bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
GOAL PROGRAMMING AND MULTIPLE CRITERIA DECISION‐MAKING IN FARM PLANNING: AN EXPOSITORY ANALYSIS
Authors: Romero C. , Rehman T.
Published: November 2008

Several paradigms can be used to analyse multiple‐criteria decision‐making problems. Of these goal programming is probably the most widely used one, at least in management science. Goal programming seems to offer considerable potential for application to multiple‐criteria problems in farm planning. However, its applications in agricultural economics have been few and far between. Even these attempts seem to suffer from some serious misconceptions. In this paper an effort is made to explain the structure of a goal programming model by deriving it from the familiar paradigm of linear programming. This is done to put the potential usefulness of goal programming and its relationship to linear programming in perspective, and to encourage further applications to multiple‐criteria decision‐making in farm planning.
MEASURING TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY FROM PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS: SOME FURTHER ESTIMATES
Authors: Dawson P. J.
Published: November 2008

The concept of economic and technical efficiency is fundamental to agricultural policy‐making, and Russell and Young (1983) in this Journal provide a recent addition to the literature for British agriculture. They estimate technical efficiency for a cross‐section of farms in the North‐West of England for the year 1977/8. However, such measures for a single year may be influenced by particular events in that year. This paper considers some further estimates of farm efficiency but for the longer, four‐year period 1974/5 to 1977/8. Three measures of technical efficiency are estimated, two using econometric techniques and one using linear programming methods. It is found that there are low correlations between these different measures of technical efficiency both over time and at one point in time. This casts doubt on the usefulness of measuring efficiency using cross‐section (single period) survey data.
SOURCES OF INCREASED VARIABILITY IN WORLD CEREAL PRODUCTION SINCE THE 1960s
Authors: Hazell Peter B. R.
Published: November 2008

Recent growth in world cereal production has been accompanied by a more than proportional increase in the standard deviation of production. This study applies variance decomposition procedures to data on crop production by major geographical regions of the world to analyse the sources of this increased instability. It is found that the increase in aggregate production variability is predominantly due to increased yield variability and to a simultaneous loss in offsetting patterns of variation in yields between crops and regions. These changes are probably associated with the sharp increase in the variability of world cereal and oil prices since the early 1970s and with the more widespread adoption of improved seed/fertiliser intensive technologies.
PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL EXTERNALITIES: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH
Authors: Whitby Martin , Hanley Nick
Published: November 2008

Using a bargaining model the interaction between agriculture and the environment is explored. Application of the model to nitrogen pollution and management agreements directs attention to the research needs for achieving more rational environmental management
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD POLICY
Authors: Thompson Robert L.
Published: November 2008

The paper reviews the events leading up to the 1985 Food Security Act. Attention is also drawn to four other legislative initiatives having a direct bearing on the farm sector. These are: deficit reduction; tax reform; trade protectionism; and agricultural credit. The case against mandatory supply controls is reviewed and reasons are given for believing the 1985 bill will put U.S. agriculture back on the road to prosperity.
PORTUGAL ON THE BRINK OF EUROPE: THE CAP AND PORTUGUESE AGRICULTURE
Authors: Monke Eric
Published: November 2008

Portuguese policy‐makers assumed an active interest in agricultural sector development after the 1974 Revolution. However, the policy instruments used‐output price supports, input subsidies, land market regulations, and agricultural credit programmes‐have done little to facilitate technical or structural change in much of the sector. This pattern of development may have adverse medium‐term impacts on agriculture, because for most commodities, accession to the CAP will substantially reduce farm profitability. If Portugal is to avoid sharp declines in income for a sector that is already relatively low in income terms, reform of factor market policies and investment in research and development are essential.
TESTING FOR WEAK FORM EFFICIENCY IN NEW AGRICULTURAL FUTURES MARKETS: SOME UK EVIDENCE
Authors: Sheldon Ian M.
Published: November 2008

This paper examines the hypothesis that new agricultural futures markets are weak form inefficient in their early stages of development and that they exhibit a process of adjustment towards efficiency over time. The concept of pricing efficiency in futures markets is outlined and the hypothesis is tested with respect to the UK soyabean meal, potato and pigmeat futures markets, using serial correlation, runs and spectral analysis. The results indicate that over the time period of the contract samples these markets exhibit some weak form inefficiency; however there is no clear evidence of an adjustment process.
A MODEL OF THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY
Authors: Thomson K. J.
Published: November 2008

Several efforts have been made since 1980 to estimate the costs and benefits of the European Community's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This paper summarises the approach and method adopted in developing one such effort, which aims to provide results at country, commodity and interest group level both for the CAP as a whole, and for changes in it.

