The Role of Global Economic Growth in Pakistani Agri-Food Exports

This analysis uses least squares and Heckman maximum likelihood estimation procedures with fixed effects to explore the role of economic growth in 36 developed and developing economies—categorised as low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle-, and high-income—in explaining their agri-food import of 29 products from Pakistan during 1990 to 2000. We reject the hypothesis that the economic growth of these economies does not influence Pakistani agri-food product exports. However, the estimated income elasticities are statistically elastic only for lower-middle income countries, suggesting that their expenditure on Pakistani agri-food exports will increase disproportionately as their economies grow. Hence, lower-middle-income countries provide good export opportunities for Pakistan’s agri-food products. JEL Classifications: F14, Q17 Keywords: Economic Growth, Agri-food Trade, Income Elasticities, Developing Countrie

The Role of Income Growth in Emerging Markets and the BRICs in Agrifood Trade

This study develops an import demand model to explore the role of income in explaining the trade performance of low, middle and high-income countries with a special emphasis on Brazil, Russia, India and China – the BRIC economies. The study estimates the impact of the growth in per capita income on the trade of agrifood products using data for 52 countries and 20 agrifood products for the years 1990 to 2006. The results suggest that China, Russia and Brazil have more income elastic import demand than other middle-income countries. Conversely, the income elasticities of import demand in India are similar to other low-income countries and for the most part statistically equal to zero.Emerging economies, BRIC economies, Food trade, Income elasticities, Economic growth, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade,

Differentiated Agri-Food Product Trade and the Linder Effect

Using a generalized gravity equation, this study tests for the Linder effect in differentiated agrifood product trade, i.e. as the demand structures of two countries become more similar, their trade intensity increases. Two proxies of demand structure, the Balassa index and the absolute value of the difference in per capita GDPs of trading partners, are used to capture the Linder effect. In addition, two measures of bilateral trade, the Grubel and Lloyed index, and the value of bilateral trade are used as the dependent variable. The study investigates the role of the Linder effect in explaining the trade of 37 differentiated agri-food and beverage products categorized into eight product groups: cereals; fresh fish; frozen fish; vegetables; fresh fruit; processed fruit; tea and coffee; and alcoholic beverages. The data covers trade across 52 developed and developing countries from 1990 to 2000. The type of proxy used for the Linder effect and the way in which bilateral trade is measured influence the outcome of the statistical tests for the Linder effect. The Linder effect for cereals, frozen fish, vegetables, processed fruits, and tea and coffee, using the value of trade as the dependent variable, is often accepted but it is generally rejected when the GL index is used as the measure of trade intensity. In brief, the results do not provide strong support for the Linder effect in the trade of differentiated agri-food products.Agri-food, Generalized Gravity Equation, Grubel and Lloyed index, Linder Effect, trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

What impact has food price inflation had on consumer welfare: a global analysis

The impact of rising global food prices on consumer welfare is investigated. A quadratic AIDS model is estimated using data spanning countries at various levels of economic development. Statistical comparison suggests the QUAIDS model is preferred over the non-linear AIDS model. Estimated parameters are used to calibrate a QUAIDS indirect utility function and base utility for welfare analysis. Compensated variation associated with recently observed food price inflation for different foods in different income cohorts of countries is calculated. Per capita compensated variation increases with per capita expenditure. However, per capita compensated variation expressed as a percent of per capita expenditure falls as one moves from less developed to more developed countries. Aggregate compensating variation associated with annualized food price inflation between 2005 and 2008 is estimated at US$515 billion globallyConsumer/Household Economics,

The Role of Income and Non-homothetic Preferences in Trading Differentiated Food and Beverages. The Case of Canada, the United States, and Selected EU Countries

