targeting capital a cultural economy approach to understanding the efficacy of two anti genetic engineering movements in the late 1990s the british anti genetic engineering ge movement effectively closed britain s market for genetically modified foods while the u s anti ge movement had a negligible impact in seeking to explain the different outcomes of these similar social movements the authors draw upon the global commodity chains gcc literature to extend the understanding of the economic and industry related openings and closures social movements face as they seek to promote social change this analysis not only illustrates the importance of economic structures and organization for movement outcomes but also shows how the economic sphere is culturally constituted in this fashion it broadens the social movement literature s understanding both of the way that political economy matters to movement efficacy and of the way that cultural processes infuse the economic sphere the study advances the gcc literature by showing how gccs are cultural as well as economic constructs

certification and access to export markets adoption and return on investment of organic certified pineapple farming in ghana summary global food markets demand adherence to food standards by farmers in developing countries such as globalgap and organic certifications this paper analyzes the adoption and profitability of certified farming using farm level data of 386 ghanaian small scale pineapple farmers we employ an endogenous switching regression model to examine the adoption and impact of organic certification on the return on investment roi in pineapple farming the empirical results indicate that both organic and globalgap certification achieve a positive roi however organic certified farming yields a significantly higher roi than globalgap certified farmers mainly due to the price premium on the organic market

trade and industrial policy on an uneven playing field the case of the deciduous fruit canning industry in south africa the deciduous fruit canning industry dfci is a resource and labor intensive industry with a high trade ratio it offers the prospect of being a significant source of employment and export earnings for a number of southern hemisphere countries which enjoy a considerable comparative advantage market distortions severely constrain this outcome however most importantly a combination of protection and subsidies in the industrially advanced countries in addition as in other sectors globalization is increasingly associated with processes in which value added activities are located in the major markets of the industrialized countries this paper examines the dfci in south africa and explores the consequences of market distortions and the shifting location of profitable activities for both industrial and trade policy in that country

small farmer cooperatives and voluntary coffee certifications rewarding progressive farmers of engendering widespread change in costa rica abstract our research examines the benefits and drawbacks for cooperatives who participate in voluntary coffee certifications we interviewed administrators at twenty costa rican coffee cooperatives about management practices related to voluntary certification voluntary certifications are popular among coffee cooperatives access to certified markets is facilitated by state support of the cooperative sector regulation of the coffee sector and well enforced environmental and social laws however there are no significant or consistent financial incentives for farmers to pursue certification multiple certifications may lower auditing and implementation costs but cooperatives rarely receive the full premium for multiply certified coffee low market demand for certified coffee weak price incentives and high auditing and management costs encourage cooperatives to certify only a portion of their members this strategy rewards compliant farmers rather than inducing widespread change to farming practices among the entire membership though financial incentives are weak certifications offer non financial benefits to both farmers and cooperatives including better management and more resilient cooperatives

the latte revolution regulation markets and consumption in the global coffee chain abstract coffee is a truly global commodity and a major foreign exchange earner in many developing countries the global coffee chain has changed dramatically as a result of deregulation new consumption patterns and evolving corporate strategies from a balanced contest between producing and consuming countries within the politics of international coffee agreements power relations shifted to the advantage of transnational corporations a relatively stable institutional environment where proportions of generated income were fairly distributed between producing and consuming countries turned into one that is more informal unstable and unequal through the lenses of global commodity chain analysis this paper examines how these transformations affect developing countries and what policy instruments are available to address the emerging imbalances

organic agriculture and fair trade a happy marriage a case study of certified smallholder black pepper farmers in india summary this study examines whether the joint adoption of organic and fair trade systems adds additional benefits to smallholders in developing countries we use panel data collected from 300 smallholder rural black pepper growers in kerala india to assess household welfare impacts we apply a multinomial endogenous switching regression model along with a counterfactual analysis to estimate certification effects results show that both certification systems have a significant impact on income compared to conventional black pepper farming however membership in fair trade marketing systems does not increase income of organic farmers but has positive effects on asset accumulation of smallholder farmers

fair trade organic coffee production in nicaragua sustainable development or a poverty trap abstract this article assesses the impact of fair trade organic coffee production on the well being of small scale farmers in nicaragua studying the results of organic management is crucial for evaluating the advantages of fair trade because approximately half of all fair trade coffee is also organically certified a wide range of farmers representatives of cooperatives and export companies in nicaragua were interviewed during seven months of field work between 2005 and 2008 fair trade organic production raises farmer income when low intensity organic farming is an alternative to low intensity conventional farming however low intensity farming produces very little coffee in the case of the most marginalized farmers keeping these farmers in poverty with higher intensities of management the economic advantages of fair trade organic production largely depend on prices in the mainstream market

fair trade organic coffee rural livelihoods and the agrarian question southern mexican coffee families in transition summary we use a random sample of coffee producing households in southern mexico to compare opportunities associated with government subsidies and migration to the role of fair trade organic coffee in household livelihoods although land and labor returns among fair trade organic coffee growers are higher than for conventional growers differences in yields are more important than price premiums moreover investment in education and labor opportunities outside coffee dominate those in fair trade organic coffee the results highlight the value of an integrated approach to the agrarian question that improves productivity and prices and supports other pathways for improving incomes

economic impacts of el nino southern oscillation evidence from the colombian coffee market el nino southern oscillation enso is a naturally occurring phenomenon that affects weather around the world past enso episodes have had severe impacts on the economy of colombia we study the influence of enso on colombian coffee production exports and price our structural econometric specification is consistent with an economic model of the market for colombian coffee which in the short run is characterized by a downward sloping demand curve and by a vertical supply curve we show that el nino i e positive shocks to enso is beneficial for colombian production and exports and decreases the real price of colombian coffee on the contrary la nina i e negative shocks to enso depresses colombian coffee production and exports and increases price however the overall impact of enso shocks is small both in the short run and in the long run shocks to international demand for colombian coffee are more relevant than supply side shocks in colombia in explaining the dynamics of the price of colombian coffee our results suggest that a given coffee price shock can have beneficial detrimental or negligible effects on the colombian economy depending on its underlying cause as a consequence policy responses to coffee price shocks should be designed by looking at the causes of the shocks

walk the talk private sustainability standards in the ugandan coffee sector abstractwe investigate the welfare and productivity implications of private sustainability standards in the coffee sector in uganda we use cross sectional household survey data and an instrumental variable method with instruments that pass weak identification and over identification restrictions we find that triple utz rainforest alliance 4c certification increases income and land and labour productivity and reduces poverty double fairtrade organic certification is found to be associated with higher producer prices but results in lower land and labour productivity and thereby fails to increase producer income and contribute to poverty reduction we conclude that private sustainability standards do not always live up the expectations they create towards consumers

does the baseball labor market contradict the human capital model of investment this paper examines whether experienced players in major league baseball are paid more than their contribution to team revenue the author shows that wages increase with experience independently of productivity gains the results therefore contradict the human capital model of investment the evidence is in fact consistent with implicit contract models because most older players are relatively overpaid copyright 1992 by mit press

