Production Effects of Agri-environmental "Green Box" Payments: Empirical Results from the EU

Agri-environmental programs are part of the green box of the GATT Uruguay Round and are supposed to "have no, or at most minimal trade distorting effects or effects on production." In addition, "the amount of payment shall be limited to the extra costs or loss of income involved in complying with the government programme." Utilizing farm accounting data we estimate the effects on yields for ten agri-environmental programs in Austria, which account for 12% of EU's budget expenditures for agri-environmental programs. Only three out of these ten programs have significant negative effects on yields, while one program has a significant positive impact and the rest has no significant impact. These results suggest that there are serious windfall profits associated with some of these programs.agri-environmental programs, Green box, WTO, Common Agricultural Policy, decoupling, Environmental Economics and Policy, F16, Q56,

Output Effects of Agri-environmental Programs of the EU

By definition agri-environmental programs of the EU aim not only at improving environmental quality, but also at reducing overproduction while supporting farm income. The aim of the study is to empirically measure the success of agri-environmental programs in regard to the objective of reducing or stabilizing production levels.Environmental Economics and Policy,

LEAST COST EFFICIENCY OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

The study evaluates the efficiency of government intervention using a vertical structured model including imperfectly competitive agricultural input markets, the bread grains market, and the imperfectly competitive food industry. The actually observed policy is compared to a hypothetical optimal policy of the same policy instruments to test for policy efficiency.Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Testing for the Efficiency of a Policy Intended to Meet Objectives: General Model and Application

This study presents a general model demonstrating how to measure the (in)efficiency of a policy intended to meet objectives. If it is assumed that the government has available only those policy instruments it actually utilizes, our method is a test as to whether the government combines these instruments efficiently. In addition, one could also include other policy instruments, which are not actually used, but are available to the government. Our general model is applied to bread grain policy in Austria. The primary result is that the policy was quite inefficient in meeting the two main objectives of farm income support and self-sufficiency. The stochastic nature of our efficiency measures is acknowledged by taking into account the inherent uncertainty of model parameters. A response surface function is used to identify those parameters which contribute most to model output uncertainty.agricultural policy, policy efficiency, statistical policy analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Was the Austrian agricultural policy least cost efficient?

The study evaluates the efficiency of government intervention using a vertical structured model including imperfectly competitive agricultural input markets, the bread grain market, and the imperfectly competitive food industry. To test for policy efficiency the actually observed bread grain policy is compared to a hypothetical efficient policy. To account for the sensitivity of the results in regard to the model parameter values computer-intensive simulation procedures and surface response functions are utilized.agricultural policy; efficient combination of policy instruments; statistical welfare analysis

TESTING FOR EFFICIENCY: A POLICY ANALYSIS WITH PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS

The study evaluates the efficiency of government intervention using a vertical structured model including imperfectly competitive agricultural input markets, the bread grain market, and the imperfectly competitive food industry. To test for policy efficiency the actually observed bread grain policy is compared to a hypothetical efficient policy. To account for the sensitivity of the results in regard to the model parameter values computer-intensive simulation procedures and surface response functions are utilized.agricultural policy, efficient combination of policy instruments, statistical policy analysis, Productivity Analysis,

Market-based instruments to reduce air emissions from household heating appliances: Analysis of scrappage policy scenarios

This document explores the potential for the use of a market based instrument to contribute to reducing the emissions of particulate matter of less than 10 micrometres from household heating appliances in the framework of the review of the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution. The study is focused on the assessment of the economic and environmental impacts of possible scrappage policies for promoting the accelerated replacement of existing heating appliances by cleaner ones. Under these policy programmes, households replacing an old appliance by a cleaner one would receive a subsidy from the government. This subsidy would compensate households for the residual value of the appliance scrapped and the opportunity costs of the early investment in a new one. Two different scenarios are analysed: The scrappage and replacement of all the different types of conventional appliances that do not incorporate any emission control technology ("non-controlled"), and the scrappage and replacement of only "non-controlled" firewood and hard coal fired manual single house boilers. It is assumed that the scrappage programme is in force between 2018 and 2020. For each scenario, the study focuses on the effects of different levels of replacement of the "non-controlled" appliances and the size of subsidies relative to the investment costs.JRC.J.5-Sustainable Production and Consumptio

FIDELIO 1: Fully Interregional Dynamic Econometric Long-term Input-Output Model for the EU27

In this report we present complete information about the Fully Interregional Dynamic Econometric Long-term Input-Output Model for the EU27 (FIDELIO 1). First, the macro overview of the model is discussed, which presents the main mechanisms of interactions between various blocks of FIDELIO. The second chapter explains the main economic theories underlying FIDELIO consumption, production and labour market blocks. Here, further econometric approaches for estimation of the parameters of all behavioural equations and their results are presented. Then, derivation of all the necessary base-year data (e.g., various commodity use structure and price structure matrices, trade matrix, base-year residuals, etc.) are discussed in detail. All FIDELIO equations are presented (with discussions) in Chapter 4. Finally, a full description of the data sources is given in the last chapter. It will become clear from this description document that FIDELIO is appropriate for the impact assessment purposes of diverse (economic and/or environmental) policy questions of our times.JRC.J.5-Sustainable Production and Consumptio

The development of therapeutic proteins can be hindered by poor decision-making strategies in the early stage

In this study we address two major issues related to the current development process of therapeutic proteins and their characterization. First, due to limited samples amounts, the selection of lead molecules in the early stages is often based on the results from a limited physicochemical characterization. The latter can be based on measurements of only 2-3 parameters, e.g. protein melting temperature, protein aggregation temperature, and is usually performed in only one buffer, e.g. PBS. The hypothesis we present is that such approach can lead to the rejection of lead candidates that can still be manufacturable and can move on to clinical trials. The second matter we address are the often-reported correlations between protein physicochemical parameters in the literature. We propose that such correlations can be found only in a small sample population, e.g. one protein in different solution conditions or different proteins from the same class. However, we expect that such correlations would not be valid in a large population, including various protein structures and solution conditions. In order to address the above-mentioned issues, we created the PIPPI consortium (http://www.pippi.kemi.dtu.dk) and applied systematic approach to map the physicochemical properties of a wide range of proteins and extensively study their stability as a function of the solution conditions. We show that promising therapeutic protein lead candidate can appear as non-manufacturable when only limited physicochemical characterization is performed, e.g. a few methods are used and only a few solution conditions are tested. Therefore, the rejection rate during early-stage development can be improved by more thorough physicochemical characterization. Moreover, only weak linear correlations between biophysical properties of proteins are observed in a large populations. This suggests that the often-reported correlations between parameters describing the protein stability are not representative of a global population. Understanding the connections between various physiochemical parameters would require a systematic database which is currently in development by the PIPPI consortium

Output Effects of Agri-environmental Programs of the EU

By definition agri-environmental programs of the EU aim not only at improving environmental quality, but also at reducing overproduction while supporting farm income. The aim of the study is to empirically measure the success of agri-environmental programs in regard to the objective of reducing or stabilizing production levels