Domestic Support Reform? A Closer Look at EU Policies Applied to Processed Fruits and Vegetables

Recent trade negotiations have attracted much attention to the consequences of domestic support applied to agricultural markets. In various markets, researchers have examined the economic effects of regimes and scenarios with less, or different forms of, domestic support including decoupled payments. Here we examine the domestic support regimes for processed fruits and vegetables in the European Union (EU) where major policy changes were applied in 2001 and again in 2008. The changes were billed as policy “reform” but no analysis has yet evaluated quantitatively the nature of what was reformed and what was not. A simulation model is used here to assess the price, production, and welfare effects of policies that have been applied to the EU processing tomato industry. Our results indicate that EU domestic support has increased EU tomato production by 7 to 12%, decreased production in other regions by 3 to 5%, and distorted the processing tomato market most during the period between 2001 and 2007.agricultural policy reform, domestic support, horticultural markets, European Union, Common Agricultural Policy, processing tomatoes, simulation analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18,

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE SLOSH-DAMPING EFFECTIVENESS OF POSITIVE-EXPULSION BAGS AND DIAPHRAGMS IN SPHERICAL TANKS

Slosh damping effectiveness of positive expulsion bags and diaphragms in spherical tank

The Political Economy of Urban Land Reform in Hawaii

In the mid 1960s there were about 22,000 single-family leasehold homes in Honolulu. Dissatisfaction with leasehold led to reform legislation in 1967, allowing lessees to buy leased land. By 1991 less than 5000 lessees remained. This paper examines why landowners elected to lease rather than sell land and attributes the rise of leasehold to legal constraints on land sales by large estates, duties of estate trustees and the federal tax code. Idelogical forces initiated land reform in 1967, but rent-seeking forces captured the process in the mid 1970s. It is concluded that Hawaii's experiment with leasehold was a failure due to the difficulties associated with specifying and enforcing long-term contracts in residential land.

Impact vesiculation – a new trigger for volcanic bubble growth and degassing

We highlight a potentially important trigger for bubble growth and degassing in volcanic bombs. We have successfully triggered bubble growth in previously unvesiculated samples of silicate melt during experiments to simulate volcanic bomb impact, by firing pellets at, and dropping weights onto, melt samples. We call this phenomenon "impact vesiculation". Further work is required on real volcanic bombs to establish the extent to which impact vesiculation occurs in nature. However, our experiments are sufficient to demonstrate that impact vesiculation is a viable processes and should be borne in mind in analysis of bubble populations and degassing histories of bombs and spatter-fed lava flows. Degassing caused by impact vesiculation can occur only at ground-level, so any attempt to calculate the amount of erupted gas available for transport high into the atmosphere by convection above the source of a fountain-fed lava flow that is based on subtracting the volatile content of fluid inclusions from the volatile content of the resulting lava flow would be an overestimate if significant impact vesiculation has occurred

Combining Consumer Valuation Research with Sensory Science Techniques: A Laboratory Experiment

In this research, we integrated an experimental auction with sensory science techniques—namely, trained sensory panels used to analyze the sensory attributes of wines—to examine the effects of objective and sensory information in the market for California-produced Cabernet Sauvignons. The experiment permitted observation of consumer valuation for sensory attributes of wine, appellations, expert ratings, and wineries. Participants submitted bids each time they received new information about the wines. The balanced experimental design permits evaluation of the effects of consumer characteristics on attribute valuation. We had 236 people participate in the research, which consisted of nine rounds of bidding and one round of hedonic liking scores. Rounds 5-9 repeated the structure of information released in rounds 1-4, but added sensory information, yielding 472 observations for each type of information (e.g. appellation, expert rating, winery). We obtain a total of 8496 valuations, or bids and 944 hedonic “liking” ratings, as well as demographic information, wine consumption data, and a wine knowledge score for each consumer. The results of the research agree with many of the previously held notions about valuation of wine by consumers. Participants value Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa Valley and Sonoma County and their sub-appellations more than wines labeled with the California appellation. Bids for wines rated by experts such as the Wine Advocate (Robert Parker) or Wine Spectator increased as the experts’ ratings increased. However, we also find that consumer characteristics are very important in explaining WTP for wine attributes. The contributions of prestigious appellations to the value of Cabernet Sauvignons depended on consumer characteristics. Willingness to pay was highly correlated with sensory evaluation, but even after tasting the wine, appellation and expert ratings still mattered for WTP. Overall, the research describes a significant amount of heterogeneity in the preferences for sensory characteristics of wine, and that individual characteristics systematically explain many of the differences in valuation of wine attributes.Experimental Economics, Willingness to Pay, WTP, Wine, Consumer Valuation, Hedonic Pricing, Sensory Analysis, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Experimental investigation of liquid sloshing in a scale-model Centaur liquid-hydrogen tank

Liquid sloshing in scale model Centaur liquid hydrogen tan

The Economics of Regulations on Hen Housing in California

Beginning January 1, 2015, conventional cage housing for egg-laying hens is scheduled to be prohibited in California. We consider the economic implications of the new hen housing regulations on the California shell egg industry. Our data show that egg production is more costly using noncage systems than conventional cages. The main result of the new regulations will be a drastic reduction in the number of eggs produced in California, a large increase in egg shipments from out of state, little if any change in hen housing for eggs consumed in California, and little change in egg prices in California.animal welfare regulation, hen housing, egg supply, egg prices, egg costs of production, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Q11, Q18,

Which Triggers Produce the Most Erosive, Frequent, and Longest Runout Turbidity Currents on Deltas?

Subaerial rivers and turbidity currents are the two most voluminous sediment transport processes on our planet, and it is important to understand how they are linked offshore from river mouths. Previously, it was thought that slope failures or direct plunging of river floodwater (hyperpycnal flow) dominated the triggering of turbidity currents on delta fronts. Here we reanalyze the most detailed time‐lapse monitoring yet of a submerged delta; comprising 93 surveys of the Squamish Delta in British Columbia, Canada. We show that most turbidity currents are triggered by settling of sediment from dilute surface river plumes, rather than landslides or hyperpycnal flows. Turbidity currents triggered by settling plumes occur frequently, run out as far as landslide‐triggered events, and cause the greatest changes to delta and lobe morphology. For the first time, we show that settling from surface plumes can dominate the triggering of hazardous submarine flows and offshore sediment fluxes