corporate investments in supply chain sustainability selecting instruments in the agri food industry abstract private investments to address environmental issues are perceived as a powerful engine of sustainability for the agri food sector multiple instruments have been developed to green supply chains yet little is known about the underlying process and conditions under which green sourcing concerns lead to the adoption of specific sustainability instruments among agri food companies this study i offers a synthesis of the most commonly used instruments agri food companies adopt to promote sustainability in their supply chains ii proposes an analytical framework to elucidate how those decisions are made based on the competitive environment in which firms operate with respect to location of their raw materials technologies available to their suppliers leverage over upstream suppliers and end markets characteristics and iii presents seven case studies illustrating the decision making process leading to the adoption of a specific instrument by a particular company companies that do not have sustainable technologies available to improve their environmental practices but operate in highly sensitive places are better off taking their operation somewhere else but companies with available cleaner technologies effective law enforcement and control over the supply chains as well as a brand to protect can capitalize on their environmental efforts by introducing strict standards such as third party certifications enforcement of social and environmental regulations at countries of origin is a key factor that deters companies form adopting very strict standards even if they have a brand value to enhance the multiplication of private labels and initiatives are in most cases not driven by a desire to disorient the consumer but rather by a careful consideration of the complex conditions under which agri food supply chains operate with minor adaptations the framework could be applied to other economic sectors that have environmental impacts from mining and energy generating industries to apparel and electronics

the impact of coffee certification on small scale producers livelihoods a case study from the jimma zone ethiopia what is the impact of product certification on small scale farmers livelihoods to what extent does the participation of ethiopian small scale coffee farmers in certified local cooperative structures improve their socioeconomic situation to answer these questions this article employs household data of 249 coffee farmers from six different cooperatives collected in the jimma zone of southwestern ethiopia in 2009 findings show that the certification of coffee cooperatives has in total a low impact on small scale coffee producers livelihoods mainly due to 1 low productivity 2 insignificant price premium and 3 poor access to credit and information from the cooperative differences in production and organizational capacities between the local cooperatives are mirrored in the extent of the certification benefits for the smallholders good cooperatives have reaped the benefits of certification whereas bad ones did not fare well in this regard the cooperative effect overlies the certification effect

a new look at the determinants of the intrametropolitan distribution of population and employment in this paper we develop an econometric model that relates intra urban employment and population distributions to a variety of explanatory factors the geographical focus is on the united states the results suggest that housing costs and quality are the most important determinants of the population distribution which is the most important determinant of the employment distribution however causation between population and employment runs both ways excerpt

local means in value chain ends dynamics of product and social upgrading in apparel manufacturing in guatemala and colombia summary this paper contributes to existing discussions of global value chains gvc and industrial upgrading by examining observations from eight months of field research in guatemala and colombia where upgrading firms have their own nationally distinct form of labor relations despite producing the same products for the same overseas buyers analysis of these observations leads to the conclusion that labor relations show significant leeway in relation to upgrading outcomes and that local history merits more attention as a driver of management strategy the paper concludes with a discussion of relevant theory and implications for future research

globalization and upgrading what can and cannot be learnt from international trade statistics in the wood furniture sector the measurement of innovation is a complex and ambiguous challenge two broad families of measures have been used those focusing on inputs and those focusing on outputs each has its strengths and weaknesses but neither is able to capture the growing importance of product innovation adequately in this paper we attempt to throw more light on the measurement of product innovation through the complementary use of data on unit price and market share the analysis is distinctive through its exclusive use of trade data these measures are applied to the global furniture industry through an analysis of imports into the eu between 1989 and 2001

can africa industrialize by processing primary commodities the case of mozambican cashew nuts abstract industrialization strategies based on vertical diversification into processing of primary commodities have long been appealing to low income countries the performance of such strategies is mixed an aggregate level literature is divided on the advisability of low income countries processing commodities for export especially for countries relatively poor in human capital while this general literature usefully illuminates the policy debate over processing cashew nuts in mozambique commodity and country specific factors reveal the weaknesses of conducting debate at too aggregated a level it may be that the most significant constraints on processing industrialization are political rather than purely technical or economic

changing asset endowments and smallholder participation in higher value markets evidence from certified coffee producers in nicaragua this paper examines the capacities of smallholders in nicaragua to exploit new linkages to certified coffee markets following the coffee crisis data on livelihood assets were collected from 292 households which were clustered to test how differences in outcomes asset building reflect variations in initial asset endowments the results suggest that most households built particular elements of their asset base and increased their resilience to future shocks however households struggled to make effective use of the gains for intensifying their livelihoods of the least endowed households few made investments in the scale or productivity of coffee and most continued to depend heavily on subsistence production and seasonal off farm income for survival in conclusion improved market access alone even under relatively favorable market conditions and with considerable external support will have uncertain impacts on rural poverty if the underlying constraints on household assets and investments are not addressed concurrently

profits and poverty certification s troubled link for nicaragua s organic and fairtrade coffee producers abstract governments donors and ngos have promoted environmental and social certification schemes for coffee producers as certified market channels are assumed to offer higher prices and better incomes additionally it is presumed that these certifications contribute to poverty reduction of smallholders yet gross margins profits and poverty levels of certified smallholder coffee producers have not yet been quantitatively analyzed applying random sampling techniques our quantitative household survey of 327 randomly selected members of conventional organic and organic fairtrade certified cooperatives in nicaragua is complemented by over a hundred qualitative in depth interviews the results show that although farm gate prices of certified coffees are higher than of conventional coffees the profitability of certified coffee production and its subsequent effect on poverty levels is not clear cut per capita net coffee incomes are insufficient to cover basic needs of all coffee producing households certified producers are more often found below the absolute poverty line than conventional producers over a period of ten years our analysis shows that organic and organic fairtrade farmers have become poorer relative to conventional producers we conclude that coffee yield levels profitability and efficiency need to be increased because prices for certified coffee cannot compensate for low productivity land or labor constraints

do farmers benefit from participating in specialty markets and cooperatives the case of coffee marketing in costa rica1 historically low prices in the conventional coffee market have caused financial and social hardship among coffee farmers in the face of this crisis specialty markets have attracted the attention of the international donor community these market segments have shown consistent growth over the last decade and exhibit price premiums in international markets therefore if higher prices are passed on to farmers access to specialty markets could help to alleviate the crisis brought on by low prices in the conventional sector the present study attempts to identify the factors that determine farmers participation in specialized markets and whether participation in these markets leads to higher prices for farmers a two stage model is used to analyze farmers marketing decisions and their effect on the prices received this procedure allows us to control for the endogeneity bias introduced by the marketing choice our results indicate that farmers participating in the specialty coffee segment do in fact receive higher prices than those participating in conventional channels additionally we find that participation in cooperatives has a positive impact on the probability that a farmer chooses to grow specialty coffee and analogously on the prices that they receive based on these results it seems that efforts to increase participation in the specialty coffee segment and in cooperatives would help to lessen some of the hardships brought on by low prices in the conventional coffee sector

upgrading primary production a global commodity chain approach abstract global commodity chain gcc analysis has been concerned mainly with examining power relations in global manufacturing industries although it has been preoccupied increasingly by the question of how developing country dc producers can upgrade this paper extends gcc analysis to traditional primary commodities where international traders exercise the driving role and suggests a new agenda for their upgrading in dcs based upon public action

