Welfare Impacts of the Mexico Potato Quarantine

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tariffs on U.S. potato imports to Mexico were phased out by 1993. Citing phytosanitary issues, in 1996, the Mexican government placed quantitative restrictions on U.S. potato imports and restricted their import only to designated border areas. This article estimates the welfare cost of restricting U.S. potato imports into Mexico. We find that removing trade restrictions may lead to over 1.8 million tons of new imports into Mexico, a gain of consumer surplus of 4.0 billion pesos per year, and a loss of 2.9 billion pesos of producer surplus.international trade, non-tariff barriers, potatoes, quarantine, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, welfare loss, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, F13, L13, Q13, Q17, C35,

Retail and Wholesale Market Power in Organic Foods

The demand for organic fresh fruits and vegetable continues to grow at a rate far higher than the rest of the produce industry. The cost of meeting organic certification standards, however, has meant that supply has been slow to adjust. With limited supply, we hypothesize that organic suppliers enjoy more market power in bargaining over their share of the retail-production cost margin for fresh apples. We test this hypothesis using a random parameters, generalized extreme value demand model (mixed logit) combined with a structural model of retail and wholesale pricing that allows conduct to vary by product attributes (organic or non-organic) and time. We find that organic growers do indeed earn a larger share of the total margin than non-organic growers, but this vertical market power is eroding over time as market supply adjusts.organics, market power, mixed logit, game theory, non-linear pricing., Industrial Organization, C35, D12, D43, L13, L41, Q13.,

Carpooling: User profiles and well-being

Carpooling is a sustainable daily mobility mode, implying significant reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions, although it remains an uncommon practice. With the aim of stimulating this green transportation mode, this paper focus on understanding why certain individuals will agree to share a car to a common destination, apart from the obvious environmental benefit in emissions. It first describes the profile of users and then explores the relationship between this transportation mode and the participants' well- being. To that end, we have selected two countries, the UK and the US, where the use of cars represents a high proportion of daily commuting. We use the UK Time Use Survey (UKTUS) from 2014-2015 and the Well-Being Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) from 2010-2012-2013 to identify which groups in the population are more likely to pool their cars, and with whom those individuals enjoy carpooling more. Results indicate that individuals with certain socio-demographic characteristics and occupations are more likely to commute by carpooling, but the profile seems to be country-specific. Furthermore, our evidence reveals a positive relationship between carpooling and well-being during commuting.Fil: Echeverría, Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina.Fil: Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain.Fil: Molina, josé Alberto. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain

Active commuting and the health of workers

Research has shown that commuting is related to the health of workers, and that mode choice may have differential effects on this relationship. We analyze the relationship between commuting by different modes of transport and the health status reported by US workers, using the 2014-2016 Eating and Health (EH) Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). We estimate Ordinary Least Squares models on a measure of subjective health, that is the self-reported assessment of individual general health status, and on the body mass index. We find that longer commutes by bicycle are significantly related to higher levels of subjective health and to lower body mass index, while commuting by walking is weakly related to both health measures. We test the robustness of our results to possible measurement errors in commuting times, to the exclusion of compensating factors, and to the estimation method. We additionally instrument individual use of bicycles with an indicator of individual green attitudes, based on the General Social Survey (GSS), and the results consistently show that individuals who commute longer by bicycle report better subjective health and lower body mass index. Our results may help policy makers in evaluating the importance of having infrastructures that facilitate the use of bicycles as a means of transport, boosting investment in these infrastructures, especially in large cities.Fil: Echeverría, Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina.Fil: Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain.Fil: Molina, josé Alberto. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain

Active commuting and the health of workers

Introduction: Research has shown that commuting is related to the health of workers, and that mode choice may have a range of effects on this relationship. We analyze the relationship between active commuting (walking and cycling) and the health status reported by US workers. Methods: We use the 2014-2016 Eating and Health (EH) Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). We estimate Ordinary Least Squares models on a measure of subjective health that is the self-reported assessment of individual general health status, and on the body mass index. Results: longer commutes by bicycle are significantly related to higher levels of subjective health and to lower body mass index, while commuting by walking is only weakly related to both health measures. We test the robustness of our results to possible measurement error in commuting times, to the exclusion of compensating factors, to the estimation method, and to the inclusion of time devoted to leisure-based physical activities. Conclusions: Our results may help policy makers in evaluating the importance of infrastructures that facilitate the use of bicycles as a means of transport, boosting investment in these infrastructures, especially in larger cities.Fil: Echeverría, Lucía. CONICET; Argentina.Fil: Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain.Fil: Molina, josé Alberto. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain

Body mass index and the distribution of housework among British couples

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between Body Mass Index of the members of the couple and the distribution of housework within the same couple. Prior research has documented that higher-BMI spouses compensate their partners by increasing their market work hours. The question remains, does this compensation mechanism extend to the share of the time dedicated to housework. Using the British Household Panel Surveys for the years 2004 and 2006, we analyze the relationship between spouses’ Body Mass Index and the time devoted to housework. Our results show that a relatively higher BMI of any member of the couple is related to a decrease in his/her fraction of housework. This result is maintained when we restrict our sample to two-earner couples. We find no evidence for the compensation mechanism by which higher-BMI spouses work longer hours. By analyzing the relationship between housework time and Body Mass Index within the couple, we examine an important issue, given the significant contribution that members of couples make to their households via housework time

Green mobility and well-being

Recent years have witnessed efforts worldwide to promote green mobility, aimed at boosting sustainable economic growth. However, how green mobility relates to travelers' well-being remains an open question. We explore whether "green" modes of transportation (public transit and walking/cycling) are associated with higher levels of well-being in comparison to private driving, placing special focus on different types of travel (related to paid work, unpaid work, personal care, childcare, and leisure). We use the UK Time Use Survey (UKTUS) from 2014-2015, and exploit information on self-reported enjoyment during travel, as a measure of experienced well-being. We estimate Ordinary Least Squares and Random Effects regressions for each travel category, and find relative, positive effects of physical transport on enjoyment, in terms of personal care and leisure, while the relative negative effects of public transport are observed for childcare and work/paid travel, in relationship to traditional driving modes. Our evidence suggests a need to develop strategies to effectively promote mobility by physical modes, while improving the experience of public transit users.Fil: Echeverría, Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina.Fil: Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain.Fil: Molina, josé Alberto. University of Zaragoza. EDIS; Spain

Short Take : Sampling from Transnational Social Fields

First published online June 3, 2022Thanks to the latest developments in network-oriented sampling, it is now possible to measure "transnational social fields," or emergent social structures that connect places or regions in different countries. These structures are instrumental in explaining sociocultural phenomena like the emergence of ethnic or demographic enclaves, social and economic remittances, and ethnic identifications. Nevertheless, they have only been mentioned metaphorically so far