IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL POLICY REFORM ON LAND PRICES: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE LITERATURE

Agricultural policy support to farmers is being reconsidered in most industrialized countries. The adverse incentive structure of price support is generally considered to be inadequate. Income support schemes may therefore be preferable in view of externalities of agricultural production such as the development and maintenance of nature. A plethora of studies comprises estimates of the impact of a sustained future benefit stream (among other things through continued price and income support) on land prices. The empirical results of these studies vary considerably. We apply meta-analytical methods to identify the factors explaining this variation in capitalization of future benefits in agricultural land prices. The resultant information is of crucial importance given the current change from price support to income support in agricultural policymaking. The results of the meta-analysis show that there is considerable variation due to the way in which income is taken into account, and the way in which expectations of future benefits are operationalized. There is also evidence that a change from a mixed price and income support scheme to a system of income support will result in substantially lower capitalization in land values.Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Spatial Patterns of Technology Diffusion: An Empirical Analysis Using TFP

We investigate the spatial distribution of TFP growth rates using exploratory spatial data analysis and other spatial econometric techniques. Our sample consists of 73 countries and covers the period 1960-2000. We identify significant positive spatial autocorrelation in TFP growth rates, indicating that high and low values tend to be clustered in space. We also find strong positive spatial autocorrelation in TFP levels, which has increased over the period 1960-2000. This result may be indicative of a tendency towards clustering over time, a conclusion reinforced by our finding of two clusters of high TFP growth rates (in Europe and South East Asia), and two clusters of low TFP growth rates (in the Andean region and Sub-Saharan Africa). We estimate the Nelson and Phelps (1966) model of technology diffusion while allowing for spatial dependence in the error term. Our estimation results suggest that both the growth rate and the level of human capital have an important effect on productivity growth rates. JEL:I2,O4,C21. Keywords: human capital, technology diffusion, spatial econometrics.

Meta-Regression Estimates for CGE Models: A Case Study for Input Substitution Elasticities in Production Agriculture

The selection of appropriate parameters for computable general equilibrium (CGE) models critically affects the results of applied economic modeling exercises. Valid and reliable parameter selection models are needed, and typically comprise direct estimation, expert opinion, or copycatting of results from seminal studies. The purpose of this study is to use meta-analysis to summarize and more accurately estimate elasticities of input substitution, specifically between labor and other inputs in agricultural production. We construct a comprehensive database of elasticity estimates through an extensive literature review, and perform a meta-regression analysis to identify structural sources of variation in elasticity estimates sampled from primary studies. The use of meta-analysis contributes to improved baseline analysis in CGE simulations because it allows for the computation of input parameters tailored to a specific CGE model setup. We correct for variations in research design, which are typically constant within studies, and account for bias associated with undue selection effects associated with editorial publication decision processes. Improved accuracy and knowledge of the distribution of imputed input parameters derived from a meta-analysis contributes to improved performance of CGE sensitivity analyses.meta-analysis, cross-price elasticity, input substitu¬tion, agricultural production, CGE parameters, Demand and Price Analysis, C13, C68, Q13,

Rent Shifts in American Rental Housing Markets, 2000-2009: Directional Heterogeneity in Distance Decay Patterns

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Living-arrangement and university decisions of Dutch young adults

This paper analyses the nature of university and living-arrangement decisions at the example of Dutch students with a secondary education academic diploma. A random utility maximization nested logit model of living-arrangement and university decisions is estimated, allowing for distance and rent e¤ects to vary according to the decision on whether to stay at parental home. Estimation results show that distance deters both at-homers and out-homers. Dutch youngsters are guided by consumption motives, rather than investment motives. They appear to attend university where their high school mates do. Tight housing markets lower the probability of choosing a given university. Male and low income students stay longer with parents, as do those with non-Dutch parents.living arrangements, university choice, random utility maximization, nested logit

Farmland Allocation along the Rural-Urban Gradient: The Impacts of Urbanization and Urban Sprawl

In the vicinity of a city, farmers are confronted with increasing agricultural land prices and rents along the rural-urban gradient, but they concurrently enjoy the advantages associated with proximity to a larger and wealthier consumer base. We hypothesize that farmers transition from low-value, land-intensive \traditional" crops to high-value, labor-intensive \specialized" crops on parcels located closer to urban centers. Once returns to development of a parcel exceed the profits associated with farming, exurban farmers may sell their land for conversion to urban use. Urban pressure in the rural-urban fringe intensifies as cities expand. We differentiate between a gradual process of urban growth (or urbanization) and urban sprawl. Utilizing farmland fragmentation measures as indicators of sprawl, we hypothesize that urban sprawl burdens \traditional" farms to the extent that they accelerate the transition to specialized crops or convert farmland to urban use. We use crop-specific land cover data at the level of grid cells and a state-of-the-art system of spatially correlated simultaneous equations with data for the metropolitan area of Indianapolis, IN and its immediate hinterland. Our initial empirical results corroborate that accelerated urban development around Indianapolis in the 1990s is associated with land uses characterized by fewer field crops and more idle land.land use, urban sprawl, agriculture, specialized crops, spatial econometrics, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Land Economics/Use, C31, O13, Q15, R14,