Economic analysis of the effects of price changes in the CAP is carried out with the use of direct and crossprice elasticities of supply and demand for sixteen major commodities, using base levels of production, consumption, and gross trade flows in each member state, along with rest‐of‐world data. A number of CAP instruments, such as subsidies, levies, quotas and ‘green’ exchange rates, are built into the calculations and can be varied, along with support prices, to produce new situations in domestic markets and in world price levels. Both financial (budgetary) and welfare (economic surplus) effects of such exogenous price changes can be calculated. Certain policy changes, such as a move to ‘free’ markets, involve endogenous calculation of equilibrium prices. Trend projections subject to a priori constraints are used to produce results for years beyond the extent of data currently available.

The types of model run commonly carried out are discussed, along with several strategic judgments that became necessary in carrying out the research. Finally, questions concerning the future development and use of the model are addressed.
THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY: THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ITALIAN AGRICULTURE
Authors: Tarditi Secondo
Published: November 2008

The relative importance of Italian agriculture in the EC, both in terms of net value added and of employment, has never been matched by a comparable impact on the CAP policymaking process. Mediterranean agricultural products in particular have been less favoured by the overwhelming common policy instrument of product price support, which has also a negative impact on the economy as a whole.

The most relevant effects of the CAP are reviewed: the impact on resource allocation, including international income transfers, and the effects on the environment, as well as the effects on interpersonal income distribution. An evaluation of CAP is then made from different points of view: the likely perspective of present Italian farmers, a national perspective and an overall perspective, including the interests of non EC countries and future generations. Lower and more balanced price support, together with higher concern for structural and environmental policies especially in less favoured areas, are advocated.
AGRICULTURAL CONTRACTORS: SOME SURVEY FINDINGS
Authors: Ball R. M.
Published: November 2008

Agricultural contractors are known to be an important part of the British farming scene. However, the precise tasks involved, the characteristics of users of contractors, and the implications for the agricultural labour market and for the rural areas involved are barely documented. In this paper, a review of the use of agricultural contractors is followed by a discussion of some research findings on the subject drawn from a farm survey conducted in North Wales and the North and South West Midlands.
BRITISH POTATO STABILISATION POLICY IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT
Authors: Ennew C. T. , Jennings A. N. , Rayner A. J. , Reed G. V.
Published: November 2008

This paper presents a simulation model, based on a stochastic spatial equilibrium framework, for the GB potato market, allowing for trade with the Continent and the operation of domestic stabilisation policy. The model is used to explain the operation of the two policy instruments — support buying and area control — and to evaluate policy options and consequences. The notion of a cost‐effective support buying programme is introduced and it is found that current policy is in the region of cost‐effectiveness. Quota area, subject to the constraint that downside price risk is avoided, is found to lead to a trade‐off between the consumer interest and the financial cost of policy. This trade‐off is examined in a conventional welfare analysis and in probability terms. Subject to certain caveats, it is concluded that current policy tends to provided price stabilisation rather than price enhancement for producers.
CROPLAND DIVERSION (SET‐ASIDE) IN THE US AND UK
Authors: Ervin D. E.
Published: November 2008

Lessons from a variety of past and present US cropland diversion programmes are important for evaluating UK set‐aside proposals. The structure and operation of current US programmes and the major UK proposals are described. A comparative economic welfare analysis of generic cropland diversion in the US and UK reveals the different types of potential impacts due principally to their different agricultural support programmes. Government cost savings and land rental payments can be misleading benefit and cost indicators for set‐aside. Major problems with US programmes include slippage of production control, lack of targeting, inadequate overall efficiency evaluations, and goal conflict. The most appropriate role for cropland diversion may be as a compensatory mechanism to aid the agricultural adjustment process in the face of price restraint, while securing the most valuable non‐market conservation and environmental services from idled farm land.
ESTIMATING RISK EFFECTS IN CHINESE FOODGRAIN PRODUCTION
Authors: Wan G. H. , Anderson J. R.
Published: November 2008

Given the importance of Chinese foodgrain production both in China and in the world food market, it is useful to explore the sources of the increased variabilities of China's foodgrain production (Stone and Zhong, 1989). A production function with composite error structure and a heteroscedastic disturbance is applied to cross‐section and time‐series data from China. The function provides information on the contributions of inputs to production variance and therefore on risk. It is found that production variance is positively related to sown area, chemical fertiliser and irrigation, and is negatively related to electricity use. However, most of the estimates determining the marginal risk effects lack statistical significance. This suggests that the measured controllable factors do not contribute very significantly to Chinese foodgrain production variability.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORLD PRICE INSTABILITY AND THE PRICES FARMERS RECEIVE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Authors: Hazell P. B. R. , Jaramillo M. , Williamson A.
Published: November 2008

World prices for agricultural commodities are traditionally unstable, but they were particularly turbulent during the late 1970s and early 1980s. This paper uses available post‐War data on individual commodity prices to test whether world price instability is increasing, and to examine its impact on the prices producers receive in developing countries. It is found that the recent turbulence was more a statistical fluke than the beginning of any longer‐term increase in market instability. Further, while the variability in world prices has been almost entirely transmitted to developing countries in the dollar value of their export unit values, it has not been fully transmitted to average producer prices. Real exchange rates, domestic marketing arrangements and government intervention have acted to buffer price movements for producers in many developing countries.
AGRICULTURAL PRICE POLICY, FOOD AID AND INPUT SUBSIDY REFORMS IN BURKINA FASO
Authors: Roth M. J. , Abbott P. C.
Published: November 2008

