Integrating Agricultural Input Expenditure into a South African Agricultural Sector’s Partial Equilibrium Model

Agricultural inputs expenditure has not been widely incorporated in most partial equilibrium models. Moreover, input costs are treated exogenous and the recursive link between input and output side of the sector is overlooked in few of the models that attempts to incorporate input expenditures. The study has addressed both issues by integrating agricultural input expenditures into the South African sectoral partial equilibrium model by endogenising input costs and recursively linking both input and output side of the agricultural sectors to enhance the results of a standard partial equilibrium model in analysing the effect of policies on agricultural sector.Agricultural Finance, Farm Management,

Meta Response Surface Design for General and Partial Equilibrium Models

Due to the complexity of general and partial equilibrium models, conventional sensitivity analysis, qualitative reviews or literature-based meta-analyses do not allow for detailed assessments of the role of individual parameters and policy shocks across different models. Therefore, the partial equilibrium model “GSIM” and a single country CGE are employed to generate synthetic scenarios based on randomly specified combinations of base data, elasticities and tariff changes selected from previously specified, plausible ranges. The synthetic meta-data has the advantage that the values of explanatory variables are measured exactly. This makes it possible to explore complex issues of functional form and interaction between variables in the estimation of the response surface of each model as well as for a joint response surface of both models. The results indicate that firstand second-order polynomials provide sufficient approximations of the model responses, and especially for the CGE model, interaction terms of elasticities with policy variables play an important role. Furthermore, simultaneous estimation of a response surface of scenarios from both models proves to be feasible and enables quantitative comparisons of different model output, e.g. welfare measures.General Equilibrium, Partial Equilibrium, Response Surface Design, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

The meat market in Brazil: a partial equilibrium model

A partial equilibrium model for the meat market is fit to Brazilian data by three stages least squares. The model is consistent with the data and may be used for simulation purposes. In this context we compare model simulations for the near future with the OECD/ Aglink outlook. To illustrate using the model for simulations in policy assessments, we investigate the effect of a relative increase in corn price on the poultry and pork markets, coeteris paribus.Meat markets, elasticities, three stage least squares, simultaneous system of equations., Agribusiness, C 32,

Tax Incidence

This chapter reviews the concepts, methods, and results of studies that analyze the incidence of taxes. The purpose of such studies is to determine how the burden of a particular tax is allocated among consumers through higher product prices, workers through a lower wage rate, or other factors of production through lower rates of return to those factors. The methods might involve simple partial equilibrium models, analytical general equilibrium models, or computable general equilibrium models. We review partial equilibrium models, where the burden of a tax is shown to depend on the elasticity of supply relative to the elasticity of demand. In particular, we consider partial equilibrium models with imperfect competition. Turning to a general equilibrium setting, we review the classic model of Harberger (1962) and illustrate its generality by applying it to a number of different contexts. We also use this model to demonstrate the practicality of analytical general equilibrium modeling through the use of log linearization techniques. We then turn to dynamic models to show how a tax on capital affects capital accumulation, future wage rates, and overall burdens. Such models might also provide analytical results or computational results. We also focus on relatively recent models that calculate the lifetime incidence of taxes, with both intratemporal and intertemporal redistribution. Finally, the chapter reviews the use of incidence methods and results in the policy process.

CAP Reform and the Mediterranean EU-Member States

In the previous years the Mediterranean Member States of the EU came across the Reform of the CAP and especially last year faced the second wave of the Reform for three typical Mediterranean products, namely cotton, olive oil and tobacco. In this paper a partial equilibrium model is used to simulate the impacts of decoupling, as a key point of the decided CAP Reform. The second wave of the Reform appears to be of crucial importance for the southern EU countries and although the producer's income is reduced, there are positive welfare effects.decoupling, partial equilibrium model, CAP reform, Greece, Italy, Spain, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q17, D59,

