Wheat policy and economy-wide reform in Brazil

In recent years, the wheat sector in Brazil has moved from governmental protection and public intervention to a free market and privatization. In this study, those changes are analyzed through measures of governmental intervention on nominal rates of protection and on welfare of producers and consumers. Elasticities of demand and supply of wheat are estimated, and the effects of changes in policies are analyzed under official and shadow exchange rates. Welfare measures indicate that almost US$ 8 billion were spent from 1970 until 1989 with policies to subsidize producers and consumers. The policy-induced stimulus to consumer demand exceeded the stimulus to domestic production, and self sufficiency in wheat declined. The reduction in wheat subsidies since 1989 was more than an isolated sector-specific policy. It was part of macroeconomic antiinflation policy, and it coincided with other economy-wide changes such as real appreciation and a decline in international commodity prices.     

大豆不同品种(品系)对比试验总结

试验采用大区对比的方法,研究供试品种在应用"三垄"栽培模式下的生理学特性和经济性状,旨在筛选出适合本地区的优良大豆品种。试验结果表明北豆15、绥农14、富尔14等品种(品系),在生育期、抗性、丰产性等方面表现较好。     

Assessing the effectiveness of a technical assistance program: The case of maize seed relief to vulnerable households in Zimbabwe

The recent economic downturn in Zimbabwe impoverished the majority of households. To assist vulnerable rural households improve their food security, the British Department for International Development implemented a seed relief program from 2003/2004 to 2005/2006 that emphasized recycling of maize open pollinated varieties (OPV). Using data collected from 597 households in six districts in 2006, this study assesses the effectiveness of the program in terms of its targeting of beneficiaries, the flow of information from participating NGOs to beneficiaries on the need to recycle the seeds, and the level of recycling done at the end of the program. The empirical results suggest that the targeting method participating NGOs use inadvertently excludes relatively vulnerable households while including large proportions of relatively well-endowed households in the program. The choice of varieties to distribute is guided more by the ecological adaptability of available commercial seeds and less by preferences of beneficiaries. Notwithstanding the fact that seed selection information is critical in encouraging beneficiaries to recycle distributed seed, not all of them received it. In conclusion, it may be stated that the program undoubtedly contributed to increased food productivity by vulnerable households but its overall effectiveness could have been enhanced through (i) the involvement of the beneficiaries in the choice of types of seed to be distributed, (ii) better targeting of beneficiaries, and (iii) improved information flow between NGOs and beneficiaries.     

浅谈中国植物新品种的法律保护

植物是一种纯自然科学概念,而植物新品种不仅是一个植物学科学术语,更重要的是一个法律用语。改善现有的植物品种并培育出新品种是现代农业快速发展的重要科技举措。实施并完善植物新品种保护制度有利于推动育种创新、提高农产品国际竞争力、促进中国农业科技自主创新和农业可持续发展,确保国家经济安全。自1997年《植物新品种保护条例》颁布后,中国先后颁布了一系列相关配套法律法规,建立起植物新品种保护的基本框架。相关法律法规的完善,使得中国植物新品种保护制度实施取得了显著的成效,但与发达国家相比,仍存在许多不足之处。因此,应当在借鉴发达国家先进立法经验的基础上,完善中国植物新品种的法律保护制度。     

高粱品种生态适应性综合评价指标体系的构建与应用

[目的]高粱是我国重要的多用途旱地经济作物,生产区域广,生态条件复杂,栽培方式多样,因此,构建高粱品种生态适应性评价指标体系对品种选择、种植规划等具有重要指导意义。[方法]文章通过文献研究、生产调研和专家问卷调查,利用层次分析法,构建品种生态适应性评价的指标体系的层次结构;利用德尔菲法,利用橙子办公软件设计调查问卷,借助专家微信群对各指标的相对重要性进行专家问卷调查,使用SPSSAU优序图法,计算各指标权重。[结果]根据反复征询意见,确定了各项指标的判分原则和标准,按综合得分将高粱品种生态适应性分为适应（≥90分）、较适应（76～89分）和不适应（≤75分）3类。根据所建评价方法对适应性评价试验中6个代表性品种,对其在6个地区的表现进行综合打分评价。[结论]证明结果符合实际。     