This paper examines the agrarian decline in Burkina Faso that prompted structural adjustment reforms by the World Bank and the IMF in the early 1980s. Official interventions in the cereals, cotton and fertiliser sectors are examined, and an analysis made of regional impacts of the proposed reforms on producers and consumers. Counter‐factual simulations with a multi‐region, multi‐commodity agricultural sector model are used to evaluate three policies: eliminating input subsidies, increasing official market commodity prices, and reducing food aid imports. Model results show that these reforms would improve agricultural‐sector performance, but depend on cotton exports to pay for fertiliser, contrary to government self‐sufficiency objectives. Relaxing capacity constraints on official marketing operations would also need to be eliminated to achieve reform objectives.
FARM HOUSEHOLD STRATEGIES AND PLURIACTIVITY IN UPLAND SCOTLAND
Authors: Shucksmith D. M. , Smith R.
Published: November 2008

This paper considers how farm households in Grampians, an upland area of Scotland, are adapting to changing economic and political pressures. Most farms in the area are family farms, and such farm households are being exhorted to diversify their sources of income and to reduce their reliance on agriculture. Based on surveys in 1988 and 1989, this study finds, to the contrary, that only a small proportion of farmers has been reducing reliance on agricultural sources of income, and few anticipate a declining share of their household income to come from farming. Most farmers are loathe to undertake ancillary non‐agricultural occupations because of the lower status implied; and farmers in the study area are found to have a very poor understanding of the broad policy context within which they produce. The paper also confirms the finding of other studies that off‐farm employment of household members makes a significant contribution to farm household income; and the nature of such pluriactivity and of pluriactive farm households in the area is reviewed.
LINEAR PROGRAMMING ANALYSIS OF CONSTRAINTS UPON HUMAN DIETS
Authors: Henson S.
Published: November 2008

This paper applies linear programming cost‐minimisation models to the analysis of human diets. The models incorporate considerations of nutritional and non‐nutritional factors in diet choice in order to assess the impact of adopting dietary guidelines upon the cost of nutrition‐only and palatable diets. The dual prices yielded by the models are used to estimate the total cost of meeting requirements for separate nutrients in diets for different population groups. Sensitivity analysis is then used to derive marginal cost curves for changes in the supply of nutrients covered by the dietary guidelines. The cost and composition of ‘healthy’ human diets contrast markedly with the results of past studies and indicate that economic constraints upon dietary guideline adoption are limited.
THE INFLUENCE OF RISK AVERSION ON THE UPTAKE OF SET‐ASIDE: A MOTAD AND CRP APPROACH
Authors: Hope J. , Lingard J.
Published: November 2008

This paper applies MOTAD and CRP models to the farm set‐aside decision and presents a framework for analysis which examines the influence of risk on the land‐idling decision. The results suggest that set‐aside payment at a rate of £180‐£200 per hectare would be attractive only at relatively high levels of risk aversion on an East Anglian specialist cereal farm and with moderate risk aversion on a Northumberland mixed farm. However, at identical levels of risk aversion, the area set aside was greater on the East Anglian farm. A survey to ascertain farmers' risk: income weightings is suggested as a useful adjunct to this work.
FACTORS AFFECTING FERTILIZER ADOPTION IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: AN APPLICATION OF MULTIVARIATE LOGISTIC ANALYSIS IN MALAŴI
Authors: Green D. A. G. , Ng'ong‘ola D. H.
Published: November 2008

Fertilizer is one of the critical inputs used in improving smallholder food and agricultural productivity in Malaŵi. However, analytical studies to identify factors influencing fertilizer adoption have so far never been conducted in Malaŵi and effects of policy changes relating to fertilizer adoption appear to be assessed subjectively. In this paper, a logit model is employed to identify the main factors influencing fertilizer use in farms surveyed in the Lilongwe Rural Development Project. In descending order, crop, farming system, crop variety, credit access, income from off‐farm employment and regular labour are the main factors influencing fertilizer adoption, thus, policies impinging on these variables would be expected to have most effect on the number of fertilizer adopters, especially wholly subsistence and groundnut cash‐crop farmers most of whom use no fertilizer at present.
MORE ON WELFARE GAINS TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES FROM LIBERALIZING WORLD FOOD TRADE
Authors: Anderson K. , Tyers R.
Published: November 2008

