The Professor’s Dilemma: Teaching Game Theory in Principles of Agricultural Economics

Teaching, Game Theory, Agricultural Economics, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, A22, C70, Q19,

THE HORSE SECTOR: DOES IT MATTER FOR AGRICULTURE?

EU policies focus ever more on rural development initiatives. The horse sector provides some opportunities. An I/O model is used to examine the aggregate effects of the horse sector on Swedish agriculture. The maximal potential of the sector accounts for around 12% of the total contribution to GDP by agriculture.Horse sector, Input-Output, Livestock Production/Industries, Q19,

New identities for Ramanujan's cubic continued fraction.

In this paper, we present some new identities providing relations between Ramanujan's cubic continued fraction V(q)V(q) and the other three continued fractions V(q9)V(q9), V(q17)V(q17) and V(q19)V(q19). In the process, we establish some new modular equations for the ratios of Ramanujan's theta functions. We also establish some general formulas for the explicit evaluations of ratios of Ramanujan's theta functions

Survival and Growth of Family Farms in a Transition Country – The Hungarian Case

The paper investigates the validity of Gibrat’s Law in Hungarian agriculture. We use FADN data between 2001 and 2007 and employ quantile regression techniques to test the validity of Gibrat’s Law across quantiles. The Law is strongly rejected for all quantiles, providing strong evidence that smaller farms tend to grow faster than larger ones. We provide a number of socio-economic factors that can explain farm growth. Of these we found that total subsidies received by farm and far operator’s age are the most significant factors.Gibrat’s Law, family farm, quantile regression, transition agriculture, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, P32, Q12, Q19,

Inspection 2012 : an evaluation report

"This is a report on the outcomes of the consultation about the new school inspection arrangements for maintained schools and academies to be introduced in January 2012" -- front cover

Analysis of iodinated quorum sensing peptides by LC-UV/ESI ion trap mass spectrometry

Five different quorum sensing peptides (QSP) were iodinated using different iodination techniques. These iodinated peptides were analyzed using a C-18 reversed phase HPLC system, applying a linear gradient of water and acetonitrile containing 0.1% (m/v) formic acid as mobile phase. Electrospray ionization (ESI) ion trap mass spectrometry was used for the identification of the modified peptides, while semi-quantification was performed using total ion current (TIC) spectra. Non-iodinated peptides and mono- and di-iodinated peptides (NIP, MIP and DIP respectively) were well separated and eluted in that order. Depending on the used iodination method, iodination yields varied from low (2%) to high (57%)

Verifying Credence Attributes in Livestock Production

Livestock producers can respond to increasing consumer demand for certain production process attributes by providing verifiable information on the practices used. Consumer willingness to pay data were used to inform producer decision-making regarding selection of verification entities for four key production process attributes in the production of pork chops and milk. The potential for informing farm-level decision-making with information about consumer demand for product and production process attributes exists beyond the two products assessed as example cases in this analysis.Key Words: animal welfare, certification, credence attribute, producer decision support, response to consumer demand, verification, willingness to pay, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q11, Q12, Q19,

THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS 2007-13 OF THE ITALIAN REGIONS A QUALI-QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

This paper presents a preliminary evaluation of the 21 Rural Development Programs (RDPs) of the Italian regions and Autonomous provinces. A quantitative analysis of the Italian RDPs will be carried out investigating the distribution of the European Agricultural Funds for Rural Development, considering national and regional co-financing, in order to highlight the different allocation of funds between axes and measures across the regions. To support quantitative analysis a qualitative investigation, and related methodology, will be presented and applied to three Italian regions. This combined methodology allows a gathering of different aspects of rural development policy, thus to reveal the objectives pursued by the regions often hidden “between the lines” of the RDP texts.Rural development policy, Italian regions, Evaluation of efficiency and Effectiveness, In progress support to policy decisions, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q19,