A Cost‐Based Model of Seasonal Production with Application to Milk Policy

Milk production is seasonal in many European countries. While quantity seasonality poses capacity management problems for dairy processors, an EU policy goal is to reduce price seasonality. After developing a model of endogenous seasonality, we study the effects of three EU policies on production decisions. These are private storage subsidies, production removals, and production quotas. When cost functions are seasonal in a specified way, then arbitrage opportunities interact with storage subsidies to reduce both price and consumption seasonality. But production seasonality is likely to increase because storage subsidies promote temporal market integration. Conditions are identified under which product market interventions increase quantity seasonality.     

Transatlantic Differences in Consumer Preferences

Transatlantic Differences in Consumer Preferences The EU prohibits imports of hormone-treated beef and is about to impose labelling and traceability requirements on GMOs. Both policies have created growing unease on the part of exporting countries. The EU claims that public health concerns and consumers' preferences justify the trade restrictions, while exporters maintain that the rules serve primarily to protect domestic agriculture by limiting international competition. In a consumer study in France, Germany, the UK, and the US, we determine if consumers' preferences, as reflected in willingness-to-pay estimates, are different across the Atlantic. Our study covered two products: beef from cattle treated by hormones and from cattle fed genetically modified corn. Our results suggest that French consumers are willing to pay more than US consumers for beef from cattle not administered hormones. There are, however, no significant differences among German, UK and US consumers. In contrast, consumers in France, Germany and the UK are willing to pay more for beef from animals not fed GM corn than are US consumers. Given these results and current policy developments, it seems unlikely that the EU will retract its labelling requirements on GM food and feed, and future trade disputes are likely to emerge. Des consommateurs différents d'une rive de l'Atlantique à l'autre l'Union Européenne interdit l'importation de viande aux hormones, et s'apprête à imposer des normes d'étiquetage et de traçabilité pour les OGM. Dans chaque cas, les pays exportateurs ont été choqués par ces politiques. l'UE soutient que la santé publique et les préférences des consommateurs justifient de telles entorses au libéralisme, cependant que les pays exportateurs restent dans l' idée qu'il ne s'agit là que de moyens de protéger ragriculture rationale de la concurrence internationale. Nous avons essayé de vérifier si les préférences rationales, telles qu'elles sont définies par le consentement à payer, sont réellement différentes d'une rive à l'autre de l'Atlantique, à partir de l'étude d'un échantillon de consommateurs recrutés en France, Grande Bretagne, Allemagne et Etats Unis. Notre étude concerne deux produits:le bœuf traité aux hormones, et le bœuf nourri au maïs génétiquement modifyé. Les résultats montrent que les Français sont mieux disposés que les Américains à payer plus cher du bceuf non traité aux hormones. En dehors de cela, il n'y a pas de grosses différences entre les consommateurs anglais, allemands, et américains pour ce produit. Par contre, pour ce qui concerne le bœuf nourri au maïs OGM, il apparaît que les Britanniques, les Français et les Allemands sont bien plus disposés que les Américains à payer un surprixpour l'éviter. Dans ces conditions, et au vu des derniers développements politiques, on ne voit pas comment éviter que l'UE ne maintienne ses exigences en matière d'OGM pour l'alimentation humaine ou celledu bétail, ce qui entraînera sans doute une nouvelle guerre commerciale. Transatlantische Unterschiede bei verbraucherpräferenzen Die EU verbietet den Import von ormonbehandeltem Rindfleisch und wird in Kürze Rückverfolgbarkeit und Kennzeichnungspflicht bei GVOs verlangen. Diese beiden Maßnahmen werden von den Exportländem mißbiliigt. Die EU beruft sich darauf, dass diese Handelsrestriktionen durch die Sorge um die öffentliche Gesundheit und durch die Verbraucherpräferenzen gerechtfertigt seien. Die Exporteure führen an, dass diese Verordnungen primär dem Schutze der einheimischen Landwirtschaft dienten, da sie den internationalen Wettbewerb einschränken. In einer Verbraucherstudie in Frankreich, Deutschland, Großbritannien und den USA wird anhand von Schätzungen der Zahiungsbereitschaft ermittelt, ob es bei den Verbraucherpräferenzen tatsächlich transatlantische Unterschiede gibt. Die Studie umfasste zwei Erzeugnisse: Rindfleisch von hormonbehandelten Tieren und von Tieren, die mit genetisch verändertem Mais gefüttert worden waren. Die Resultate legen es nahe, dass französische Verbraucher mehr als US amerikanische Verbraucher bereit sind, einen höheren Preis für Rindfleisch von Tieren zu zahlen, welchen keine Hormone verabreicht wurden. Es sind jedoch keine signiflkanten Unterschiede zwischen deutschen, britischen und US-amerikanischen Verbrauchern vorhanden. Andererseits sind Franzosen, Deutsche und Briten mehr als US-amerikanische Verbraucher bereit, einen höheren Preis für Rindfleisch von Tieren zu zahlen, welche nicht mit genetisch verändertem Mais gefüttert wurden. In Anbetracht dieser Ergebnisse und der aktuellen politischen Entwicklungen erscheint es unwahrscheinlich, dass die EU die Verordnung zur Kennzeichnung von genetisch veränderten Lebensmitteln und Futtermitteln zurücknehmen wird. Zukünftige Handelskontroversen sind zu erwarten.     

