Food fraud: economic insights into the dark side of incentives

In this review, we contextualise the articles in this special issue, relating them to existing food fraud research, and identify food fraud research trends, challenges and priorities for the near term. We accomplish these aims through a comprehensive review of research by food scientists, economists, other social scientists, legal experts, government research groups and international trade organisations. Existing food fraud research is heavily weighted towards food science, packaging and labelling, and legal areas of knowledge discovery. Moving forward, research is needed pertaining to general economic welfare outcomes from food fraud incidences, economic incentives to deter frauds, economic spillovers from fraud incidences to other food products and markets (domestic and international) and further delineation of the effect of different types of food fraud on consumer and producer welfare. The articles in this special issue make significant contributions to understanding of the role of food fraud in consumer decisions, measuring consumer welfare losses from fraud, food fraud spillover effects to other markets and new frameworks for fraud analysis.     

How well do conservation auctions perform in achieving landscape‐level outcomes? A comparison of auction formats and bid selection criteria

This paper studies the performance of auction design features regarding pricing mechanisms and bid selection criteria for securing wildlife zones across different holdings. We compare two pricing mechanisms: a discriminatory‐price auction and a uniform‐price ascending auction, and four bid selection criteria on the basis of: total bid, bid‐per‐value ratio, bid‐per‐area ratio and a mixed criterion where bids are formed on the basis of cost but they are selected based on the bid‐per‐value ratio. We develop a best‐response group‐bidding model for a discriminatory‐price auction where bidders form optimal group bids for individual wildlife zones. In the uniform‐price ascending auction, individual landholders respond to prices, which are successively raised by the auctioneer and whenever all the landholders from a single zone agree to participate (i.e. the first zone is formed), the auction stops. Based on numerical simulations using a bio‐economic model of malleefowl conservation, we observe that the discriminatory‐price auction is more cost‐effective than the uniform‐price ascending auction. However, the budgetary cost‐effectiveness of a discriminatory‐price auction is sensitive to bidder uncertainty about the number of competing bidder groups and the highest cost of establishing a wildlife zone among these groups. In terms of bid selection, the mixed bid selection criterion performs best. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.     

江苏省虚拟水贸易结构调整研究

基于江苏省2012年投入产出表及水资源公报的统计数据,运用修正后的投入产出模型,定量计算江苏省贸易用水强度、虚拟水净输出量,并通过调整贸易结构,最大化实现节水效应。研究表明:2012年江苏省虚拟水贸易整体上呈现净流入,有利于节约省内水资源;从贸易额调整来看,在设定的5%、10%、15%3个调整幅度的基础上改变传统的贸易输出、输入结构,化学产品、煤炭采选产品部门出现大规模节水效应,随着调整幅度的增加,净输出量大的部门节水效应越来越大。江苏省虚拟水贸易是当前实现资源节约与经济发展的重要方式。     

Do U.S. citizens support government intervention in agriculture? Implications for the political economy of agricultural protection

The persistence of agricultural protectionism throughout the world is intriguing given the widely recognized benefits of free trade. The political economy literature over the last decades has considered groups’ interest, politicians’ preferences, and their interactions within domestic politics as the primary forces driving agricultural protection. Yet, a growing body of studies suggests that it would be judicious to weigh in consumers’ or taxpayers’ perspectives in deciphering the nature of agricultural protection. This study examines U.S. citizens’ preferences about government intervention in agriculture and trade. Results show that they are in strong support of agricultural protection and their perceptions of national food security, family farms, environmental sustainability, and multifunctionality of agriculture play a significant role in shaping their support/opposition toward government intervention. The conventional political economy literature theorizes that consumers or taxpayers would oppose public policies that increase their tax burden; however, in the case of the farm sector, they have little incentive to voice their objections given the costs of farm programs are spread across a large number of consumers and taxpayers. U.S. citizens’ support for government involvement in agriculture as reported in this and other prior studies does not lend support for such political economy explanation.     

