Suchergebnisse

Public debate about the acceptability of genetically modified organisms in the production of food and feed has included controversy about risks of harming human health and/or the natural environment. Consumer and public response to the risks can be volatile, as manifested in some of the extreme protest actions in Europe. These reactions are due, in part, to strong judgments formed from memorable events. Such judgments are common when individuals do not have a good understanding of risks. Economic and psychological theories of decision making provide understanding of how these judgments are formed, how they might evolve, and what can be done to influence them. Public dialogue and action must account for cognitive difficulties assessing risks to stimulate public evaluation that gives full consideration to the benefits and cost of genetically modified organisms.

AbstractCrop insurance premia are shown to be sensitive to the distributional assumptions used in their calculation. Premia calculations based on normal distributions and beta distributions are compared. The normal distribution overstates the probability of loss relative to the beta distribution, and causes premia to be higher. It is argued that use of the normal distribution in crop insurance premia calculation cannot be justified by appealing to a Central Limit Theorem because crop insurance loss events are not independent, and that distributions with flexible representation of skewness would be more appropriate for crop insurance premia calculation.

Efforts to distribute land titles to low-income rural Afro-Brazilian communities, known as quilombos, have been disappointing despite the provision of ample government resources. Until now, research on the implications of Brazil s land reform policies has not considered quilombo communities in an economic context. The unique case of the quilombo communities provides an interesting context to advance the understanding of the role of land titles in rural income generation. The impact of land tenure security in the cycle of assets, activities, and income is explored to identify the importance of institutions for land dependent agricultural enterprises. We find evidence of land titles contributing to desirable welfare outcomes through their impact on production and investment behavior. Income diversity from various production activities is found to positively contribute to higher income levels, particularly for producers earning more than the minimum wage, once conditioned on secure land rights and productive investments. ; Non-PR ; GRP2; IFPRI1 ; MTID

The uncertainty in the world market and the increasing reliance of the Philippines in rice imports compel the government to increase domestic production. Knowing the patterns and sources of rice production growth in the recent years can provide insights to alternative ways of increasing rice production in immediate future. This study examined the sources of rice production growth in the Philippines from 1996 to 2007. A translog production function was estimated using a generalized instrumental variable estimator. Using this framework, the contributions to production growth of conventional and non-conventional inputs were separated from the growth in residual total factor productivity. Higher output growth was observed during wet and dry season of 2001-2006 and 2002-2007 compared to that of 1996-2001 and 1997-2002. Wet season rice production grew by 22% from 2001 to 2006, of which 15% and 6% were sourced from increase in uses of conventional and non-conventional inputs, respectively. Similarly, rice production during dry seasons from 2002 to 2007 rose by 14%, of which 10% was due to expanded use of non-convention inputs. Residual total factor productivity contributed nearly 4% while conventional inputs contributed minimally during the dry season. Thus, uses of non-conventional inputs such as irrigation, hybrid and third generation modern inbred rice varieties, certified seed, training, and machine ownership have been central to production growth in both wet and dry seasons from 2001 to 2007.