Economic convergence and the fundamental equilibrium exchange rate in Poland

The paper presents an extended version of the fundamental equilibrium exchange rate model (FFER). By introducing potential output into the specification of the foreign trade equations of the partial equilibrium FEER model we show that, under some plausible assumptions, the calculated level of the equilibrium exchange rate is consistent with the estimates of the behavioral equilibrium exchange (BEER). Moreover, we indicate that including the terms of trade as an explanatory variable in a reduced-form BEER equation for the real exchange rate might lead to the indeterminacy of the parameter estimates. The proposed model is applied to analyze fluctuations of the Polish zloty. We show that the real appreciation of the zloty is to a largely an equilibrium phenomenon.Fundamental equilibrium exchange rate; current account; foreign trade

Partial Adjustment Without Apology

Many kinds of economic behavior appear to be governed by discrete and occasional individual choices. Despite this, econometric partial adjustment models perform relatively well at the aggregate level. Analyzing the classic employment adjustment problem, we show how discrete and occasional microeconomic adjustment is well described by a new form of partial adjustment model that aggregates the actions of a large number of heterogeneous producers. We begin by describing a basic model of discrete and occasional adjustment at the micro level, where production units are essentially restricted to either operate with a fixed number of workers or shut down. We show that this simple model is observationally equivalent at the market level to the standard rational expectations partial adjustment model. We then construct a related, but more realistic, model that incorporates the idea that increases or decreases in the size of an establishment’s workforce are subject to fixed adjustment costs. In the market equilibrium of this model, employment responses to aggregate disturbances include changes both in employment selected by individual establishments and in the measure of establishments actively undertaking adjustment. Yet the model retains a partial adjustment flavor in its aggregate responses. Moreover, in contrast to existing models of discrete adjustment, our generalized partial adjustment model is sufficiently tractable to allow extension to general equilibrium.

The Impacts of U.S. Cotton Programs on the West and Central African Countries Cotton Export Earnings

This study uses a stochastic simulation approach based on a partial equilibrium structural econometric model of the world fiber market to examine the effects of a removal of U.S. cotton programs on the world market. The effects on world cotton prices and African export earnings were analyzed. The results suggest that on average an elimination of U.S. cotton programs would lead to a marginal increase in the world cotton prices thus resulting in minimal gain for cotton exporting countries in Africa.Stochastic simulation, partial equilibrium model, United States, Africa, cotton subsidies, export earnings, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,

Economy-wide Impacts of Climate on Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Two possible adaptation options to climate change for Sub-Saharan Africa are analyzed under the SRES B2 scenario. The first scenario doubles irrigated areas in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2050, compared to the baseline, but keeps total crop area constant. The second scenario increases both rainfed and irrigated crop yields by 25 percent for all Sub-Saharan African countries. The two adaptation scenarios are analyzed with IMPACT, a partial equilibrium agricultural sector model combined with a water simulation model, and with GTAP-W, a general equilibrium model including water resources. The methodology combines advantages of a partial equilibrium approach, considering detailed wateragriculture linkages with a general equilibrium approach, which takes into account linkages between agriculture and non-agricultural sectors and includes a full treatment of factor markets. The efficacy of the two scenarios as adaptation measures to cope with climate change is discussed. Due to the low initial irrigated areas inthe region, an increase in agricultural productivity achieves better outcomes than an expansion of irrigated areas. Even though Sub-Saharan Africa is not a key contributor to global food production or irrigated food production, both scenarios help lower world food prices, stimulating national and international food markets.Computable General Equilibrium, Climate Change, Agriculture, Sub-Saharan Africa, Integrated Assessment Model

Modelling the World Wool Market: A Hybrid Approach

We present a model of the world wool market that merges two modelling traditions: the partialequilibrium commodity-specific approach and the computable general-equilibrium approach. The model captures the multistage nature of the wool production system, and the heterogeneous nature of raw wool, processed wool and wool garments. It also captures the important wool producing and consuming regions of the world. We illustrate the utility of the model by estimating the effects of tariff barriers on wool products using partial- and general-equilibrium solutions. We find that either solution generates similar wool industry results, whereas the macroeconomic effects differ significantly with the partial-equilibrium estimates significantly overestimating the benefits of the tariff changes.general equilibrium, multistage production, partial equilibrium, tariffs, wool products.