Farmers' Subjective Valuation of Subsistence Crops: The Case of Traditional Maize in Mexico

Shadow prices guide farmers' resource allocations, but for subsistence farmers growing traditional crops, shadow prices may bear little relationship with market prices. We econometrically estimate shadow prices of maize using data from a nationally representative survey of rural households in Mexico. Shadow prices are significantly higher than the market price for traditional but not improved maize varieties. They are particularly high in the indigenous areas of southern and southeastern Mexico, indicating large de facto incentives to maintain traditional maize there.Shadow prices, non-market values, supply response, traditional crops, onfarm conservation, Mexico, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, O12, O13, Q12, Q39,

Relative deprivation and migration : theory, evidence, and policy implications

The authors examine the importance of absolute income and relative deprivation incentives for internal and international migration in developing country households. Empirical results, based on Mexican village data, support the hypothesis that households'relative deprivation in the village reference group is significant in explaining migration by household members to destinations where a reference group substitution is unlikely and the returns to migrations are high. Independent of relative deprivation, village households wisely pair their members with the labor markets in which the returns to their human capital are likely to be greatest. The results suggest that a specific type of migration constitutes a response to a specific configuration of variables, and the role of relative deprivation appears to differ for internal and international migration. Taking relative deprivation into account when studying migration is shown to have important implications for development policy. For example, economic development that does not redress intravillage income inequalities may become associated with more migration.Drylands&Desertification,Inequality,Anthropology,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies

AJAE Appendix: Farmers' Subjective Valuation of Subsistence Crops: The Case of Traditional Maize in Mexico

The material contained herein is supplementary to the article named in the title and published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.Crop Production/Industries,

Migration and Income Diversification Evidence from Burkina Faso

This paper uses limited-dependent variable methods and new data from Burkina Faso to test the impact of inter-continental and continental migration on activity choice and incomes in rural households. We provide theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence that the impact of emigration varies both by migrant destination and production activity. We find no evidence of either positive or negative effects of continental migration on agricultural or livestock activities and a small negative impact on non-farm activities. However, inter-continental migration, which tends to be long term and generates significantly larger remittances, stimulates livestock production while being negatively associated with staple and non-farm activities.Labor and Human Capital, D1, J2, Q12,

Impacts of the US Ethanol Boom in Rural Mexico

Assessing the human and environmental impacts of biofuels requires unraveling the connection between international trade, on one hand, and local land-use and social change, on the other, while accounting for cross-scalar linkages between and within social and environmental systems. We propose a disaggregated approach to model how macro shocks shape rural households’ decisions, and how these decisions integrate onto aggregate supply and land use patterns. The approach, built on an agent-based model of rural Mexico, is used to explore the impacts of ethanol-driven US corn price increases. Our estimate of a 5.7% expansion in corn area by 2008 and wide variation across regions corresponds fairly well with ex post reports. Estimates from alternative models exceed ours by up to 200%. Corn land expanded between 1.6% in the southeast and 16% in the northwest. A 3% increase in agricultural value added nevertheless did not promote rural development, whether measured in terms of total rural value added or income. Direct and indirect (multiplier) effects on rural incomes were limited. Rural households experienced a 0.02% increase in real income, while absentee (non-rural) landholders’ income increased 3.9%. Our approach highlights the crucial role of local market conditions and interactions among microeconomic actors in shaping biofuels’ impacts via local feedback mechanisms. It suggests that subsistence activities might keep deforestation pressures in check in some developing areas while precluding the rural population from benefiting. A disaggregated approach should help integrate future research on land-use change and economics.Crop Production/Industries,

THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES ON RURAL INCOMES IN CHINA

New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) theory posits a complex relationship between migrants and household income generation. This paper uses NELM and original survey data to examine the impacts of migration on income sources in Northeast China. Migration is found to increase farm incomes but decrease self-employed incomes.migration, remittances, China, self-employment, income sources, Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital,

Cloning, purification and characterization of the 6-phospho-3-hexulose isomerase YckF from Bacillus subtilis

The enzyme 6-phospho-3-hexulose isomerase (YckF) from Bacillus subtilis has been prepared and crystallized in a form suitable for X-ray crystallographic analysis. Crystals were grown by the hanging-drop method at 291 K using polyethylene glycol 2000 monomethylether as precipitant. They diffract beyond 1.7 A using an in-house Cu Kalpha source and belong to either space group P6(5)22 or P6(1)22, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 72.4, c = 241.2 A, and have two molecules of YckF in the asymmetric unit