摘要:

AbstractAs public agricultural extension organizations around the world examine the possibility of privatizing or commercializing part or all their services, several issues arise. In this paper I address the question of how to price the services provided. Using available data from Israel, a supply (marginal cost) function is estimated for the Israel Extension Service, and a demand function for extension services is estimated. The derived number of visits and the per visit price are calculated. Several general extension‐related policy issues that may also be applicable to other countries are discussed.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243773

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractA discrete‐time dynamic hedging problem is solved under expected utility maximization and basis risk without imposing a particular parametric form for utility, nor assuming normally distributed cash and futures prices. The solution is valid for any increasing and strictly concave utility function, and for quite general specifications of the joint distribution of cash and futures prices. This generality is achieved by restricting the futures market to be unbiased, and requiring that the size of the cash position be nonstochastic. The dynamic hedging rule can be estimated empirically using similar methods to those used to estimate static hedge ratios.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243774

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis study explores the linkage of the determinants of food choice with consumer nutrient availability by developing a procedure to measure changes in nutrient availability as the demand for food items change. It uses demand elasticities from traditional demand analysis to estimate elasticities of changes in the nutritional content of consumer diets. The procedure is applied to estimate nutrient elasticities for fifteen nutrients in response to changes in thirty‐five food prices and per capita income.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243775

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractIn this paper we seek to reconcile low farm‐level substitution elasticity between nitrogen, fertilizer, and land, with larger industry‐level values for the corn sector. This is accomplished with a micro‐simulation model which identifies twenty‐three heterogeneous groups of corn farmers based on survey data for Indiana. After controlling for soil quality, slope, crop rotation, and natural nitrogen sources, considerable variation in fertilizer application rates remains. Model simulations indicate that the estimated substitution elasticity at the state level (1.15) is consistent with very low farm‐level substitutability. The difference is attributable to compositional changes in the wake of relative price shocks. These compositional effects are potentially very important but they are ignored in most policy analyses.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243776

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractWater development and allocation to competing uses without well‐defined water quality rights contribute to water use externalities. Federal legislation to address the salinity externalities in the Colorado River Basin comprises a set of arbitrary quality standards and millions of dollars in federal projects. This study specifies economic criteria to empirically determine first‐ and second‐best quality standards and to indicate opportunities for efficiency gains in existing policy. A basin‐wide, nonlinear programming model optimizes river water quality, resource allocation, production levels, and total expenditures for control. Revealed are the economic tradeoffs between water uses, regions, and control strategies.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243777

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractFarmers can be encouraged to voluntarily adopt environmentally sound management practices through the use of incentive payments. This paper uses both a bivariate probit with sample selection model and a double hurdle model on data from a survey of farmers to predict farmer adoption of the practices as a function of the payment offer. The five management practices addressed here are integrated pest management, legume crediting, manure testing, split applications of nitrogen, and soil moisture testing. Also estimated are models that predict the acreage on which these practices would be applied given the decision to accept the incentive payments estimated.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243778

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractAgriculture and the environment are linked by a mutual reliance on scarce resources and prevalent market distortions. In this paper we examine the efficiency costs of policies that correct distortions in one sector while ignoring those in another. The dual distortions of an environmental externality and water subsidies are studied in the context of irrigated agriculture in California. The welfare costs associated with independent action by either a water agency or an environmental authority when that policy maker attempts to correct the respective market distortion without consideration of the distortion in the other market are estimated. Policies to correct the two distortions are found to be complementary. Under these conditions, the independent correction of either distortion improves welfare by at least $@@‐@@118 per acre. In most cases, the simultaneous adoption of various second‐best policies further reduces welfare losses associated with these distortions.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243779

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractMarine aquaculture development is often constrained due to the difficulty in accommodating the industry within the evolving framework of coastal zone regulatory policy. One contributing problem is the dearth of socioeconomic, environmental, and institutional knowledge. To address this issue, a dynamic multiobjective, multilevel policy model is formulated for net‐pen aquaculture development using effluent taxes as a policy instrument. Dynamic policy frontiers are generated by solving the aquacultural sector's problem, embedding the producer's dynamic response within the policy maker's problem, and then parameterizing on policy goals. The frontiers represent economic policy information consistent with the needs of a policy bargaining process.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243780

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractIn this paper we develop a count data model for consumer demand which explicitly allows for a large number of zero observations for the dependent variable, and separation of the participation versus quantity decisions. The advantages of the model over traditional censored and count demand models are brought out, and the appropriate consumer surplus measures are derived. By introducing a random error term into the traditional count model demand function, the appropriate measure of expected consumer surplus for count models is derived. The model is illustrated using a recreational survey of the general population.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243781

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractNested logit models are increasingly being used to value environmental amenities. The implications of nesting structure, choice of estimator (FIML or sequential), and restrictions on parameters across nested groups on welfare estimates are examined. These issues have received little previous attention. Model selection criteria that can be used to distinguish among the models are extended and applied. Additionally, a simulation procedure is implemented to construct standard errors for the welfare measures.

ISSN:0002-9092    

DOI:10.2307/1243782

出版商:Oxford University Press    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY