New from IFPRI on infrastructure and trade

Market integration in Mozambique

Indira Yerramareddy — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:21:37 -0400

A well-integrated market system is central to a well-functioning market economy (Dercon, 1995). As production decisions are based on observed prices, the most efficient allocation of resources would come about when prices represent scarcity conditions. In other words, a large network of markets connected by fast and efficient arbitrage is needed in order to exploit spatial comparative advantages (Fackler and Goodwin, 2001).

PDF file:

mozsspwp4.pdf(826.1KB)

Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard

Indira Yerramareddy — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:20:41 -0400

Recent food safety events have raised concerns about food traceability in both developed and developing countries. In this paper we study the decision to adopt a traceability system in a supply chain with repeated upstream and downstream moral hazard and imperfect consumer monitoring. In deciding whether to maintain information regarding product origin, firms face a trade-off. On one hand, the downstream firm’s threat to punish upstream shirking is more credible when products are traceable to their firm of origin.

A model of labeling with horizontal differentiation and cost variability

Collective reputation, social norms, and participation

Scaling up agricultural value chains for pro-poor development

Scaling up agricultural supply chains in the private sector

PDF file:

ifpridp01211.pdf(756.4KB)

Should private storage be subsidized to stabilize agricultural markets after price support schemes are removed?

Indira Yerramareddy — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:48:01 -0400

Currently, there is increased focus on the methods in which public interventions stabilize agricultural markets. The subsidization of private storage is one of the options advocated. However, the efficiency of such an instrument is still being discussed and has not yet been explored in the context of imperfect information. Nevertheless, this is one of the potential sources of market fluctuations and one of the arguments in favor of a public intervention on agricultural markets.

When speculation matters

Price, inventories, and volatility in the global wheat market

Managing price volatility in an open economy environment

Food-Security Risks Must Be Comprehensively Addressed

PDF file:

ifpridp01205.pdf(1.1MB)

Tracking the 2012 G20

Sara Gustafson — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 11:34:01 -0400

Food insecurity poses a daunting challenge to the G20’s goals of global economic growth and development. The impacts of high and volatile food prices in 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 remain widely visible, as seen during the 2011 Horn of Africa food crisis. Since 2001, commodity price volatility has been at its highest level in 50 years. This volatility can serve to reduce investments in agriculture, discourage long-term planning, reduce agricultural productivity, and decrease global food stocks.

Improving Agricultural Growth Critical to Global Food Security

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:11:13 -0400

With a growing global population and rising incomes, global collaboration is urgently needed to ensure sustainable agricultural growth and food security. The issue of food security and development was first taken up at the 2010 G20 Summit in Seoul, with the 2011 G20 Action Plan providing further commitment to the goals of sustainable agricultural development. (For further information on the action items resulting from the 2011 G20 Summit, visit the Food Security Portal.)

Financial reforms and international trade

Indira Yerramareddy — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:54:19 -0400

This research has been undertaken to estimate the effects of one of the major impediments to trade particularly of developing and less developed countries meaning credit constraints. In this paper we address the issue of easing of financial constraints on trade flows. Financial repression is generally a common characteristic across many developing countries. We provide evidence that financial reforms (over the period 1976–2005) significantly affected exports, in particular of industries with high external capital dependence and low asset tangibility.

The macroeconomic impacts of Chinese currency appreciation on China and the rest of world

Economic statecraft in China’s new overseas special economic zones

How prudent are rural households in developing transition economies

PDF file:

ifpridp01182.pdf(1.8MB)

Land institutions, investments, and income diversification

Indira Yerramareddy — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:09:25 -0400

Efforts to distribute land titles to low-income rural Afro-Brazilian communities, known as quilombos, have been disappointing despite the provision of ample government resources. Until now, research on the implications of Brazil‟s land reform policies has not considered quilombo communities in an economic context. The unique case of the quilombo communities provides an interesting context to advance the understanding of the role of land titles in rural income generation.

Brazil

Public agricultural research in Latin America and the Caribbean

The role of emerging countries in global food security

PDF file:

ifpridp01179.pdf(546.4KB)

Do marketing margins change with food scares?

