ayant un role determinant dans le choix du CAP des consommateurs figurent notamment la confiance dans les indications géographiques et les labels. After the British Minister of Health admitted a possible link between the BSE prion and the Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease in 1996, consumers lost confidence in the beef sector. This paper analyses consumers behavior after the BSE crisis in France in 1997, based on a survey using a random sample of 700 people located in the area of Rennes (Bretagne). Particularly, a contingent scenario was proposed to the respondents to elicit their willingness to pay (WTP) to have beef which would not transmit CJD using a mix of the referendum method and the bidding process. The mean WTP reaches 22% and is consistent with results obtained in other studies. A microeconomic model is proposed and an econometric approach based on an ordered logit model is developed. Among the significant variables, it is interesting to note the role of stamps of quality to explains consumers'behavior. Such variables prove the interest of a transparency and tracability policy to restore the consumers confidence.     

Epidemiology of unintentional drowning in a metropolis of the French Mediterranean coast: a retrospective analysis (2000–2011)

Drowning affects more than 500,000 people worldwide and is responsible for at least 350,000 deaths each year. In France, 1235 drowning resulting in 496 deaths were recorded in the summer 2012. This retrospective study has investigated the epidemiology of drowning in the city of Marseille (South of France) between 2000 and 2011. We identified 449 cases of unintentional drowning. The highest incidence was found among males with a median age of 36 years. The incidence was 5.3 victims per 10,000 inhabitants with a mortality rate of 1.2 per 10,000. These accidents occurred mainly at sea (89%) and during the summer season. A majority of drowning victims (69%) were admitted in a hospital. This is the only study in France to analyse data on drowning throughout the year and over a long period. Drowning is a serious condition burdened by 22% of victims who die.     

The Relevance of XBRL Voluntary Disclosure for Stock Market Valuation: The Role of Corporate Governance

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relevance for stock market pricing of accounting earnings of voluntary disclosures in XBRL files considering the quality of corporate governance. Results are the following. It appears that XBRL extensions attract financial analysts. Good governance is positively associated with voluntary XBRL extensions. We observe that XBRL extensions enhance the positive relationship between accounting earnings and stock price. However, this positive association is reduced for firms with good governance, suggesting a substitution effect between XBRL extensions and corporate governance. Finally, it appears that XBRL extensions would strategically be related to earnings quality. This research highlights the importance to consider governance when assessing the value relevance of XBRL disclosures for stock market pricing.     

Doha Merchandise Trade Reform: What Is at Stake for Developing Countries?

The LINKAGE model of the global economy and the latest GlobalTrade Analysis Project (GTAP) database (version 6.05) are usedto examine the impact of current merchandise trade barriersand agricultural subsidies and possible reform outcomes of theWorld Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Doha DevelopmentAgenda. The results suggest that moving to free global merchandisetrade would boost real incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa proportionatelymore than in other developing countries or in high-income countries,despite the terms of trade loss in parts of that region. Particularattention is given to agriculture, as farmers constitute thepoorest households in developing countries but the most assistedin rich countries. Net farm incomes would rise substantiallyin Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing country regions,alleviating rural poverty. Partial liberalization could movethe world some way toward those desirable outcomes, the moreso the more developing countries themselves cut applied tariffs,particularly on agricultural imports.     

Targeting Revisited

Public spending programs aimed at alleviating poverty can eitherbe broadly targeted at categories ofspending or narrowly targetedat types of people. Each approach has benefits and costs tothe poor. It is often claimed that narrow targeting of the poorwill allow governments to reduce pQverty more effectively andat lower cost. But narrow targeting often has hidden costs,and once these costs are considered, the most finely targetedpolicy may not have any more effect on poverty than a broadlytargeted one. Both approaches also have hidden benefits, althoughless is known about their impact. Targeting can help, but itis not a cure-all. Reducing poverty calls for broadly targetedsocial sector spending combined with narrower targeting of cashand in-kind transfers to spec groups. It is also important forgovernments to experiment with schemes that offer better incentives,to carefully monitor the costs and outcomes, and to be flexibleand pragmatic in their policy responses.      

QUANTIFYING ABSOLUTE POVERTY IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

We estimate that in 1985 about one in five persons in the developing world lived in poverty, judged by the standards of the poorest countries. This rises to one in three at a common, more generous, poverty line. The aggregate consumption short-fall of the poorest fifth is about one half of one percent of world consumption, while that of the poorest third is a further one percent. The shape of the distribution of consumption suggests that aggregate poverty would fall fairly rapidly if moderate growth in average consumption levels can be sustained, and the poor share at least proportionally in that growth. However, it would take only small adverse shifts in the world distribution of consumption to eliminate the gains to the poor from growth.     

Entrepreneurship and the Division of Ownership in New Ventures

The current study investigates a tripartite incentive contract between an innovator supplying an intellectual asset, a professional assigned to productive tasks, and a consulting firm specializing in matching ideas and professional skills. A rather simple pure tripartite partnership implements the consultant's expected profit maximum and maximizes the project's expected surplus. The liquidity-constrained professional is compensated by receiving a share of one half in the new venture. The consultant's and the innovator's shares reflect the relative value of search. However, the consultant's optimal search effort to find an appropriate production partner is inefficiently low .     

The dark side of making transit irresistible: The example of France

The French experience in developing policies to reduce car use in metropolitan areas is presented in this paper as an illustration of the lack of recognition of the broader set of criteria on which specific policy frameworks should be judged. One of the major challenges, and often failings of policies focussed on reducing car use, is the lack of a structure that ensures that the downside impacts are not relocated to other parts of a system such that potential gains end up being eroded by the potential losses. We draw on experiences throughout France, as well as case studies in Lyon, to highlight the dark side of French transport policy promoting a switch from car to public transit and non-motorised modes, in terms of financial, equity and environmental outcomes.     

The Basic Analytics of Access to Financial Services

Access to financial services, or rather the lack thereof, is often indiscriminately decried as problem in many developing countries. This paper argues that the “problem of access” should rather be analyzed by identifying different demand and supply constraints. We use the concept of an access possibilities frontier, drawn for a given set of state variables, to distinguish between cases where a financial system settles below the constrained optimum, cases where this constrained optimum is too low, and—in credit services—cases where the observed outcome is excessively high. We distinguish between payment and savings services and fixed intermediation costs, on the one hand, and lending services and different sources of credit risk, on the other hand. We include both supply and demand side frictions that can lead to lower access. The analysis helps identify bankable and banked population, the binding constraint to close the gap between the two, and policies to prudently expand the bankable population. This new conceptual framework can inform the debate on adequate policies to expand access to financial services and can serve as basis for an informed measurement of access.