Does Where You Live Make You Fat? Obesity and Access to Chain Grocers

This paper investigates the role that aspects of the physical environment play in determining health outcomes in adults as measured by body mass index (BMI). Using spatial econometric techniques that allow for spatial spillovers and feedback processes, this research specifically examines how differing levels of access to large chain grocers has on individual health outcomes. While other studies have investigated the impact of proximity to food retailers, the pointcoordinate data used in this paper is uniquely suited to spatial econometric estimation at the individual level. In addition to modeling spatial dependence and allowing for unobserved neighborhood effects, the flexibility of the model is increased by incorporating potential spatial heterogeneity between wealthier and lower-income neighborhoods. Using survey responses tied to geographic location, demographic, behavioral, and access to chain grocers, this study finds evidence of spatial dependence pointing to locational impacts on BMI. The effect on individual health outcomes of retailer access improvements varies depending on neighborhood characteristics. Our findings suggest structural differences in the variation and sensitivity of BMI dependent jointly on individual and neighborhood characteristics.body mass index, obesity, spatial dependence, obesogenic environments

Technological Leadership, Human Capital and Economic Growth: A Spatial Econometric Analysis for U.S. Counties, 1969-2003

The traditional view of cities as monocentric conglomerates of people clustered around an employment center, driving economic growth in cities that subsequently trickles down to the hinterland, is increasingly being challenged. In particular, the role of space, technological leadership, human capital, increasing returns to scale and industrial clustering as well as hierarchical organization principles have been emphasized in the more recent literature. This paper utilizes exploratory and spatial econometric data analysis techniques to investigate these issues for U.S. counties using data from 1969 through 2003. Ultimately, contiguous and hierarchical organization and interaction patterns are captured using an endogenous growth model allowing for spatial effects, inspired by earlier work on human capital and technology gaps. We investigate a neoclassical growth model and compare it to a spatial version of an endogenous growth model allowing for “domestic” investment in human capital and catch-up to the technology leader, and find that human capital strongly contributes to growth in a neoclassical setting, but much less so in an endogenous setting. In the endogenous model the catch-up term dominates in comparison to “domestic” human capital effects.economic growth, human capital, technological leadership

FLOODING RISK AND HOUSING VALUES: AN ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD

Climate change, the ‘boom and bust’ cycles of rivers, and altered water resource management practice have caused significant changes in the spatial distribution of the risk of flooding. Hedonic pricing studies, predominantly for the US, have assessed the spatial incidence of risk and the associated implicit price of flooding risk. Using these implicit price estimates and their associated standard errors, we perform a meta-analysis and find that houses located in the 100-year floodplain have a –0.3 to –0.8% lower price. The actual occurrence of a flooding event or increased stringency in disclosure rules causes ex ante prices to differ from ex post prices, but these effects are small. The marginal willingness to pay for reduced risk exposure has increased over time, and it is slightly lower for areas with a higher per capita income. We show that obfuscating amenity effects and risk exposure associated with proximity to water causes systematic bias in the implicit price of flooding risk.Manufactured Housing; valuation, environmental risk, meta-analysis, hedonic pricing

Do jobs follow people or people follow jobs? A meta-analysis of Carlino-Mills studies

The issue whether ‘jobs follow people’ and/or ‘people follow jobs’ has recently emerged as one of the leading themes in regional and urban science. Much of the interest herein stems from alleged inconsistencies in the empirical evidence, which naturally raises questions as for the reasons why. Arguably, the nature of causality differs across space as well as time, while speculations have been rife about a number of methodological issues that may play a crucial role in shaping the research outcomes. In this paper a preliminary attempt is described to clarify these matters, by focusing on an articulate literature of 37 so-called ‘Carlino-Mills studies’. Specifically, a statistically supported literature review, referred to as ‘meta-analysis’, is presented in which the study results are evaluated and systematically related to a variety of study characteristics that underlie these results. By listing 308 study results reported in this literature, it is revealed that the empirical evidence is conform popular belief highly inconclusive, albeit that most of the results point towards ‘jobs follow people’. The findings of the meta-regression analyses indicate that the spatial setting of the study, the adopted model specification, and variables measurement in particular affect the research outcomes that indicate the jobs-people direction of causality. No evidence is found that the examination of data referring to a particular time period, population and/ or employment group make much of a difference.