European Review of Agricultural Economics - current issue

Trade liberalisation, agricultural productivity and poverty in the Mediterranean region

Hassine, N. B., Kandil, M. — 2009-04-20

A widely held view in the economic literature is that productivity growth is an important pathway through which trade liberalisation may alleviate poverty. This paper explores the link between trade openness, agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction in a panel of Mediterranean countries. Technical efficiency scores and total factor productivity indexes are computed using the latent class stochastic frontier model to account for cross-country heterogeneity in farming production technologies. The relevance of agricultural productivity gains for poverty reduction is investigated through joint estimation of real per capita GDP growth and inequality changes in a dynamic panel setting. The findings illustrate the positive effects of openness on farming efficiency and productivity and give strong support to the view that agricultural productivity growth is a channel for poverty alleviation.

Measuring market power in the French Comte cheese market

Merel, P. R. — 2009-04-20

A new empirical industrial organisation approach is used to measure seller market power in the French Comté cheese market, characterised by government-approved supply control. The estimation is performed on quarterly data at the wholesale stage over the period 1985–2005. Three different elasticity shifters are included in the demand specification, and the supply equation accounts for the existence of the European dairy quota policy. The market power estimate is small and statistically insignificant. Monopoly is clearly rejected. Results appear to be robust to the choice of functional form and suggest little effect of the supply control scheme on consumer prices.

The effects of EU agricultural policy changes on farmers' risk attitudes

Koundouri, P., Laukkanen, M., Myyra, S., Nauges, C. — 2009-04-20

This analysis utilises a model of production under risk estimated on Finnish farm-level data to measure farmers' risk attitudes in a changing policy environment. We find evidence of heterogeneous risk preferences among farmers, as well as notable changes over time in farmers' degree of risk aversion. This result is due to the increase in the non-random part of farm income generated by the policy change after Finland's European Union accession. The analysis confirms the assertion that agricultural policies that are decoupled from production do affect input use and crop mix through their effect on farmers' risk attitudes.

Evaluating the effects of farm programmes: results from propensity score matching

Pufahl, A., Weiss, C. R. — 2009-04-20

The paper applies a semi-parametric propensity score matching approach to evaluate the effects of agri-environment (AE) programmes on input use and farm output of individual farms in Germany. The analysis reveals a positive and significant treatment effect of AE programmes on the area under cultivation, in particular grassland, resulting in a decrease of cattle livestock densities. Furthermore, participation significantly reduced the purchase of farm chemicals (fertiliser, pesticide). We also find differences in the treatment effect among individual farms (heterogeneous treatment effects). Farms that can generate the largest benefit from the programme are most likely to participate.

Investment rigidity and policy measures

Serra, T., Stefanou, S., Gil, J. M., Featherstone, A. — 2009-04-20

This paper assesses the impacts of decoupled government transfers on production decisions of a sample of Kansas farms. Our empirical analysis is based on a reduced-form application of the dual model of investment under uncertainty developed by Sckokai, which is extended to a consideration of irregularities in the capital stock adjustment cost function. To do so we adopt the threshold regression methods proposed by Hansen. The econometric results support the existence of three regimes characterised by different economic behaviour. Our analysis suggests that in a dynamic setting that allows for irregularities in the capital adjustment cost function, decoupled transfers can have a powerful influence on production decisions. The dynamics of the stock of capital cause this influence to grow over time.

Organic Farming: An International History

Henning, J. C. — 2009-04-20

The European Union and Developing Countries: Trade, Aid and Growth in an Integrating World

Matthews, A. — 2009-04-20

An Introduction to Sustainable Development

Stage, J. — 2009-04-20

The Softwood Lumber War: Politics, Economics and the Long U.S.-Canada Trade Dispute

Sarker, R. — 2009-04-20

Landwirtschaftliche Betriebslehre. Grundwissen Bachelor

Sumelius, J. — 2009-04-20