MARKET IMPERFECTIONS AND CLASS STRUCTURE: THE CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA

Land and market imperfections shape the organization of agricultural production and lead to different production regimes within rural farm households in South Africa. This paper presents a theoretical model to explain the presence of three main households groups (classes) determined on the basis of the labor regime adopted: small peasants (working both on and off farm), self cultivators (autarkic in labor) and hiring in households. Membership in the three categories is determined by the endogenous shadow wage and the effective market wages. A generalized ordered logit model is used to test the main predictions of the model. Market imperfections, which prevent household from accessing markets, are expected to have different impacts on heterogenous households; in this study, a Brant test on coefficient constancy helps to identify the household specific factors affecting market participation.farm households, market imperfections, liquidity constraint, Farm Management, Industrial Organization, International Development,

Counterfactual analysis using a regional dynamic general equilibrium model with historical calibration

This paper develops a regional dynamic general equilibrium model calibrated using two regional SAMs for the Italian region Valle D’Aosta for the years 1963 and 2002. A historical calibration procedure is performed over the 40 years period and a validation exercise ensures that the modelled tendencies closely approximate the actual observed growth patterns of the main regional macroeconomic variables. The dynamic general equilibrium model provides an original and powerful tool for historical counterfactual analysis not available using standard dynamic general equilibrium models. The model is used to compare the growth path followed by the region during the period of interest with different scenarios intended to rank the social desirability of alternative behaviours of the regional administration.historical calibration, historical validation, regional dynamic general equilibrium model, historical counterfactual analysis

The role of market imperfections in shaping rural household livelihoods: evidence from South Africa

This thesis analyses farm household behaviour and livelihood strategies in the presence of market imperfections. The first chapter uses a farm household model to explain the presence of three household groups determined on the basis of the labour regime adopted: small-scale peasants, self-cultivators and hiring-in households. A partial generalised ordered logit model is used to test the main predictions of the model using data from the 1997 Rural Survey. The results show that access to liquidity and market imperfections matter in the choice of the labour strategy and that liquidity constrained households are more likely to sell labour off-farm. The second chapter provides an analysis of household technical effciency (TE) using using data on the KwaZulu Natal Province. The analysis is conducted at household-level and off-farm activities are considered as additional outputs of production. This approach better captures the jointness between farm and non-farm activities generated by the presence of market imperfections. An important source of li- quidity for the household is the receipt of a pension. Its effect on household TE is identified exploiting the age eligibility criteria adopted by the pension program. The results show that access to liquidity and income diversification has positive effects on household TE. Finally the last chapter investigates the relationship between land and household welfare. It uses the year of arrival in the current location as an instrument for land access and size for households in the former homelands. This identification strategy relies on the argument that African households have been forcibly relocated to the homelands since the introduction of the Native Land Act in 1913. Because of increasing population pressure in the homelands, later arrivals were less likely to have access to land and to larger plots of land. Results show that access to land positively affects the welfare of rural household

The effect of environmental decentralization on polluting firms in India

This paper examines the effects of the environmental decentralization fostered by a 2006 reform of the Environmental Impact Assessment process in India. It adopts a triple differences approach that compares treated and untreated sectors across states with different level of environmental enforcement. Results based on firm-level data for the period 1998-2012 show that the reform induced a decrease in firm births in states with stricter enforcement. The findings draw attention on the consequences of great disparities in enforcement capacity in a decentralized environment

Analyzing the welfare-improving potential of land in the former homelands of South Africa

This article contributes to the debate on the role of land in reducing poverty in rural South Africa. It uses the year of arrival in the former homelands as an instrument for land access and size. This identification strategy is based on the fact that African households were forcibly relocated to the homelands during the apartheid. Due to increasing population pressure, later arrivals were less likely to be assigned land. The results show that land has a large positive effect on household welfare. Because the homelands are relatively disadvantaged areas, these results provide a lower bound for the positive effects of land on household welfare

A multi-regional general equilibrium model to assess policy effects at regional level

This paper develops a multi-regional general equilibrium model (MEG-R) to compare the social desirability of the CAP reform in the three Italian macro-regions: North, Center and South. The model employs a mixed complementary framework that allows for the decision of not producing a particular crop in one or more regions and presents an attempt to model interregional trade flows. The model incorporates the links between production and consumption that characterize farm household’s behavior and allows for heterogeneous household responses across regions. Results show a general tendency to reallocations from cereal crops to forage that appear more severe in the South. In this region, the reduction in crops cannot be translated into an effective expansion of fodder and could lead to the “deactivation” of the land.Multi-regional general equilibrium model, farm households, interregional trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, C68, R13, Q18,

A multi-regional general equilibrium model to assess policy effects at regional level

In this paper we develop a multi-regional general equilibrium model (MEG-R) to compare the social desirability of the CAP reform in the three Italian macro-regions: North, Center and South. The model employs a mixed complementary framework that allows for the decision of not producing a particular crop in one or more regions and presents an attempt to model interregional trade flows. The model incorporates the links between production and consumption that characterize farm household’s behavior and allows for heterogeneous household responses across regions. Results show a general tendency to reallocations from cereal crops to forage that appear more severe in the South. In this region, the reduction in crops cannot be translated into an effective expansion of fodder and could lead to the “deactivation” of the land.Multi regional general equilibrium model, farm households, interregional trade., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital,

Decentralization of environmental regulation in India

Our article considers the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for certain sectors in India and examines the implications of decentralization. We find that the decentralization of EIA processes has improved environmental regulation and been successful in reducing polluting activities in India. Our evidence suggests that decentralization was associated with relatively fewer firm births in states with stricter environmental enforcement. Key among our recommendations is that the development of stronger collaborations between EIA, SEIAA and State Pollution Control Board would enhance enforcement of environmental regulation and reduce disparities between states, through knowledge-and-resource sharing and improving technical, financial and administrative capabilities across states

Crop diversification and child health: empirical evidence from Tanzania

Malnutrition is recognized as a major issue among low-income households in developing countries with long-term implications for economic development. Recently, crop diversification has been considered as a strategy to improve nutrition and health. However, there is no systematic empirical evidence on the role played by crop diversification in improving human health. We use three waves of the Tanzania National Panel Survey to test the effect of crop diversification on child health. We implement two instrumental variable approaches, and perform several robustness checks to address potential endogeneity concerns. We find a positive but small effect of an increase in crop diversification on child height-for-age z-scores, through greater dietary diversity. The effect is larger for subsistence households and children living in households with limited market access

Simulating the Impact on the Local Economy of Alternative Management Scenarios for Natural Areas

This working paper estimates the impact on the local economy of the High Garda Natural Park of alternative management scenarios for the West Garda Regional Forest. The local economy is specialized in tourist services and strongly linked to the tourist presence and their level of expenditure. We wish to investigate the effects of the participative management strategy, which takes into account users preferences and the non-participative strategy, using the SAM multiplier analysis. The local SAM has been constructed considering three sectors: agriculture, tourism and a third aggregate sector including all the other activities. The resident population has been divided into two categories: residents employed in the tourist sector and the remaining resident population. The SAM analysis shows that the accounting representation of the local economy is meaningful and that the participative program, if chosen by the central regional management, would be the most desirable program also at the local level.Tourism, SAM, Multiplier analysis