The common presumption that food‐importing developing countries would be harmed by a liberalization of world food trade is questioned in this paper. Both theory and new empirical modelling evidence suggest the possibility of the opposite conclusion. Even if just advanced industrial countries were to liberalize their food trade, the present empirical analysis (using a model of world food markets) suggests that economic welfare and net foreign exchange earnings from food trade could improve for the vast majority of developing countries. The extent to which that gain would be greater if developing countries also were to liberalize their policies affecting food markets is shown as well. The analysis helps to reconcile differences between previous results using partial‐equilibrium models and those derived from computable general equilibrium models.
INPUT‐OUTPUT FORECASTING OF REGIONAL AGRICULTURAL POLICY IMPACTS
Authors: Midmore P.
Published: November 2008

Input‐output coefficients and multipliers based upon them are increasingly being used to evaluate the impact of changes in agricultural policies, yet there are a number of specific difficulties with regard to their use in this context. This paper articulates various criticisms which can be made, and tests their validity by comparing multiplier forecasts with out‐turns from a series of eight input‐output tables describing the Welsh agricultural sector. The predictive performance deteriorates rapidly as the time between base matrix and forecast year increases; more attention needs to be paid to the forecasting of final demand, spill‐over effects into other sectors, and the functional relationship between labour input and gross output.
PARTICIPATION OF FARM OWNERS IN FARM AND OFF‐FARM WORK INCLUDING THE OPTION OF FULL‐TIME OFF‐FARM WORK
Authors: Kimhi A.
Published: November 2008

The option of working full‐time off the farm is generally neglected in farmers' time allocation studies. In this paper, a generalised multinomial logit model, in which the choices are working only on the farm, allocating the time between farm and off‐farm work, or working only off‐farm, is estimated using Israeli data. The results show that the explanatory variables have significantly different effects on utility for off‐farm workers who also work on the farm versus those who do not. There seem to be incentives to work full time rather than part time off the farm. These conclusions cannot be reached if farm owners who do not work on the farm are excluded from the estimation. The conclusions imply that policy intended to encourage pluriactivity could instead result in increased specialisation in full‐time farm work or full‐time off‐farm work if it does not target the right incentives.
ETHICS AND EXTERNALITIES: AGRICULTURAL STEWARDSHIP AND OTHER BEHAVIOUR: PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Authors: Colman David
Published: November 2008

Neo classical micro‐economic theory of the firm and household rests on the foundations of profit maximising and utility maximising behaviour respectively. This paper explores the issue of whether market efficiency can be improved when economic agents' behaviour is motivated by ethical objectives such as fairness and altruism. In particular the paper examines agricultural stewardship as an ethically motivated form of behaviour, which is profit sacrificing, but which improves economic efficiency by reducing environmental externalities. The paper also reiterates the limitations of Pareto optimality as a criterion of economic welfare because its rejection of interpersonal welfare comparisons rules out ethical considerations of income and wealth distribution.
TURNING FARMERS INTO FORESTERS VIA MARKET LIBERALISATION
Authors: Lloyd Tim , Watkins Charles , Williams Daniel
Published: November 2008

Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and public concern over the environment have brought woodland into the public eye as an environment‐friendly alternative land use in British agriculture. Survey evidence indicates that whilst it is the inadequacy of the returns from woodland that acts as the principal deterrent to planting, there are also a number of other factors that discourage woodland adoption. Of these, the perceived lack of flexibility that is associated with woodland figures highly. In part, loss of flexibility occurs due to the strength of controls such as felling licences and Tree Preservation Orders that restrict the conversion of woodland back to agricultural land. This paper develops a simple comparative static model of the way in which such restrictions impact on the allocation and price of woodland vis‐à‐vis agricultural land. Where felling controls are in operation they may reduce as well as preserve the area of woodland, and retard the efficacy of financial incentives. In this light, policymakers may do well to abolish felling restrictions on new woodland (possibly in conjunction with enhanced woodland incentives generally) if expansion of the wooded area is an explicit objective of future agricultural policy.
AN INVESTIGATION OF TECHNICAL INEFFICIENCIES OF PRODUCTION OF WHEAT FARMERS IN FOUR DISTRICTS OF PAKISTAN
Authors: Battese George E. , Malik Sohail J. , Gill Manzoor A.
Published: November 2008

A new, single stage model for estimating technical inefficiencies of production in a stochastic frontier production function is applied in the analysis of panel data on wheat farmers in selected districts of Pakistan. The technical inefficiency effects are highly significant, implying that the traditional production function model is inadequate for the analysis of wheat production of the four districts involved. In the district of Faisalabad, for example, technical inefficiencies of production tend to be smaller for older farmers and those with greater formal schooling. In addition, the levels of wheat production for farmers in Faisalabad tend to approach their potential frontier production levels over time, although there is no evidence of technical change. The technical efficiencies of the wheat farmers show considerable variation over time within each district, such that the mean technical efficiencies range from 57 per cent to 79 per cent in the four districts.
THE BENEFITS OF SHARE CONTRACTS: SOME EUROPEAN RESULTS
Authors: Petersson Johan , Andersson Hans
Published: November 2008

