Price Transmission and Marketing Margins in the Slovenian Beef and Pork Markets During Transition

As in many other transition countries processing and marketing margins are also larger in the Slovenian meat market than respective margins in market economies. In addition, margin of the Slovenian pork chain is greater than in the beef chain. Its decline in the pork market indicates an adjustment to more competitive markets. Co-integration models are applied to estimate vertical price transmission and to examine margins and degree of competition in the meat marketing chains. Results indicate the existence of a long run equilibrium regarding vertical price transmission in the beef and pork sectors. Both the farm-gate beef and pork prices are identified as weakly exogenous in the long run. The structural tests imposing a homogeneity restriction suggest a mark-up long-run price strategy for beef and a competitive price strategy for pork after 1994 in the meat processing and marketing chains.price transmission, marketing margin, co-integration, competition, Marketing, D4, L1, C3, Q1,

Agriculture in Post-War Bosnia and Herzegovina: Social Buffer vs. Development

This paper draws attention to the specific post-civil-war situation in agriculture and the food sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). These developments are presented in an association with the overall situation in the country. Due to economic and non-economic reasons, B&H faces a general problem of a lack of international competitiveness. In a current situation, there are rare products to be internationally competitive and the country relies on imports of food and other products. During the post-civil-war emergency and reconstruction stage, the bulk of food and agricultural inputs, were donated or granted by different governments, humanitarian organizations, and donors to mitigate the effects of widespread poverty caused by the war destructions and economic declines. During a development stage, recovery in the agricultural sector is burdened by the considerable lack of international competitiveness in food processing and marketing as well as by several sectors, institutional, and general economic problems. The rate of unemployment in B&H is high, and agricultural households are the important units providing food security for rural populations and relatives living in towns. Nevertheless, around half of agricultural land resources are unutilised, and even more striking is the "illegally occupied" agricultural land, which is one of the most significant in the structure of land leasing arrangements.poverty, social buffer, land leasing, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Agribusiness, Q15, Q18, O13, O52,

Imre Fertő: Agri-food trade between Hungary and the EU

Book review, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Land Markets in the Three Candidate Countries of the EU

Factor Markets Coordination: Centre for European PolicyLand markets, land structures, land productivity, candidate countries, European Union, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy,

Agricultural and Rural Capital Markets in the EU Candidate Countries: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey

Factor Markets Coordination: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels, BelgiumCapital market, agriculture and rural areas, European Union, candidate countries, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Political Economy,

Food retailing and prices in Slovenia

This paper focuses on agro- food chains and agro- food consumer prices in Slovenia considering its European Union (EU) membership. As the Slovenian agro- food markets were distorted prior to the EU accession with some agro- food prices that were greater than comparable EU prices, the empirical results confirm that with the EU membership Slovenian real agro- food consumer prices have largely downward adjusted. Besides policy changes, internalization of retailing and distribution chains by entries of supermarket s and hypermarket s have had impacts on market structures and rationalization of marketing activities. Supermarket s and hypermarket s are taking over a substantial proportion of retail trade in agro- food products with implications on increasing food chains efficiency by squeezing structures in consumer prices, including for farmers, processors and marketing margins for main agro- food staples. After the greater price adjustment changes that occurred by the EU membership, some stabilizations in agro- food markets are occurring, but at different levels of real consumer and producer prices and marketing margins. This imply that agro- food markets in the new EU member states are becoming much more integrated into internationally competitive markets, where pricing and sales promotion issues and branding are taking important role in market segmentation of agro- food products.Marketing, Segmentation, Price Adjustments, Slovenia., Agribusiness,

Impact of Off-farm Income on Farm Efficiency in Slovenia

The paper investigates the impact of off-farm income on farm technical efficiency for the Slovenian Farm Accountancy Data Network farms in the years 2004-2008. Farm stochastic frontier time-varying decay inefficiency is positively associated with total utilised agricultural areas and total labour input, and vice versa with intermediate consumption and fixed assets. We find a positive association between farm technical efficiency and the off-farm income. Farm technical efficiency has increased steadily over time, the process, which was led by the off-farm spill over effect and most efficient farms. Farm technical efficiency is also positively associated with economic farm size, while association with subsidies is mixed depending on the estimation procedure. Quantile regression confirms the positive and significant associations between farm technical efficiency and off-farm income, and between farm technical efficiency and farm economic size, as well as also the positive association between farm technical efficiency and subsidies, but the results are sensitive by quantiles.Off-farm income, Stochastic frontier analysis, Panel regression, Quantile regression, Slovenia, Farm Management,

Human Capital and Economic Growth by Municipalities in Slovenia

This article presents the analysis of the nature of economic growth of the Slovenian economy at the aggregate level and at the level of Slovenian municipalities for the period 1996–2002. The aggregate cross sectoral time series dataset and the regional cross-sectional time series dataset are used to econometrically test the significance of labour reallocation between sectors and municipalities on the nature of economic growth of the Slovenian economy. For this purpose we compare estimates of average and marginal stochastic frontier production functions. The estimated parameters of these two groups of production functions clearly indicate an inefficient use of human capital in the Slovenian economy during the analysed period. The uncompleted process of sectoral labour reallocation is found as the main factor that has a negative impact on the growth of total factor productivity in the Slovenian economy.economic growth, sectoral reallocation of labour, total factor productivity, stochastic frontier model

The Number and Size of Firms: Why So Big a Difference?

The number of firms and their size are analysed for the Slovenian manufacturing sector on the basis of the firm-level evidence of the Business Register of Slovenia virtually representing all the firms in activity. A remarkable difference is found between the number of the registered manufacturing firms and the number of firms with employment. The increase in the number of all registered firms is remarkable, but it is less so for the number of firms with employment, suggesting that many more firms were being registered than were in reality economically active. The large majority of newly registered firms during the 1990s were firms without any recorded employment. Whilst the number of firms increased, the number of employees declined, the average manufacturing firm size measured by employees per firm declined. Private firms constitute the vast majority of the firms in activity at end of the 1990s and afterwards.

Communication Costs and Agro-Food Trade in OECD Countries

The paper analyses the effects of communication costs for agro-food trade in OECD countries between 1995 and 2003 using gravity model. We find that the link between the communication costs and agro-food trade flows in developed countries is significantly stronger for agricultural than for food products. The improved communication services reduce trade transaction costs. The estimations also confirmed importance of the economy size, level of development in importer countries, and trade distance. The other traditional gravity variables like contiguity, language and regional free trade agreements have significant impacts in the majority of specificationsCommunication costs, Agro-food trade, Gravity model, International Relations/Trade, F14, F23, Q17,