virtuous interactions in removing exclusion the link between foreign market access and access to education abstract we outline a methodology which aims to give an answer to the widespread demand of impact analyses by regulators or by funding agencies which need to evaluate the current and past performance of development projects and may lack time series evidence we devise a retrospective panel data approach to evaluate the dynamics of the effects of fair trade affiliation on the schooling decisions of a sample of thai organic rice producers across the past 20 years we find that the probability of school enrolment in families with more than two children is significantly affected by fair trade affiliation years we try to ascertain whether our finding is robust to endogeneity of producers choices of local cooperative affiliation and adoption of organic techniques the significant difference between pre and post fair trade affiliation performance documents that fair trade participation generates a significant break in the schooling decisions of affiliated households

trade policy reform and the competitive response in kwazulu natal province south africa like many other formerly protected economies the liberalization of the external trade regime has placed new competitive pressures on south african enterprises detailed research in over 130 enterprises in the kwazulu natal kzn province of south africa shows the extent to which firms have been able to respond to these new competitive pressures and particularly on their ability to hear and to meet more demanding customers requirements inevitably the response has been varied but there are reasons to be concerned that the pace of adjustment has been suboptimal this reflects imperfections in information markets the challenges poses by the need for new social relations in production and the limited implementation of new supply sided policies designed to compensate firms for the reduction in protective barriers

governance of global value chains in response to food safety and certification standards the case of shrimp from vietnam summary we use global value chain gvc theory to understand governance of vietnam s shrimp farming industry we describe this gvc as buyer driven with important food safety standards imposed by governments of importing countries and new certification systems promoted by nongovernmental organizations ngos governance relations are clear between governments in importing countries and vietnam and between importers and ngos governance relations become more fragmented further down the chain where large numbers of small scale producers and traders operate this fragmentation may adversely affect access to the most lucrative markets and have the unanticipated effect of marginalizing small scale farmers and traders

profit maximizing gate revenue sharing in sports leagues i introduction the professional team sports industry is one of the scarce industries in which coordination between competing firms clubs is widely accepted clubs in almost all sports have organized themselves in legal cartels leagues it seems obvious that a certain degree of coordination is needed to produce a team sports competition for example for scheduling games however leagues have introduced regulations which clearly go beyond the purely practical issues involved in producing games the most relevant examples include gate revenue sharing the home team gives a part of its match day income to the visiting team collective sales of media rights the league monopolizes media rights and distributes the revenues and salary caps the league limits the amount teams may spend on player wages these regulations would probably be classified as restrictive practices in any other industry yet the fact that sports leagues openly communicate their application provides an opportunity to examine how these cartels have used their devices to coordinate behavior and increase joint profits table 1 gives an overview of gate revenue sharing arrangements in sports leagues around the world almost all american major leagues engage in gate revenue sharing the national football league nfl major league baseball mlb and major league soccer mls share revenues through a central pool each club contributes a fixed percentage of its gate revenues to this pool which is distributed equally among all clubs the national hockey league nhl has a more complicated arrangement where only teams that have revenues below the median and small media markets are eligible to receive support from revenue sharing introducing local revenue sharing was also reported to be one of the issues on the table during the recent lockout in the national basketball association nba 1 to the best of my knowledge however the details of the new nba revenue sharing rule have not been made public yet in contrast european soccer clubs along with the australian football league afl share almost no gate revenues both the bundesliga and the english premier league epl have arrangements to share revenues from cup games yet these constitute a minor portion of the teams schedules interestingly both the epl and the afl had sizeable sharing arrangements in the past but contrary to the u s leagues chose to abolish these these observations raise the question why some league cartels share gate revenues while others have chosen not to i examine this question using a theoretical model of a sports league with profit maximizing teams a crucial innovation in my model is that teams serve two types of consumers in each team s local market fans are committed and prefer to see their team win in the nationwide market consumers are neutral tv viewers who like to watch a tense and high level competition a team s local or stadium revenue increases in its on field performance whereas media revenue depends on the competitive balance and overall quality of play for the league as a whole my results first show that local or gate revenue sharing decreases talent investments 2 initially lower talent investments boost club profits because total costs go down too little investment however reduces revenues which harms profits at high levels of sharing to find a profit maximizing sharing rule the league has to balance these two effects the dampening effect of sharing on investments is weaker in leagues whose teams have homogeneous local markets consequently homogeneous leagues maximize profits by setting a more extensive gate revenue sharing rule than leagues with less equal teams this may explain the observation from table 1 that the more unequal european soccer leagues share less local revenues than the more homogeneous u s major leagues 3 a somewhat striking implication of this result is also that gate revenue sharing is more interesting for clubs who have more equal revenue potentials

the effect of specialty coffee certification on household livelihood strategies and specialisation abstract farm certification is rapidly becoming a sine qua non for access to specialty coffee markets at the centre of these changes are smallholder coffee producers responsible for 80 of global coffee production although rural households are known to depend on more than agricultural production alone the literature on specialty coffee and certification has rather narrowly focused on coffee income and production in this study broader impacts are explicitly taken into account household income was decomposed into categories corresponding to specific income generating activities and coffee income was broken down into price yield and area effects results show that coffee certification encourages farmers to specialise in coffee production increasing coffee income but not total household income at least not in the short run the time and effort required to attain the higher coffee income offered by certified production means farmers have to give up other activities this substitution effect cancels out the income effect such that there is no increase in total household income the lack of an effect on total household income suggests the return to the additional labour effort required for certified coffee production is not higher than in other activities questioning the benefits of certification for small scale producers

linking globalization to local land uses how eco consumers and gourmands are changing the colombian coffee landscapes market trends are becoming prominent forces shaping local landscapes the increasing demand for high quality and sus tainable coffees is driving land use decisions among colombian farmers a value chain analysis shows that farmers who sell to differen tiated markets significantly captured a larger portion of the value added and faced lower volatility than mainstream producers consequently regions apt for producing differentiated coffees experienced the greatest increase in area planted tracing the value chain reveals how land use decisions increasingly depend on the pressures and opportunities created by global markets with detectable impacts on livelihoods and landscapes

employment decentralisation polycentricity or scatteration the case of barcelona at the present time most large cities in the world are polycentric and at the same time they are undergoing processes of employment decentralisation and deconcentration it has been argued that polycentricity is just an intermediate stage between monocentricity and a more unstructured chaotic and amorphous location model scatteration for the case of the polycentric barcelona the aims of this study are to test whether its employment is moving from polycentricity to scatteration and whether its employment location model is increasingly random and unstructured the results show that in spite of the decentralisation and deconcentration processes employment concentrated in centres still represents a significant percentage of total employment and new sub centres have emerged in the periphery what is more the results also show an increasing influence of employment sub centres on employment location and density conditions as a result polycentricity has been reinforced

