Some Economic Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nebraska

It is now clear that the spread, mortality and morbidity impacts of the coronavirus pandemic are sizeable but extremely heterogeneous across multiple dimensions. Geography shows that places with lower human con-centrations (urban/rural divide) and away from main travel axes, such as major interstate highways and in-ternational airports, have a lower incidence of cases. Large urban centers with high human concentrations have been much disproportionally affected and with much higher mortality rates. Age and health status are equally important. Mortality increases dramatically for people 60 years old and older. People with comorbidi-ties (cardiovascular, obesity, diabetes, and others) are much more likely to be hospitalized and die of COVID -19 than are healthy people. Family and household composition is also important. Multigenerational households are much more common in say Italy than in Sweden. Swedish households tend to live more inde-pendently often in one-person households, which pro-vides some “cultural” self-isolation, which is helpful in case of a pandemic. In addition, medical infrastructure and preparedness vary greatly across states with devas-tating consequences like in New York City, partly be-cause the pandemic hit early, and partly because of the lack of intensive care unit (ICU) infrastructure (COVID-19 Project). States in the Midwest had more time to prepare and learn to ramp up testing etc

Assessing Food Security in Tanzania in the Next Decade

CARD economist Beghin and USDA ERS have been collaborating to advance USDA ERS’ annual International Food Security Assessment. The Assessment provides a 10-year outlook of the state of food insecurity in 76 low- and middle-income countries with a strong focus on the interface between income distribution within the population and food insecurity. This collaboration with CARD brings a more systematic approach into the Assessment by introducing price information, price and income responses in consumption, which vary by level of poverty, food quality heterogeneity across income deciles, and consistent aggregation of the demand by deciles into a market demand. The new approach relies on a food demand system consisting of four categories (major grain, other grains, roots and tuber, and an aggregate all other food) in grain equivalent

FAPRI Analyzes the U.S. Proposal to the WTO

I n addition to our preliminary baseline for the 2006 U.S. and World Agricultural Outlook, this year economists with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) also undertook an analysis of the proposal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) submitted by the Offi ce of the U.S. Trade Representative in October. The proposal was an effort to jumpstart negotiations leading up to WTO’s sixth ministerial conference in December. The Hong Kong conference brought 149 member countries together to further negotiations on agricultural trade reform and other topic

Biofuel and Feedstock Markets and the EU-US TTIP

A recent CARD analysis looked at the implications of a potential EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for bioenergy and associated feedstock markets. This article reports on the effects of removing bilateral tariffs and TRQs in the two bio-economies

EU-U.S.Beef Hormone Trade Dispute

This article provides a brief historical perspective of the beef hormone dispute between the European Union (EU) and the United States and reviews the scientific evidence of health risks associated with products from animals that have been administered hormones

Nontariff Barriers

Nontariff barriers (NTBs) refer to the wide range of policy interventions other than border tariffs that affect trade of goods, services, and factors of production. Most taxonomies of NTBs include market-specific trade and domestic policies affecting trade in that market. Extended taxonomies include macro-economic policies affecting trade. NTBs have gained importance as tariff levels have been reduced worldwide. Common measures of NTBs include tariff-equivalents of the NTB policy or policies and count and frequency measures of NTBs. These NTB measures are subsequently used in various trade models, including gravity equations, to assess trade and/or welfare effects of the measured NTBs.

Nontariff Barriers

Nontariff barriers (NTBs) refer to the wide range of policy interventions other than border tariffs that affect trade of goods, services, and factors of production. Most taxonomies of NTBs include market-specific trade and domestic policies affecting trade in that market. Extended taxonomies include macro-economic policies affecting trade. NTBs have gained importance as tariff levels have been reduced worldwide. Common measures of NTBs include tariff-equivalents of the NTB policy or policies and count and frequency measures of NTBs. These NTB measures are subsequently used in various trade models, including gravity equations, to assess trade and/or welfare effects of the measured NTBs

Rich Countries, Poor Countries, and the Doha Round Trade Negotiations

A common criticism of domestic agricultural spending in the United States and European Union is that support for U.S. and EU farmers hurts the economies of low-income countries. Addressing this criticism is key to moving forward in the current Doha Round negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). CARD initiated a study to better understand the link between rich-country agricultural support and poor-country incomes

Trade and Environmental Policy Instruments and Reforms

Abstract not available

The Protectionism of Food Safety Standards in International Agricultural Trade

Each country sets their own standards for acceptable pesticide maximum residue limits, with some countries imposing harsher standards than others do. Taxes and governmental red tape only further compound the issues, often leading to protectionism in agricultural trade. Using data from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service a protectionism index has been developed for more than 80 countries