Turkey's Rurality: A Comparative Analysis At the EU Level

The future of Europe’s rural peripheries as well as the future of rural societies is one of the most important development and planning issues of the EU. Several typologies of rural areas and different rural development indicators have been developed by researchers and international organizations such as OECD and EU to better understand the dynamics of rural areas and to develop relevant policies for these areas. The typologies of rural areas are based on sub-national territories and administrative or statistical units (i.e. local, regional, NUTS3, NUTS5), whereas rural development indicators include a wide range of indicators from population and migration to economic structure and performance and from social well-being and equity to environment and sustainability. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to compare and evaluate Turkey’s rurality with the EU-25 countries on the basis of rural development indicators. The data and information used for comparison and evaluation are based on EUROSTAT data. A multicriteria analysis technique, factor analysis is deployed to define Turkey’s rurality in the European context. To map out the characteristics and dynamics of Turkey’s rurality may also help to develop relevant policies for rural development of the country.

Absorptive capacity and internationalization of New Zealand high-tech SMEs in the agro-technology sector

This study investigates the relationships between firm's technology, absorptive capacity and the internationalization process in the high-tech SMEs. The research identifies the most influential factors that affect the international activities and expansion decisions of New Zealand high-tech SMEs with core capabilities in agro-technology. Mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative elements in the data collection and analysis, were employed in this research for a reason that a deeper understanding of the research subject and the analysis of complex issues such as the internationalization process and absorptive capacity required methodological variety. The use of qualitative and quantitative methods took place in parallel. Both methods were used to study the same subject but they had specific objective related purposes and they offered the possibility of developing rich empirical data as well as a more comprehensive understanding of the subject under the study. The findings show that it is absorptive capacity that explains internationalization process, not internationalization process that explains absorptive capacity. The practice of internationalizing is as much a reflection of a firm's absorptive capacity as it is its determinant. The research identifies that high-tech SMEs possess technological and non-core absorptive capacity which in a different way influence firms' strategies. The research suggests that firm's technological capabilities and the advantage of specialized knowledge along with their limited non-core absorptive capacity act as constraints to the development of the future international strategy in high-tech SMEs. The study expands the existing literature on internationalization by developing variables for evaluating absorptive capacity in firms. This helped develop an absorptive capacity model which can be used as a valuable tool for self-assessment by firms to facilitate gaining insight towards further growth and development. The research suggested that if firms were able to measure its absorptive capacity this may result in improved business activities and enhanced presence in the world market. The results of this study should encourage firms to identify, capture and articulate knowledge achieved by their ventures. Managers must develop and nurture skills that ensure effective integration of learning as their firms expand, particularly internationally. These findings and absorptive capacity model offered as a tool should encourage managers to explore when, where, and how to best use firm's resources in the business operations. This is particularly important in regards to the research context (high-tech SMEs) where scientists are managers as well

Global agricultural market trends and their impacts on European Union agriculture