Less restricted trade may enhance demand for efficient risk management practices. Risk sharing arrangements have traditionally served the purpose of managing risk in agriculture. In this paper the set of share contract allocations defining the contract curve between tenant and landlord are derived analytically. An empirical example is provided for specialised crop farms in the presence of price, yield and input cost risk. The analysis is extended to a principal‐agent model where the money metric value of an optimal share contract is examined for some European farms. The optimal share ratio is estimated to be 68–72 per cent. The money metric value of the contract amounts to 30–80 per cent of the fixed rental rate.
OLD ECONOMICS FOR NEW PROBLEMS ‐LIVESTOCK DISEASE: PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Authors: Mclnerney John
Published: November 2008

The strength and credibility of agricultural economics analysis, and especially ‘production economics,’ stem from its clear links with identifiable technical processes and commonly‐confronted decisions about resource use. Despite its importance as a serious imperfection in livestock production, the phenomenon of disease has not been widely explored within this analytical framework. This paper sets out to characterise animal disease as an economic problem and explore an economist's approach to what might otherwise be considered an essentially veterinary problem. Some basic models, rooted in conventional production economics, are proposed to illuminate the economic costs of disease and the conceptual basis for optimal strategies in disease control. A number of areas for further methodological and empirical development are put forward. As may be expected of Presidential Addresses to the Society, the paper encourages agricultural economists to pursue further work in this general area.
INSTITUTIONS AND MARKET DISTORTIONS: INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE FOR TOBACCO
Authors: Beghin John C. , Foster William E. , Kherallah Mylene
Published: November 2008

The link between institutional factors and agricultural protection levels is investigated using cross‐section time series data on three tobacco types. The analysis includes the presence of monopsonistic marketing agencies, political institutions, and the feasibility of tax revenue collection and diversification. Protection increases with economic development and with well functioning direct taxation systems, but tends to be lower in the most advanced pluralistic democracies. The presence of strong anti‐smoking interest groups seems to galvanise the lobbying effort of tobacco farmers — higher protection is associated with that presence.
AGRICULTURAL POLICIES IN OECD COUNTRIES: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM POLITICAL ECONOMY MODELS?
Authors: Brooks Jonathan
Published: November 2008

The ability of the political economy literature to explain agricultural policies in OECD countries is reviewed, with a view to discerning how positive theories of protection can inform normative policy analysis. Recognition of the endogeneity of agricultural policy is seen to serve three important functions. First, it lays bare the fundamental constraints under which policymakers operate. Second, it implies a revision of the traditional calculus of welfare effects. Third, it may help reduce Downsian “rational ignorance” with respect to both policy causes and policy consequences. Whilst the literature suffers from practical limitations, political economy insights may form the basis for interdisciplinary research into the effects of procedural reform.
CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR REDUCTIONS IN THE RISK OF FOOD POISONING IN THE UK
Authors: Henson Spencer
Published: November 2008

The paper employs contingent valuation to estimate “willingness to pay” for reductions in the risk of food poisoning. The analysis accounts for the range of adverse health effects resulting from nonfatal cases of food poisoning as well as the risk of loss of life. A number of hypotheses regarding the value consumers attach to improvements in food safety are explored based on the results from a contingent valuation survey. Regression analysis is used to assess the factors influencing expressed “willingness to pay” for safer food, including demographic factors, personal experience of food poisoning and beliefs and attitudes about food‐borne risk.
LAND HETEROGENEITY AND THE MAY 1992 REFORM OF CAP CEREAL PRICE SUPPORT
Authors: Fraser Rob
Published: November 2008

This paper assesses the impact of the partial switch from price support towards compensatory payments of the May 1992 CAP cereal reform in the context of heterogeneous land quality. Two characteristics of land quality are identified: expected yield per hectare and the variability of yield per hectare. It is shown that the impact of the CAP reform on expected cereal income and the variability of cereal income is positive or negative depending on the level of each of these characteristics respectively. In particular, farmers with land which is both relatively low and unreliably yielding benefit from the CAP reform, while those with land which is both relatively high and reliably yielding lose from the CAP reform. The implications of these findings for the allocation of land between crops and livestock and the selling price of agricultural land are discussed.
Screening, Competition and the Choice of the Cooperative as an Organisational Form
Authors: Hendrikse George W. J.
Published: November 2008

Cooperatives are distinguished from investor‐owned firms by different decision‐making processes. A model is developed in which more cumbersome decision making by cooperatives may be compensated for by improved decision making. Conditions are derived under which cooperatives become efficient organisational forms. It is also shown that circumstances exist in which investor‐owned firms and cooperatives can coexist in equilibrium. Finally, circumstances are identified in which competition results in a prisoners dilemma which comprises investor‐owned firms only. Favourable public policy treatment of cooperatives may prevent this equilibrium outcome from occurring.
Productivity of New York Dairy Farms Measured by Nonparametric Malmquist Indices
Authors: Tauer Loren W.
Published: November 2008

