BARTER TERMS OF TRADE IN LATVIAN TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES AND PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS

Since early nineties, Latvia has remained a net importer of agri-food products. At the same time, both exports and imports of agricultural commodities and processed food products has consistently grown, with total trade turnover increasing. The objective of the study is to determine the trends in development of barter terms of trade in Latvian agricultural commodities and food products. To reach the research objective, barter terms of trade indices were compiled with various levels of data aggregation over the period from 2002 to 2012. The research results in general show consistently higher terms of trade in agricultural commodities in comparison with terms of trade in processed food products. The differences exist between the terms of trade for the same products or product groups depending upon the level of aggregation. Trends in development of barter terms of trade indices for agricultural commodities and processed food products are different. In general, barter terms of trade for whole agri-food sector is not deteriorating.Key words: international trade, barter terms of trade, agricultural commodities, processed food products.JEL CODES: F60, Q17DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rfds.v14i3.86

Theoretical Aspects of Farm Diversification

There are situations in agricultural production when one or several production factors have to be involved in production of different goods and not infrequently such a situation develops when the number and quality of production factors do not correspond to the production goal

Globalizācija un piena ražošanas intensifikācijas ekonomiskie aspekti Latvijas piensaimniecībās

Zinātniskajā pētījumā iegūtās teorētiskās atziņas var būt noderīgas studiju programmu papildināšanai lauksaimniecības zinatnē. Darbā izstrādātā piena ražošanas intensifikācijas un ekstensifikācijas procesu pētīšanas metodoloģija izmantojama piemērotāko intensifikācijas un/vai ekstensifikācijas pasākumu izstrādē citu lauksaimniecības produktu ražošanā ekonomikas globalizācijas apstākļos

The Social Aspects of Sustainable Development Within the Limitations of Functional Needs and Systemic Approach

The progressing degradation of the surrounding environment and the decrease of the regeneration capacity of the renewable resources to a great extent relate to social problems of global nature - poverty prevailing in the world, high infant mortality, low educational level, growing diversity of income levels and the prevailing injustice in satisfying the basic needs of individuals. The main problem of the study is the uncertainty of the content of the notion of sustainable social development and its uncertainty within the conception of sustainable development. The object of the study is the aspects of sustainable social development and how they fit into a consolidated system of sustainable development. The study identifies the major social aspects within sustainable development, updates the content of the notion of sustainable social development, reveals its relation with satisfying the basic needs and the other key components of sustainable development, as well as proves the social importance of sustainable development. A great attention is focused on satisfaction of needs of individuals and their impact on sustainable development and the absolute limits of natural resources, revealing the necessity to include into the sustainable development conception the basic needs, that fill the sustainability idea with a definite content and enable taking certain measures to minimize the destructive human presence to the surrounding environment. The authors point out the necessity of a systemic approach to solutions of social sustainability problems. The developed sustainable development models reveal the key elements of the sustainable social system and their functional relation to be used in decision making for promotion of social sustainability in a specific institutional environment

Sustainable Development: Social Dimension and Limitation of Material Needs Request

In this study, the main emphasis is put on social issues of sustainable development. The inclu-sion of the concept of “the necessity tosatisfy the basic needs” within the concept of sustainable develop-ment is considered as an important transition from mere discussions on sustainable development to par-ticular actions aimed at achieving sustainability and conservation of the natural resource capacity. Therefore, in essence, it is not possible to create a model of sustainable development within one particular country, it is also not possible to divide the world's biological systems and disregard the exchange of goods and resources between countries

Assesment Conformity of Construction Sustainability in Various Phases of Business Cycle

In last decade has devoted increasing consideration of scientists, engineers, ecologists and economists to construction sustainability and conformity of construction products to requirements of conception of sustainable development. In the construction industry the produced buildings and other constructions form provide a material technical basis for other economic sectors. Buildings and other construction products have great an extent on such fundamental aspects of sustainability as energy consumption, maintenance costs, emission CO2 and other noxious gases, as well as degradation of surrounding environment. Up to now, less notice is given to matters of sustainable development of the construction as process of production of different construction products both on micro and macro level. Effectiveness of using resources by construction companies shapes the “backbone” of sustainable development process of the construction industry. In various phases of the economy development cycle not only the demanded and produced volumes as well as a price of construction products are changing. In period of growth of economy, favorable conditions give construction merchants an ability to increase profit to spent part of them for activities to reduce utilized resources in a unit of produced construction unity and accordingly decrease production costs. That shapes the economical and technical basis of competitiveness for construction entrepreneurs, which is necessary to overcome non-conformity between demand and supply that has arisen during economy recession. For the purpose of maintaining competitiveness in conditions of recession, businesses are forced to implement measures of increasing efficiency of utilization disposal resources more actively, by fitting in main conditions of sustainable development of national economy. The aim of the research – to assessment conformity of sustainability construction business in various phases of cycle economical development in Latvia. Hypothesis of the research – entrepreneurs in construction business not carry out measures for increasing production efficiency in spite of favorable conditions that shapes in phase of economy development boom. To reach the research aim followed investigation methods are used – induction and deduction methods, reference methods, analyze and syntheses methods, as well as appropriate mathematical methods

