摘要:

Distributional issues are central to the political economy of agriculture, yet empirical research into structural change is comparatively limited. This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the evolution of the size distribution of agricultural holdings in England and Wales based on the fitting of a lognormal density function to the size distribution in each year. The empirical results point to the continued survival of large numbers of small farms in spite of the increasing concentration of land on larger units over the post‐war period. Consideration is also given to the implications of the methodology for the direction of further research into structural and related distributional issue

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00210.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Attempts to curtail surplus agricultural production may result in excess capacity for food processors. This paper considers the impact of potential capacity constraints for different specifications of duopoly behaviour. If one firm's capacity is constrained, rents are shifted to the other under quantity competition, while both benefit under price competition. If both firms face capacity constraints, each benefits whatever the nature of competition. Consequently, food processing firms may benefit from cut‐backs in agricultural production or quantitative trade restrictions, depending on the nature of strategic interaction, though consumers always los

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00211.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Among dealers in the physical commodity, the benefits associated with risk reduction are important factors in motivating the decision to engage in futures trading. Although it is possible to evaluate, in an objective sense, the ability of a market to reduce risk, actual and potential users may also be heavily influenced by their subjective assessments of the performance and reliability of a futures market. This paper argues that the recent decline in the level of usage of the London Potato Futures Market may be more the product of unfavourable attitudes to trading than of a decline in the performance of the market with respect to risk reduction.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00212.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The paper examines the economic effects of state policy on land transactions in Egyptian agriculture since 1810, with special reference to the post‐1952 government intervention in the land market. Following a combination of historical and econometric approaches, the analysis shows that: (i) under conditions of market forces, factor prices responded to changes in land‐labour ratio, cotton price and output value, and landlords' monopoly power was dominant; (ii) while the inequality was sharply reduced after equity‐directed intervention, value productivity of the scarce factor, land, has lost its significance in determining rental values and the effective supply of land has, since 1970, declined together with agricultural growth rates; and (iii) there has been a trade‐off between equity and agricultural growth during periods of non‐intervention and relaxation of tight State control of the land market. Proposals for policy adjustment are

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00213.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper uses input‐output data bases to derive estimates of industry productivity growth rates in the UK for three discrete sub‐periods. The results are then used to derive estimates of the within‐industry productivity growth contributions to the changing efficiency over time of the economic system in meeting consumers' food requirements. The resultant estimates indicate the value of extending studies of agricultural productivity growth to encompass efficiency gains in industries that are upstream and downstream of the agricultural ind

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00214.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This article applies the literature on ‘incidence analysis’ to the case of Zimbabwe, the main hypothesis being that industrial protection indirectly taxes agricultural exports by increasing the price of non‐tradeables. The extent to which industrial protection increases the price of non‐tradeables is measured by Sjaastad's incidence parameter. The study shows that there exists a generally high level of incidence and finds major differences in ‘true protection’ across categories of exportables and individual agricultural export commodities. The calculated price effects of industrial protection indicate substantial indirect disincentives to the production of agricultural exportables. On average, these are more than offset by direct subsidies in the case of beef. For other agricultural export commodities, indirect taxes either overcompensate direct subsidies or exacerbate the negative direct protection resulting in extremely high tr

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00215.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Recent procedures for selecting disadvantaged areas for European Community rural development assistance have specified criteria including low levels of agricultural income and GDP per capita, and proportionately high levels of agricultural employment. The first of these is measured by Farm Net Value Added per Annual Work Unit (FNVA per AWU). This paper presents a methodology which estimates FNVA and AWU for Scottish parishes using data from the Farm Accounts Scheme and the June agricultural census. The ratio of FNVA to AWU is then estimated for various aggregations of parishes, such as Scottish Districts, Regions, and areas currently designated for various rural development programmes. Although only one among several important criteria for targeting rural development aid, the pattern of FNVA per AWU generally supports the current allocation of funding. The results also give some indication of priority areas for future targeting on a more local scale.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00216.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

An aggregate analysis of supply response in the paddy (rice) sector of Sri Lanka during 1952‐87 is conducted to identify the impact of pricing policy, irrigation programmes, institutional credit and concessional sales on area, yield and overall supply. The focus of the estimation procedure is the selection of an appropriate functional form for regressions and on the price variable that best represents the price to which producers respond in making area and yield decisions. In the case of both area and yield, the econometric criteria favour the acceptance of log‐linear equations with the ratio of the guaranteed price of paddy to fertiliser price. On the basis of overall supply elasticity estimates, it is concluded that while pricing policy, irrigation programmes and institutional credit provide incentives to the expansion of paddy production, concessional sales of rice act as a disincent

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00217.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A multi‐commodity model is developed for evaluating the gains from research which raises the demand for a commodity, and applied to the pig and chicken industries in Australia. The major finding is that the gain to pork producers is larger, and the gain to consumers smaller, with a cross‐commodity consideration than without. Bigger differences in results are observed with larger values of the cross‐price elasticity between pork and chicken, and with a larger shift in demand for chicken. However, the aggregate benefits to the Australian pig industry are not significantly affected by price changes in the market for chicken. The implication of the analysis is that, by ignoring the cross‐market feedback between commodities closely related in consumption, consumers (or taxpayers) of the commodity experiencing a rise in demand may bear a higher‐than‐optimal outlay on public research directed to increasing the demand for tha

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00218.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper develops and illustrates a test of the competitiveness of food price spreads. The test does not require information on the structure of the food industry or estimation of conjectural variations, but rather the prices of the intermediate inputs used to produce the raw farm product and the prices of the intermediate inputs that are combined with the raw farm product to produce the final consumer good. The test is applied to the US farm/wholesale beef market.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00219.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY