REFORMS AND EFFICIENCY CHANGE IN TRANSITION AGRICULTURE

Studies on efficiency changes in transition agriculture yield mixed results. This paper develops both a theoretical model of efficiency changes during transition and uses a unique set of representative farm survey data to assess efficiency changes during transition. We find that reforms have a positive impact on efficiency and that input and output market imperfections importantly affect efficiency growthProductivity Analysis,

Reforms and Efficiency Change in Transition Agriculture

Studies on efficiency changes in transition agriculture yield mixed results. This paper develops both a theoretical model and an empirical analysis of how distribution of efficiency scores changes with the various stages of transition. We use a unique set of representative farm survey data to calculate farm level efficiency scores, compare the efficiency distributions of different transition countries and correlate these with various indicators of particular reforms. Our study indicates that, in particular, general institutional reforms and reforms focused on market institutions and on reducing market imperfections in input and output markets have an important positive impact on farm efficiency.transition, production efficiency, reforms, Agribusiness, P2, E2, P21,

Effects of Market Reforms in the Former Soviet Union on World Grain Trade: Results From A Multi-Market Wheat Trade Model

International Relations/Trade,

Causes of Efficiency Change in Transition: Theory and Cross-Country Survey Evidence from Agriculture

Studies on efficiency changes in transition agriculture yield mixed results. This paper develops both a theoretical model and an empirical analysis of how distribution of efficiency scores changes with the various stages of transition. We use a unique set of representative farm survey data to calculate farm level efficiency scores, compare the efficiency distributions of different transition countries and correlate these with various indicators of particular reforms. Our study indicates that, in particular, general institutional reforms and reforms focused on market institutions and on reducing market imperfections in input and output markets have an important positive impact on farm efficiency.Farm Management, Productivity Analysis,

Distortion costs and effects of price liberalisation in Russian energy markets: A CGE analysis

Russia’s economy is energy intense and wasteful of resources. This situation has arisen in part due to the country’s ample energy supplies and regulated privileges for domestic con-sumers. Recently enacted and proposed reforms intended to increase the efficiency of the energy sector by raising domestic energy prices also have implications for the export levels of Russian energy commodities. In this study, we estimate the costs of the subsidised en-ergy system in an allocative sense and then analyse recent moves of the Duma to boost gas and electricity prices to bring them into line with market-based pricing. Our analysis uses a multi-region general equilibrium model (GTAP) modified to express the global dimensions of the subsidisation policy and suggested reforms. Preliminary results show that current subsidies extract over 6% of GDP and limit the potential benefits of Russia’s comparative advantage in energy commodities. Increases of 6% in electricity and 10% in the price of regulated gas improve efficiency by reducing distorting subsidies and distinctly shifting output from domestic markets to exports.CGE modelling; energy market liberalisation; Russia

A crouching tiger? A hidden dragon? Transition, savings and growth in Vietnam, 1975-2006

econometric models;Viet Nam;policy analysis;economic development;economies in transition

The sequencing of agricultural market reforms in Malawi

The paper analyzes the welfare impacts of alternative sequencing scenarios of agricultural market reforms in Malawi using a profit maximization approach. The simulation results show that, contrary to the sequencing path adopted in the 1980's, Malawi's Government should have liberalized the maize sector first, followed by the groundnut export sector, and once a supply response was generated, input subsidies could have been phased out, without generating a negative impact on producers' welfare and food security.Agricultural economics. ,Food security Malawi. ,

Continuity and change: land and water use reforms in rural Uzbekistan. Socio-economic and legal analyses for the region Khorezm

Decades of Soviet rule have left a heritage of environmental and social problems in Central Asia. The demise of an entire ecosystem at unprecedented pace, the 'Aral Sea Syndrome', is the most prominent of the undesired outcomes of the focus on agricultural production that has dominated land and resource use and continues till today. The international outcry over this ecological crisis has delegated other - and maybe more urgent - problems to a second pane. Rural livelihoods are rapidly deteriorating, unemployment is high, and rural poverty widespread. Ecological aspects, although strongly affecting everyday life in rural areas - such as water and soil salinity and environmental pollution - are not the fore most concern to the local population, as the economic survival is the more pressing need. Nevertheless, it is exactly in this situation where the larger part of the population exploits the natural resources further rather than preserving the ecological basis as a natural means of the local land’s productivity. Table of contents: Preface and acknowledgements; Peter Wehrheim, Anja Schoeller-Schletter, Christopher Martius. Chapter 1: Farmers, cotton, water, and models - Introduction and overview; Peter Wehrheim, Christopher Martius. Chapter 2: Organizing agricultural production - Law and legal forms in transition; Anja Schoeller-Schletter. Chapter 3: A model-based analysis of land and water use reforms in Khorezm: Effects on different types of agricultural producers; Nodir Djanibekov. Chapter 4: Optimal crop allocation and consequent ecological benefits in large scale (shirkat) farms in Uzbekistan's transition process; Ihtiyor Bobojonov, Inna Rudenko, John P. A. Lamers. Chapter 5: Where has all the water gone? Marc Müller. Chapter 6: Analysis of water use and allocation for the Khorezm region in Uzbekistan using an integrated economic-hydrologic model; Tina Schieder, Ximing Cai. Chapter 7: Problems and perspectives of water user associations in Uzbekistan; Darya Hirsch (Zavgorodnyaya). Chapter 8: Barriers to technological change and agrarian reform in Khorezm, Uzbekistan; Caleb Wall. Chapter 9: Analysis of agricultural markets in Khorezm, Uzbekistan; Ihtiyor Bobojonov, John P. A. Lamers. Chapter 10: Cotton, agriculture, and the Uzbek government; Marc Müller --

Job Reallocation and Productivity Growth under Alternative Economic Systems and Policies: Evidence from the Soviet Transition

How do economic policies and institutions affect job reallocation processes and their consequences for productivity growth? This paper studies the extreme case of economic system change and alternative transitional policies in the former Soviet Republics of Russia and Ukraine. Exploiting annual manufacturing census data from 1985 to 2000, we find that Soviet Russia displayed job flow behavior quite different from market economies, with very low rates of job reallocation that bore little relationship to relative productivity across firms and sectors. Since liberalization began, the pace, heterogeneity, and productivity effects of job flows have increased substantially. The increases occurred more quickly in rapidly reforming Russia than in “gradualist” Ukraine, as did the estimated effects of privatization and competitive pressures from product and labor markets on excess job reallocation and on the productivity-enhancing effects of job flows.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39899/3/wp514.pd

Energy market liberalisation in the FSU - simulations with the GTAP model

This work considers effects of energy market liberalisation in the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU). Our analysis is based on a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model called the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP). This specialised model makes it possible to evaluate effects in a general equilibrium set-up. Energy market reforms are widely discussed in the literature, but the use of CGE models has been limited. In the main part of the paper, we perform two experiments. The first is a benchmark liberalisation experiment in which all government taxes and subsidies are removed. The second is an attempt to simulate an increase in the export capacity of energy commodities into the European markets. In general, we find that liberalisation of FSU energy markets would increase welfare in the EU countries, while in the FSU welfare would decrease. This result is mainly due to the terms of trade effect, as export prices of FSU countries decrease.energy, computable general equilibrium models, former Soviet Union, welfare analysis