Technology Adoption and Its Impact on Production Performance of Dairy Operations

Data from the 1993 Agricultural Resource Management Study were used to examine the impact of technology adoption on production performance of a sample of dairy farms. Findings showed that the adoption of a capital- or a management-intense technology would measurably lower the likelihood of a farmer being in the lowest quartile of production performance. The economic costs of milk production by the top-performance group were estimated to be 53% lower than those by the low-performance group, providing evidence of the importance of improved production practices to the viability of many dairy operations.     

AGRICULTURE IN THE URUGUAY ROUND: AMBITIONS AND REALITIES

Agricultural trade policies are basically a function of domestic policy considerations which have produced high levels of support in many countries. New policy instruments such as direct payments, which are more demanding in terms of information costs but which distort resource allocation less, are becoming more attractive. Unilateral liberalisation is, however, unlikely. Freer trade is a public good which requires international collective action to be provided. Countries which have a clear-cut trade interest in liberalising markets for commodities they export can play the role of catalyst in international co-ordination. The existence of big players is a favourable factor. Hence, the drift of the Round towards a co-ordination of US-EC interests. Both political economy and trade interest considerations suggest that an agreement reached will have its main impact on crops which are widely traded. The main constraining factor of an agreement on EC and US agriculture will be the discipline it will impose on the use of export subsidies. Agriculture will still not come fully under GATT rules which apply to other sectors, but in the future the CAP will be more constrained by international commitments than in the past.     

ADOPTION OF MODERN VARIETIES AND FERTILIZER USE ON RICE IN THE EASTERN TARAI OF NEPAL

Factors influencing the adoption of MV (modern variety) rices and fertilizer in the Tarai of southeastern Nepal were examined through multivariate probit (varietal adoption) and tobit (fertilizer adoption and use rates) regression models. This study reaffirms the finding that the adoption of modern rice technology is highest where irrigation exists. Tenure status and access to credit were significantly related to varietal adoption but family and farm size and the operator's education were not. Similar variables, in addition to fertilizer price, influenced the probability of fertilizer adoption and use rates on rice.     

Screening,Competition and the Choice of the Cooperative as an Organisational Form

Cooperatives are distinguished from investor-owned firms by different decision-making processes. A model is developed in which more cumbersome decision making by cooperatives may be compensated for by improved decision making. Conditions are derived under which cooperatives become efficient organisational forms. It is also shown that circumstances exist in which investor-owned firms and cooperatives can coexist in equilibrium. Finally, circumstances are identified in which competition results in a prisoners dilemma which comprises investor-owned firms only. Favourable public policy treatment of cooperatives may prevent this equilibrium outcome from occurring.     

Integrated energy systems: Challenges,trends, philosophy

The creation of an energy metasystem that combines electrical, heat, cooling, and gas supply systems on an intellectual framework is a manifestation of a new energy paradigm. Integrated intelligent power supply systems combine complexity, intelligence, efficiency, reliability, controllability, flexibility of energy conversion, transmission, storage technologies and assume an active consumer.     

Dynamic Adjustment to Regional Integration: Europe 1992 and NAFTA

Recent research on the gains to trade liberalization, especially in a number of papers by Richard Baldwin, suggests that the static gains to trade liberalization that many economists attempt to measure may be dwarfed by the dynamic gains. One source of these dynamic gains is through capital accumulation. A similar argument can be made regarding the consequences of regional integration. As distortions are removed the effects of aggregate output through dynamic adjustments are likely to be larger than simple static calculations suggest. This paper focuses on the issue of the dynamic gains to regional integration for two recent episodes, European integration known as Europe 1992, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The paper provides empirical results on the size and nature of global and regional adjustments to these two examples of regional integration. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 1994, 8(4), pp. 422–453. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia; and Brookings Institution, Washington, DC 20036.