This study investigates the role of income in determining the agrifood exports of selected EU countries, Canada, and the United States (U.S.) by estimating per capita bilateral trade flows for 10 commodity groups across 52 countries for the period 1990–2000. About 43 percent of the total observations of bilateral trade-flows for the selected regions and commodities are zero. Therefore, the fixed-effects Heckman two-step estimation procedure is used to account for the zero observations instead of ignoring or truncating the zeros. A number of hypotheses are tested to highlight the role of income in determining agrifood exports of differentiated agrifood products. The results show that the three regions (selected EU countries, Canada, United States) face statistically significant, positive and relatively elastic expenditure elasticities from the developing countries as compared to developed countries. Middle income developing countries, among developing countries, are the growth market of the future as growth in their expenditure on agrifood imports outpaces growth in their per capita income. However, all U.S. agrifood exports face statistically significant expenditure elasticities as compared to only a few for Canadian and EU commodities. The study also finds that Canadian exports face homothetic preferences, U.S. exports face homothetic preferences for more than one-half of the commodities, and the selected EU countries’ exports face non-homothetic preferences for nine commodity groups. The study concludes that income plays an important role in agrifood trade; however, further investigation is needed to help us understand the forces that determine the divergent results.International Relations/Trade,

The Gravity Model and the Problem of Zero`s in Agrifood Trade

and this is a problem when estimating log-linear gravity equations. This has caused many researchers to either ignore the zero trade flows or to replace the zero with a small positive number. Both of these actions bias the resulting parameter estimates of the gravity equation. In this study we correct for this misspecification by using the Heckman selection model to estimate bilateral trade flows for 46 agrifood products, for the period 1990 to 2000, for 52 countries. In our sample, selection bias rarely affects the signs of variables but often has a substantial effect on the magnitude, statistical significance and economic interpretation of the marginal effects. Hence, treating zero trade flows properly is important from both a statistical and an economics perspective.Gravity model, selection bias, Agrifood Trade, Heckman Selection Model, marginal effects, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Does the Gravity Model Suffer from Selection Bias?

When analyzing bilateral trade flow data, zero trade flows are quite common and problematic when a gravity equation is estimated with a log-linear functional form. This has caused many researchers to either ignore the zero trade flows or to replace zero with a small positive number. Both of these actions bias the resulting parameter estimates of the gravity equation. In this study we correct for this misspecification by using the Heckman selection model to estimate the bilateral trade flows for 46 agrifood products, for the period 1990 to 2000, for 52 countries. In our sample, selection bias rarely affects the signs of variables but often has a substantial effect on the magnitude, statistical significance and economic interpretation of the marginal effects. Hence, treating zero trade flows properly is important from both a statistical and an economics perspective.Gravity model, selection bias, Agrifood Trade, Heckman Selection Model, marginal effects, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade,

Does state ownership really matter for capital structure in selected G-20 economies?

The effect of state ownership on the capital structure decisions of enterprises in selected G-20 countries is estimated using financial and accounting data of 252 state-owned and 6503 non-state- owned firms for the period 2011–2015. The results indicate that state ownership is positively associated with leverage in all the selected G-20 countries. However, this phenomenon changed when countries were considered according to their income levels because state-owned enterprises in high-income countries carry more debt, while the opposite is true for lower-middle-income countries. The results were also divergent when the effects of various firm-specific variables were compared between state and non-state-owned enterprises across the development spectrum

Metabolic engineering and thermodynamic characterization of an extracellular β-glucosidase produced by Aspergillus niger

The production of an extracellular β-glucosidase by Aspergillus niger NRRL 599 was optimized using submerged fermentation technique. Effect of different media, different carbon sources, initial pH of the fermentation medium, temperature, incubation period and inoculum size on the production of β- glucosidase enzyme was investigated. A. niger NRRL 599 produced maximum extracellular β- glucosidase (4.48 U/mg) in Eggins and Pugh medium with 1% wheat bran (w/v) at pH 5.5 inoculated with 4% conidial suspension after 96 h of incubation at 30°C. Purified β-glucosidase gave Km and Vmax values of 3.11 mM and 20.83 U/mg respectively for pNPG hydrolysis. The enzyme was optimally active at pH 4.8 and at temperature of 60°C. Thermodynamic parameters, Ea, ΔH and ΔS were found to be 52.17 KJ/mol, 49.90 J/mol.K and -71.69 KJ/mol, respectively. The pKa1 and pKa2 of ionizable groups of active site residues involved in Vmax were calculated to be 4.1 and 6.0 respectively.Key words: β-Glucosidase, Aspergillus niger, kinetics, thermodynamics