Rationale and Motivation of Agricultural Producers in Adopting Crop Rotation in the Northern Great Plains,USA

Despite several environmental and economic benefits of crop rotation, the adoption of this agricultural practice is relatively low. Understanding the reasons for low adoption is important from a sustainability policy perspective. This study explores the motivation, challenges, and sources of information of agricultural producers who participate in crop rotation practices in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. The findings of a mail survey of 672 producers in these three states show that producers are familiar with the crop rotation practice. Economic profitability is found to drive motivation for crop rotation adoption. The results of a binary logistic regression model show that a producer who perceives that crop rotation is beneficial to farm profitability is 1.83 times more likely to adopt it than the producer who does not believe in its profitability to the farm. The lack of time or resources is the primary barrier to the adoption of crop rotation practice. This study provides additional evidence in support of the importance of farm profitability for the adoption of the practice of crop rotation. Understanding the rationale and addressing the challenges faced by agricultural producers would be useful in planning and policy making of sustainable agriculture.     

论中国西部大开发中的政府干预

经济发展中的政府干预是一把双刃剑,理性界定政府干预的行为导向十分重要。从改革的趋势与要求出发,中国西部大开发中的政府干预要与促进市场经济模式的建立相统一、与促进区域经济自主发展相统一、与政府转变职能规范行为相统一。在此基础上,才能实现中国西部大开发短期绩效与长期绩效的统一。     

The impact of New Deal expenditures on mobility during the Great Depression

Using county-level data on federal New Deal expenditures on public works and relief and Agricultural Adjustment Administration payments to farmers, this paper empirically examines the New Deal’s impact on inter-county migration from 1930 to 1940. We construct a net-migration measure for each county as the difference between the Census’s reported population change from 1930 to 1940 and the natural increase in population (births minus infant deaths minus non-infant deaths) over the same period. Our empirical approach accounts for both the simultaneity between New Deal allocations and migration and the geographic spillovers that likely resulted when economic activity in one county may have affected the migration decisions of people in neighboring counties. We find that greater spending on relief and public works was associated with significant migration into counties where such money was allocated. The introduction of our modern farm programs under the aegis of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration appears to have contributed to a net out-migration that sped the transition of people out of farming.     

也论“参天调水”—再造一个中国

本文对拯救黄河,南水北调,再造一个中国的大西线调水的设想进一步加以阐述,认为：“参天调水”是我国经济大发展伟大的基础工程,黄河流域旱情严重,但治理有望。提出：“小流域治理、种树种草、调整产业结构等意见。     

西部大开发中云南的角色定位

在西部大开发中,云南要结合绿色资源优势、人文资源优势、区位优势,准确地把握自身在西部大开发中的角色、地位,进行高层次、高起点的战略规划,以新思路来发展云南区域特色经济,探索出最能发挥云南优势的经济发展模式,大力发展绿色产业、旅游业、出口工业,实现云南经济的跨越式发展,使云南在西部大开发中有所作为。     

技术性贸易壁垒经济分析的综合模型和弹性条件

本文建立了技术性贸易壁垒对进口国经济影响的综合分析模型,同时以中国与欧盟鞋类制品贸易为例建立了大国模型,该模型与PhilipL.Paarlberge和JohnG.Lee(1998)的口蹄疫经济分析模型在分析视角上有很大的不同。分析结果表明,从全局来看,进口国设置过当的或歧视性的技术性贸易壁垒是得不偿失的。本文还建立了技术性贸易壁垒对出口国经济效应的分析模型,得到了两个弹性系数条件,条件分析说明:在一般情况下,进口国提高技术性贸易壁垒的门槛(符合成本)将使本国厂商利润不断增加,外国出口厂商的利润不断下降。在特别情况下,进口国也可通过控制本国厂商的符合成本,达到上述目的。     

Symposium: Youth labour market and the “Great Recession”

The financial crisis of 2007–2008, followed by the “Great Recession” and the additional sovereign debt crisis in some peripheral countries of the Eurozone, resulted in huge and persistent effects on European youth labour markets. Theoretical and empirical investigations on this topic are still scarce compared with the importance of the topic and the consequent economic, social and policy implications. This paper consists of a very short introduction to a symposium that contributes to filling that gap. A multifaceted picture emerges with major policy implications for the three levels of government (European, national and regional/local) in order to reduce youth unemployment and the NEET phenomenon.     

A territorial approach to assess the transition to trellis vineyards in special protection areas for steppe birds in Spain

Traditional vineyards in Spain are being upgraded to trellis vineyards. A key question is to what extent the transition to trellis vineyards is compatible with the environmental preservation goals in Special Protection Areas. This paper presents a GIS-based model to assess the suitability of Special Protection Areas for the development of trellis systems. The model was applied in a Special Protection Area for steppe birds in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, a region with the largest concentration of vineyards in the world. The model includes three components: (1) a vineyard structure analysis, (2) an analysis of habitat fragmentation, and (3) a suitability analysis. The results showed that 50.9% of the study area, including 82.1% of the existing vineyards, was classified as suitable for transition to trellis systems. In the remaining unsuitable areas an increase in trellis systems should be avoided. The model is a stepping stone for improving the sustainable land use development of Mediterranean agricultural landscapes. Further research is needed to include wider socio-economic and environmental consequences of modernizing viticulture practices.     

Interwar Inflation,Unexpected Inflation,and Output Growth

Interwar macroeconomic history is a natural place to look for evidence on the correlation between output growth and inflation or unexpected inflation. We apply time‐series methods to measure unexpected inflation for more than 20 countries using both retail and wholesale prices. There is a significant, positive correlation between output growth and inflation for the entire period. There is little evidence that this correlation is caused by an underlying role for unexpected inflation. For wholesale price inflation in particular, the output declines associated with deflations were larger than the output increases associated with inflations of the same scale.