Consumers’ valuation for food traceability in China: Does trust matter?

Food safety is a very important topic in China. We investigate Chinese consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for food traceability using a choice experiment. Given that consumers’ trust in the food system may affect their preferences and WTP, we also assess the interaction between consumers’ trust in government’s supervision of food safety and food labels and consumers’ preferences for traceable food products. Using data collected from a choice experiment on Fuji apples in a face-to-face survey in six Chinese cities, the results show that (i) consumers are willing to pay for traceable food but their valuations can differ upon the degree of their trust in government’s supervision of food safety and food labels; (ii) consumers are willing to pay for traceability with strong evidence of preference heterogeneity; (iii) government is not the most trusted safety inspection and certificate authority as found in prior studies using animal food products in China.     

Global value chains,large-scale farming,and poverty: Long-term effects in Senegal

This paper presents panel data evidence on the impact of expansion of global value chains and large-scale export-oriented farms in developing countries over almost a decade. We estimate the income effects of wage employment on large-scale farms in the horticultural export sector in Senegal, using data from two survey rounds covering a seven-years period of rapid expansion of the sector. We estimate average income effects as well as heterogeneous income effects, using fixed effects and quantile fixed effects regressions. We find that poverty and inequality reduced much faster in the research area than elsewhere in Senegal. Employment in the horticultural export sector is associated with higher household income and the income effect is strongest for the poorest households. Expansion of the horticultural export sector in Senegal has been particularly pro-poor through creating employment that is accessible and creates substantial income gains for the poorest half of the rural population. These pro-poor employment effects contrast with insights in the literature on increased inequality from rural wage employment.     

Broadband׳s contribution to economic growth in rural areas: Moving towards a causal relationship

This paper uses recent data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic growth of rural areas of the United States over the past decade. Availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level is used in conjunction with county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission. Economic variables of interest include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group associated with various broadband thresholds and a control group) is used to make preliminary causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are tested for statistical differences between the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties. Results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption in rural areas positively (and potentially causally) impacted income growth between 2001 and 2010, and negatively influenced unemployment growth. Similarly, low levels of broadband adoption in rural areas lead to declines in the number of firms and total employment numbers in the county. Broadband availability measures (as opposed to adoption) demonstrate only limited impacts, suggesting that future broadband policies should be more demand-oriented.     

中国农业碳排放再测算: 基本现状、动态演进及空间溢出效应

探究创新要素流动对农业绿色发展的影响机制,合理引导创新要素流动,对推动农业现代化发展具有重要的现实意义。本文基于要素流动视角,在采用SBM-GML指数测算农业绿色发展水平的基础上,运用空间杜宾模型考察了R&D人员和R&D资本两种类型创新要素流动对农业绿色发展的影响及其空间溢出效应。结果表明：（1）中国农业绿色发展整体呈波动上升的态势,地区农业绿色发展水平的提升能够通过正向空间溢出效应带动邻近省份农业绿色转型。（2）创新要素流动存在显著的空间关联特征,R&D人员流动和R&D资本流动均能显著提升地区农业绿色发展水平。（3）R&D人员流动能通过正向空间溢出效应推动邻近省份农业绿色转型,R&D资本流动则会通过负向空间溢出效应阻碍邻近地区农业绿色发展。基于上述研究结论,本文提出相应的对策建议：构建农业绿色技术创新合作网络平台,按要素精准施策,积极完善金融体系和资本市场建设,引导创新要素合理流动。     

农村一二三产业融合发展: 理论探讨、现状分析与对策建议

数字化赋能农产品流通是农村三产融合发展的重要动力。文章首先从理论层面阐释了农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合的作用机制,然后,选取2012—2021年我国31个省（区、市）的面板数据,实证分析了农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合的影响。研究结果表明：（1）农产品流通数字化显著地促进了农村三产融合,并且存在显著的地区差异,即东部地区大于中西部地区;（2）除农村三产融合本身具有正向空间溢出效应和惯性效应外,农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合也存在空间溢出效应;（3）农村人力资本水平越高,农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合的作用越显著。基于此,文章提出了相应的政策建议。

     

Hot Money and Quantitative Easing: The Spillover Effects of U.S. Monetary Policy on the Chinese Economy

We develop a factor‐augmented vector autoregression (FA‐VAR) model to estimate the effects that unanticipated changes in U.S. monetary policy and economic policy uncertainty have on the Chinese housing, equity, and loan markets. We find the decline in the U.S. policy rate since the Great Recession has led to a significant increase in Chinese housing investment. One possible reason for this effect is the substantial increase in the inflow of “hot money” into China. The responses of Chinese variables to U.S. shocks at the zero lower bound are different from those responses in normal times.     

Cross‐Border Auction Cycle Effects of Sovereign Bond Issuance in the Euro Area

We provide evidence for the euro area of spillovers from foreign public debt auctions into domestic secondary‐market auction cycles. We also confirm existing evidence of such spillovers from domestic issues into the domestic secondary market. Consistent with a theory of primary dealers’ limited risk‐bearing capacity, we find that auction cycles from domestic issues are stronger during the recent crisis period, whereas cross‐border effects are stronger in the precrisis period, but this evidence is not strong. This finding likely reflects the opposing effects of reduced sovereign bond market integration during the crisis and higher yield covariances caused by more market volatility.     

Knowledge spillover from other assurance services

We argue that services which are complimentary and closer aligned to the annual report audit provide greater insight about risk and are more likely to exhibit the existence of economies of scope (knowledge spillover) through a positive association with audit fees. Specifically, we consider the potential for knowledge spillover from the auditing of triennial Long-Term Plans (LTP) to the annual report audit for a large sample of New Zealand municipals over the period 2005–2013. We find the LTP audit fees are positively related to municipal annual report audit fees and other fees (audit of for-profit subsidiaries, non-audit services) are not. This suggests that knowledge spillovers are dependent on the nature of the additional services. We also find evidence of higher fees for private sector auditors for both the annual report and the LTP audit. The LTP (forecast) audit fee is associated with municipal size, complexity, and political competition.     

Volatility Spillover in Regional Emerging Stock Markets: A Structural Time-Series Approach

Volatility spillovers among the stock markets of Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia are investigated using the concept of stochastic volatility and structural time-series modeling. The results reveal volatility spillovers, in which the Kuwait market plays the major role. It is also found that volatility in one market cannot be explained fully in terms of volatility in the other two markets, but that, out of the three markets, the Kuwait market seems to be the most influential. Some explanations are put forward for why this is the case.