Do Small Farmers Borrow Less when the Lending rate Increases? The Case of Rice Farming in the Philippines

The new generation of credit programs directed at small borrowers emphasizes financial sustainability. Based on anecdotal information (especially from microfinance experiences), proponents of cost recovery claim that raising formal lending rates would have a minimal impact on borrowing. Rigorous evidence for this conjecture is however sparse. This study conducts an econometric test of this conjecture using data from a survey of small rice farmers from the Philippines. Alternative regression techniques tend to reject the conjecture; in particular, a regression that controls for selection effects shows a unitary elastic response of formal borrowing to the lending rate.credit demand, interest elasticity, rural credit, credit policy, Philippines, Asia

Poverty, Inequality, and Redistribution Under Lexicographic Social Welfare

Unlike aversion to inequality, aversion to poverty resists formalization in welfare economics. One way to assign normative significance to the poverty line is to allow the welfare measure to exhibit a discrete loss from poverty (DLP) at z. However, the resulting redistribution scheme prioritizes headcount-reducing transfers to the borderline poor over transfers to the very poorest, rendering the DLP measure unattractive. The paper remedies this by transcending the conventional real valued welfare measure. It proposes a lexicographic L*-ordering, where the first rank criterion corresponds to an inequality-based evaluation function, while the second rank criterion corresponds to an evaluation function that exhibits DLP. The redistribution scheme entails transfers to the poorest until the first rank criterion is satisficed; only then may transfers be allocated to the borderline poor. The model’s parameters can represent varying degrees of concern for the poorest, highlighting its flexibility as a framework for welfare evaluation.poverty, lexicographic ordering, inequality, redistribution, discontinuous choice

Market Size, Differentiated Scale Economies and Interindustry Trade

A stylized pattern of interindustry trade between developing and developed regions identifies the former as specialists in light manufactures and latter in heavy manufactures. Conventional explanations for this pattern rely on the factor proportions model, which is empirically suspect. This paper proposes an alternative model that relies on the interaction between scale economies and domestic market size. Unlike standard increasing returns analysis, the model provides a rich yet tractable characterization of variations in scale economies across industries. The model, in applying a limit pricing framework to the open economy, offers a new approach to analyzing imperfect competition and interregional trade.Interindustry trade, increasing returns, imperfect competition

Eating for a Lifetime: Filling the Policy Gaps in Philippine Fisheries

The fishery sector has become a large and dynamic contributor to Philippine agriculture. However, the sector confronts the problem of high poverty and alarming threats to its resource base. Policy responses to these problems have been implemented in recent years, but serious gaps remain. Addressing these policy gaps requires reforms that would lead to aquaculture development, bureaucratic rationalization and decentralization, the protection of aquatic habitats, the implementation of a science-based regime of fisheries management, and the promotion of diversified livelihoods among poor fishing communities. A concerted effort to address poverty and resource degradation may incur considerable short-run costs, but would likely yield larger long-term social payoffs.fishery, productivity, resource management, policy

Testing real-time multi input-output systems

In formal testing, the assumption of input enabling is typically made. This assumption requires all inputs to be enabled anytime. In addition, the useful concept of quiescence is sometimes applied. Briefly, a system is in a quiescent state when it cannot produce outputs. In this paper, we relax the input enabling assumption, and allow some input sets to be enabled while others remain disabled. Moreover, we also relax the general bound M used in timed systems to detect quiescence, and allow different bounds for different sets of outputs. By considering the tioco-M theory, an enriched theory for timed testing with repetitive quiescence, and allowing the partition of input sets and output sets, we introduce the mtioco^M relation. A test derivation procedure which is nondeterministic and parameterized is further developed, and shown to be sound and complete wrt mtioco^

Environmentally Sustainable Issues in Philippine Agriculture

Farming and fishing are major sources of livelihood in rural households in the Philippines. Farming systems in the country are complex, multi-faceted, and geared to promote efficient production and a steady source of income. However, these have also wrought unwanted consequences on the environment, notably soil erosion, water pollution, groundwater depletion, loss of natural habitats, and loss of biological diversity. Farming systems are affected by exogenous environmental factors; in turn, the farming systems also affect agricultural production resource bases. Initiatives from various sectors to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of farming systems and to protect the agricultural production bases are in place in terms of policies, programs, and action projects.Philippines, agriculture, environment, sustainability

Test Derivation from Timed Automata

A real-time system is a discrete system whose state changes occur in real-numbered time [AH97]. For testing real-time systems, specification languages must be extended with constructs for expressing real-time constraints, the implementation relation must be generalized to consider the temporal dimension, and the data structures and algorithms used to generate tests must be revised to operate on a potentially infinite set of states

Addressing Policy Issues and Constraints in Agricultural Diversification: the Potential Contribution of the Fruits and Vegetables Subsector

The fruits and vegetables subsector is a dynamic component of Philippine agriculture and has the potentials of fully contributing to the diversification of the agriculture sector. But similar to the agriculture sector as a whole, its full development is stymied by a set of certain policy issues. This Notes discusses these in more detail.agriculture sector, agricultural diversification, fruits subsector, vegetables subsector

Testing multi input-output real-time systems (Extended version)

In formal testing, the assumption of input enabling is typically made. This assumption requires all inputs to be enabled anytime. In addition, the useful concept of quiescence is sometimes applied. Briefly, a system is in a quiescent state when it cannot produce outputs. In this paper, we relax the input enabling assumption, and allow some input sets to be enabled while others remain disabled. Moreover, we also relax the general bound M used in timed systems to detect quiescence, and allow different bounds for different sets of outputs. By considering the tiocoM theory, an enriched theory for timed testing with repetitive quiescence, and allowing the partition of input sets and output sets, we introduce the mtiocoM relation. A test derivation procedure which is nondeterministic and parameterized is further developed, and shown to be sound and complete wrt mtiocoM

The future for fish in the food and livelihoods of the poor in Asia

This article is based on the study, Strategies and Options for Increasing and Sustaining Benefits from Fisheries and Aquaculture Production to Benefit Poor Households in Asia carried out under ADB-RETA 5945, and implemented by the WorldFish Center in partnership with nine participating Asian countries