Food Aid, Food Prices, and Producer Disincentives in Ethiopia

Although the short-term aims of food aid are well conceived, strong concerns have been voiced regarding the long-term impacts of such aid on incentives for agricultural producers in recipient countries. This article examines the statistical link between food aid shipments and food prices in Ethiopia over the period 1996–2006. Monthly data from three markets and three commodities are used to estimate a system of seemingly unrelated regression models for food prices. Results indicate that previous year food aid shipments reduce prices in all producer and consumer markets. These effects, however, appear to be limited to the set of internationally traded commodities that are domestically marketed. A recursive regression procedure is used to identify the food aid threshold at which a negative aid effect emerges. Food aid shipments that constitute less than 10% of domestic production appear to be benign, but shipments above this level show signs of being disruptive to local markets. We use a simple policy simulation to argue that production-sensitive targeting, e.g., conditioning food aid on local food production, would help to circumvent disincentive effects.     

An integrated approach for ex-ante evaluation of public policies for sustainable agriculture at landscape level

An integrated methodological framework for ex-ante evaluation and planning of public policies for sustainable agriculture at agro-landscape level is proposed. The components of the framework are to: (1) determine the private, i.e. farmers’, and public benefits associated to agro-landscapes, consisting of an agricultural land-use system, according to its performance for several market and non-market functions. Market forces determine the market benefits and preferences of society the non-market benefits; (2) explore and select potential sustainable agro-landscapes based on the private and public benefits associated with possible land-use alternatives; (3) define efficient public policy mechanisms for improving social net benefit of agro-landscapes.The framework is illustrated with a case study in a small dairy farming dominated agro-landscape in The Netherlands, with gross margin, landscape quality, nature value and environmental health as the analysed ecosystem functions. Alternative landscapes consisting of hedgerow configurations and grassland management practices were explored, yielding a set of alternatives representing the solution space in terms of change in private and public benefits. Policy mechanisms were defined to move from the current to a desired landscape based on changes in social net benefits. Moreover, the necessity of a modification in the current agri-environmental support was analysed for each landscape. The analysis considered all farmers in the agro-landscape jointly. The results for the case study showed potential prototypes of landscapes and their performance compared to the current landscape. Extension was the most efficient policy mechanism to promote the change to the socially optimum landscape alternative.     

林地资源与农户林业收入的分析

首先对林地资源与林业收入的关系进行理论分析,然后运用福建省顺昌县农户林业收入的调查数据,分别对农户林地资源的数量、林地资源的经营类型与林业收入的关系进行实证分析。研究结果表明:林地资源是农户参与林业收入分配的重要形式;农户林地资源数量越多,其家庭林业收入也越高;农户林地资源的经营类型不同,其家庭林业收入也不同;竹林经营和经济林经营对目前农户林业收入的增加具有显著的影响。     

福建省林权制度改革后的林业经营组织形式探讨

结合组织理论和林业生产的特性,回顾了福建省林权制度改革的历程和林业经营组织形式的变迁,从福建省林业合作组织的现状和不同组织形式的弊端等方面着手,探讨了福建省林权制度改革后引入"公司+林业合作组织+农户"经营组织形式的意义和绩效。     

Stochastic efficiency analysis with risk aversion bounds: a correction

A recent paper by Hardaker et al. (The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 48, 2004a, 253) and book by Hardaker et al. (Coping with Risk in Agriculture, 2004b) describe a procedure for determining an efficient set from among a set of random alternatives. This procedure, called stochastic efficiency with respect to a function (SERF), is claimed to make the same assumption concerning the risk aversion measures as does stochastic dominance with respect to a function (SDRF). This is claim is incorrect. SERF imposes an additional requirement on the risk aversion measures of the decision makers. Both procedures assume a lower and an upper bound on risk aversion, but SERF also assumes that all risk aversion measures are of the same functional form as these lower and upper bound functions. This additional strong requirement on risk preferences implies that the efficient set identified under SERF is usually smaller than that identified using SDRF.     

The tragedy of the commons: property rights and markets as solutions to resource and environmental problems

In one way or another, all environmental and natural resource problems associated with overexploitation or under provision of public goods, arise from incompletely defined and enforced property rights. As a result private decision makers do not consider or internalize social benefits and costs in their production or investment actions. The gap between private and social net returns results in externalities – harmful effects on third parties: overfishing, excessive air pollution, unwarranted extraction or diversion of ground or surface water, extreme depletion of oil and gas reservoirs. These situations are all examples of the 'The Tragedy of the Commons'. In this paper, I consider options for mitigating the losses of open access: common or group property regimes, government tax and regulation policy, more formal private property rights. I briefly summarize the problems and advantages of each option and describe why there has been move toward rights-based instruments in recent years: ITQ (individual transferable quotas), tradable emission permits, and private water rights. Introductions to the papers in the special issue follow.     

北京湿地退化的经济学分析

应用环境经济学原理,结合湿地准公共资源性、正外部性、负外部性以及代际外部性等经济属性,对北京湿地退化的经济成因进行了分析。结果表明:北京湿地退化的成因主要是缺乏可以产生抵消作用的制约因素、非正规的社会制裁、正规并能有效执行的法律措施手段、正反两种外部性的补偿与制约以资源分配代际权利制衡机制等。     

A contrast analysis of online hotel web service purchasers and browsers

Ever since the introduction of Internet technology to general business, websites have played an important role in the business and promotional efforts of hotels. However, the existing tourism and hospitality literature contains only a limited number of articles that examine the perceived importance of the different attributes of a hotel website. This paper reports a study that analyzed the different perceptions of specific hotel website attributes between online purchasers and browsers and between Western and Asian users. The empirical findings reveal a set of attributes that are the most important in developing effective hotel websites. The findings also indicate the necessity of designing English- and Chinese-language hotel websites differently, based on the significant differences in the responses obtained from these two groups of online users.     

Cross-cultural comparison of the image of Guam perceived by Korean and Japanese leisure travelers: Importance–performance analysis

As international tourism becomes a global phenomenon and its volume increases rapidly, understanding cultural differences and similarities provides destination marketers in a host country with a strategic platform upon which any planning and marketing efforts should be grounded. Based on the theory of cultural value orientation, the current study focuses on a cross-cultural comparison between the two markets most important to Guam tourism: Japanese and Korean leisure travelers. Using Importance–performance analysis, the evaluative image of Guam perceived by Korean travelers is compared with that perceived by Japanese travelers to uncover any differences between these two nationality groups. The results clearly indicate a contrast between the two groups in terms of destination evaluations and behavioral patterns.     

收入分配理论的比较分析:马克思与新古典

马克思分配理论和新古典分配理论虽然都论述了工资、利润、利息和地租等分配形式,但在研究视角、价值基础、研究目的、研究方法上是完全不同的.马克思的分配理论才是真正科学的分配理论,才是我国收入分配政策的理论来源.