empowering coffee traders the coffee value chain from nicaraguan fair trade farmers to finnish consumers this article analyzes the distribution of benefits from fair trade between producing and consuming countries fair trade and conventional coffee production and trade were examined in nicaragua in 2005 2006 and 2008 consumption of the respective coffees was assessed in finland in 2006 2009 the results indicate that consumers paid considerably more for fair trade certified coffee than for the other alternatives available although fair trade provided price premiums to producer organizations a larger share of the retail prices remained in the consuming country relative to conventional coffee trade paradoxically along with the certified farmers and cooperatives fair trade empowers roasters and retailers

wage and rent capitalization in the commercial real estate market abstract in this paper we develop three simplified models of the commercial land market within a two center metropolis in each model we focus on how exogenous differences in production costs between centers are capitalized into differences in commercial space rents and wages we show that in a competitive land market wages must account for most of the capitalization as zoning or density regulations limit commercial development at the most advantageous center space rent differences begin capturing more and wage differences less locational value we conclude that the simple application of hedonic theory to the commercial real estate market may be quite misleading

a general equilibrium model with agglomerative economies and decentralized employment abstract the standard urban general equilibrium model is extended in two ways first the central part of the city is occupied by the officer sector the office sector is subject to agglomerative economies arising from the need for face to face contact second residents choose between two employment areas in addition to the employment opportunities in the centralized office sector employment opportunities exist in a decentralized manufacturing sector the model is used to explore the general equilibrium effects of zoning policies

addressing the global sustainability challenge the potential and pitfalls of private governance from the perspective of human capabilities contemporary global politics is characterized by an increasing trend toward experimental forms of governance with an emphasis on private governance a plurality of private standards codes of conduct and quality assurance schemes currently developed particularly though not exclusively by tncs replace traditional intergovernmental regimes in addressing profound global environmental and socio economic challenges ranging from forest deforestation fisheries depletion climate change to labor and human rights concerns while this trend has produced a heated debate in science and politics surprisingly little attention has been paid on the effects of private governance on questions of distribution and justice this is highly problematic at the beginning of the twenty first century global inequalities are greater than ever before while rapid economic social political and environmental changes threaten to further derail sustainable development and humanitarian objectives if private governance creates or intensifies some of the pressing global inequalities e g food security and alleviates others e g environmental degradation from a business ethics perspective we need to know which aspects need to be strengthened and where appropriate interventions are necessary and desirable this paper proposes a framework to examine and classify the distributive outcomes of private governance institutions through the lenses of one particular approach to distributive justice the capability approach empirically it focuses on agrifood one area where the controversy regarding the distributive concerns of private governance are particularly pronounced

trading off nutrition and education a panel data analysis of the dissimilar welfare effects of organic and fairtrade standards millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries participate in different types of sustainability standards a growing body of literature has analyzed the welfare effects with mixed results yet there are important knowledge gaps first most existing studies have looked at the effects of one standard in one country when comparing between studies it is unclear whether dissimilar outcomes are the result of different standards or different local conditions second most studies have used cross section data so that selectivity issues remain a challenge third existing work has primarily analyzed effects in terms of purely economic indicators such as prices and income ignoring other dimensions of household welfare we address these shortcomings using panel data from small scale coffee producers in uganda and comparing the effects of two of the most popular sustainability standards namely organic and fairtrade welfare effects are analyzed in terms of household expenditures child education and nutrition results show that organic and fairtrade both have positive effects on total consumption expenditures however notable differences are observed in terms of the other outcomes organic contributes to improved nutrition but has no effect on education for fairtrade it is exactly the other way around we explore the mechanisms behind these differences

food standards certification and poverty among coffee farmers in uganda summary voluntary standards are gaining in importance in global markets for high value foods we analyze and compare impacts of three sustainability oriented standards fairtrade organic and utz on the livelihoods of smallholder coffee farmers in uganda using survey data and propensity score matching with multiple treatments we find that fairtrade certification increases household living standards by 30 and reduces the prevalence and depth of poverty for the other two certification schemes no significant impacts are found several factors that can explain differential impacts are discussed overly general statements about the effects of sustainability standards on smallholder livelihoods may be misleading

in the market but not of it fair trade coffee and forest stewardship council certification as market based social change summary this paper discusses two well known market based social change initiatives fair trade coffee and forest stewardship council certification which harness market forces to pursue social and environmental objectives a serious challenge for both is to operate in the conventional market without undermining their original objectives a global commodity chain analysis approach is combined with insights from economic sociology embeddedness theory to explore the social cultural and organizational factors shaping the initiatives governance structures both initiatives are seen to move along opposite organizational trajectories but face similar pressures from conventional market logics practices and dominant actors a preliminary framework is proposed for comparative assessment focusing on distribution of benefits how conventional market institutions may be questioned and how internal governance manages diverse stakeholder interests and influence

hedonics and demand analysis the implicit demand for player attributes i introduction hedonic analysis is the standard technique of applied econometrics for modeling differentiated products a hedonic price function relates the observed price of a differentiated good to the bundle of characteristics of which the good is composed the derivatives of the function with respect to the characteristics are the implied hedonic prices which empirical work typically seeks to estimate as has been recognized since at least the work of rosen 1974 underlying the hedonic price function is an implicit market for these characteristics a number of studies have attempted to estimate the associated supply demand system in particular applied contexts based on data on the quantities of the characteristics used in the estimation of the hedonic price function and the resulting estimated hedonic prices examples include nelson 1978 witte sumka and erekson 1979 and thomas 1993 rather than a complete supply demand system other authors focus only on the implicit demand for characteristics for example polinsky and rubinfeld 1977 harrison and rubinfeld 1978 agarwal and ratchford 1980 bender gronberg and hwang 1980 blomquist and worley 1981 quigley 1982 mendelsohn 1984 and palmquist 1984 a curious aspect of these studies which appears to have gone unrecognized is the failure to draw on modern econometric demand analysis in the estimation of the implied demand system for the characteristics instead the analysis of the implicit market proceeds on the basis of ad hoc typically linear or loglinear functional forms which involve no explicit derivation from consumer theory and which impose arbitrary and non testable restrictions on preferences as a consequence there is little means beyond descriptive econometric measures goodness of fit examination of signs and t ratios and so on for judging the adequacy or legitimacy of the results no use is made of contemporary flexible functional form methodology which provides a second order approximation to arbitrary preferences and which permits in addition to the calculation of elasticities the testing of fundamental hypotheses of consumer theory such as demand homogeneity and symmetry of the slutsky matrix and numerical checks on the concavity of the associated implied expenditure function the present work attempts to fill this gap however instead of a differentiated good in a product market to which consumer demand theory would apply we choose to study a good in a factor market so that the relevant demand equations are a system of factor demands for the underlying characteristics the good in question is the service of baseball players to major league baseball teams which is a differentiated good in that different players represent different bundles of alternative attributes such as pitching or hitting skills our focus is solely on the implicit demand system for these attributes no attempt is made to estimate the associated supply system reflecting player behavior there are several reasons for this seemingly peculiar choice of commodity first the factor market for baseball players is of some intrinsic interest as evidenced by the extent to which it has been studied by economists for a taste of this see the entry by quirk 1987 in the new palgrave and the recent survey by fort and quirk 1995 in particular the market has been the focus of work by labor economists examples are blass 1992 khan 1993a 1993b and sommers 1992 much of this literature derives from the seminal work of scully 1974 who estimated equations for baseball player salaries as functions of player skills although not previously recognized in these terms underlying scully s salary equations are implicit markets for player skills the previous work involving baseball salary equations by scully 1974 1989 and others for example blass 1992 hill and spellman 1984 fort 1992 pascal and rapping 1972 raimondo 1983 and sommers 1990 is useful because it provides guidance as to the appropriate specification of the hedonic price equation

