ESTIMATING NON-PARAMETRIC AND PARAMETRIC TRANSFORMATION FUNCTIONS FROM SURVEY DATA: AN APPLICATION OF MINIMUM CROSS-ENTROPY

A model of a (convex) technology of representative and non-representative firms in a heterogeneous sector is presented in non-parametric and parametric versions. The heterogeneity is specified with error terms. The models including a non-parametric distribution of the errors can be estimated with entropy econometrics from firm survey data. This requires two important modifications in the standard approach to entropy estimation of Golan, Judge and Miller: The compact support of the probability distribution should be designed to capture eventual non-zero covariance. And cross-entropy need to be redefined for cases of multiple observations.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

A model for prediction of spatial farm structure

Spatial micro structure and its change over time is recorded for Norwegian farm firms. Relative strong correlations between geographically close neighbors are expected, either because growing farms swallow the smaller ones, or because they are affected by some spatially related unobserved factors. Strong correlations over time are also expected because of prevalent family farming. The paper proposes a state-of-the-art Markov chain model in order to predict the spatial and temporal micro structure taking account of both non-stationarity and spatio/temporal correlations by means of techniques from non-linear state space modeling and Gaussian Markov random fields. The model and the complete data set is then a device with which one can investigate the consequences of ignoring spatial and/or temporal correlations, both with complete data and with more sparsely sampled data, like FADN panels or USDA's repeated cross-sections (ARMS).Farm Management,

COMPARATIVE COSTS OF DAIRY MARKETING IN NORWAY AND THE U.S.

Technical marketing efficiency is an important component of comparative advantage that countries may possess in food marketing. This aspect of marketing efficiency may be affected by size of market(s), technology used, input costs, and institutional factors. With regard to the latter, Norwegian policy makers have asked whether the extensive regulation and monopolization by a single processing cooperative in the Norwegian dairy sector have resulted in technical inefficiency that leads to excessive costs of milk marketing. Excessive marketing costs could have three important impacts; increased prices for domestic consumers, reduced prices for farmers, and reduced competitiveness in international markets. International competitiveness is critical for Norway as it considers or is considered for admission to the European Community and as trade liberalization proceeds under the GATT. The purpose of this analysis was to develop and apply a method for comparing marketing costs between countries to provide some insight into relative marketing efficiency between countries.Livestock Production/Industries,

Life and work on small-scale farms in Norway: an outlook based on survey results linked to financial data

This paper studies what causes (small-scale) farmers to leave their farms and typically move to urban areas. A data set is constructed by linking survey results with financial data, and the data set is analyzed by multivariate statistical techniques. Our results indicate that, while existence and size of future farm production is important, there is also a difference between farmers who primarily have financial objectives for their farming, and those who have more lifestyle oriented objectives. The latter group is, everything else being equal, more likely to stay on the farm. This could imply that, if preventing migration from rural to urban areas is a policy objective, production support schemes will be effective for some groups, but will be less effective for the group with lifestyle objectives. If this group is to be encouraged to stay on the countryside, policies directed at improving the general living conditions in the local community are likely to be more effective than specific support schemes related to agricultural production.migration, farmer objectives, agricultural policy, structural equation modelling, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

ESTIMATING NON-PARAMETRIC AND PARAMETRIC TRANSFORMATION FUNCTIONS FROM SURVEY DATA: AN APPLICATION OF MINIMUM CROSS-ENTROPY

A model of a (convex) technology of representative and non-representative firms in a heterogeneous sector is presented in non-parametric and parametric versions. The heterogeneity is specified with error terms. The models including a non-parametric distribution of the errors can be estimated with entropy econometrics from firm survey data. This requires two important modifications in the standard approach to entropy estimation of Golan, Judge and Miller: The compact support of the probability distribution should be designed to capture eventual non-zero covariance. And cross-entropy need to be redefined for cases of multiple observations

Dynamics of income, wealth and capital in Norwegian farm household accounts: A state-space model

Feedbacks between on-farm and off-farm activities are analyzed with a state-space model over a panel of farm household accounts. We discover significant positive effects of farm capital both on farm income and on wage labor income. The latter effect is interpreted as wage labor partly paying the debt incurred by investments in farm capital. Significant positive effects on farm capital from wealth - indicating credit rationing or an immediate willingness to pay for farm investments - are also discovered. The wealth effect on farm income is also significantly positive. By and large - at least for the household for which the results are estimated, and for the model applied - Fishers separation theorem is rejected

COMPARATIVE COSTS OF DAIRY MARKETING IN NORWAY AND THE U.S.

Technical marketing efficiency is an important component of comparative advantage that countries may possess in food marketing. This aspect of marketing efficiency may be affected by size of market(s), technology used, input costs, and institutional factors. With regard to the latter, Norwegian policy makers have asked whether the extensive regulation and monopolization by a single processing cooperative in the Norwegian dairy sector have resulted in technical inefficiency that leads to excessive costs of milk marketing. Excessive marketing costs could have three important impacts; increased prices for domestic consumers, reduced prices for farmers, and reduced competitiveness in international markets. International competitiveness is critical for Norway as it considers or is considered for admission to the European Community and as trade liberalization proceeds under the GATT. The purpose of this analysis was to develop and apply a method for comparing marketing costs between countries to provide some insight into relative marketing efficiency between countries.

A model for prediction of spatial farm structure

Spatial micro structure and its change over time is recorded for Norwegian farm firms. Relative strong correlations between geographically close neighbors are expected, either because growing farms swallow the smaller ones, or because they are affected by some spatially related unobserved factors. Strong correlations over time are also expected because of prevalent family farming. The paper proposes a state-of-the-art Markov chain model in order to predict the spatial and temporal micro structure taking account of both non-stationarity and spatio/temporal correlations by means of techniques from non-linear state space modeling and Gaussian Markov random fields. The model and the complete data set is then a device with which one can investigate the consequences of ignoring spatial and/or temporal correlations, both with complete data and with more sparsely sampled data, like FADN panels or USDA's repeated cross-sections (ARMS)

COMPARATIVE COSTS OF DAIRY MARKETING IN NORWAY AND THE U.S.

Technical marketing efficiency is an important component of comparative advantage that countries may possess in food marketing. This aspect of marketing efficiency may be affected by size of market(s), technology used, input costs, and institutional factors. With regard to the latter, Norwegian policy makers have asked whether the extensive regulation and monopolization by a single processing cooperative in the Norwegian dairy sector have resulted in technical inefficiency that leads to excessive costs of milk marketing. Excessive marketing costs could have three important impacts; increased prices for domestic consumers, reduced prices for farmers, and reduced competitiveness in international markets. International competitiveness is critical for Norway as it considers or is considered for admission to the European Community and as trade liberalization proceeds under the GATT. The purpose of this analysis was to develop and apply a method for comparing marketing costs between countries to provide some insight into relative marketing efficiency between countries

Life and work on small-scale farms in Norway: an outlook based on survey results linked to financial data

This paper studies what causes (small-scale) farmers to leave their farms and typically move to urban areas. A data set is constructed by linking survey results with financial data, and the data set is analyzed by multivariate statistical techniques. Our results indicate that, while existence and size of future farm production is important, there is also a difference between farmers who primarily have financial objectives for their farming, and those who have more lifestyle oriented objectives. The latter group is, everything else being equal, more likely to stay on the farm. This could imply that, if preventing migration from rural to urban areas is a policy objective, production support schemes will be effective for some groups, but will be less effective for the group with lifestyle objectives. If this group is to be encouraged to stay on the countryside, policies directed at improving the general living conditions in the local community are likely to be more effective than specific support schemes related to agricultural production