The Maddison Project: collaborative research on historical national accounts

The Maddison Project, initiated in March 2010 by a group of close colleagues of Angus Maddison, aims to develop an effective system of cooperation between scholars to continue Maddison's work on measuring economic performance in the world economy. This article is a first product of the project. Its goal is to explain the aims and approach of the project, and, as a first result of this ‘collaboratory’, to inventory recent research on historical national accounts. We also briefly discuss some of the problems related to these historical statistics and we extend and where necessary revise the estimates published by Maddison in his latest overviews. Most new work relates to the period before 1820; it leads to a reassessment of levels of GDP per capita in western Europe in the early modern period, and to a confirmation of Maddison's previous estimates of Asian levels of real income.     

The ‘light touch’ of the Black Death in the Southern Netherlands: an urban trick?

Although the fanciful notion that the Black Death bypassed the Low Countries has long been rejected, nevertheless a persistent view remains that the Low Countries experienced only a ‘light touch’ of the plague when placed in a broader European perspective, and recovered quickly and fully. However, in this article an array of dispersed sources for the Southern Netherlands together with a new mortmain accounts database for Hainaut show that the Black Death was severe, perhaps no less severe than other parts of western Europe; that serious plagues continued throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and that the Black Death and recurring plagues spread over vast territories—including the countryside. The previous conception of a ‘light touch’ of plague in the Low Countries was created by the overprivileging of particular urban sources, and a failure to account for the rapid replenishment of cities via inward migration, which obscured demographic decimation. We suggest that the population of the Low Countries may not have recovered faster than other parts of western Europe but instead experienced a greater degree of post‐plague rural–urban migration.     

Setting priorities in farm animal conservation choices--expert opinion and revealed policy preferences

We consider the choice of farm animal breeds for conservationprogrammes. An expert survey among breed societies and scientistsand the analysis of past decisions in EU member countries toenter breeds into conservation programmes show differences inthe valuation of breed characteristics. Whereas both sets ofactors value diversity aspects as well as cultural and economicaspects of breed conservation, policy makers, in comparisonwith experts, seem to be less concerned about true extinctionrisk. The results suggest broadening the discussion about theconservation of animal genetic resources to aspects preservingsocietal and cultural resources.     

Infectious Disease, Productivity, and Scale in Open and Closed Animal Production Systems

Trade in feeder animals creates externalities when animal diseases can spread beyond the purchasing farm. If growers choose between open and closed production systems, then Nash equilibrium likely involves excessive trading. While first-best equilibrium involves market-wide adoption of either an open-trade or closed-farm system, equilibrium may entail heterogeneous systems. If so, then the feeder trade should be restricted. Supply response to an increase in marginal costs may be positive. Within a farm, infectious disease risk can create decreasing returns to scale when the technology is otherwise increasing returns. Contractual procurement and damage control technologies will likely increase scale in finishing.     

An integrated scenario analysis for the metal coating sector in Europe

Although new paint products and technologies have been developed, the sector of paint application still contributes substantially to total volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. Recent environmental legislation, especially the EU Solvent Emission Directive 1999/13/EC and its transposition into national law, coming into force in 2007, will have an important influence on the sector structure and the associated supply chain, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper summarises a comprehensive scenario analysis to explore possible future trajectories for the sector. The main focus is on paint application activities, considering in particular the consequences of new environmentally friendly products and technologies which can be used by SMEs. Four different scenarios representing possible future states of the sector are evaluated, taking into account environmental, technical and socio-economic aspects along the associated supply chain and life cycle. The scenarios allow the formulation of recommendations and guidelines for policy makers and industries. This example confirms that interdisciplinary scenario analysis is a suitable approach to investigate possible future development of an industrial sector.     

Do environmental attitudes and food technology neophobia affect perceptions of the benefits of nanotechnology?

In recent years, a significant amount of research has focussed on the analysis of consumers' aversion to new technologies in food production and processing. At the same time, research has shown that environmental attitudes may be related to purchasing behaviour of consumers. This paper presents the result of an investigation into Canadian attitudes towards nanotechnology, in general, and in applications in the food industry. The relationship between the food technology neophobia scale, environmental attitudes and nanotechnology is examined. The results suggest that food technology neophobia is significant in explaining attitudes towards nanotechnology, in general, and for food packaging and foods. Environmental attitudes are important in explaining respondents' attitudes towards nanotechnology in general but not in explaining attitudes towards nanotechnology in food packaging or food applications. Survey respondents' views of the role of science and technology in society (makes society worse or better off) are a more important determinant of attitudes towards nanotechnology than whether they had heard of nanotechnology prior to the survey.     

Methodological Issues in the Design of Online Surveys for Measuring Unethical Work Behavior: Recommendations on the Basis of a Split-Ballot Experiment

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in unethical work behavior. Several types of survey instruments to collect information about unethical work behavior are available. Nevertheless, to date little attention has been paid to design issues of those surveys. There are, however, several important problems that may influence reliability and validity of questionnaire data on the topic, such as social desirability bias. This paper addresses two important issues in the design of online surveys on unethical work behavior: the response scale for questions regarding the frequency of certain types of unethical work behavior and the location of the background questions in an online survey. We present the results of an analysis of a double split-ballot experiment in a large sample (n = 3,386) on governmental integrity. We found that, when comparing response scales that have labels for all categories with response scales that only have anchors at the end, the latter provided answers with higher validity. The study did not provide support for the conventional practice of asking background questions at the end.