Ex post impacts of improved maize varieties on poverty in rural Ethiopia

Public agricultural research has been conducted in Africa for decades. While many studies have examined its aggregate impacts, few have investigated how it affects the poor. This paper helps fill this gap by applying a new procedure to explore the ex post impacts of improved maize varieties on poverty in rural Ethiopia. Plot‐level yield and cost changes due to adoption are first estimated using instrumental variable and marginal treatment effect techniques where possible heterogeneity is carefully accounted for. A backward derivation procedure is then developed to link treatment effect estimates with an economic surplus model to identify the counterfactual household income that would have existed without improved maize varieties. Poverty impacts are finally estimated by exploiting the differences between observed and counterfactual income distributions. Improved maize varieties have led to a 0.8–1.3 percentage drop of poverty headcount ratio and relative reductions of poverty depth and severity. However, poor producers benefit the least from adoption due to the smallness of their land holdings.     

直播稻的历史研究

直播稻是一种较为原始的稻作栽培技术，但它在水稻移栽技术出现之后，并没有彻底消失，而是顽强地保存下来。在人口稀少，经济、技术相对落后，以及水旱灾害频繁的地区，它不失为一种合理的选择。经过明清时期的推陈出新，直播稻不仅保留了直播的优势，同时也吸收了移栽技术中的一些优点。直播稻对于土地的开发利用，粮食产量和人口的增长起到了积极的作用；并对邻近的朝鲜等国的水稻生产也产生了直接的影响。     

The economic impact of productivity maintenance research: breeding for leaf rust resistance in modern wheat⋆

This paper reports the results of a study undertaken to estimate the economic impact in developing countries of efforts by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to breed leaf rust resistant spring bread wheat varieties since 1973. The challenge in estimating these benefits lies in the pathogen's ability to mutate to new races, which may infect previously resistant varieties. Genetic resistance, rather than fungicide application, is the principal means of controlling leaf rust in developing countries. Whereas productivity enhancement is often estimated in terms of yield gains and increased supply, productivity maintenance is measured in terms of the yield losses avoided by the research investment. The internal rate of return on CIMMYT's research investment was estimated at 41%. When discounted by 5%, the net present value was US$ 5.36 billion in 1990 dollars, and the benefit‐cost ratio was 27:l. These findings emphasise the economic importance of maintenance research in crop breeding programs.     

Better Than the Euro? The European Monetary System (1979–1998)

ABSTRACT

The euro crisis has provoked a debate on the pros and cons of adjustable exchange rate regimes that enable their participants to negotiate nominal de- and revaluations. To evaluate the functioning of such regimes, we revisit the EMU’s predecessor, the European Monetary System (EMS). We show that in the EMS, devaluations did indeed help more than revaluations did hurt. Assuming that the political-economic heterogeneity of the Eurozone will not vanish in the foreseeable future, the move to a more flexible exchange rate regime might therefore be economically advantageous. However, a purely economic view ignores the huge political ‘maintenance costs’ of negotiable realignments, costs that the EMS members aimed at overcoming when they opted for the euro. The re-politicization of nominal exchange rate policy in today’s Eurozone would therefore not end transnational political conflicts in the Eurozone but fuel new ones.     

The Chinese business system and its authoriliberal economic model

China's position as one of the most powerful nations in the world is undisputed. However, in an evolving landscape, China's utilization of a path-dependent business system may hinder the ability of the country's institutions to undergo necessary change, which will have important implications for international business literature. Through business system theory, empirical evidence, and a mixed methods approach, we discuss China's business system explaining how the system may impair sustainable growth and the transformation required by a less dependent industrial society. Our research suggests that the Chinese business system is still very arrested due to its recent past, and the Chinese Communist Party has only partial interest in improving some of the most important bases for the development of modern enterprises, even if fostering a somewhat liberal economic approach. Since similar political (authoritarian) and economic (liberal) approaches are found elsewhere, we theorize on what we called an authoriliberal economic approach.