Title: Starting Farming - Ownership Vs. Renting

Authors: Nodland, T. R.; Moore, D. S.

Title: Some Factors Affecting the Earnings of Farmers in Southwestern Minnesota

Authors: Nodland, T. R.; Pond, G. A.

Title: Farms Labor and Farm Costs, 1953

Authors: Rorholm, Niels; Engene, S. A.; Pond, G. A.; Hinton, R. A.

Title: 1954 Annual Report of the Southeastern and the Southwestern Minnesota Darm Management Services

Authors: Nodland, T. R.; Pond, G. A.; Zoller, R. B.; Moore, D. S.

Title: Inventory Management in Cooperative Oil Associations

Authors: Knudtson, Arvid C.; Koller, E. Fred

Title: Environmental Provisions in Recent Regional Trade Agreements (2008 & 2009)

Authors: Colyer, Dale

Abstract: Despite a failure to achieve closure on the Doha Round of WTO negotiations, regional and bilateral trade agreements involving a variety of countries have continued to be negotiated, signed and implemented. Most of the recent trade agreements have contained some environmental provisions, ranging from a pledge to protect the environment to very extensive environmental requirements. These results appear to reflect a recognition that trade has environmental consequences and that trade agreements can be constructed to help mitigate such effects.

Title: Modernizing Africa’s Fresh Produce Supply Chains without Rapid Supermarket Takeover: Towards a Definition of Research and Investment Priorities.

Authors: Tschirley, David L; Ayieko, Miltone; Hichaambwa, Munguzwe; Goeb, Joey; Loescher, Wayne

Abstract: After a burst of enthusiasm through the middle part of this decade regarding the supermarket revolution, there now exists a broad consensus that this phenomenon is likely to proceed much more slowly than once thought in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is especially true in fresh produce supply chains, where both the promise and the perils of supermarket expansion have received greatest attention. In nearly the entire continent, the so-called traditional marketing sector – open air markets, dispersed informal vendors, and traditional shops – is expected to play a dominant role in fresh produce marketing for several decades. If true, this finding has profound policy implications. Specifically, it suggests that private investment in modern, integrated supply chains cannot be relied upon to solve the multitude of problems that increasingly plague these traditional production and marketing systems over a time frame acceptable to most policy makers and donors. Public engagement, preferably through meaningful public-private partnerships and an accompanying re-definition of public and private roles, will be central to improving these systems. This paper first reviews the evolution of thinking on the supermarket revolution in Africa and presents empirical evidence from Kenya and Zambia. It then lays out a set of stylized facts and key gaps in knowledge regarding traditional fresh produce production and marketing sectors on the continent, and closes by outlining priorities for research and for public and private investment to modernize these systems in the absence of rapid supermarket takeover.

Title: Why are Fresh Produce Prices So Unstable in Lusaka? Insights for Policy and nvestment Priorities.

Authors: Hichaambwa, Munguzwe; Tschirley, David L.

Abstract: Daily quantities of tomato, rape and onion entering Soweto market in Lusaka fluctuate dramatically. The market does a remarkable job of moderating the impact on prices of these unstable quantities, through stabilizing mechanisms such as short-term storage of tomato and rape by traders and consumers, longer-term storage of onion by traders, direct sourcing of rape from farm areas by retail traders, and exportation of tomato and onion outside Lusaka. Yet even with these stabilizing mechanisms, wholesale prices are highly variable, with negative effects on farmers and consumers. Reducing variability requires investments in four areas: (a) improved control of production environments by farmers through irrigation, better access to inputs and greater agronomic knowledge, (b) improved vertical flow of information from farmers to traders to brokers to retailers, (c) a regulatory framework for broker activity to improve trust and information flow between brokers and sellers, and (d) improved market infrastructure.

Title: Sustainable Economic Development: On the Coexistence of Resource-Dependent and Resource-Impacting Industries

Authors: Lopez, Ramon E.