陕西省水文化遗产保护与利用

为系统探讨陕西省水文化遗产的保护与利用,丰富相关理论与实践,按照理论分析-现状分析-对策研究的思路,从陕西省水文化遗产内涵与价值分析出发,对陕西省水文化遗产构成类型进行梳理,指出陕西省水文化遗产历史深厚、类型多样、地域特色明显,河流、水利工程等资源等级较高,诗词、碑刻、民俗等资源存世量大。分析当前在认识理念、管理体制、保护经费等方面存在的问题,提出陕西省水文化遗产建设应着眼于以生态系统修复、人文系统重构、价值系统重塑、产业系统创新、管理系统再造的"全域统筹、理念重构"和基于遗址遗迹型、工程功能型和非物质文化型遗址功能与特征的"分类保护、层级联动"两大核心策略,兼顾"点、线、面"3个空间要素,构建陕西省水文化"点状布局、线状串联、流域覆盖"大遗产格局。     

The Impact of an EU–US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement on Biofuel and Feedstock Markets

We assess the impact of a potential TTIP bilateral free trade agreement on the EU and US bio‐economies (feedstock, biofuels, by‐products, and related competing crops) and major trade partners in these markets. The analysis develops a multi‐market model that incorporates bilateral trade flows (US to EU, EU to US, and similarly with third countries) and is calibrated to the OECD‐FAO baseline for 2013–2022 to account for recent policy decisions. The major policy reforms from a TTIP involve tariff and TRQ liberalisation and their direct contractionary impact on US sugar supply, EU biofuel production, and indirect negative effect on US high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) production. EU sugar and isoglucose production expand along with US ethanol and biodiesel and oilseed crushing. EU sugar would flow to the US, US biofuels and vegetable oil to the EU. We further quantify non‐tariff measures (NTM) affecting these trade flows between the EU and the US. EU oilseed production contracts, and EU crushing expands with improving crushing margins following reduced NTM frictions. Our analysis reveals limited net welfare gains with most net benefits reaped by Brazil and not the two trading partners of the TTIP.     

Do the EU countries import at the same price? The case of coffee

The establishment of the Economic and Monetary Union was expected to determine price convergence in the market of the European Union, leading to the equilibrium theorized by the law of one price. This article investigates prices convergence in the coffee market among European importers. Coffee is not only a tradable and traded good, but also one of the most valuable traded commodities. We account for different qualities of coffee in a hedonic regression model, which isolate and remove the effects of factors that might affect price dispersion. Adjusted import prices result to be significantly different between European Member States, and do not support the hypothesis of a deepening European market integration.     

对首届"河南文化遗产日"的调查和思考

2005年11月26日、27日河南省在我国率先设立了"文化遗产日",这是对我国文化遗产保护的一种新尝试.那么,文化遗产日的设立能否得到认可,它有什么样的效应?又存在什么样的问题?弄清这些对我国文化遗产的保护和发展有着重要的意义.通过调查研究发现,游客、媒体和网友对文化遗产日的设立大都持肯定的态度,认为文化遗产日具有众多的积极效应,但游客对文化遗产日的感受不是很好,文化遗产日暴露的问题,将影响着人们进一步参加文化遗产日的可能性.最后,文章对首届河南文化遗产日进行了评价,对相关问题进行了初步的探讨.     

饭店服务质量测量方法研究综述

提高服务质量是饭店企业区别于竞争对手,获得相对竞争优势的重要手段.要改善服务质量,首先需要有效和实用的测量方法对服务质量进行可靠和准确的测量.本文对服务质量的测量方法进行了综述,分析它们在饭店业中的应用现状及问题,同时阐述了饭店服务质量测量的新趋势.     

Food price increases and net food importing countries: lessons from the recent past

Recent increases in food and other commodity prices have highlighted concerns that many poor countries are net food importers and higher food prices would worsen their trade balances. In this article, we analyze the changes in food trade balances associated with the 32% increase in food prices from 2000/2001 to 2004/2005. We find a small deterioration in food trade balances of low‐income countries and an improvement in middle‐income countries. The deterioration is most severe for countries in conflict and small island states, so attention should be placed first on these countries and on a few very‐low‐income countries that are also vulnerable. Because low‐income countries as a group had much lower agricultural GDP growth rates than middle‐income countries, the answers to food vulnerability in low‐income countries should probably be addressed within the context of incentives for agricultural production.