a general equilibrium model with external scale economies in production abstract a general equilibrium model of an urban economy is described the standard residential land use model is extended to include a well defined production employment sector external scale economies occur in the production of the city s export good the model is designed for the numerical computation of equilibria and optima

second best congestion pricing schemes in the monocentric city abstract this paper considers second best congestion pricing in the monocentric city with endogenous residential density and endogenous labour supply a spatial general equilibrium model is developed that allows consideration of the three way interactions between urban density traffic congestion and labour supply congestion pricing schemes are analysed that are second best by design and not because distortions exist elsewhere in the spatial economy like cordon charging and flat kilometre charges both for cobb douglas utility and for ces utility the analyses suggest that the relative welfare losses from second best pricing compared to first best pricing are surprisingly small

the dynamics of fair trade as a mixed form market this article analyses the fair trade sector as a mixed form market i e a market in which different types of players in this case nonprofit co operative and for profit organizations coexist and compete the purposes of this article are 1 to understand the factors that have led fair trade to become a mixed form market and 2 to propose some trails to understand the market dynamics that result from the interactions between the different types of players we start by defining briefly fair trade its different dimensions including the fair quality of the products and its organizational landscape focusing on the distinction between the pioneer alternative trading organizations and the second mover companies then we recall the theoretical emergence factors for each type of organization nonprofit co operative and for profit and apply these emergence factors to the context of fair trade this analysis allows us to capture the specificities of each type of operator with regard to fair trade and thus to have a better understanding of the dynamics in the sector such dynamics includes competition but also conflict and partnership our analysis includes elements on ethical imitation consumers behaviors effects on welfare and the role of the government

externalities in urban sustainability environmental versus localization type agglomeration externalities in a general spatial equilibrium model of a single sector monocentric industrial city abstract this paper studies urban sustainability from the perspective of externalities we develop a general spatial equilibrium model of a monocentric city in which two types of externalities occur on the one hand pollution in the industrial center leads to a spatially differentiated deterioration of the environmental quality in the residential area on the other hand the existence of the city is explained by agglomeration economies represented as simple marshallian external benefits in production we investigate free market versus first best and second best optimal spatial equilibria and conclude that the pursuit of environmental goals may sometimes come at the expense of reduced agglomeration economies but may actually sometimes also stimulate these economies

government interventions in sustainable supply chain governance experience in dutch front running cases numerous multi actor governance systems have recently emerged ensuring sustainability of international traded products business and civil society actors play a dominant role in initiating and governing sustainable supply chain governance systems sscg systems within specific product markets we see the emergence of various competing sscg systems this has led to debates on effectiveness transparency and legitimacy of these forms of self governance in the market these developments also call for a debate on appropriate roles for national governments most of the academic literature in this field focuses on methodologies for supply chain governance and their impacts but hardly addresses the roles taken on by governments and effectiveness of possible government interventions this article combines analysis of market dynamics in the timber and coffee product chains with policy analysis integrating approaches from the research fields of sustainable business and policy analysis the article shows how competition between various sustainable supply chain governance systems in the netherlands has resulted in recent market breakthroughs while initially government interventions were very limited and diverse the article suggests an approach for more systematic analysis of these dynamics and the roles of various actors by identifying both the public policy cycle and the private policy cycle

the economics of quality in the specialty coffee industry insights from the cup of excellence auction programs this study estimates price determinants for specialty green coffee auctions using records from the 2004 2010 cup of excellence programs hosted by the alliance for coffee excellence while some literature on coffee has focused on certifications and sustainability labels the discussion of price determinants has been limited this article replicates one of the first publications on price determinants and formulates a new model to more accurately describe the market we include the necessary additional variables and estimate the model using a truncated maximum likelihood estimation technique while sensory quality has a strong effect on price the highest premiums stem from obtaining a top rank compared to other coffees from the same country and north american buyers are more responsive to sensory quality than buyers in asian and european markets jel classifications c24 d44 q13

spice price spikes simulating impacts of saffron price volatility in a gendered local economy wide model summary access to international markets provides smallholders with unprecedented opportunities but also exposes them to world market whims we use a local economy wide impact evaluation lewie model to analyze how the recent global saffron price variability affected morocco s taliouine taznakht region a specialized agro export economy with a stark gender division of labor prices of saffron increased by 71 per year over the 2007 09 period before falling quickly back to their trend our modeling approach allows us to simulate such shocks and evaluate impacts not only on producers but also on the local economies around them in our simulations positive price shocks and increases in productivity both cause large reallocations of labor resources particularly for female workers at harvest time we use monte carlo simulations to evaluate how saffron price variance affects the economy female wage income is especially sensitive to global price variability a 100 increase in saffron price variance leads to 133 increase in female wage income variance but only 36 for males accounting for general equilibrium effects is critical for understanding the ramifications of exposure to export price volatility in poor economies

the impact of the international coffee agreement on producing countries the main objective of this article is to analyze the impact of the international coffee agreement s export system on the world coffee market focusing on increases in real export revenues transfer benefits and reductions in income variability risk benefits in each exporting country over the recent period of operation of the international coffee agreement s export quota system the authors find that the quota system had a stabilizing effect on world coffee prices the quotas reduced real export revenues for most small exporting countries but large producers gained most small countries gained however in terms of risk reduction if a brief suspension of the quota occurs from time to time caused for example by adverse weather which results in a shortfall in world supply the quota system works like a buffer stock scheme on average producing countries as a whole lose transfer benefits but gain risk benefits

international commodity agreements an obituary notice abstract it is widely believed that international commodity agreements have lapsed because they have failed the reality is more complex the tin agreement did collapse but for sugar and cocoa adverse market conditions and lack of general support made stabilization impractical control of the coffee market ceased largely because of disagreements both between and within the producing countries on the division of the benefits resulting from higher prices overall commodity control fits uneasily in an increasingly globalized and competitive world and this perception has resulted in a diminished willingness to resolve the practical difficulties of price stabilization

global private regulation and value chain restructuring in indonesian smallholder coffee systems summary consumer concerns over the environmental and social conditions of coffee production have led to the proliferation of sustainability codes certification schemes and labeling claims in the sector this paper addresses how the global private regulation of ethical and environmental standards is having several implications for value chain structures and institutions in the smallholder coffee systems of indonesia global private regulation is driving structural changes in modes of farmer organization trader farmer relationships and is resulting in the increased upstream penetration of multinational trading companies into coffee producing areas across indonesia an unintended consequence of these changes in the future may be to increase transaction costs along the value chain and to exert an overall downward pressure on farm gate prices