The economic, political and climatic conditions in which farmers around the world have to make their production and investment decisions are changing dramatically. This study analyses the driving forces of changes in agricultural world markets and their implications for European Union agriculture for the time period 2003/05 - 2013/15. The impacts on European Union agriculture are quantified using of a multi-market-model. The mega-trend of declining world market prices has ended. Since the turn of the millennium world market prices for agricultural goods have been increasing. This trend can be expected to continue. Not only will prices have a tendency to increase, but also fluctuations of agricultural world market prices are likely to be higher in the future than they have been in the past. The reason for the positive trend in agricultural world market prices is that global demand growth outstrips the growth in global supply, and this trend will continue in the foreseeable future. The global demand for food will continue to grow mainly for two reasons. One is the continued growth in world population; the other is the sustained growth in per capita incomes in developing and newly industrialised countries, with corresponding increase of per capita food consumption. Global food supply will have difficulty keeping pace with the growth in demand. A key factor is that the globally available agricultural land is limited in scale. Consequently, to meet the needs of the rapidly growing world population the necessary production growth will have to a large extent be met by a rise in productivity on the land already being farmed today. However, this will be difficult to accomplish as global agricultural productivity growth has been in decline since the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Moreover, the rapid expansion of bio-energy production diverts agricultural land and other inputs away from food production. In addition, increasing water scarcity is starting to act as a constraint to production growth, and climate change is also beginning to affect production. The quantitative results of the analysis for key crops demonstrates that, both in the European Union and globally, agricultural demand will grow faster than supply during the time period 2003/05 - 2013/15. European Union demand for grains can be expected to increase by 10-20 percent and by more than 50 percent in oilseeds. However, European Union supply of wheat and other grains can only be expected to increase by less than 10 percent, corn by 15-20 percent, and oilseeds by more than 30 percent. As a consequence, the price of wheat can be expected to increase by more than 10 percent and the price of corn and oilseeds by more than 30 percent. With regard to the trade balance, the net trade position of European Union agriculture can be expected to deteriorate. While there would be a reduction in net imports of corn, net imports of oilseeds are expected to increase by more than 70 percent. Moreover, it is foreseeable that for wheat the European Union will switch from being a net exporter to a net importer. The same is true for other grains. Two additional aspects warrant further considerations. These are achieving world food security and combating global warming. For the world’s poor, increasing food prices may become a matter of survival. The results of the analysis confirm that the developing countries will not even come close to securing food supply for their rapidly growing population through domestic production, even under the best of all realistic scenarios. Consequently, the increasing food import needs of developing countries can only be met if the industrialised countries produce more and export more food. However, growth in bio-energy production in the European Union will let the region revert back to a net importing position in wheat, and it will have to increase imports of oilseeds. This will reduce the European Union’s ability to help in the fight against starvation in the world, unless there would be an increase in agricultural productivity beyond what is anticipated in this analysis. Climate change is now widely accepted as a fact, and human activity is a contributing factor. While probably not being of major importance during the time period considered in this study, world agriculture will be affected by global warming in the long run. On balance, world food production will be negatively affected as a consequence of climate change. Climate change and the associated additional increase in world food prices will amplify hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Food production will decline predominantly in the countries which are already characterised by increasing food import needs. These countries are also those that are unable to make the necessary investment in agricultural research to adapt food production to the changing climate and to cope with increase in demand. Higher food prices will also increase the incentives for deforestation in order to claim additional farm land. Deforestation however, is one of the most important causes of global warming. In the global picture, the European Union will be less affected by climate change. It may even benefit. Europe will become a more secure production location in comparison to other world regions. Consequently, it has to take responsibility to significantly contribute to world food security and also to combat global warming by utilising its production potential. To avoid negative repercussions and to fully capitalise on its production potential, it is imperative that the European Union employs strategies which increase overall agricultural productivity on the available agricultural land. Zusammenfassung In diesem Beitrag werden die Bestimmungsfaktoren der Entwicklungen auf den Weltagrarmärkten untersucht und deren Auswirkungen auf die EU Landwirtschaft für den Zeitraum 2003/05 - 2013/15 quantifiziert. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die weltweite Nachfrage nach Agrargütern stärker steigt als das Angebot, so dass der Trend der Weltagrarpreise positiv ist. Die gegenwärtig (Mai 2008) sehr hohen Preise werden indes nicht von Dauer sein. Vielmehr ist mittelfristig mit einem eher moderaten Preisanstieg von etwa 15-30 % im Untersuchungszeitraum zu rechnen. Bei Weizen und anderem Getreide (außer Mais) wird die Europäische Union wieder zu einem Nettoimporteur. Die zu erwartenden Entwicklungen auf den Weltagrarmärkten und die dadurch steigenden Preise für Nahrungsgüter werden zu einer ernsthaften Verschärfung der Welternährungslage führen. Da die Flächen, die weltweit für die Nahrungsgüterproduktion verfügbar sind, begrenzt sind, muss die Steigerung des Angebots, die notwendig ist, um die rasch wachsende Weltbevölkerung in hinreichendem Umfang mit Nahrungsgütern zu versorgen, weitgehend über eine Steigerung der Produktivität derjenigen Flächen erreicht werden, die bereits heute landwirtschaftlich genutzt werden. Eine Steigerung der Produktivität in der Weltlandwirtschaft führt zu geringeren Nahrungsgüterpreisen. Sie verringert daher auch die Anreize auf dem Weg der Brandrodung zusätzliche landwirtschaftliche Nutzflächen zu erschließen. Gegenwärtig tragen diese Brandrodungen 18 % zum anthropogenen Klimawandel bei. Dies ist mehr als der Klimaeffekt der weltweiten Industrieproduktion. Damit ist das landwirtschaftliche Produktivitätswachstum nicht nur zentral im Kampf gegen den Hunger auf der Welt, sondern es leistet auch einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Verringerung des Klimawandels.World agriculture, food security, climate change, agriculture productivity growth, Weltlandwirtschaft, Sicherung der Welternährung, landwirtschaftliches Produktivitätswachstum, International Relations/Trade,

Productivity Growth and Levels in France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States in the Twentieth Century.

This study compares labor and total factor productivity (TFP) in France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States in the very long (since 1890) and medium (since 1980) runs. During the past century, the United States has overtaken the United Kingdom and become the leading world economy. During the past 25 years, the four countries have also experienced contrasting advances in productivity, in particular as a result of unequal investment in information and communication technology (ICT). The past 120 years have been characterized by: (i) rapid economic growth and large productivity gains in all four countries; (ii) a long decline in productivity in the United Kingdom relative to the United States, and to a lesser extent also relative to France and Japan, a relative decline that was interrupted by the second world war (WW2); (iii) the remarkable catching-up to the United States by France and Japan after WW2, interrupted in the case of Japan during the 1990s. Capital deepening (at least to the extent this can be measured) accounts for a large share of the variations in performance; increasingly during the past 25 years, this has meant ICT capital deepening. However, the capital contribution to growth varies considerably over time and across the four countries, and it is always less important, except in Japan, than the contribution of the various other factors underlying TFP growth, such as, among others, labor skills, technical and organizational changes and knowledge spillovers. Most recently (in 2006), before the current financial world crisis, hourly labor productivity levels were slightly higher in France than in the United States, and noticeably lower in the United Kingdom (by roughly 10%) and even lower in Japan (30%), while TFP levels are very close in France, the United Kingdom and the United States, but much lower (40%) in Japan.Productivity, growth accounting, macro-economic history.