The Social Aspects of Sustainable Development Within the Limitations of Functional Needs and Systemic Approach

The progressing degradation of the surrounding environment and the decrease of the regeneration capacity of the renewable resources to a great extent relate to social problems of global nature - poverty prevailing in the world, high infant mortality, low educational level, growing diversity of income levels and the prevailing injustice in satisfying the basic needs of individuals. The main problem of the study is the uncertainty of the content of the notion of sustainable social development and its uncertainty within the conception of sustainable development. The object of the study is the aspects of sustainable social development and how they fit into a consolidated system of sustainable development. The study identifies the major social aspects within sustainable development, updates the content of the notion of sustainable social development, reveals its relation with satisfying the basic needs and the other key components of sustainable development, as well as proves the social importance of sustainable development. A great attention is focused on satisfaction of needs of individuals and their impact on sustainable development and the absolute limits of natural resources, revealing the necessity to include into the sustainable development conception the basic needs, that fill the sustainability idea with a definite content and enable taking certain measures to minimize the destructive human presence to the surrounding environment. The authors point out the necessity of a systemic approach to solutions of social sustainability problems. The developed sustainable development models reveal the key elements of the sustainable social system and their functional relation to be used in decision making for promotion of social sustainability in a specific institutional environment

Assesment Conformity of Construction Sustainability in Various Phases of Business Cycle

In last decade has devoted increasing consideration of scientists, engineers, ecologists and economists to construction sustainability and conformity of construction products to requirements of conception of sustainable development. In the construction industry the produced buildings and other constructions form provide a material technical basis for other economic sectors. Buildings and other construction products have great an extent on such fundamental aspects of sustainability as energy consumption, maintenance costs, emission CO2 and other noxious gases, as well as degradation of surrounding environment. Up to now, less notice is given to matters of sustainable development of the construction as process of production of different construction products both on micro and macro level. Effectiveness of using resources by construction companies shapes the “backbone” of sustainable development process of the construction industry. In various phases of the economy development cycle not only the demanded and produced volumes as well as a price of construction products are changing. In period of growth of economy, favorable conditions give construction merchants an ability to increase profit to spent part of them for activities to reduce utilized resources in a unit of produced construction unity and accordingly decrease production costs. That shapes the economical and technical basis of competitiveness for construction entrepreneurs, which is necessary to overcome non-conformity between demand and supply that has arisen during economy recession. For the purpose of maintaining competitiveness in conditions of recession, businesses are forced to implement measures of increasing efficiency of utilization disposal resources more actively, by fitting in main conditions of sustainable development of national economy. The aim of the research – to assessment conformity of sustainability construction business in various phases of cycle economical development in Latvia. Hypothesis of the research – entrepreneurs in construction business not carry out measures for increasing production efficiency in spite of favorable conditions that shapes in phase of economy development boom. To reach the research aim followed investigation methods are used – induction and deduction methods, reference methods, analyze and syntheses methods, as well as appropriate mathematical methods

Sustainable Land Management System and Interaction of Its Elements

The topicality of the study on land management system and its sustainability dimension is determined by the globalisation tendencies of the global economy and the reduction of the reproductive capacity of renewable natural resources. The land management system must be sufficiently flexible so that it could constantly adapt to the changeable internal and external environment. In comparison with other economic resources, land is characterised by several unique features, quantitative and qualitative aspects of which are incorporated in the land management system. The study is even more topical because the significance of the State in improvement of land use in Latvia is more topical in comparison with more developed European countries. Yet land use in Latvia formally conforms to the sustainable development guidelines – the renewable biological resources created by productive soil, waters, and terrain and environment appropriate for living creatures are not utilised within a year in Latvia. Latvia may lose this advantage if a sustainable land management system is not established and implemented, ensuring not only resources for economic activity of people, used not only for satisfying the public needs, but also serving as a living space for the preservation of the diversity of species and the preservation and increasing of the capacity of biological resources to recover. Within the scope of the study a justification for a sustainable land management system is developed with 4 dominating pillars – economic, social, ecological and institution pillar. The paper mostly deals with institutional aspects of sustainable land management, the most important levels of land management are identified and analytical evaluation of their interrelation is performed

Social Sustainability: Overcome Duality Proposition

Being aware of the conditions of sustainable development of the origin concept, its content and meaning, it can be concluded that the sustainable development concept of socio-economic content should be focused on satisfaction of a human`s basic needs - ensuring necessary conditions for existence and survival in the current situation and future. To more clearly understand the socio-economic, ecological, and institutional context of sustainable development, it is important to look at the world "from above" in spatial and time dimensions