The productivity of 70 individual New York dairy farms, decomposed into technical efficiency change and technological change components, was measured annually from 1985 to 1993 from output distance functions estimated using nonparametric programming methods. Technology is measured regressively only if it is regressive to all previous periods rather than just the immediate previous period. Productivity increase averaged 2.6 per cent annually, mostly from gains in technological improvements, since average efficiency decreased slightly. Twenty‐five per cent of the farms failed to increase productivity sufficiently over the period to offset the decreased ratio of output to input prices.
Auctions as a Means of Creating a Market for Public Goods from Agriculture
Authors: Latacz‐Lohmann Uwe , Van der Hamsvoort Carel P. C. M.
Published: November 2008

The paper looks at the possibility of creating a market for environmental goods and services in the countryside by awarding conservation contracts to farmers on the basis of competitive bidding. Auctions have several theoretical advantages over alternative allocation mechanisms (such as standard‐rate payments) because they allow the participants to deal with informational asymmetries and the uncertainty about the value of the (non‐market) goods being traded. A formal model of bidding behaviour in ‘green auctions’ shows that bidding strategies are determined by the individual farmers' costs of implementing the conservation contracts and their beliefs about the maximum acceptable payment level, making the auction an imperfect cost revelation mechanism. Auctions can reduce the information rents accruing to farmers and can increase the cost‐effectiveness of public goods provision. Strategic bidding behaviour in multiple‐signup auctions as well as high transaction costs are potential sources of reduced efficiency.
Productivity in Chinese Provincial Agriculture
Authors: Lambert David K. , Parker Elliott
Published: November 2008

Technical change, technical efficiency and multifactor productivity indices are reported for a multiple‐output, multiple‐input production technology using Chinese provincial data for the 1979‐95 period. Results show significant variation in productivity change from year to year and province to province. Using panel methods, we regress the three production indices on several factors important in explaining productivity changes. Decollectivisation in the early 1980s accounts for a significant expansion of the frontier, while rural industrialisation decreased agricultural productivity. Productivity is also sensitive to relative grain prices, to natural disasters such as flood and drought, and proximity of the provinces to coastal areas.
USE OF PULSE‐AMPLITUDE‐MODULATED FLUORESCENCE TO ASSESS THE PHYSIOLOGICAL STATUS OFCLADOPHORASP. ALONG A WATER QUALITY GRADIENT1
Authors: Hiriart‐Baer Véronique P. , Arciszewski Tim J. , Malkin Sairah Y. , Guildford Stephanie J. , Hecky Robert E.
Published: November 2008

This study investigated the application of pulse‐amplitude‐modulated (PAM) fluorometry as a rapid assessment of benthic macroalgal physiological status. Maximum quantum efficiency (Fv/Fm), dark–light induction curves, and rapid fluorescence light‐response curves (RLC) were measured on the filamentous macroalgalCladophorasp. from Lake Ontario on 5 d at 16 sites spanning a gradient of light and nutrient supply. ForCladophorasp. growing in situ, light limitation was assessed by comparing average daily irradiance with the light utilization efficiency parameter (α) derived from RLCs. In this study, there was a nonlinear relationship betweenFv/Fmand the degree of P limitation in macroalgae. However, only light‐saturatedCladophorasp. showed a significant positive linear relationship betweenFv/Fmand P nutrient status. The absence of this relationship among light‐limited algae indicates that their photosynthetic rate would be stimulated by increased water clarity, and not by increased P supply. PAM fluorescence measures were successfully able to identify light‐saturated macroalgae and, among these, assess the degree to which they were nutrient limited. These results enable us to test hypotheses arising from numeric models predicting the impact of changes in light penetration and nutrient supply on benthic primary production.
Barriers to Neglect and Self‐Neglect Research
Authors: Fulmer Terry
Published: November 2008

Neglect is proportionally the largest category for adult protective services referrals, yet there is a dearth of science that generates appropriate guidelines for the detection and intervention of neglect cases. Despite implementation of mandatory reporting laws and models for appropriate responding to elder neglect, there remain challenges to research in this field. These challenges include diagnosis, recruitment, retention, attrition, research language, obtaining informed consent, and many other obstacles that impede the progression of research in elder self‐neglect. Despite these impediments, much‐needed research continues, and new ways of addressing these challenges are being developed.
Elder Self‐Neglect and the Justice System: An Essay from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Authors: Connolly Marie‐Therese
Published: November 2008

