The Implications of World Trade Liberalization on Agricultural Trade and Food Security: A Case Study of Sudan

This paper assesses and quantifies the consequences of world trade liberalization in agriculture on trade and food security of Sudan. Sudan, with the agricultural sector as the main sector of economy, is characterized by its small open economy, and is classified as one of the least developed countries. Thus, Sudan becomes more vulnerable to any changes in international agricultural markets. The liberalization of international agricultural trade has a great influence on Sudan's food security and on the whole economy. An extended form of a multi-market model for Sudan is developed and used for the analysis. The model embodies important characteristics of agriculture in Sudan like substitution effects and stages of production. As agriculture is the main sector of Sudan's economy, the model is extended to explicitly integrate some of the key important macroeconomic linkages, and to establish certain feedback effects between agriculture and the macro-economy. The model simulations reveal that a higher world market price would overall lead to measurable gains in food security and agricultural trade of the country. However, when the effect of a higher cost of production is considered, the positive results are reversed. Furthermore, the results of the model simulations show that the domestic policy environment matters very much with respect to the potential impact of world trade liberalization of agriculture. The paper concludes that Sudan should reorient its national policies towards export promotion in order to benefit from the new emerging trading opportunities in world markets. However, to capture a greater benefit from the new environment in the international markets, Sudan should consider and manage carefully all factors, domestically or internationally - e.g. quality standard, loss of preference, dumping effects - that hinder its economic and trade growth.International Relations/Trade,

Distortions in a Multi-Level Co-Financing System: The Case of the Agri-Environmental Program of Saxony-Anhalt

In this paper we analyze the impact of the EU multi-level co-financing system on regional policy-making and priority setting taking the case of the agri-environmental program of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. The implications of several co-financing scenarios are analyzed and compared to respective lump-sum transfers using an interactive linear programming approach. The results reveal that regional choices on agri-environmental measures are strongly influenced by the co-financing system leading to distortions. The extent of these distortions depends on the specific regional preferences and restrictions to be considered in the policy-making process.Agri-environmental programs, co-financing, federalism, interactive programming, policy-making, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, C61, H72, Q18,

Distortions in a multi-level co-financing system: the case of the agri-environmental programme of Saxony-Anhalt

In this paper we analyse the impact of the EU multi-level cofinancing system on regional policy-making and priority setting taking the case of the agri-environmental programme of Saxony-Anhalt. The implications of several co-financing scenarios are analysed and compared to respective lump-sum transfers using an interactive linear programming approach. The results reveal how regional choices on agri-environmental measures are influenced by the co-financing system leading to distortions. The extent of these distortions depends on the specific regional preferences and restrictions.agri-environmental programmes, co-financing, federalism, interactive programming, policy-making, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Typisierung auf räumlich tief gegliederter Ebene als Beitrag zur Beurteilung der demographischen Entwicklung eines Gebietes

Die demographische Entwicklung in Sachsen verläuft auf regionaler Ebene unterschiedlich. Bevölkerungsrückgang und Bevölkerungswachstum existieren nebeneinander, sodass das Interesse an kleinräumigen statistischen Analysen stetig gewachsen ist. Um einen systematischen Überblick über die regionalen Bevölkerungsentwicklungen im Freistaat Sachsen zu erlangen, hat das Statistische Landesamt einen Ansatz zur kleinräumigen Typisierung und Gruppierung der Gemeinden nach ihren demographischen Entwicklungstrends erarbeitet. Der aktuelle Arbeitsstand wird in diesem Artikel vorgestellt.Bevölkerungsentwicklung; Regionale Bevölkerungsentwicklung; Bevölkerungsstatistik; Statistische Methode; Sachsen

Programming rural development funds – An interactive linear programming approach applied to the EAFRD program in Saxony-Anhalt

Policies for rural areas have become an important but complex policy field in the European Union`s Common Agricultural Policy. The purpose of this paper is to report on a methodological approach pursued to model the allocation of EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) funds in Saxony-Anhalt. We show how an interactive programming approach can be developed and used to support our partner Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment. So far, various key elements of the modeling approach have been specified: the definition of all relevant policy measures and funding options, the assessment of impacts on the regional objectives pursued, the definition of relevant lower and upper bounds, and the formulation of co-financing requirements and possibilities. Some first results reveal potentials for policy adjustment. After some more refinements and specifications, the model is to be used interactively with Ministry representatives for scenario calculations to support policy-making and strategy development for rural development in Saxony-Anhalt.rural development, interactive programming, EAFRD, multi-level co-financing, Saxony-Anhalt, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Public Economics,