The Theory and Econometrics of Health Information in Cross-Sectional Nutrient Demand Analysis

Understanding the role of health information in food and nutrient demand has become an important issue over the last decade. Endogeneity and measurement error are two empirical problems that are inherent in this type of analysis. While some type of instrumental variables estimation would appear the obvious solution, this article provides several theoretical and empirical reasons why this is not the case in cross-sectional analysis. An alternative estimation strategy is pursued, an empirical example is given, and the implications are discussed.     

国家森林公园年卡市场开发与营销策略——以福州国家森森公园为案例

查阅福州国家森林公园的各种历史资料,结合所收集的福州国家森林公园年卡调查的数据,对福州国家森林公园年卡市场开发做了可行性分析,明确了福州国家森林公园年卡市场定位,提出了年卡市场开发的策略和营销策略。     

福建省自然保护区与森林公园生态服务功能评价

应用Costanza提出的全球生态系统服务功能评价指标分析了福建省自然保护区与森林公园生态服务功能,并研究了福州国家森林公园森林生态系统固碳释氧功能及其价值估算,旨在为福建省自然保护区及森林公园的可持续发展提供背景资料和科学依据。     

Is fertiliser use inconsistent with expected profit maximization in sub‐Saharan Africa? “Evidence from Nigeria”

This article revisits a conventional wisdom that inorganic fertiliser use across sub‐Saharan Africa is too low. This expectation that more farmers should be using inorganic fertiliser, and at higher rates, implies it is profitable to use rates higher than observed if farmers are rational expected profit maximisers. We obtain consistent estimates of the effects of applied nitrogen on rice production. We find the yield response to applied nitrogen to be low in the main rice growing farming system. Farmer behaviour is not inconsistent with expected profitability which is limited by a low yield response to applied fertiliser, high transportation costs, and low selling prices for rice in rural areas. In particular, we do not find any farmers for whom applied nitrogen is profitable that are not using fertiliser in the study sample for each of our survey years (2010 and 2012).     

Off‐farm work,technical efficiency,and rice production risk in Taiwan

This article investigates the differences in yield production, production efficiency, and yield risk for farmers both with and without off‐farm work. Using a nationwide survey of rice farmers in Taiwan, we estimate two stochastic production frontier models that accommodate technical inefficiency and production risk simultaneously for farmers both with and without off‐farm work. The stochastic dominance criterion is then applied to compare the differences in the distributions of the estimated technical efficiency and yield risk between groups. The empirical results indicate that these two groups of farmers use resources in different ways, and off‐farm work is not necessarily associated with lower technical efficiency. For farmers in the lower percentiles of the efficiency distribution, those with off‐farm work are more efficient than their counterparts without off‐farm work. In addition, farmers with off‐farm work face higher production risk and this result is robust for the entire distribution.     

Informal barriers and agricultural trade: does monetary integration matter?

EU enlargement and the recent sovereign‐debt crisis of Euro zone countries have revived the debate around the (European Monetary Union) EMU. In this article we ask how informal barriers to agricultural and food trade have changed since the introduction of the common European currency, and whether this evolution can be attributed to monetary integration. We focus on the foreign trade of the 11 EMU founder countries over a nine‐year period covering the creation of the EMU and find a diminishing marginal trade impact of both information and institutional barriers. We find a lower level of trade barriers, but cannot attribute this outcome to the introduction to the Euro.     

Tradable water saving certificates to improve urban water use efficiency: an ex‐ante evaluation in a French case study

This paper proposes a system of tradable Water Saving Certificates to improve the efficiency of water allocation between Drinking Water Utilities at river basin level. A market institutional set‐up, inspired from recent policy developments in the energy sector, is proposed. An original analytical price‐endogenous model is developed to simulate trade intensity, equilibrium price and efficiency gains in this urban water market. The economic model is implemented in a French case study using mathematical programming. It is used for conducting an ex‐ante evaluation of trade possibilities and efficiency gains, considering different spatial restrictions aimed at controlling environmental externalities. Our modelling exercise provides evidence of the benefits of the proposed Water Saving Certificate scheme.