Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles) ISSN (Print) 0165-1587 - ISSN (Online) 1464-3618 Published by Oxford University Press[370 journals]
Authors:Caputo V; Scarpa R, Nayga RM, Jr. Abstract: We examine the effects of adding an independent food attribute on consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) estimates for both cue and independent food attributes. In three separate choice experiments, a cue attribute present along the entire sequence of choices had independent food attributes enucleated and made explicit from the cue at later stages. Logit models were estimated using (i) a complete panel approach; (ii) error components and (iii) utility in WTP-space. Results suggest that the way a subject processes food attributes depends not only on the design dimensions but also on food attributes’ functional roles. When complexity of designs increases, models that account for different sources of heterogeneity have better fit to the data. PubDate: 2016-12-02
Authors:Hennig S; Latacz-Lohmann U. Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of biogas production on farmland rental rates. We clarify the mechanisms by which biogas subsidies can inflate land rents and how regional livestock density may reinforce this effect. We use spatial econometrics to explain arable land rents in northern Germany based on 2010 agricultural census data. The results indicate that increasing biogas density is associated with a significant rise in the rental rates of arable land only in regions with high livestock densities. In biogas-intensive regions, biogas production is estimated to inflate land rents by €61 to €141 per hectare, depending on regional livestock densities. PubDate: 2016-12-02
Authors:Koussoubé E; Nauges C. Abstract: The low level of modern inputs adoption by African farmers is considered to be a major impediment to food security and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa. The government of Burkina Faso, following the example of a number of other countries in the region, launched a subsidy programme in 2008 to encourage farmers’ uptake of chemical fertilisers and foster cereal production. This article explores the importance of fertiliser profitability in explaining the relative, apparent low use of chemical fertilisers by farmers in Burkina Faso. Using large-scale plot data, we estimate maize yield response to nitrogen to be 19 kg/ha on average and to vary with soil characteristics. Profitability, which we measure through the calculation of a marginal value cost ratio, is estimated at 1.4 on those plots which received fertilisers, with significant variations across regions. For those plots on which fertilisers were not applied, we predict that fertilisers should have been profitable in most cases under the current level of subsidised fertiliser prices. These findings suggest that the low uptake of chemical fertilisers might have been driven by factors other than profitability, including insufficient supply of subsidised fertilisers to farmers in need. Our results also call for increasing the availability of credit to farmers in order to encourage adoption of chemical fertilisers. Finally, our results also show that not taking into account the endogeneity of nitrogen use in the yield equation may produce biased estimates of the maize yield response to nitrogen. PubDate: 2016-11-14
Authors:Menapace L; Raffaelli R. Abstract: We use a natural field experiment to investigate the effect of information about locally grown products on purchase decisions. We consider information on two product characteristics: quality as a function of terroir and reduced carbon emissions resulting from shorter transportation distances. The greatest effect on purchase behaviour is seen in the response of females to information on reduced carbon emissions. Additionally, we explore whether social influence due to the presence of others affects purchase decisions. We find some evidence that social influence ‘nudges’ consumers toward locally grown products. PubDate: 2016-11-04
Authors:Holden ST; Quiggin J. Abstract: Climate risk represents an increasing threat to poor and vulnerable farmers in drought-prone areas of Africa. This study assesses the maize adoption responses of food insecure farmers in Malawi, where drought-tolerant (DT) maize was recently introduced. A field experiment, eliciting relative risk aversion, loss aversion and subjective probability weighting parameters of farmers, is combined with a detailed farm household survey. A state-contingent production model with cumulative prospect theory preferences is estimated. More risk-averse households were more likely to have adopted DT maize, less likely to have adopted other improved maize varieties and less likely to have dis-adopted traditional local maize (LM). Exposure to past drought shocks stimulated adoption of DT maize and dis-adoption of LM. PubDate: 2016-10-05
Authors:Olsen S; Meyerhoff J. Abstract: Every discrete choice experiment needs one, but the impacts of a statistical design on the results are still not well understood. Comparative studies have found that efficient designs outperform especially orthogonal designs. What has been little studied is whether efficient designs come at a cost. Thus, we compare four designs with respect to their effect on outcomes, especially willingness to pay (WTP) estimates and predicted market shares. Regarding statistical efficiency all designs perform rather well but the WTP estimates differ significantly on several occasions. This indicates that results are not neutral to the design, even when a high number of observations are available. PubDate: 2016-08-31
Authors:Fousekis P; Grigoriadis V. Abstract: The objective of this article is to investigate the intensity and the mode of price linkages for quality differentiated coffee beans. This is pursued using monthly spot prices from 1990 to 2015 and nonparametric copulas. The empirical findings suggest that: (i) The price interrelationships are stronger among the Arabica beans than between the individual Arabica and the Robusta beans; also, price co-movement is higher (lower) where the quality difference is smaller (larger). (ii) There is symmetric price co-movement under positive and negative price shocks; that means, shocks of the same absolute magnitude but of different sign are transmitted from one coffee market to another with the same intensity. The transmission of shocks, however, of the same sign but of different magnitude is asymmetric; in particular, larger (in absolute value) price shocks are transmitted with higher intensity compared with smaller ones. PubDate: 2016-08-26
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
[370 journals]
