title: Organic label as an identifier of environmentally related quality: A consumer choice experiment on beef in Italy

authors: Zanoli, Raffaele

subjects: animal welfare

abstract: This paper uses a hypothetical choice experiment to investigate Italian consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for organic, conventional and genetically modified (GM)-fed beef, utilizing intrinsic, search cues (price, color and visible fat) and extrinsic, credence cues. Data are gathered from three different locations in northern, central and southern Italy using a sequential Bayesian approach. Results showed that consumers attach higher value to organic meat. WTP for GM-fed beef, which is not yet sold in Italy, is well below current conventional beef prices. Organic beef is attractive to consumers because it is associated with higher animal welfare standards and environment-related issues (food miles and biodiversity preservation). No differences are found in marginal WTP estimates by gender, age, education, being a parent or having a higher level of knowledge about organic production. Ethical/environmental issues (credence cues) appear to be more relevant in explaining variation in WTP for organic beef than ordinary product characteristics (search cues).

text: Organic label as an identifier of environmentally related quality: A consumer choice experiment on beef in Italy This paper uses a hypothetical choice experiment to investigate Italian consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for organic, conventional and genetically modified (GM)-fed beef, utilizing intrinsic, search cues (price, color and visible fat) and extrinsic, credence cues. Data are gathered from three different locations in northern, central and southern Italy using a sequential Bayesian approach. Results showed that consumers attach higher value to organic meat. WTP for GM-fed beef, which is not yet sold in Italy, is well below current conventional beef prices. Organic beef is attractive to consumers because it is associated with higher animal welfare standards and environment-related issues (food miles and biodiversity preservation). No differences are found in marginal WTP estimates by gender, age, education, being a parent or having a higher level of knowledge about organic production. Ethical/environmental issues (credence cues) appear to be more relevant in explaining variation in WTP for organic beef than ordinary product characteristics (search cues).

year: 2013

title: Institutions and uncertainty: An empirical investigation

authors: Ryan, Michael

subjects: thesis with publication

abstract: This thesis presents four papers on the role institutions (defined as Douglass North defined institutions) play in generating uncertainty. Specifically, we focus on how uncertainty changes as institutions change. The thesis is empirically focused. In answering our research questions, we employ, often in combination, tools from the ‘traditional’ econometric literature—in particular, structural vector autoregressions— and tools from the natural language processing literature.
Two of the papers in this thesis focus on New Zealand’s wide-ranging institutional reforms, which took place from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990. Drawing on the purpose Douglass North stated for institutions: ‘to reduce uncertainty in exchange’ (North, 1991a, p. 97), we argue that institutional reform is only successful if it lowers uncertainty. We find evidence that New Zealand’s reform lowered uncertainty in general (at least, from firms’ point of view), as well as uncertainty about tax and transfers. We also argue in this thesis that institutional change might affect not just the level of uncertainty but also its composition (in terms of the types of uncertainty experienced). Motivated by the ‘Mundellian trilemma’, we argue that if every monetary regime/ institutional setup is imperfect in its own way, then the types of
uncertainty associated with the regime will be idiosyncratic. Based on an analysis of a large corpus of historical newspaper articles, using natural language methods, we find the different monetary regimes adopted by the United States and the United Kingdom since 1890 are generally idiosyncratic in terms of the types of uncertainty they generate. In this thesis we also exploit the institutions—uncertainty link for another purpose: the identification of uncertainty shocks. A problem in research on the business cycle impact of uncertainty is finding movements in uncertainty that are plausibly exogenous to the business cycle (‘uncertainty shocks’). We narratively identify (using the New Zealand parliamentary record) a set of quarters where heightened uncertainty was the result of institutional or policy change, rather than the state of the business cycle. We use these quarters as instruments in a proxy structural vector autoregression to quantify the effect of uncertainty on output (amongst other variables). Comparing our results with the conventional recursive method for identifying uncertainty shocks, we find uncertainty shocks have a much larger impact on output. This suggests the estimates from the conventional recursive method suffer from attenuation bias.

text: Institutions and uncertainty: An empirical investigation This thesis presents four papers on the role institutions (defined as Douglass North defined institutions) play in generating uncertainty. Specifically, we focus on how uncertainty changes as institutions change. The thesis is empirically focused. In answering our research questions, we employ, often in combination, tools from the ‘traditional’ econometric literature—in particular, structural vector autoregressions— and tools from the natural language processing literature.
Two of the papers in this thesis focus on New Zealand’s wide-ranging institutional reforms, which took place from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990. Drawing on the purpose Douglass North stated for institutions: ‘to reduce uncertainty in exchange’ (North, 1991a, p. 97), we argue that institutional reform is only successful if it lowers uncertainty. We find evidence that New Zealand’s reform lowered uncertainty in general (at least, from firms’ point of view), as well as uncertainty about tax and transfers. We also argue in this thesis that institutional change might affect not just the level of uncertainty but also its composition (in terms of the types of uncertainty experienced). Motivated by the ‘Mundellian trilemma’, we argue that if every monetary regime/ institutional setup is imperfect in its own way, then the types of
uncertainty associated with the regime will be idiosyncratic. Based on an analysis of a large corpus of historical newspaper articles, using natural language methods, we find the different monetary regimes adopted by the United States and the United Kingdom since 1890 are generally idiosyncratic in terms of the types of uncertainty they generate. In this thesis we also exploit the institutions—uncertainty link for another purpose: the identification of uncertainty shocks. A problem in research on the business cycle impact of uncertainty is finding movements in uncertainty that are plausibly exogenous to the business cycle (‘uncertainty shocks’). We narratively identify (using the New Zealand parliamentary record) a set of quarters where heightened uncertainty was the result of institutional or policy change, rather than the state of the business cycle. We use these quarters as instruments in a proxy structural vector autoregression to quantify the effect of uncertainty on output (amongst other variables). Comparing our results with the conventional recursive method for identifying uncertainty shocks, we find uncertainty shocks have a much larger impact on output. This suggests the estimates from the conventional recursive method suffer from attenuation bias.

year: 2022

title: Development and care of pā harakeke in 19th century New Zealand: Voices from the past

authors: McAllum, Priscilla M

subjects: Raranga

abstract: Māori weaving is experiencing a resurgence. Some weavers are involved in the planting of pā harakeke so that they have a high quality resource on hand ready for use.  A number of recent scientific publications, undertaken jointly with weavers, have explored the unique fibre qualities of different harakeke varieties along with specific aspects of Māori use of these varieties. In this paper, I examine Māori planting practices of pā harakeke and other aspects of resource management as revealed in literature sources from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries.  Although some of the practices outlined here may have fallen into disuse over time, they may, nevertheless, continue to be appropriate for contemporary pā harakeke. It is hoped, therefore, that the information provided here will be of interest to contemporary weavers.

text: Development and care of pā harakeke in 19th century New Zealand: Voices from the past Māori weaving is experiencing a resurgence. Some weavers are involved in the planting of pā harakeke so that they have a high quality resource on hand ready for use.  A number of recent scientific publications, undertaken jointly with weavers, have explored the unique fibre qualities of different harakeke varieties along with specific aspects of Māori use of these varieties. In this paper, I examine Māori planting practices of pā harakeke and other aspects of resource management as revealed in literature sources from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries.  Although some of the practices outlined here may have fallen into disuse over time, they may, nevertheless, continue to be appropriate for contemporary pā harakeke. It is hoped, therefore, that the information provided here will be of interest to contemporary weavers.

year: 2005-02