Elder self‐neglect is a complex issue for the legal system—one not always easily distinguished from other types of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The issue inherently implicates several disciplines, and although self‐neglect is not prosecuted per se, prosecutions of other types of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation may affect self‐neglect as well. In addition, other types of legal intervention, such as guardianship actions, may serve to protect vulnerable older people, but it is critical to ensure that such interventions do not inappropriately infringe on the older person's civil liberties or result in exploitation or worse. There are daunting challenges to doing work in this field—death; ageism; medical, legal, and ethical complexities; and a chronic paucity of funding. It is nevertheless imperative that researchers expand their efforts to elucidate the nature and scope of elder self‐neglect; its interplay with other forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation; and the most effective mechanisms for intervention and prevention. Such efforts, and in particular interdisciplinary approaches to these common problems, are critical to improving care for the nation's older people and assisting millions of families and practitioners.
Exploring Self‐Neglect in Older Adults: Preliminary Findings of the Self‐Neglect Severity Scale and Next Steps
Authors: Kelly P. Adam , Dyer Carmel B. , Pavlik Valory , Doody Rachelle , Jogerst Gerald
Published: November 2008

Despite the public health implications of self‐neglect, no tool exists for characterizing this condition. Self‐neglecters often have no caregivers or surrogates to interview regarding the neglect and are often too cognitively impaired to provide valid self‐reports. In response to this need, researchers from the Consortium for Research in Elder Self‐neglect of Texas (CREST) collaborated with other experts in the field of elder self‐neglect to design the Self‐neglect Severity Scale (SSS). The SSS assesses three domains of self‐neglect (hygiene, functioning, and environment) and relies on observational ratings assigned by trained observers. After pilot testing and revision, the SSS was field tested in the homes of subjects who had been reported to and substantiated by Texas Adult Protective Services (APS) as self‐neglecting and compared with results of subjects recruited from a local geriatric clinic who were reported to APS but had no history of self‐neglect.

The first field test demonstrated that the SSS could distinguish elderly self‐neglecters from community dwellers who do not self‐neglect. The SSS exhibited adequate scale reliability (Cronbach alpha) and correlation with case status. Interrater reliability also appeared adequate, although sensitivity and specificity fell below the conventional acceptable range. Future methods are proposed for refining the SSS to improve its use as the benchmark for identifying elder self‐neglect.
Does Poorer Familiarity with Medicare Translate into Worse Access to Health Care?
Authors: Morgan Robert O. , Teal Cayla R. , Hasche Jennifer C. , Petersen Laura A. , Byrne Margaret M. , Paterniti Debora A. , Virnig Beth A.
Published: November 2008

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between a global measure of Medicare program familiarity and a broad set of measures of actual and perceived healthcare access.

DESIGN: Mailed survey in fall of 2004 (2,997 completed surveys; 53% response rate).

SETTING: Metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas across the United States.

PARTICIPANTS: White, black, and Hispanic Medicare beneficiaries.

MEASUREMENTS: Familiarity with Medicare and self‐reported measures of health status, healthcare use, and perceived access to care.

RESULTS: Reported poorer familiarity with Medicare is associated with a greater likelihood of delayed care due to cost, multiple emergency department visits, lack of prescription medication use, poorer perceived access to care, poorer overall health, and a greater reported decline in health from the prior year. Black and Hispanic respondents were more likely to be unfamiliar than whites, although the relationship between familiarity and healthcare access persisted after adjusting for race or ethnicity, Medicare health plan enrollment status, supplemental insurance status, age, sex, income level, education, geographic area, and general healthcare use.

CONCLUSION: Poorer familiarity with Medicare may affect beneficiaries' ability to access needed care effectively, may lead them to delay or avoid seeking care, and ultimately may have negatively affect the quality of the health care that they receive and their outcomes.
Applying molecular immunohematology discoveries to standards of practice in blood banks: now is the time
Authors: Denomme Gregory A. , Flegel Willy A.
Published: November 2008

Lessons from more than 100 years of immunohematology exemplify that many critical discoveries were made serendipitously and their more rapid implementation could have benefited transfusion recipients and pregnancies. Constituents of blood that are not essential for the attempted therapeutic benefit of a transfusion are largely removed from today's blood products. We are now moving on to avoid unnecessary exposure to potentially harmful constituents of the therapeutically required cells, like blood group antigens that are foreign to the patient. Cost efficacy needs to be kept in mind but may eventually prove much better than anticipated, once hidden benefits are captured, as we show by examples from past immunohematologic developments. Here, we detail clinical applications for molecular immunohematology advances including “dry‐matching” that will improve transfusion outcomes and argue for their widespread implementation by rapid timelines through standards of practice.
Associations between West Nile virus infection and symptoms reported by blood donors identified through nucleic acid test screening
Authors: Custer Brian , Kamel Hany , Kiely Nancy E. , Murphy Edward L. , Busch Michael P.
Published: November 2008

BACKGROUND: Blood collected in the United States and Canada is screened for West Nile virus (WNV) using nucleic acid testing (NAT). The role that donor‐reported symptoms of infection disclosed at or shortly after donation may play in enhancing blood safety has been debated. Little data are available on subsequent manifestations of WNV‐specific disease outcomes in viremic donors.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Donors with initially reactive NAT results were informed by telephone and asked to complete symptom interviews. The questionnaires are focused on three time periods: the week before, the day of, and the 2 weeks after donation. Symptoms and risk factors were compared between confirmed‐positive and false‐positive donors (classified based on confirmatory NAT and serology). Additional analyses comparing confirmed‐positive symptomatic and asymptomatic donors were conducted.

