Livestock Policy Analysis Brief no. 12. Participation in the construction of a local public good with indivisibilities: An application to watershed development in Ethiopia

Limitations of both the market and the state have caused a growing interest in the potentialities of local-level collective action for development. The burgeoning literature on collective action suffers from two main weaknesses. First, theoretical studies typically fail to describe inter-agent interactions in a satisfactory manner. Second, empirical studies do not provide adequate hard data and quantitative analysis to allow us to advance our knowledge about individual motives for co-operation and conditions conductive to the emergence and evolution of co-operative behaviour. This study is a modest attempt to fill this gap in knowledge by depicting collective action in the provision of an indivisible public good in a simple game-theoretical framework. It systematically investigates the joint role of leadership and private interests as key determinants of farmer participation in the construction of a local public good, namely a central drainage channel, in a watershed area of the Ethiopian highlands

La Politique Agricole Commune

La Politique Agricole Commune (PAC) est l’objet de ce numéro spécial de Regards économiques. Deux articles y sont consacrés. Le premier propose une analyse des effets économiques probables de la réforme récente de la PAC sur l’agriculture belge. Quant au second, il se demande comment rendre la PAC plus juste et plus efficace. La PAC : Une analyse de la réforme récente Les autorités régionales belges doivent se prononcer sur les différentes options de réforme de la PAC proposées par l'accord européen de juin dernier. Cet article examine les effets économiques probables de ces options sur l'agriculture belge à l'aide de deux modèles économiques complémentaires. Ce numéro donne aussi des pistes de réflexion sur quelques questions préoccupantes liées à cet accord et à l'évolution de la PAC. La PAC : Pour la rendre plus juste et plus efficace La PAC est examinée par le biais de trois questions. D’abord, quelles justifications normatives peut-on apporter à un subside de l’activité agricole pour elle même ? Ensuite, qui sont les bénéficiaires ultimes de la PAC dans ses versions passées et présente ? Enfin, peut-on reformuler une PAC dont les effets objectifs répondraient aux critères normatifs énoncés plus haut ?

What EU policy framework do we need to sustain High Nature Value (HNV) farming and biodiversity? Policy Paper prepared in the framework of HNV-Link (project funded by the H2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no 696391)

This policy paper builds upon the work carried out in the framework of HNV-Link (H2020 Project, 2016-2019, www.hnvlink.eu), a thematic multi-actor network on High Nature Value (HNV) Farming involving 13 partners from 10 European countries. The goal of this network is to support HNV farming systems by inspiring and sharing innovations/practices that improve their socio-economic viability while preserving their ecological value and the public services they provide. HNV-Link informs policymakers and authorities at the European and national levels of the main policy stakes around HNV farming, and to recommend adjustments of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other policies in order to adequately support HNV farming, the territories in which they are embedded, and the communities that depend on them. In Europe, farmers operate within a complex and constraining environment and policy/regulatory framework, including income support and rural development measures of the CAP, but also the numerous regulations related to agriculture, food hygiene/safety, animal health/welfare, environment protection, and climate change. This framework can provide farms with incentives or on the contrary, hinder their development, and it has consequently a major influence on their economic viability and the survival of the communities depending on farming. This institutional framework was designed to deal mainly with the problems that intensive farms face. Far less weight has been placed on designing and implementing policies adapted to the needs of HNV farms, i.e. those low-intensity farms which rely on and safeguard a rich biodiversity and associated ecosystem services made up of a variety of habitats and landscapes elements. Hence, there is a need for a creative yet thoughtful design and implementation of adapted policy measures

Agricultural intensification and land use change: A panel cointegration approach to test induced intensification, land sparing and rebound-effect.

The growing societal demands for land-based products and services, linked to increasing population, can be satisfied through either clearing new land for agriculture or intensifying production on existing land. Agricultural intensification is promoted as a central strategy to fulfill these demands while reducing pressure on land. We used cross-country panel data on cropland area and productivity to test three hypotheses on the relationships between agricultural intensification, land use expansion and contraction. The induced intensification hypothesis postulates that restrictions on cropland expansion can induce intensification. The land sparing hypothesis postulates that intensification allows reducing cropland expansion, while the competing rebound-effect hypothesis asserts that intensification, by making agriculture more profitable, can trigger further land expansion. We used cointegration to disentangle the long-run and short-run causal relationships between the variables. In the short run, we found support for the induced intensification hypothesis for high-income countries, and rebound effect for middle- and low-income countries (due to increases in yield or total factor productivity (TFP) that lead to cropland expansion). In the long run, the land sparing hypothesis holds for low- and middle-income countries (due to increases in yield negatively affecting cropland area). TFP has a positive effect on yields for low- and middle-income countries. Acknowledgement

Participation in the construction of a local public good with indivisibilities: An application to watershed development in Ethiopia

The logic of voluntary contributions to an indivisible public good is studied, firstly in a simple game-theoretical framework, then in an empirical investigation of a case of watershed development in the Ethiopian Highlands. The former approach emphasises the difference between the problem under attention and the classical representation of public good provision, i.e., the Prisoner's Dilemma. The latter approach emphasises the joint role of leadership and of private interests as key determinants of individual contributions, thereby illustrating the game-theoretical model and providing well-founded guidelines for similar collective actions

The Distributive Impact of Land Markets in Central Uganda

This paper presents first-hand evidence about land distribution and the impact of land markets from a sample of 36 villages in East and Central Uganda, a region with a long tradition of both land market activity and rural-rural migration. Rather than leading to a concentration of land assets in the hands of a minority, land markets correct initial inequality in land endowments : a handicap of one acre in land inherited is on average compensated by an increase of about 0.75 acres of land acquired through the market. Half of this increase is achieved through the land sales market, and the other half through land rental and borrowals. Moreover, there is apparently no discrimination against migrant farmers in the way villagelevel land markets operate as migrants are able to convert their entire initial endowments in the native village into lands purchased in the host village. These two central results have been obtained using an original econometric model based on the distinction between desired and actual farm size, treating land rentals as a residual adjustment, and allowing for the endogeneity of migratory decisions