Abstract: This paper studies the interactions between harvesters that depend on the renewable resource as a vital factor of production (i.e., fisheries) and industries that can have important impacts on the renewable resource but whose production does not depend on it (i.e., off-shore oil extraction) in the context of a growing economy. We examine these issues in the context of a closed economy focusing on how the co-existence between these two sectors affects the potential for sustainable development and how the well-being of the poor, i.e., the harvesters, is affected. We identify conditions under which existence and expansion of a resource-impacting sector may make sustainable development more likely. However, if these conditions are not met growth of the resource-impacting sector leads to resource depletion or even complete extinction and thus to the disappearance of the harvesting activity over the long run.

Title: Degradation of Common Pastures: An Economics Perspective of its Impact on Livestock Farming and Coping Strategies

Authors: Suresh, A.; Gupta, D.C.; Mann, J.S.

Title: Estimation of Economic Returns to Soil and Water Conservation Research – An ex ante Analysis

Authors: Rama Rao, C.A.; Kareemulla, K.; Nagasree, K.; Venkateswarlu, B.; Kumar, Shalander

Title: Insecticide Use and Crop Selection: A South Dakota Case Study

Authors: McDonald, Tia; Keating, Ariel; Fausti, Scott; Li, Jing; Lundgren, Jonathan; Catangui, Mike

Abstract: South Dakota has recently experienced a significant increase in the proportion of acres treated with insecticide. Unfortunately, data on insecticide usage by crop at the county level is not available. The following case study seeks to uncover the reasons for this increase by analyzing county-level data in South Dakota with a fixed effects panel regression. The study links the proportion of acres planted for a specific crop to the proportion of total acres treated with insecticide. This approach provides insight on how changing cropping patterns in South Dakota have influenced insecticide use.

Title: Supply Management and Price Ceilings on Production Qouta Values: Futre or Folly?

Authors: Cairns, Alex; Meilke, K. D.; Benett, Nick

Abstract: Since the inception of supply management in Canada during the 1970s, milk production quota has been used to regulate output and participation in the dairy industry. In recent years, milk quota values have increased dramatically, almost tripling in value since the mid-1980s. This led to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario intervening on the milk production quota exchange on two occasions: first, in November 2006 with a progressive transfer assessment and then in July 2009, replacing the former policy with a firm price ceiling – fixing the unit price of quota at $25,000. These policies represent a significant redistribution of economic benefits within the Ontario dairy community from milk producers approaching retirement and selling their quota to those remaining in the industry. The objective of this study is to first explore the reasons for the increase in production quota values; and second, to assess the welfare and distributional effects of each of the two quota policy schemes. Our results suggest that the increase in quota values were driven by basic economic factors expected to influence asset values and that the efficiency losses from intervention in the quota exchange are non-trivial. We conclude by suggesting there are several alternative policy options that could minimize efficiency losses while moderating the escalation in quota values.

Title: The Mexican commom property forestry sector

Authors: Antinori, Camille; Rausser, Gordon C.

Abstract: This report summarizes preliminary findings of the Mexican National Database and Community Survey Project which examines linkages between institutional characteristics in Mexico’s common property forestry sector and economic and environmental outcomes. Framing the Mexican agrarian community as a unit of analysis characterized by its history, individual members, resources, civic structure and property rights, we use institutional economic analysis to motivate project design and research on three aspects of Mexican community forestry governance: first, how communities have engaged forest resources to participate in forestry markets; second, how internal models of forestry management are reflect historical circumstances and practices, policy trends and managerial preferences that are independent of vertical integration levels; third, correlation among market participation, internal organization and performance outcomes such as conservation levels, wealth and income indicators and public and private goods investment. The project employs unique community-level survey data collected in Durango and Michoacan between 2005 and 2007 to summarize basic statistics to describe the sector from the point of view of the project’s objectives. Preliminary results reveal an inverse relationship between integration into production chains and material wealth measures, no correlation between internal governance models and vertical integration, and significant regional variation in institutional characteristics. The emerging profile shows continually evolving and varied common property institutions and questions “one-size-fits-all” business models, pointing to the need for more specific understandings of the community forestry sector. The lessons learned can be applied to address the future role of “community” in Mexican economic and environmental policy, and, on a larger scale, the meaning of community forestry management in sustainable development strategies.

