Adjustment and poverty in Mexican agriculture : how farmers'wealth affects supply response

The authors report the results of a study of Mexican farm households using 1991 survey data and a smaller resurvey of some of the same households in 1993. One study goal was to empirically examine the relationship between assets and the output supply function. Using a production model focusing on capital as a productive input, they found that both the supply level and the responsiveness (elasticities) to changing input and output prices tend to depend on the farmer's net assets and on how productive assets are used. Regression analysis using data from the surveys shows that farmers who use productive assets such as machinery tend to be positively responsive to price changes, while those with no access to such assets are not. Another study goal was to monitor the condition of Mexican farmers in a rapidly changing policy environment. The 1991 survey data suggest that farmers with more limited use of capital inputs (low-CI) to grow principally corn and to grow fewer crops, on average, than the others. They aso had more problems getting credit and were less likely to use purchased inputs, such as seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides, or to use a tractor to prepare the soil. They tended to be less well-educated, and their land tended to be of lower quality. Results from the panel data showed conditions generally improving for the average farmer in the sample area between 1991 and 1993, during a period when agricultural reforms were implemented. Cropping patterns were more diversified, the average size of landholdings increased, the average farmer received more credit (in real terms), more farm households earned income from off-farm work, and more farmers used purchased inputs. Asset ownership and educational attainment also improved modestly. The very small low-CI group in this sample fared as well as, or better than, the other goroups. True, their level of educational achievement fell, and fewer of them had off-farm income than in 1991. But their use of credit, irrigation, machinery, and purchased inputs increased more than for other groups. The limited data are not proof of a causal link, but the fact that the goals are being met should at least ensure that adverse conditions are not undermining reform. Farmers that lacked access to productive assets did not respond as well to incentives or take advantage of the opportunities presented by reform and may need assistance, particularly to get access to credit markets. There may be a good argument for decoupling income supports from pricesupports for farmers, since income payments that are independent of the vagaries of production could provide a more stable signal of creditworthiness than price supports do. Possibly reorienting research and extension services more to the needs of low-CI producers could also improve the efficiency with which the sector ajdusts to new incentives. Hypotheses and tentative conclusions from this study will be explored further when more data are collected in 1995.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Water Conservation,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Research,Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems

Revenue raising taxes : general equilibrium evaluation of alternative taxation in U.S. petroleum industries

Should the United States increase taxes and tariffs in the energy sector to reduce its federal deficit? This paper uses a twelve sector general equilibrium model to estimate the fiscal effects, and the effects on welfare and employment, of : (i) a 25 percent import tax on imported crude petroleum oil; (ii) a 15 percent excise tax on petroleum products; and (iii) a combination of the two. The excise tax would be the most efficient revenue raising instrument. The 25 percent import tariff would raise US$7.3 billion, while the 15 percent excise tax would raise US$35 billion. Moreover, each dollar raised through a tariff would come at a loss of 25 cents in welfare. Each dollar raised through an excise tax would come at a loss of only one cent in welfare. Acombination of excise taxes, subsidies, and import tariffs would be the least costly way (in terms of welfare) to raise US$20 billion. The optimal tax structure would involve a tariff and a small subsidy on petroleum products to counteract the distortion induced by a tax on oil - the most important input for petroleum products.Economic Theory&Research,Oil Refining&Gas Industry,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Energy and Environment,Environmental Economics&Policies

Growth oriented adjustment programs : a statistical analysis

After the fall in average per capita GDP growth that took place in the 1980s, adjustment lending programs supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) were launched in response to the deteriorating external environment. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and to assess statistically the extent to which adjustment programs supported by the IMF and the WB have restored growth. The evaluation relied on a large sample of countries (93) and controls for some of the statistical difficulties associated with measuring the effectiveness of adjustment programs. The paper reviews the environment under which IMF-WB lending took place, the rationale for adjustment lending, and the distribution of adjustment loans through time. The results of the statistical evaluation suggest that, after controlling for external factors and for initial conditions, growth is not higher in countries that receive IMF-WB funds, but that investment was significantly lower than for non-recipient countries. The paper also examines further long-term growth prospects.Economic Theory&Research,Country Strategy&Performance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism

