Vertical Integration in the Pork Industry

This article provides an economic explanation regarding why the share of U.S. pork raised on company-owned farms with hired management (integration) is increasing relative to production through independently owned-and-operated contract growers (contracting). The article develops a property rights model that shows how in certain circumstances production contracts do not transfer sufficient control over the use of production assets to intermediaries. On the other hand, integration removes certain grower incentives, with the result that production on company farms tends to be relatively costly. Practical examples of factors that influence the likelihood of full integration are emphasized.     

Assessing Global Computable General Equilibrium Model Validity Using Agricultural Price Volatility

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are commonly used for global agricultural market analysis. Concerns are sometimes raised, however, about the quality of their output since key parameters may not be econometrically estimated and little emphasis is generally given to model assessment. This article addresses the latter issue by developing an approach to validating CGE models based on the ability to reproduce observed price volatility in agricultural markets. We show how patterns in the deviations between model predictions and validation criteria can be used to identify the weak points of a model and guide development of improved specifications with firmer empirical foundations.     

The “Ecotourism Curriculum” and Visitor Learning in Community-based Ecotourism: Case Studies from Thailand and Cambodia

Visitor learning is a basic component of community-based ecotourism (CBET), yet has seldom been the subject of research. This study examines how local environmental, cultural and livelihood knowledge comprise the ecotourism curriculum in two CBET projects located in southern Thailand and Cambodia, respectively. Following an accounting of local ecotourism curriculum content and teaching pedagogies employed at present in the two projects, recommendations are made for enhancing visitor learning in CBET. These include curriculum development, which recognizes and incorporates the particular forms of local knowledge present in a given CBET community, and the application of pedagogies of experiential and transformative learning in the teaching of this curriculum.     

Would Indian farmers benefit from liberalization of world cotton and sugar markets?

Rich-country support programs for cotton and sugar producers are frequently claimed to be detrimental for developing-country farmers. This study investigates whether a reduction in protectionist policies for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cotton and sugar producers would have a measurable effect on the welfare of Indian farmers. The fact that these sectors are intensively regulated within India might suggest that any such effect will be small. However, this study shows econometrically that prices in Indian rural markets closely follow world prices, and that Indian farmers are flexible in the medium to long run in changing production according to price signals from these markets. Depending on the crop and the nature of liberalization, producer surplus increases from 4.2% to 22.3% in the long run.     

Malaria and Economic Development

Malaria tends to have a negative correlation with national income per capita. Many existing studies emphasize how falling rates of malaria can enhance economic development due to the beneficial effect on human capital. This paper emphasizes that causality may also run in the opposite direction, in particular, that higher incomes—arising for reasons having nothing to do with human capital—may allow for increased prevention and treatment of malaria, and therefore contribute to the negative correlation. We analyze the malaria‐income relationship for 100 endemic countries over a 17‐year period using a simultaneous equations model that accounts for reverse causality and incidental associations. For most countries, income growth has been the most important driver of the negative correlation between malaria and income. Although reducing malaria may be its own reward, it takes much more than reductions in malaria to foster development. This holds widely for different samples of countries.