Who Benefits from Quality Labelling? Segregation Costs, International Trade and Producer Outcomes

This paper analyses the impact of quality based labelling on product prices, factor allocation and the resulting effects on producers within the context of an international trading system. A general equilibrium model, calibrated to 1998 data, describes United States and European Union labelling regimes for genetically modified agricultural products. The results indicate that the labelling choice of trade partners have large distributive impacts within national economies, as well as across countries and highlight the importance of using general equilibrium framework to understand the system wide impacts of segregation and quality labelling.Labelling, price premium, international trade, political economy, biotechnology.

Monoid varieties with extreme properties

Finite monoids that generate monoid varieties with uncountably many subvarieties seem rare, and surprisingly, no finite monoid is known to generate a monoid variety with countably infinitely many subvarieties. In the present article, it is shown that there are, nevertheless, many finite monoids that generate monoid varieties with continuum many subvarieties; these include any finite inherently non-finitely based monoid and any monoid for which $xyxy$ is an isoterm. It follows that the join of two Cross monoid varieties can have a continuum cardinality subvariety lattice that violates the ascending chain condition. Regarding monoid varieties with countably infinitely many subvarieties, the first example of a finite monoid that generates such a variety is exhibited. A complete description of the subvariety lattice of this variety is given. This lattice has width three and contains only finitely based varieties, all except two of which are Cross

The Role of Inert Objects in Quantum Mechanical Phase

Quantum mechanical foundations of the polarized neutron phase shift experiment are discussed. The fact that the neutron retains its ground state throughout the experiment is shown to be crucial for the phase shift obtained.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, Late

GM food technology abroad and its implications for Australia and New Zealand

The potential economic benefits from agricultural biotechnology adoption by ANZ need to be weighed against any likely loss of market access abroad for crops that may contain genetically modified (GM) organisms. This paper uses the global GTAP model to estimate effects of other countries' GM policies without and with ANZ farmers adopting GM varieties of various grains and oilseeds. The benefits to ANZ from adopting GM crops under a variety of scenarios are positive even in the presence of the ban on imports from GM-adopting countries by the EU (but not if East Asia also applied such a ban).Biotechnology, GMOs, regulation, trade policy, computable general equilibrium, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, C68, D58, F13, O3, Q17, Q18,

STANDARDS, TRADE AND PROTECTION: THE CASE OF GMOS

A global economy-wide model (GTAP) is used to go beyond estimating how GM crop variety adoption affects adopting and non-adopting economies, with or without policy responses to this technology, by indicating effects also on real incomes of farmers. The results suggest the EU moratorium on imports of GM food helps EU farmers even though it requires them to forego the productivity boost they could receive from the new biotechnology. An upper-bound estimate of the cost of that EU moratorium to developing countries and the world also is provided.International Relations/Trade,

WHY ARE US AND EU POLICIES TOWARD GMOs SO DIFFERENT?

The development of genetically modified (GM) agricultural products requires new policies to manage potential food safety and environmental risks. The policy positions taken to date on GM foods by the United States and the European Union are very different. The US has few restrictions on production and trade in GM food products and no costly labelling requirements, whereas the EU has close to a ban on the production and importation of GM foods. This paper seeks to explain (a) why both the US and EU policies are extreme in the light of the uncertainty about the risks associated with GM foods, (b) what their consequences are for income distribution and trade in farm products, and (c) what it means for the GM policies and economic welfare of people in other (particularly developing) countries. In this paper we use the GTAP global economy wide model to estimate the extent of the trade, national welfare and income distributional effects of the actual policy choices of the US and the EU as compared with what they would be if GM products were adopted with less-distortionary GM policies. The distributional effects are used to also shed light on why the US and EU have adopted such different sub-optimal GM policies.genetically modified crops, trade barriers, productivity growth, political economy of agricultural protection, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,

Implications of genetically modified food technology policies for Sub-Saharan Africa

The first generation of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties sought to increase farmer profitability through cost reductions or higher yields. The next generation of GM food research is focusing also on breeding for attributes of interest to consumers, beginning with"golden rice,"which has been genetically engineered to contain a higher level of vitamin A and thereby boost the health of unskilled laborers in developing countries. The authors analyze empirically the potential economic effects of adopting both types of innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). They do so using the global economy-wide computable general equilibrium model known as GTAP. The results suggest that the welfare gains are potentially very large, especially from nutritionally enhanced GM wheat and rice, and that-contrary to the claims of numerous interests-those estimated benefits are diminished only slightly by the presence of the European Union's current barriers to imports of GM foods. In particular, if SSA countries impose bans on GM crop imports in an attempt to maintain access to EU markets for non-GM products, the loss to domestic consumers due to that protectionism boost to SSA farmers is far more than the small economic gain for these farmers from greater market access to the EU.Economic Theory&Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Research,Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems

GM crop technology and trade restraints: economic implications for Australia and New Zealand

How much might the potential economic benefit from enhanced farm productivity associated with crop biotechnology adoption by Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) be offset by a loss of market access abroad for crops that may contain genetically modified (GM) organisms? This paper uses the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model to estimate effects of other countries’ GM policies without and with ANZ farmers adopting GM varieties of various grains and oilseeds. The gross economic benefits to ANZ from adopting GM crops under a variety of scenarios could be positive even if the strict controls on imports from GM-adopting countries by the European Union are maintained, but not if North-East Asia also applied such trade restaints. From those gross economic effects would need to be subtracted society’s evaluation of any new food safety concerns and negative environmental externalities (net of any new environmental and occupational health benefits), as well as any extra costs of segregation, identity preservation and consumer search.biotechnology, computable general equilibrium, genetically modified organisms, regulation, trade policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,