a survey of the economics of fair trade fair trade has spread in developing countries as an initiative aimed at lifting poor smallholder farmers out of poverty by providing them with premium prices availability of credit and improved community development and social goods fair trade is also viewed as a niche market for high value products in a context of globalization and trade liberalization policies that affect smallholder farmers in developing countries the question of whether fair trade affects the welfare of rural farmers however is particularly contentious this paper provides a review of the fair trade literature both theoretical and empirical with a specific focus on the analysis of small scale producer s welfare in developing countries our review shows that while most empirical papers have focused on the impacts of fair trade on prices and income our review highlights the importance of limited market access and changes in productivity likewise little is known about the impacts of fair trade on labor markets and human capital investments persistent methodological challenges make it challenging however to assess the causal impact of this certification and labelling initiative

competition in the swedish coffee market 1978 2002 abstract are multinationals exploiting their market power in national coffee markets by keeping consumer prices too high and thereby limiting demand for imports of coffee beans the purpose of this study is to address this issue by testing if there is market power in the swedish market for roasted coffee the market structure is typical of many consumer markets for coffee with four very large roasting companies two of which are multinationals plus many small ones to analyze the degree of market power an oligopoly model is estimated using market time series data the econometric approach is to first test for long run relationships between the variables with cointegration analysis and then to estimate a system of equations for demand and pricing behavior our key finding is that there is evidence of some market power in the short run but none in the long run

coffee market liberalisation and the implications for producers in brazil guatemala and india the standard approach to modelling the relationship between world and producer prices of coffee does not incorporate the effects of changing government policies and market structures these changes have led to large structural breaks in the relationship between the prices implying the standard estimates are biased we model coffee prices in brazil guatemala and india allowing for the structural breaks and show that the liberalisation of coffee markets has benefited producers substantially both in terms of a higher share of the world price of coffee and higher real prices this suggests that calls to re regulate coffee markets may be misplaced

free competition without sustainable development tanzanian cotton sector liberalisation 1994 95 to 1997 98 this article summarises the results of fieldwork carried out in 1997 8 season on post liberalisation changes in the tanzanian cotton sector developments in primary marketing ginning and the export trade are reviewed on the basis of survey material market entry by private companies has been high leading to considerable competition and slight increases in producers share of the world price but real producer price and cultivation increases have not been sustained following changes in the input supply system insecticide use has fallen sharply along with the quality and underlying international price of the cotton crop tanzania s place in the world market has been re defined as a producer for a specific time based market window this places a question mark over the sustainability of the sector s future and by inference over policy reforms whose main emphasis is to increase competition

the economic sustainability of certified coffee recent evidence from mexico and peru consumers increasingly act on preferences for a more just and sustainable world by purchasing certified agricultural products using survey data from coffee growers in mexico and peru we explore the economic sustainability of certified coffee looking at conventional fair trade organic and rainforest alliance certified growers the analysis reveals that yields rather than price premiums are most important for increasing net cash returns for coffee growing households given the link between net returns and producer participation in certified coffee schemes the findings suggest that certification norms that permit improving yields are essential for improving grower welfare and attracting and maintaining growers

disentangling the effects of fair trade on the quality of malian cotton the increasing importance of premium segments and private labels raise skepticism about the ability of fair trade to help smallholders compete in high value added markets using panel data collected in mali this paper contributes to the debate by estimating the impact of fairtrade certification on the quality of malian cotton controlling for the nonrandom certification of producers results show a significant impact on the quality of cotton produced by both certified and geographically close noncertified growers via spillover effects the analysis suggests that contract farming enforced by third parties and demonstration effects foster the adoption of innovative agricultural practices

mainstreaming fair trade coffee from partnership to traceability summary this article analyzes the recent growth of fair trade and the mainstreaming of this previously alternative arena focusing on coffee i identify a continuum of buyers ranging from mission driven enterprises that uphold alternative ideas and practices based on social ecological and place based commitments to quality driven firms that selectively foster fair trade conventions to ensure reliable supplies of excellent coffee to market driven corporations that largely pursue commercial industrial conventions rooted in price competition and product regulation using a commodity network approach my analysis illuminates the impacts of diverse buyer relations on producer groups and how relations are in some cases shifting from partnership to traceability

fair trade and free entry can a disequilibrium market serve as a development tool abstract the fair trade ft coffee initiative attempts to channel charity from consumers to poor producers via increased prices we show that the rules of the ft system permit this rent to be eliminated due to free entry and costly excess certification of output using data from an association of coffee cooperatives in central america we verify that expected producer benefits are close to 0 when we take into account the output that is certified but not sold as ft our results illustrate how free entry undermines the attempt at extending charity via a price distortion in an otherwise competitive market

intra metropolitan shifts in labor demand and the adjustment of local markets abstract i offer new evidence on the adjustment of local labor markets to geographic shifts in labor demand within us metropolitan areas using a unique data set in which metropolitan subregions are geographically matched across the 1970 1980 and 1980 1990 decades the evidence uncovered paints the following picture workers especially those with less education make incomplete adjustments within metropolitan areas in response to intra metropolitan demand shifts although blacks may not make especially limited adjustments they have disproportionately suffered deleterious effects from job movements because the demand shifts have tended to be away from their places of residence

responding to the coffee crisis what can we learn from price dynamics an econometric model of coffee price dynamics is specified and estimated to capture the evolution of coffee prices at the farm wholesale and retail levels it investigates the historical influence of the international coffee agreement ica through its effects on yield and planting decisions in the short run the ica caused brazilian farm prices to become disconnected from international prices the ica helped coffee producers to better incorporate current world price information into planting decisions this created a price cycle that did not exist in non ica periods the low coffee prices experienced since the disintegration of the ica are consistent with low supply response to price information asymmetric price transmission at the retail level helped roasters and retailers benefit from upstream price interventions our results urge caution when considering future coffee price interventions

productive efficiency of specialty and conventional coffee farmers in costa rica accounting for technological heterogeneity and self selection a steep decline in coffee prices at the producer level led to considerable pressure for farmers in costa rica and producer countries all over the world one possible reaction was moving to specialty markets where price pressure was perceived to be lower we use original survey data from 2002 2003 and 2003 2004 to analyze the factors influencing participation in specialty markets and to estimate separate production functions for specialty and conventional coffee farmers allowing for farm specific inefficiencies applying a sample selection framework we find significant selection bias in the sub sample of specialty farmers and evidence for the overestimation of efficiency if this bias is not adequately controlled for among the most important factors that influence farm specific efficiency levels in the two sub samples are the availability of additional income activities experience in coffee cultivation and membership in cooperatives based on the results we derive policy recommendations to improve farmers production performance and ability to cope with the effects of the coffee crisis these policy measures include the provision of extension services with respect to farm management skills the creation of income opportunities in rural areas and the support of farmer owned cooperatives

a three input model of the spatial effects of a central city wage tax abstract this paper considers the short run and long run spatial effects on wages employment and business capital as functions of location of a localized increase in wage tax rates the model is most applicable to a central city that has a higher wage tax rate than the surrounding suburbs the inclusion of land as a third input in production significantly reduces the long run effects of a central city wage tax on employment near the central city boundary as compared with a model in which labor and capital are the only two inputs the short run effects are significantly less than the long run effects