RIVERS THAT DEPEND ON AQUIFERS: DRAFTING SGMA GROUNDWATER PLANS WITH FISHERIES IN MIND

Guidebook on rivers that depend on aquifers. Published by the Center on Urban and Environmental Law. Also available at: https://ggucuel.org/fisheries

Fisheries Reliant on Aquifers: When Groundwater Extraction Depletes Surface Water Flows

IN CALIFORNIA, surface waters have historically been regulated as if they were unconnected to groundwater. Yet in reality, surface waters and groundwater are often hydrologically connected. Many of the rivers that support fisheries such as salmon and trout are hydrologically dependent on tributary groundwater to maintain instream flow. This means that when there is intensive pumping of tributary groundwater, the result can be reductions in instream flow and damage to fisheries. For this reason, stakeholders concerned with adequate instream flows for fisheries in California\u27s rivers, streams, and creeks need to be effectively engaged in the implementation of California\u27s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act ( SGMA ). This Article explains six important considerations, and how they can be incorporated into the substantive and procedural aspects of SGMA Groundwater Plans to ensure such plans are protective of fisheries. Although the focus of this Article is on fisheries, the information and analysis contained herein may also be useful in drafting provisions of SGMA Groundwater Plans that address the more general question of how groundwater pumping can affect other beneficial uses of surface waters

Rivers That Depend on Aquifers: Drafting GMA Groundwater Plans with Fisheries in Mind

This guidebook covers the requirements of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) that apply to interconnected groundwater and surface water and the impacts of groundwater pumping on fisheries. This handbook is also available at: https://ggucuel.org/

Slums of Hope::Sanitising silences within township tour reviews

In a context of rapidly increasing urbanisation and deepening global inequalities, slum tourism has thrived. This paper presents a discursive analysis of tourists’ online reviews of two township tours in Cape Town, South Africa. We investigate how, and to what ends, tourists collectively construct townships as places of hope on TripAdvisor; we question how these reviews feed into broader narratives of urban poverty in the global south. We show how tourists draw on both neoliberal and colonial discourses to construct townships as places of hope–vibrant cultural spaces, rich in non-material assets, inhabited by happy, hard-working residents. We show that by producing slums as productive cultural spaces, tourists are able to resist the stigma associated with slum tourism and position themselves as ethical, enlightened and morally superior tourists. We argue that neoliberal and colonial discourses operate together to produce sanitised representations of townships that both obscure inequalities between poor residents and wealthy tourists from the global north and depoliticise issues like poor infrastructure in townships. In discussing the broader implications of the study, we highlight the importance of producing nuanced representations of townships that acknowledge residents’ assets and excellence, while also foregrounding how they live within the oppressive constraints inherent in enduring systems of inequality

The relationship between the piriformis muscle, low back pain, lower limb injuries and motor control training among elite football players

Objectives: Australian Football League (AFL) players have a high incidence of back injuries. Motor control training to increase lumbopelvic neuromuscular control has been effective in reducing low back pain (LBP) and lower limb injuries in elite athletes. Control of pelvic and femoral alignment during functional activity involves the piriformis muscle. This study investigated (a) the effect of motor control training on piriformis muscle size in AFL players, with and without LBP, during the playing season, and (b) whether there is a relationship between lower limb injury and piriformis muscle size. Design: Stepped-wedge intervention. Methods: 46 AFL players participated in a motor control training programme consisting of two 30. min sessions per week over 7-8 weeks, delivered across the season as a randomised 3 group single-blinded stepped-wedge design. Assessment of piriformis muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) involved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 time points during the season. Assessment of LBP consisted of player interview and physical examination. Injury data were obtained from club records. Results: An interaction effect for Time, Intervention Group and LBP group (F=3.7, p=0.03) was found. Piriformis muscle CSA showed significant increases between Times 1 and 2 (F=4.24, p=0.046), and Times 2 and 3 (F=8.59, p=0.006). Players with a smaller increase in piriformis muscle CSA across the season had higher odds of sustaining an injury (OR. =1.08). Conclusions: Piriformis muscle size increases across the season in elite AFL players and is affected by the presence of LBP and lower limb injury. Motor control training positively affects piriformis muscle size in players with LBP