The impact of globalisation and trade on the productivity performance of the Irish food manufacturing sector

Globalisation and international integration can yield efficiency gains through the promotion of competition and trade in markets for internationally traded goods. At the firm level, exposure to competitive pressures has created a necessity for firms to operate as close as possible to the technology frontier in order to survive. Furthermore, increased integration has lead to an influx of investment by Multinational corporations who bring with them technological innovations. This has the effect of improving overall productivity by shifting the best practice technology frontier while at the same time making it increasingly difficult for smaller competitors to survive. In an Irish context, the food industry has recently been acknowledged in national policy as an important sector for future development. The aim of this paper is to measure the productivity performance of the food processing industry in Ireland and establish the extent to which globalisation has brought about efficiency and productivity gains to the industry.Food Industry, Ireland, Productivity, Stochastic Production Function

Understanding Production in the Performing Arts: A Production Function for German Public Theatres

The production structure for the performing arts is complicated by a number of factors making it difficult to estimate production technologies using a theoretical framework built for standard applications. However, understanding the nature of production and the way in which decisions are made by performing arts firms is particularly important given that many performing arts organisations are funded by government. Public funding of performing arts organisations is justified where socially desirable objectives are fulfilled. The public good component of output makes an important dimension of firms’ production decisions unobservable while the principal-agent problem reduces the incentive for firms to behave as cost minimisers. Both may result in an observed production structure which is uneconomic. In this paper we re-visit these issues using a new and extensive dataset for German public theatre. We aim to explore the extent to which the standard laws of production that apply in other sectors of the economy hold for performing arts institutions.Production technology, Performing Arts, Nonprofit, Germany

Income Shocks and Household Risk-Coping Strategies: Evidence from Rural Vietnam

This paper considers the various strategies rural households employ to avoid consumption shortfalls caused by realizations of adverse income shocks. First, we develop an ex post theoretical model within an inter-temporal utility maximizing framework which we use to explain households’ decisions to insure against idiosyncratic risk and save to protect against uninsurable spatially covariant risk. In the theoretical model we show that the latter can take a variety of different asset forms depending on the absolute level of risk aversion of the household and the variability in asset returns. Second, using household level panel data from Vietnam we test the extent to which households’ smooth consumption over time and how this depends on the presence of insurance and saving instruments. Third, we consider savings and liquid asset holdings as a form of self-insurance or precautionary savings against spatially covariant shocks. Overall, our results suggest that households deplete their stock of total liquid assets in the event of exposure to both exogenous and idiosyncratic income shocks. The ability of households to cope is also dependent on their receipt of public and private transfers in the event of an exogenous natural shock with insurance claims serving to alleviate the depletion of livestock holdings in the event of insurable idiosyncratic income shocks. These results are particularly pronounced for low and middle wealth groups.Insurance, precautionary savings, risk-coping, income shocks

Factors Shaping Expenditure on Food-Away-from-Home in Irish and UK Households

End of project reportFactors influencing consumer spending in two sectors of the food-away-from-home (FAFH) market (quick-service e.g. takeaways, and full-service e.g. restaurants) were analysed using national household expenditure survey data. Different variables affect expenditure in the two sectors in different ways. Income has a greater effect on expenditure in the full-service sector than in the quick-service sector. Similarly households that are health-conscious indicate a greater preference for full-service meals while households which place more value on time (and therefore are more convenience-oriented) indicate a greater preference for quick-service. Households of a higher social class and those with higher education levels also appear to favour full-service expenditure. In addition, younger, urbanised households favour quickservice meal options. The results emphasise the merits of analysing different sectors within the FAFH market separately.Teagasc Walsh Fellowship Programm

An Examination of the Productivity of Irish Agriculture in a Decoupled Policy Environment

End of project reportThe Single Farm Payment (SFP) scheme came into effect in the EU from the first of January 2005. This scheme replaced the many ‘coupled’ livestock and arable aid schemes available to farmers and was heralded as a significant move towards decoupling. This thesis explores the initial effects of this policy on total factor productivity (TFP) and its components (technical efficiency change, technical change, and scale efficiency change) in the main farming sectors in Ireland

Gender inequality and the empowerment of women in rural Viet Nam

This paper examines gender inequality and female empowerment in rural Viet Nam. Using an extensive panel dataset on 2,181 households, we examine how the welfare of women living in rural areas has evolved during a period of dramatic rural transformation, 2008 - 14. We find that while the economic situation of women has improved, significant gender disparities remain, particularly for female-headed households. Women continue to bear a greater burden of responsibility for income-generating activities within households. Evidence suggests, however, that women are more empowered in 2014 than in 2008 and that this is related to higher levels of household welfare more generally

Industry Switching in Developing Countries

Firm turnover (i.e. firm entry and exit) is a well-recognized source of sectorlevel productivity growth across developing and developed countries. In contrast, the role and importance of firms switching activities from one sector to another is little understood. Firm switchers are likely to be unique both from newly established entrants and exiting firms that close down. We build an empirical model that examines switching behaviour based on data from Vietnamese manufacturing firms during the period 2001.08. Our diagnostic shows that switching firms have different characteristics and behaviour as compared to entry and exit firms. They tend, inter alia, to be labour-intensive and seek out competitive opportunities in labour-intensive sectors in response to changes in the market environment. We also show that resource reallocations resulting from switching form an important component of productivity growth.firm dynamics, sector switching, efficiency, Vietnam

The role of investment, fundamental Q and financing frictions in agricultural investment decisions: an analysis pre and post financial crisis

JEL classifcation: G31, G32, F34This paper uses a fundamental Q model of investment to consider the role played by nancing frictions in agricultural investment decisions, controlling econometrically for censoring, heterogeneity and errors-in-variables. Our ndings suggest that farmer's in- vestment decisions are not driven by market fundamentals. We nd some evidence that debt overhang restricts investment but investment is not dependent on liquidity or internal funds. The role of nancing frictions in determining investment decisions changes in the post- nancial crisis period when debt overhang becomes a signi cant impediment to farm investment. The evidence suggests that farmers increasingly rely on internal liquidity to drive investment. Finally, we nd no evidence that farmers use o -farm capital to fund on-farm investment.Teagasc Walsh Fellowship Programm

Sector Switching: An Unexplored Dimension of Firm Dynamics in Developing Countries

Much of the literature on industry evolution has found firm dynamics to be an important source of sector-level productivity growth. In this paper, we ask whether the delineation of entry and exit firms matters in assessing the impact of firm turnover. Using detailed firm level data from Vietnam, it emerges that efficiency differences between sector switchers and exit/entry firms exist. Distinguishing between switchers and firm entry/exit is crucial for understanding the contribution of firm turnover to overall productivity growth. Moreover, we uncover distinct and illuminating firm and sector-level determinants of firm exit and switching, which need to be carefully considered in the search for effective policy.firm dynamics; sector switching; efficiency; Vietnam