the ambivalent impact of coffee certification on farmers welfare a matched panel approach for cooperatives in central kenya certification is promoted to improve rural welfare through better market access and improved agricultural practices we compare net effects of fairtrade and utz certified coffee production in central kenya using a matched panel from 218 farm households that belong to three cooperatives and were visited twice in 2009 and 2013 we distinguish between effects at field farm household cooperative community and market levels both certification regimes improved coffee returns but fairtrade was more effective in coffee processing whereas utz contributed to productivity under stagnating coffee prices fairtrade farmers increased their coffee specialization while utz farmers reduced coffee areas but increased yield

the impact of fair trade certification for coffee farmers in peru smallholder farmers producing for fair trade market outlets are usually considered to benefit from better prices and stable market outlets however many empirical studies verifying this impact suffer from strong selection bias this study uses a balanced sample of fair trade farmers and likewise nonfair trade producers of organic and conventional coffee from peru to compare the net effects on production income and expenditures wealth and investments and attitudes and perceptions after careful matching we find only modest direct income and production effects but significant changes in organization input use wealth and assets and risk attitudes moreover important differences between farmers with early and more recent ft affiliation are registered

value chain dynamics settlement trajectories and regional development fold n value chain dynamics settlement trajectories and regional development regional studies global value chain gvc analysis has little to say about the interaction between regions and global chain dynamics however recent calls to address broader development issues have resulted in efforts to incorporate a spatial dimension in gvc analysis addressing this issue the paper argues that gvc analysis needs to be combined with the examination of livelihoods at settlement level livelihood diversification or lack thereof indicates particular settlement trajectories that constitute regional development pathways it is also suggested that the understanding of how regions are shaped by value chain dynamics will improve by adding elements from global production network gpn theory to the combined methodology namely by an examination of territorial embeddedness and value creation enhancement capture distribution at settlement level

the globalization of organic agro food networks summary this article analyzes the booming world trade in organic agro foods such as tropical products counterseasonal fresh produce and processed foods research focuses on expanding south north networks linking major us and european markets with major production regions particularly in latin america employing a commodity network approach i analyze organic production distribution and consumption patterns and the roles of social political and economic actors in consolidating international trade organic certification proves central to network governance shaping product specifications production parameters and enterprise participation my analysis identifies key contradictions between mainstream agro industrial and alternative movement conventions in global organic networks 2004 published by elsevier ltd

do the eu countries import at the same price the case of coffee the establishment of the economic and monetary union was expected to determine price convergence in the market of the european union leading to the equilibrium theorized by the law of one price this article investigates prices convergence in the coffee market among european importers coffee is not only a tradable and traded good but also one of the most valuable traded commodities we account for different qualities of coffee in a hedonic regression model which isolate and remove the effects of factors that might affect price dispersion adjusted import prices result to be significantly different between european member states and do not support the hypothesis of a deepening european market integration

rice farmers preferences for fairtrade contracting in benin evidence from a discrete choice experiment abstract private standards such as fairtrade have emerged as a response to consumer civil society and corporate concerns about the production conditions of imported food many studies have investigated the welfare implications of smallholder participation in fairtrade schemes and consumers willingness to pay for fairtrade and other labelled products on the other hand no study has yet investigated farmers preferences for fairtrade and other private standards such insights would be valuable to improve the efficiency of certification schemes and ensure that they are tailored to farmers needs using a choice experiment this study investigates the preferences of smallholder rice farmers in benin for fairtrade and organic standards and compares the value of three types of contracts domestic fairtrade and fairtrade organic the results indicate that farmers positively value contracts but prefer domestic over fairtrade contracts because the former involve fewer requirements at current market prices farmers are willing to accept a fairtrade contract that includes fertiliser and child labour restrictions and a social premium but they are not willing to accept a fairtrade organic contract that completely prohibits chemical input use the results imply that adding organic requirements to fairtrade contracts may undermine the adoption and spread of fairtrade certification in the beninese rice sector

decoupling standards from practice the impact of in house certifications on coffee farms environmental and social conduct in this paper we investigate whether coffee farms that have been granted in house socio environmental certification from a global buyer display better social and environmental conduct compared to non certified farms we perform an econometric analysis using data from an original cross country survey covering 575 farms in various regions of brazil colombia costa rica guatemala and mexico we find that farms that have been granted in house certification demonstrate better environmental but not better social conduct than non certified farms we find also that the positive relationship between in house certification and environmental conduct is stronger if the farm sells to a cooperative and if it is located in an institutionally weak country finally we find that the institutional strength of the farm s home country has a positive influence on its social conduct we discuss how our analysis contributes to the literature on the social and environmental impacts of certifications and to scholarship in global value chains social and environmental upgrading

geographical indications public goods and sustainable development the roles of actors strategies and public policies summary the protection of geographical indications gis is being explored more and more worldwide as a tool for supporting local sustainable development focusing on wine and coffee value chains this paper will set out in what way gi protection schemes can contribute to the provision of public goods and illustrate how this contribution is being threatened by different failures that may occur within both valorization strategies and legal protection policies by examining how private collective and public interventions front these failures this paper will put forward economic arguments supporting a more comprehensive policy approach to ensure gis contribution to sustainable development

methodologies and perspectives in research on labour relations in global agricultural production networks a review the integration of global south actors into the global agricultural economy has attracted research on labour effects this is because global south actors are often integrated at the level of produc

governance and trade in fresh vegetables the impact of uk supermarkets on the african horticulture industry production of fresh vegetables for export has grown rapidly in a number of countries in sub saharan africa over the last decade this trade brings producers and exporters based in africa together with importers and retailers in europe large retailers in europe play a decisive role in structuring the production and processing of fresh vegetables exported from africa the requirements they specify for cost quality delivery product variety innovation food safety and quality systems help top determine what types of producers and processors are able to gain access to the fresh vegetables chain and the activities they must carry out the control over the fresh vegetables trade exercised by uk supermarkets has clear consequences for inclusion and exclusion of producers and exporters of differing types and for the long term prospects for the fresh vegetables industry in the two major exporting countries studied kenya and zimbabwe

the effects of fair trade on coffee growers a framework and analysis the world coffee market has undergone a significant transformation in the past couple of decades resulting in declining farm prices despite the fact that coffee demand has been strong and consumer prices have been soaring fair trade organizations have tried to address this price imbalance by providing an alternative method of trading aimed at increasing the prices received by coffee growers despite their noble objectives fair trade movements have had limited success in improving coffee growers welfare however this paper utilizes a novel framework of heterogeneous producers and relevant market information to provide insights on the market and welfare impacts of the fair trade regime when important idiosyncrasies of fair trade production and marketing are included in the analysis

congestion land use and job dispersion a general equilibrium model abstract in dispersed cities congestion tolls would drive up central wages and rents and would induce centrally located producers to want to disperse closer to their workers and their customers paying lower rents and realizing productivity gains from land to labor substitution but the tolls would also induce residents to want to locate more centrally in order to economize on commuting and shopping travel in a computable general equilibrium model we find that the centralizing effect of tolls on residences dominates on the decentralizing effect of tolls on firms causing the dispersed city to have more centralized job and population densities under stylized parameters we find that efficiency gains from levying congestion tolls on work and shopping travel are 3 0 of average income about 80 of such gains come from road planning and 20 from tolls