RESULTS: A total of 423 of 536 initially reactive donors were interviewed between 2003 and 2006: 292 confirmed‐positive for WNV and 131 false‐positive. Individual symptoms were not significant predictors of WNV infection, except skin rash in the week before donation (odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2‐7.9) and body aches in the period after donation (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.1‐7.4). Specific combinations of symptoms were not good predictors of infection, but donors with three or more concurrent symptoms before donation were more likely to have WNV infection (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.2‐5.1). Demographic characteristics, predonation symptoms, and serology profiles in confirmed‐positive donors did not predict postdonation symptom severity. Thirty‐five confirmed‐positive donors (12%) sought medical care for WNV infection, with two hospitalizations, but no cases of neuroinvasive disease.

CONCLUSION: The number rather than type of symptoms is associated with confirmed WNV infection, but the overall predictive value is low. Very few infected donors develop clinically significant disease.
Arrhythmogenic Potential of Pulmonary Venous Tissue: Triggers for Atrial Fibrillation Identified within the Remnant of a Vein
Authors: DIXIT SANJAY , SAUER WILLIAM H. , CALLANS DAVID J. , MARCHLINSKI FRANCIS E.
Published: November 2008

Background:
Pulmonary veins (PVs) have frequently been identified as triggers for atrial fibrillation (AF), and higher arrhythmogenic potential of superior PVs has been attributed to their larger size, which can more rigorously support abnormalities of impulse formation and/or conduction.

Case Report:
Contrary to this belief, we report our observations in a 63‐year‐old patient with history of lung cancer, S/P left upper lobectomy, undergoing ablation for paroxysmal AF. Circular mapping (Lasso) and ablation (ABL; 8‐mm) catheters were deployed in left atrium (LA). Intracardiac ultrasound revealed separate right superior (RS) and inferior (RI) PVs and a single left PV. Segmented LA anatomy from the CT angiogram images corroborated this, although on the latter there appeared to be a “stump” at superior aspect of the left PV. This stump likely was the remnant of the left superior (LS) PV. Thus, the patent left vein was likely the dilated left inferior (LI) PV. With the Lasso and ABL deployed at the LIPV ostium and LSPV remnant, respectively, AF was reproducibly seen to initiate with earliest activity in the latter. Single radio‐frequency ablation (RFA) lesion within the LSPV remnant abolished AF triggers. Additional RFA was done to isolate LI, RS, and RI PVs. Over a follow‐up period of 24 months, this patient has remained free from AF off any drugs.

Conclusions:
Our observations suggest that even very proximal remnants of PVs can serve as triggers for AF. Recognition of this phenomenon was facilitated by the use of advanced imaging technique and the deployment of multiple catheters.
Clinical Experience with a Single Catheter for Mapping and Ablation of Pulmonary Vein Ostium
Authors: DE FILIPPO PAOLO , HE DING SHENG , BRAMBILLA ROBERTA , GAVAZZI ANTONELLO , CANTÙ FRANCESCO
Published: November 2008

Introduction:
The aim of this single center study is to evaluate the safety and the efficacy of performing pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using a single high‐density mesh ablator (HDMA) catheter.

Methods:
A total of 17 consecutive patients with paroxysmal (10 patients) or persistent atrial fibrillation (7 patients) and no heart disease were enrolled. A single transseptal puncture was performed and the HDMA was placed at each PV ostium identified with anatomic and electrophysiological mapping. Pulsed radiofrequency (RF) energy was delivered at the targeted temperature of 58°C with maximum power of 80 watts. No other ablation system was utilized. The primary objective of the study was acute isolation of the targeted PV, and the secondary objective was clinical efficacy and safety of PVI with HDMA for atrial fibrillation (AF) prevention. Patients were followed at intervals of 1, 3, 6, and 12 months.

Results:
PVI was attempted with HDMA in 67/67 PVs. [Correction made after online publication October 27, 2008: PVs changed from 6/67 to 67/67] Acute success rate were: 100% (16/16) for left superior PV, 100% (16/16) for left inferior PV, 100% (17/17) for right superior PV, 100% (1/1) for left common trunk and 47% (8/17) for right inferior PV. Total procedure time was 200 ± 36 minutes (range 130–240 minutes) and total fluoroscopy time was 42 ± 18 minutes (range 23–75 minutes). During a mean follow‐up of 11 ± 4 months, 64% of patients remained in sinus rhythm (8/10 paroxysmal AF and 3/7 for persistent AF). No complications occurred either acutely or at follow‐up.

Conclusions:
PV isolation with HDMA is feasible and safe. The midterm efficacy in maintaining sinus rhythm is higher in paroxysmal than in persistent patients.