Title: Risk and Aversion in the Integrated Assessment of Climate Change

Authors: Crost, Benjamin; Traeger, Christian

Title: Family Values and the Regulation of Labor

Authors: Alesina, Alberto; Algan, Yann; Cahuc, Pierre; Giuliano, Paola

Abstract: Flexible labor markets requires geographically mobile workers to be efficient. Otherwise, firms can take advantage of the immobility of workers and extract monopsony rents. In cultures with strong family ties, moving away from home is costly. Thus, individuals with strong family ties rationally choose regulated labor markets to avoid moving and limiting the monopsony power of firms, even though regulation generates lower employment and income. Empirically, we do find that individuals who inherit stronger family ties are less mobile, have lower wages, are less often employed and support more stringent labor market regulations. There are also positive cross-country correlations between the strength of family ties and labor market rigidities. Finally, we find positive correlations between labor market rigidities at the beginning of the twenty first century and family values prevailing before World War II, which suggests that labor market regulations have deep cultural roots.

Title: Conscription and Crime: Evidence from the Argentine Draft Lottery

Authors: Galiani, Sebastian; Rossi, Martín A.; Schargrodsky, Ernesto

Abstract: We estimate the causal effect of mandatory participation in the military service on the involvement in criminal activities. We exploit the random assignment of young men to military service in Argentina through a draft lottery to identify this causal effect. Using a unique set of administrative data that includes draft eligibility, participation in the military service, and criminal records, we find that participation in the military service increases the likelihood of developing a criminal record in adulthood. The effects are not only significant for the cohorts that performed military service during war times, but also for those that provided service at peace times. We also find that military service has detrimental effects on future performance in the labor market.

Title: ”Thou shalt not covet ...”: Prohibitions, Temptation and Moral Values

Authors: Cervellati, Matteo; Vanin, Paolo

Abstract: We propose a theory studying temptation in presence of both externally and internally sanctioned prohibitions. Moral values that (internally) sanction prohibited actions and their desire may increase utility by reducing self-control costs, thereby serving as partial commitment devices. We apply the model to crime and study the conditions under which agents would optimally adhere to moral values of honesty. Incentives to be moral are non- monotonic in the crime premium. Larger external punishments increase temptation and demand for morality, so that external and internal sanctions are complements. The model helps rationalizing stylized facts that proved difficult to explain with available theories.

Title: Religious Organizations

Authors: Gilat, Gilat; Razin, Ronny

Abstract: We propose a model of religious organizations which relies on the ability of such organi-zations and personal utility shocks. We show how religious organizations arise endogenously and characterize their features. Specifically, we find that members of the religious organization share similar beliefs and are more likely to cooperate with one another in social interactions. We identify a "spiritual" as well as a "material" payoff for members of the religious organization. Our results explain and shed light on empirical phenomena such as the effects of secularization and economic development on religious beliefs and participation, the relation between the size of the religion and the intensity of its members’ beliefs, religious segregation and religious conflicts.

Title: Advocatus, et non latro? Testing the Supplier-Induced-Demand Hypothesis for Italian Courts of Justice

Authors: Buonanno, Paolo; Galizzi, Matteo M.

Abstract: We explore the relationship between litigation rates and the number of lawyers, in a typical supplier-induced demand (SID) frame. Drawing on an original panel dataset for the 169 Italian courts of justice between 2000 and 2007, we first document that the number of lawyers is positively correlated with different measures of litigation rate. Then, using an instrumental variables strategy we find that a 10 percent increase of lawyers over population is associated with an increase between 1.6 to 6 percent in civil litigation rates. Thus, our empirical analysis supports the SID hypothesis for the Italian lawyers: following an increase in their relative number, lawyers may exploit their informational advantage to induce clients to access to courts even when litigation is unnecessary or ineffective.