competition within a cartel league conduct and team conduct in the market for baseball player services a model of major league baseball is developed which distinguishes between league behavior and individual team behavior the league is viewed as setting rules that restrict the team s willingness to pay and or impose costs on the transfer of players between teams given these rules teams then compete for player services the model is estimated and tested the evidence suggests that the restrictive effect of league rules on player salaries declined between 1986 1988 and 1989 1991 consistent with anecdotal evidence within the rules established by the league however teams appear to behave as competitive price takers through the entire sample period

ethical objections to fairtrade the fairtrade movement is a group of businesses claiming to trade ethically the claims are evaluated under a range of criteria derived from the utilitarian ethic firstly if aid or charity money is diverted from the very poorest people to the quite poor or the rich there is an increase in death and destitution it is shown that little of the extra paid by consumers for fairtrade reaches farmers sometimes none it cannot be shown that it has a positive impact on fairtrade farmers in general but evidence suggesting it harms others is presented many of the weaknesses are due to an attempt to impose political views on farmers and others secondly the unfair trading criteria require that sellers do not lie about their product nor withhold information that might alter the decisions of a substantial proportion of buyers it is argued that the system only can exist because of the failure of the fairtrade industry to give the facts on what happens to the money and what it can be proved it achieves this unfair trading compromises the reputation of charities in general much of the trading may constitute the criminal offence of unfair trading in the eu

governance of the emerging bio energy markets despite its promising prospects a growing global bio energy market may have sustainability risks as well governing this market with respect to installing safeguards to ensure sustainable biomass production might reduce these risks therefore proposals for governance systems for bio energy are discussed in this article the proposals are based on comparative case study research on the governance of comparable commodities by assessing the governance system of global coffee trade fair trade coffee the global and the eu sugar market and forest stewardship council fsc wood strong and weak points of governance systems for commodities are discerned fsc is selected as the best performing case study and serves as the proposal s basis fsc s weaknesses are minimized by among others using the lessons learned from the other case studies this results in a system consisting of two pillars a bio energy labelling organization blo and a united nations agreement on bio energy unab although consulted experts in the research process are critical about this system they do suggest several conditions a governance system for bio energy should meet in order to be effective such as a facilitative government professional monitoring and using progressive certification combined with price premiums these conditions have been taken into account in the final proposal

mapping research topics and theories in private regulation for sustainability in global value chains the globalization of production and trade has contributed to the rise in complex global value chains where the reach of state regulation is limited as an alternative private regulation developed and administered by companies industry associations and nongovernmental organizations has emerged to safeguard economic environmental and social sustainability in producer countries and along the value chain the academic literature on private regulation in global value chains has grown over the last decade but currently few major reviews of the research have been undertaken this paper examines peer reviewed research in the relevant disciplines published in academic journals up to december 2011 our goal is to identify and classify the topics and theories in the global value chain literature we conclude that the number of articles explicitly examining private regulation in a global value chain context is relatively small when considering the importance and growth of these chains in the world s economy we also conclude that agriculture forestry and apparel manufacturing are the most often studied economic sectors in contrast other sectors such as the information communication and technology with their complex global value chains and often problematic environmental and social conditions are understudied

demand for coffee in sweden the role of prices preferences and market power there is a widespread belief that consumer coffee prices are high relative to bean prices and that lower consumer prices would lead to substantial increases in bean exports from third world countries this issue is evaluated by analysing how retail prices preferences and market power influence coffee demand in sweden a demand function is estimated for the period 1968 2002 and used together with information on import prices of coffee beans to simulate an oligopoly model this approach gives estimates of the maximum average degree of market power and shows how coffee demand would react to reductions in marginal cost to its minimum level the maximum level of market power is found to be low but it generates large spreads between consumer and bean prices because the price elasticity has low absolute values moreover the impact of a price decrease would be small because long run coffee demand is dominated by changes in the population structure in combination with different preferences across age groups hence a change to perfect competition would only have a negligible effect on bean imports

certified organic agriculture in china and brazil market accessibility and outcomes following adoption abstract based on three case studies in china and brazil this paper explores the terms of access for farmers participation in certified organic agriculture oa and investigates the influence of adoption on productivity nutrient budgets income and labour use small scale farmers converting to oa require substantial external production related marketing and certification support access to oa was strongly dependent upon the type of support available to farmers organization based on a contract farming model resulted in oa only being an option available to a narrow group of farmers whilst oa initiated by a farmer cooperative provided better access gross output was significantly higher for oranges whilst for the other crops gross output was similar however organic farmers in china felt that adoption had improved prices incomes and market access farmers perception of improved incomes is probably due to improved market access coupled with either a large production base production intensification and production diversification this study demonstrates that organization of farmers and the manner in which this is structured is crucial for external support to have an effect thus oa may be a development path for small farmers if the supporting structures are provided at a small financial interest rate

standards as a new form of social contract sustainability initiatives in the coffee industry abstract in the former age of national capitalism the achievement of market fairness was embedded in a normative framework generated by government labor unions and perhaps religious authority in the current age of global capitalism new actors such as ngos industry associations and public private partnerships provide the normative framework that corporations use for social legitimacy in this context standard setting processes operate as new forms of social contract where the state rather than being directly involved between the parties provides a form of basic guarantee while more or less accountable ngos and firms are in charge of hammering out the bargains this article examines the dynamics of this new configuration through the case study of sustainability initiatives in the coffee sector it addresses four questions 1 are these standards effective in communicating information and creating new markets 2 to what extent do they embed elements of collective and private interests 3 is sustainability content actually delivered to their intended beneficiaries and 4 what is the role of public policy in addressing their shortcomings

confronting the coffee crisis can fair trade organic and specialty coffees reduce small scale farmer vulnerability in northern nicaragua summary this paper links changing global coffee markets to opportunities and vulnerabilities for sustaining small scale farmer livelihoods in northern nicaragua changing governance structures corporate concentration oversupply interchangeable commodity grade beans and low farm gate prices characterize the crisis in conventional coffee markets in contrast certified fair trade and organic are two alternative forms of specialty coffee trade and production that may offer opportunities for small scale producers a research team surveyed 228 farmers to measure the impact of sales on organic and fair trade markets the results suggest that participation in organic and fair trade networks reduces farmers livelihood vulnerability 2004 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

organic certification agro ecological practices and return on investment evidence from pineapple producers in ghana the recent empirical literature on economic sustainability of certified export crops shows that certification standards that enhance yields are important for improving farm revenues and household welfare however limited evidence exists on the impact of organic certification on the adoption of agro ecological practices in this study we use unique farm level data from pineapple producers in ghana to examine the impact of organic certification on the use of agro ecological practices such as organic fertilizers organic pest and weed control crop rotation and soil and water conservation as well as how using these measures affect farm outcomes such as return on investment our empirical results reveal that organic certification increases agro ecological practice use although from a very low starting point using a generalized propensity score approach we show that there is a positive but nonlinear relationship between the intensity of agro ecological practice use and return on investment