Have Agriculture Green House Gas Emissions Converged among European Union Member States?

Panel unit root tests are used to identify convergence of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions among the agr icultural sectors of the European Union 27 member states. Although a clear cut conclusion on the existence of convergence could not be established, it looks like there is some evidence of convergence for EU 27 during the entire 1973-2007 period. This same evidence exists for EU15 but only for the shorter 1996-2006 time period. If emissions are to converge, then it will be easier to make EU members to accept policy measures aimed at reducing the negative impact on environment.

European Union Direct Payments to Farmers Revisited

A logistic function framework is used to allocate European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct payments to farmers among the different member states. Total CAP expenditure is the starting point for the process, which contemplates two phases. In Phase 1 expenditure is allocated by taking into consideration the economic dimension of farms in each country. In Phase 2 the amount allocated to each member state is further modulated to accommodate both economic efficiency and green house gas emissions generated by the country.

An alternative scheme to compute the Common Agricultural Policy direct payments to farmers.

An alternative to the direct payments modulation under CAP Regulation n. 2237/2003 is presented, using a logistic function model where payments to farmers are related to economic efficiency, environmental impact of agricultural production, and farmer’s income. The approach used develops into two phases: in phase one the focus is on modulation among countries; then in phase two redistribution among farmers within a Member State is contemplated.

Agricultural productivity in the European Union convergence or divergence among members?

Sound increases in agricultural productivity and incomes have been from the very begining two of the main goals of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Economic Community (now European Union - EU). The paper tries to evaluate, through the estimation of convergence coefficients, if the increments achieved have widened or closed the gap between EU member states. Results indicate that the richest countries either maintain their positive differences to the Union's average (Netherlands and Belgium) or even enlarge it (Denmark). France shows a quick convergence pattern, while countries where Mediterranean production exceeds 30 % of Total Agricultural Output either keep their negative gap (Italy), or even enlarge it (Greece) or slowly converge to the average (Spain). Portugal does converge but still has a long way to reach its European partners. For the remaining countries no significant convergence coefficients were found.

The Common Agricultural Policy and the greenhouse gases emissions.

The evolution of greenhouse gases emissions in the EU-15 countries is accessed. While the absolute level of emissions turns out to be declining in the last thirty years in EU-15 Member States, emissions per output tend to rise. A relationship between the adoption of the Common Agricultural policy and the emissions level can be detected for Spain, Austria, Finland and Sweden.

Risk Premia for Emerging Markets Bonds: Evidence from Brazilian Government Debt, 1996-2002

The goal of this paper is to identify the determinants of the risk premium on Brazilian government debt traded in the emerging markets bonds. The empirical evidence presented does not reject the hypotheses that fiscal solvency and the size of the public debt affect the risk premium as measured by the spread over treasury securities of the Brazilian C-bond.