From parastatals to private trade: Lessons from Asian agriculture

"Governments in Asia used grain price stabilization as a major policy instrument when they began to promote the Green Revolution in the 1960s. In the process, they created parastatal agencies, which were quasi-governmental in nature, to undertake public marketing activities in basic staples such as rice and wheat. These operations often meant providing a support price to farmers, procuring staples on government account, holding public stocks, and distributing these stocks through public distribution systems or open market operations to hold the price line for consumers. This led to a sizeable degree of government intervention in most of these countries' grain markets, which continues to a large extent today." from TextPrice stabilization, Green Revolution, Parastatals, Agricultural policies, Production risk, Consumer vulnerability, Government commitment, Incentives, Institutions, Investments, Private sector,

Grain marketing parastatals in Asia

Using case studies from six Asian countries, this paper (a) assesses the relevance of underlying rationales for public intervention in foodgrain markets, (b) documents the existing policies and regulations that support operation of grain parastatals, (c) provides estimates of benefits and costs of parastatals, and (d) compares experiences of countries that liberalized (or reduced intervention) with the ones that continue to have significant presence of parastatals. Our results suggest that conditions in the region have improved significantly over the past thirty years; and none of the four commonly agreed rationales—that is, poorly integrated domestic markets, thin and volatile world market, promoting modern technology and the scarcity of foreign exchange reserves—for public intervention in foodgrain markets are now persuasive. Domestic foodgrain markets are integrated, international markets for both wheat and rice are significantly more robust than they were thirty years ago, High-Yielding Varieties (HYV) now cover practically all of the high potential area sown to wheat and rice; and foreign currency reserves have increased dramatically in all countries in recent years. However, although rationales have lost their significance, many countries continue to practice old policies and provide regulatory supports to parastatals, including monopoly control over international trade, preferential access to transportation, restrictions on movement of foodgrains, and cheap or interest-free credit. Relative to the private sector, the costs of the grain parastatals have been high and are increasing, as special interests and rent- seeking are increasingly dictating their operation. This is being manifested in various forms, such as excessive public stocks in India, vacillating import policies in Indonesia and Pakistan, questionable government foodgrain import decisions in the Philippines, and politically-determined ceiling and floor prices in India. On the other hand, the experiences of Bangladesh and Vietnam, both of which have implemented extensive reforms over the last fifteen years, suggest that reduced government intervention can promote competition in the domestic markets, reduce subsidies, and release funds for development and anti-poverty programs without jeopardizing price stability. The paper concludes that reforms are overdue and the delay in changing the old ways of doing price stabilization will be increasingly wasteful.

Reforming Foodgrains Management : Achieving Food Security with Cost-Effectiveness

This paper examines the efficacy of the current system of public foodgrains management and policies in promoting food security in the country. It argues that the system has outlived its usefulness, and that continuing with the same only stifles growth in foodgrains, with very little welfare benefits to the poor. The paper then presents a series of suggestions for reforming and modernizing the foodgrains management system in the country that would be welfare improving and also efficient, saving vast amounts of resources that can be used to invest in augmenting agricultural, especially foodgrains output.Food grains management, Food policy, food security

Reforming foodgrains management: Achieving food security with cost-effectiveness

This paper examines the efficacy of the current system of public foodgrains management and policies in promoting food security in the country. It argues that the system has outlived its usefulness, and that continuing with the same only stifles growth in foodgrains, with very little welfare benefits to the poor. The paper then presents a series of suggestions for reforming and modernizing the foodgrains management system in the country that would be welfare improving and also efficient, saving vast amounts of resources that can be used to invest in augmenting agricultural, especially foodgrains output.Food grains management, Food policy, Food security

Study of low frequency hydromagnetic waves using ATS-1 data

Low frequency oscillations of the magnetic field at ATS-1 were analyzed for the 25 month data interval, Dec., 1966 through 1968. Irregular oscillations and those associated with magnetic storms were excluded from the analysis. Of the 222 events identified, 170 were found to be oscillating predominantly transverse to the background magnetic field. The oscillations were observed to occur most frequently in the early afternoon hours. They also seemed to occur more frequently during Dec., Jan., and Feb. than at any other time of the year. During a given event, the frequency was fairly constant. The event duration varied between a minimum of 10 min. and a maximum of 14 hrs and 26 min. During a given event the amplitude varied

A lead sulfide near infrared detection system

The infrared region of the spectrum is conveniently divided into the near infrared, which extends from the red end of the visible to about 25 microns, and the far infrared, which continues to an ill-defined division point of approximately 1,000 microns. The near infrared region has been further subdivided on the basis of instrumental techniques so that the particular portion of the spectrum consisting of radiations of wave length up to 3 microns has become known as the photoelectric infrared. Several types of detection instruments have been designed and perfected for work in the photoelectric region, but new methods and materials are constantly being sought which might give an increase in sensitivity and contribute to the simplicity of the system. Recently developed lead sulfide photoconductive cells have some of the characteristics desired. These cells respond over a region in the spectrum from about .5 micron to 3.5 microns and their high sensitivity offers the possibility of greatly increased resolving power over previous methods used. Their subminiature size is also a highly desirable physical trait in almost all cases. Some writers, who have engaged in early research on photoconductive materials, have stated that lead sulfide and similar materials have opened up a wide new field in spectroscopy. As a result of these advantages, infrared detectors utilizing them are beginning to make an appearance. A detector using a PbS cell and designed so that it would be readily adaptable to a standard spectrometer should be or great assistance in furthering the study of the near infrared. Such a device could be used advantageously in the classroom and laboratory when familiarization with and research into the longer electromagnetic radiations is desired. With this particular type of system in mind, design and construction of the photoconductive infrared detector was attempted. To check the dependability of the completed PbS system, it was proposed to use it in extending from the visible into the near infrared region, the dispersion curve of an ordinary glass prism --Introduction, pages 1-2

Unbalanced media coverage and the 2004 Presidential Election: The New York Times vs. The Washington Times

The purpose of this study was to find out if either The New York Times or The Washington Times participated in unbalanced media coverage during the last two weeks of the 2004 Presidential Election. Through content analysis paragraph tone was used to evaluate news stories, columns, and editorials as positive, negative or neutral from a composite week sample. Scholars, politicians, the public as well as journalists have long argued about the existence or not of media bias and whether it is in support of liberal or conservative politics. This study was not an attempt to pick a side in that confrontation. Instead, a goal of this research was to provide additional data along with testing methodology, in the hope that it would contribute to the work that has already been accomplished in moving toward evaluation criteria for identifying media bias. The findings from this study provided evidence of unbalanced media coverage from both news organizations during the particular period of study. The biggest surprise was that The Washington Times was more unbalanced than The New York Times, 64.9% to 56.3%. Data from this study supports the previous research that claims a presence of liberal bias as well as a possible attempt by conservative elites to create and support a perception of media bias. The evidence uncovered also supports agenda setting and priming as well as some agenda setting effects