Milk Supply Chain and Efficiency of Smallholder Dairy Producers in Pakistan

Many developing countries are re-orienting their production and marketing systems by linking local agri-producers with organized supply chain networks and supermarkets to meet increasing consumer demands. However, the existing literature is silent on the effects of such integration on relative inefficiency of smallholder producers. This paper analyzes the effects of such supply chains using data from a natural experiment in the dairy sector of Pakistan. We study the impact of rural milk supply chain, known as milk district, on smallholder efficiency of commercial dairy producers by employing stochastic production frontier and technical inefficiency effects model using survey data of 800 dairy households. While location of dairy households in our sample is exogenously determined, building of milk supply chain indeed decreases technical inefficiency. We detect stronger power of milk district in further reducing technical inefficiency if the farms are located in remote areas, or if their size is relatively large. The advice to policy makers from these results conforms to the standard economic view that market competition leads to decreased levels of technical inefficiency of smallholder producers.supply chain, Production frontiers, Dairy efficiency, Food policy

Dual-Career Couples in Academia : Does Wage Growth Suffer When One’s Partner Works for the Same University?

Extending the literature on monopsony in academic labor markets, we find that faculty pay is inversely related to seniority in both cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets for a large public university in the United States. Fixed-effects results indicate that the negative relationship cannot be explained by lower quality of senior faculty. Arguing that mobility costs are higher when both partners work for the same university, we allow monopsony power to vary by employment status of partner. We find that pay of male faculty is negatively and significantly related to the number of years the partner has been employed by the university and that the penalty is greater when couples are hired together.Monopsony, academic labor market

The State of Pakistan’s Dairy Sector : An Assessment

While there is a plethora of research documenting a multitude of dimensions of the crop sector of Pakistan, there is virtual absence of meaningful economic analysis of the dairy economy that is surprising. No serious attempt has been made in the past to clarify the micro-level potential of this sector in creating an impact on rural economy. This paper is a pioneering attempt to provide an objective assessment of the state of Pakistans dairy and to point out areas of further research. The paper analyzes some core issues and highlights the potentials, and recommends measures that could be adopted.dairy, rural economy, research areas

The State of Pakistan’s Dairy Sector: An Assessment

While there is a plethora of research documenting a multitude of dimensions of the crop sector of Pakistan, the virtual absence of meaningful economic analysis of the dairy economy is surprising. No serious attempt has been made in the past to clarify the microlevel potential of this sector to impact rural economy. This paper is a pioneering attempt to provide an objective assessment of the state of Pakistan’s dairy and to point out areas of further research. The paper analyses some core issues, highlights the potential of this sector, and recommends the measures to be adopted towards such a goal.Dairy Industry, Pakistan

Prospects of Wheat and Sugar Trade between India and Pakistan : A Simple Welfare Analysis

This paper asks how opening up of wheat and sugar trade between two nuclear neighbours, India and Pakistan, would affect welfare in the two countries. We conduct a partial equilibrium analysis to simulate welfare implications of trade between the two countries under three alternative trade regimes : a) under an FTA between India and Pakistan, b) under SAFTA, and c) under a grant of mostfavoured nation (MFN) to India by Pakistan. We conduct simple welfare analysis for wheat, on the basis of real world data of FY2005, and for sugar, based on data for FY 2000-01. In both these years, India had a net surplus and Pakistan had a net deficit for both wheat and sugar. We show that among other things, favourable weather conditions play a critical role in generating these surpluses, which are most likely to get reversed in years when weather conditions become more favourable to Pakistan. While we find there would be net gains to both countries, in case trade happens, the highest welfare gains accrue to both countries under free trade agreement. Further analysis reveals that if subsidies to Indian wheat farmers are removed, their competitive edge disappears in favour of wheat farmers in Pakistan.wheat, sugar, trade, weather conditions, Pakistan, India, subsidies

Formal Participation in a Milk Supply Chain and Technical Inefficiency of Smallholder Dairy Farms in Pakistan

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact on technical inefficiency of smallholder dairy producers when they formally participate in a milk supply chain. Here the stochastic production frontier and technical inefficiency effects model are estimated based on the data gathered from 800 smallholder dairy farms in Pakistan. The results suggest that the technical inefficiency of the participating farms is significantly reduced. A strong impact of the supply chain is also detected in reducing technical inefficiency of farms that are located in remote areas and on those that have larger herd-size. Experienced farmers upto the age of 36 years have the advantage of reducing technical inefficiency. The remaining differences in relative inefficiency of dairy farms are accounted for by severe long-term depressive disorders. JEL classification: D24, Q12, Q13, Q18 Keywords: Agri-food Supply Chain, Production Frontiers, Dairy Efficiency, Food Policy, Pakista

Industrial Sector Input Demand Responsiveness and Policy Interventions

In Pakistan, government intervention in the input market of the industrial sector is considerable. It regulates prices of virtually all energy and certain other non-labour inputs. To stimulate industrial production and output growth, it also encourages the provision of extended credit facilities to the industrial producers. Further, it has also often announced adjustments/reductions in duties and tariffs on products used in industrial production. Conversely, government also imposes taxes on outputs. It may desire to levy new taxes on the industrial inputs. All interventions have profound implications for producers, consumers and the government alike. Therefore, it is important to know how they may affect the industrial input demand. Further, it is equally important to know how effective they may be for the government in the realisation of its objectives. The most pertinent approach to ascertain the industrial input demand responsiveness to government interventions is to obtain valid estimates of price elasticities. In fact, competent elasticity estimates of the producer input demand derived with a sound methodology can serve as a solid basis to predict producer responsiveness to market changes and thereby the effectiveness and desirability of government interventions. While the price elasticities of products over the years have been estimated for Pakistan, renewed interest on estimating responsiveness of producer input demand with modern estimation procedures has recently surged. Idrees (1997) and Khan (1998) have determined elasticities for the domestic large-scale manufacturing sector from a demand system. Although these research studies make a good addition to the literature, their scope is extremely limited because they have combined industrial inputs into large aggregates. At present, there is no study that has investigated the input demand elasticities of the domestic industrial sector at the dis-aggregated level.

The State of Pakistan’s Dairy Sector: An Assessment

While there is a plethora of research documenting a multitude of dimensions of the crop sector of Pakistan, the virtual absence of meaningful economic analysis of the dairy economy is surprising. No serious attempt has been made in the past to clarify the microlevel potential of this sector to impact rural economy. This paper is a pioneering attempt to provide an objective assessment of the state of Pakistan’s dairy and to point out areas of further research. The paper analyses some core issues, highlights the potential of this sector, and recommends the measures to be adopted towards such a goal

Industrial Sector Input Demand Responsiveness and Policy Interventions

In Pakistan, government intervention in the input market of the industrial sector is considerable. It regulates prices of virtually all energy and certain other non-labour inputs. To stimulate industrial production and output growth, it also encourages the provision of extended credit facilities to the industrial producers. Further, it has also often announced adjustments/reductions in duties and tariffs on products used in industrial production. Conversely, government also imposes taxes on outputs. It may desire to levy new taxes on the industrial inputs. All interventions have profound implications for producers, consumers and the government alike. Therefore, it is important to know how they may affect the industrial input demand. Further, it is equally important to know how effective they may be for the government in the realisation of its objectives. The most pertinent approach to ascertain the industrial input demand responsiveness to government interventions is to obtain valid estimates of price elasticities. In fact, competent elasticity estimates of the producer input demand derived with a sound methodology can serve as a solid basis to predict producer responsiveness to market changes and thereby the effectiveness and desirability of government intervention