Is organic farming inefficient, or are indicators of economic performance of agriculture incomplete?

Organic farming is expected to alleviate the environmental burden of agriculture, since it rules out the use of chemicals such as synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides. However, organic farming technology may turn out to be less efficient when evaluated by conventional productivity measures that are less informative regarding environmental efficiency. We derive a framework for a combination of more comprehensive indicators reflecting whether organic farming increases sustainability in agriculture and how much of the total agricultural value added is produced at the expense of environmental deterioration. We show that it is important to separate flow and stock effects of pollution so that aggregate measurement is consistent with conventional national accounting. Shadow pricing of undesirable output and policy implications are discussed. For adoption of a technology and allocative efficiency in the agricultural sector, economic policy instruments should be redesigned and proper incentives through prices should be used

A local-global principle for isogenies of prime degree over number fields

We give a description of the set of exceptional pairs for a number field $K$, that is the set of pairs $(\ell, j(E))$, where $\ell$ is a prime and $j(E)$ is the $j$-invariant of an elliptic curve $E$ over $K$ which admits an $\ell$-isogeny locally almost everywhere but not globally. We obtain an upper bound for $\ell$ in such pairs in terms of the degree and the discriminant of $K$. Moreover, we prove finiteness results about the number of exceptional pairs.Comment: 22 pages, presentation improved as suggested by the referees. To appear in Journal of London Mathematical Society. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1006.1782 by other author

SAFETY EVALUATION OF STATIN IN YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

Background : The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme (HMG-Co-A) reductase inhibitors, also known as statins, are the most effective class of drugs for lowering serum Low-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c)concentrations. They are first-line agents for patients who require drug therapy to reduce serum LDL-c concentrations. Although these drugs have been very successful in managing the cardiovascular health of many patients, there are also potential adverse effects that have been identified. The most common adverse effects reported include muscle pain or weakness that can progress to rhabdomyolysis and mortality. If detected early, statin-related symptoms are reversible after withdrawal of the statin. Objective : This research was aimed to know the safety of statin used at Public Hospitals in Yogyakarta. Method : This research was observational study with retrospective data collected. The target population are all of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular and stroke patients that recorded on the medical record of Public Hospitals in Yogyakarta during 2 months. Results : There were 28 patients who used simvastatin and 8 patients who used atorvastatin, experienced adverse effects of statins (n=157). Headache was the most adverse effect which was experienced by the patients. However rhabdomyolysis was not found in this reasearh. Interaction between simvastatin and nifedipine resulted more adverse effects such as headache, insomnia and abdominal pain than with other drugs. Conclusions : Simvastatin, rosuvastatin and atorvastatin were well tolerated use in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Only 22.9% from 157 patients experienced the adverse effects of statin. Adverse effects because of the interaction between simvastatin and other drugs were experienced by 8.92% patients. The result of this study need to be confirmed with additional study with larger sample sizes and vigilant surveillance to abolish the toxicity of the statin

What price recreation in Finland? – A contingent valuation study of non-market benefits of public outdoor recreation areas

Basic services in Finnish national parks and state-owned recreation areas have traditionally been publicly financed and thus free of charge for users. Since the benefits of public recreation are not captured by market demand, government spending on recreation services must be motivated in some other way. Here, we elicit people’s willingness to pay (WTP) for services in the country’s state-owned parks to obtain an estimate of the value of outdoor recreation in monetary terms. A variant of the Tobit model is used in the econometric analysis to examine the WTP responses elicited by a payment card format. We also study who the current users of recreation services are in order to enable policymakers to anticipate the redistribution effects of a potential implementation of user fees. Finally, we discuss the motives for WTP, which reveal concerns such as equity and ability to pay that are relevant for planning public recreation in general and for the introduction of fees in particular.non-market valuation; payment card; recreation; recreation fees; taxes; user fees; wllingnes-to-pay; WTP

Do the opportunity costs of providing crop diversity differ between organic and conventional farms? The case of Finnish agriculture

The attractiveness of targeted environmental policies on farmlands depends crucially on the opportunity costs of the conservation programs. We use a crop diversity index as an indicator of environmental output to compare the efficiency of conventional and organic crop farms. Technical efficiency scores are estimated by applying data envelopment analysis to a sample of Finnish farms for the period 1994 – 2002. We also estimate shadow values, or the opportunity costs, of producing crop diversity. Our results show that there is variation in the shadow values between farms and the technology adopted. The findings provide a basis for designing cost-effective policy instruments such as auctions for conservation payments

Biodiversity and economic incentives in agriculture : integrating bird fauna values into decision-making

Our optimal control model identifies economic reasons as to why several farmland bird populations have dramatically declined in modern agricultural landscapes. By integrating bird fauna values into decision-making on cereal crop choice, herbicide use and hunting bag size, we derive those economic instruments needed for enhancing biodiversity on farmland and reversing the decline of grey partridge (Perdix perdix) populations. Based on the Finnish data available, we illustrate how the optimal acreage subsidy for organically-grown rye areas, the herbicide tax rate and the grey partridge hunting licence fee could be estimated in monetary terms. The procedure to derive and value the first-best policy instruments is applicable for various components of agri-environmental schemes implemented throughout the European Union