Quality of Life in Europe: Empirical evidence

This report is one of the outputs resulting from Workpackage 4, "Social and professional integration" of the WALQING project, SSH-CT-2009-244597 (www.walqing.eu).

Methodologies for Assessing Sustainability in Farming Systems

Development of composite indicators is considered an important approach for evaluating sustainable development. For agriculture, different indicators have been developed such as Delphi, IDEA, MESMIS, MOTIFS, RISE, or SAFE. For its construction, usually bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques were employed. These are pragmatic tools used to simplify the description of complex systems by the use of three functions: to simplify, to quantify, and to communicate easily. Criteria for indicator selection include policy relevance, validity, accessibility, and measurability. However, operational evaluation of agricultural sustainability presents problems, because it requires analyzing the future production of goods and services, which need to be observed on a reasonable time horizon, and other difficulties involve interpreting the combination of indicators required for such analyses. This chapter realizes a review of these methodologies and its applications

The informal sector revisited : a synthesis across space and time

The concept of the informal sector (IS) has recently received widespread and growing attention. Indeed, it may be fair to talk about a re-emergence of the concept in the debate related to social protection and poverty reduction. We argue that with this new found prominence, it is even more important that we better understand the IS. Only with an improved understanding of the issues and dimensions of the IS can we design policies and programs which effectively address the needs of workers engaged in informal sector activities. This paper is an attempt to contribute to such an increased understanding by highlighting important pieces in understanding the concept of the IS across (1) time, briefly discussing how our view of the concept of the IS has evolved over time and (2) space, presenting empirical evidence and stylized features across regions. After presenting the current state of knowledge of the IS, we distill key aspects and issues of the IS and discuss their implications for policy design and implementation, especially in the context of fighting poverty and improving livelihoods of the poor in developing countries.Poverty Assessment,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Legal Products,Urban Partnerships&Poverty

Engineering and water governance interactions in smallholder irrigation schemes for improved water management.

Masters Degree, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SISs) in South Africa have reported below expectation performance, despite massive investments. A diagnosis of the SISs poor performance indicates prevalence of infrastructural deficiencies, as well as poor institutional setup. The government’s Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) initiative compounds the problem. IMT placed irrigators in self-governance, which inadvertently made irrigators carry the burden of scheme Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs. This study sought to investigate and evaluate how technical design principles i.e., technical aspect of irrigation design, interact with irrigation water governance for SISs in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The study hypothesized that the existing current water control infrastructure does relate to the water governance frameworks in the selected study sites. The study was carried out in Tugela Ferry Irrigation Scheme (TFIS) and Mooi-River Irrigation Scheme (MRIS). An infrastructure condition assessment was carried out followed by a root cause analysis. Questionnaires were then administered to relevant stakeholders to rate the degree of identified causal factors. Key informants ranked how water governance and infrastructure aspects are related. The data was processed using a fuzzy theory approach. Finally, structured questionnaires were administered to irrigators to establish how water governance impacted on water adequacy for crop production. A binary logit regression model was employed to process the data. Assessments revealed the poor condition of the infrastructure, such as deep cracks in canals and missing latches on hydrants. The study revealed that TFIS had a strong institutional setups according to the Closeness Coefficients( = 0.18), and clearly defined goals and objectives for the scheme operation. However, other governance aspects such as procedures ( = 0.17, = 0.16) were not strong. MRIS ( = 0.20) had a good standing on rules and regulations as compared to TFIS ( = 0.14). Eight water governance related statistically significant variables that influenced water adequacy were identified. The eight variables were irrigation scheme ( = 0.000), location of plot within the scheme ( = 0.008), training in water management ( = 0.012), satisfaction with irrigation schedule ( = 0.000), irrigation training ( = 0.085), farmer knowledge of governments aims in SIS ( = 0.012), availability of water licenses ( = 0.002), and water fees ( = 0.022). A descriptive analysis showed that 24% and 86% of the farmers in MRIS and TFIS respectively, had adequate water. The study concluded that the SISs lacked an O&M plan and the farmers were not willing to opt for collective action and iii cooperate in Water Users Association (WUAs) and Irrigation Management Committees (IMCs). Some of the water governance aspects were discordant with infrastructure characteristics and requirements, consequently, impacting on the water adequacy for the irrigators. Overall, the study proved the hypothesis that the water control infrastructure does not relate with the water governance framework. This study recommends that the stakeholders involved in SISs, i.e., government, extension workers, NGOs, should aid the irrigators in policy articulation. In addition, the WUA and IMCs should provide incentives to motivate farmers to actively participate in scheme O&M