Indira Yerramareddy — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:05:24 -0400

This paper examines the impact of food scares on marketing margins in the US beef and pork industry. We analyze how market stresses induced by different food recalls and disease outbreaks affect price margins and the extent of price transmission at the slaughter-to-wholesale and wholesale-to-retail levels. We use monthly data for the period 1986–2008.

Intercommodity price transmission and food price policies

Urgent actions needed to prevent recurring food crises

Assessing the livelihood impacts of a livestock disease outbreak

Local impacts of a global crisis

PDF file:

ifpridp01104.pdf(1.1MB)

Assessing the Impact of Increased Global Food Prices on the Poor

Sara Gustafson — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:03:05 -0400

The global food crisis of 2007–08 was characterized by a sharp spike in the prices of most agricultural commodities, including staple grains. High world prices were transmitted to domestic markets, eroding the purchasing power of urban households and particularly the poor. In dozens of countries, high prices sparked demonstrations and riots. A number of countries, including Argentina, India, Russia, and Vietnam, responded by restricting rice and wheat exports in an attempt to keep domestic prices from rising.

Price, inventories, and volatility in the global wheat market

Indira Yerramareddy — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:09:21 -0400

The study estimates a conditional mean model for international wheat prices and inventories. Endogenous price volatility and exogenous shocks in the price and inventory series are controlled for in estimation. Redressing the empirical linkage between volatility, prices, and inventories is important because volatility increases returns to inventories, which in turn may imply prices.

PDF file:

ifpridp00996.pdf(623.8KB)

Examining the dynamic relationship between spot and future prices of agricultural commodities

Indira Yerramareddy — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:46:18 -0400

This study examines the dynamic relationship between spot and futures prices of agricultural commodities. We first briefly discuss what the non-arbitrage and asset pricing theory has to say about the relationship between spot and futures markets. Next, using recent price data for corn, wheat, and soybeans, we perform Granger causality tests to empirically uncover the direction of information flows between spot and futures prices. Linear as well as nonlinear (nonparametric) causality tests are conducted on both spot and futures returns and their volatility.

PDF file:

ifpridp00988.pdf(1.7MB)

A picture of tariff protection across the World in 2004

Indira Yerramareddy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:10:59 -0400

MAcMap-HS6v2 is a comprehensive database providing detailed protection data at the 6 digit level of the harmonized system (HS6), i.e. more than 5000 products, for the year 2004. It includes ad valorem equivalents on MFN tariffs for 169 importing countries, as well as bilateral applied protection, together with preferential provisions for 220 partners. Specific and compound tariffs and tariff rate quotasdata are also provided, at the same level of detail.

PDF file:

ifpridp00903.pdf(5.2MB)

Does Africa trade less than it should, and if so, why?

admin — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:00:00 -0400

This paper addresses the question of whether Africa is an undertrading continent. We answer this question using a much-improved data set for obtaining predicted trade and by employing methods that correct for bias in estimates of undertrading. Our results indicate that globally Africa is an underexporter in our preferred Heckman specification. This result is robust to the addition of various controls and the application of variants of the gravity model of trade. We also looked for explanations for Africa’s undertrading.

The marginalization of Africa in world trade

PDF file:

ifpridp00770.pdf(387.4KB)

The marginalization of Africa in world trade

admin — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:00:00 -0400

In recent years, trade in Africa has assumed greater importance as a means of alleviating poverty, especially since the initiation of the Doha Round for development. At the same time, skepticism regarding the effectiveness of foreign aid has grown (Easterly 2006). Trade and aid have often been viewed as interchangeable, but “aid for trade” has recently gained prominence, with the result that the two factors are more often treated as complementary.

Does Africa trade less than it should, and if so, why?

PDF file:

rb07.pdf(223.6KB)

Information and communication technologies for development and poverty reduction

admin — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 11:00:00 -0400

The variety of views about ICTs reveals that their role in development is unclear, especially without convincing evidence of their impact-and little research has been conducted on the direct and indirect links between ICTs and poverty reduction. This book, addresses several pressing questions surrounding ICTs. How do ICTs affect economic development in low-income countries? How do they affect poor people in these countries and in rural areas in particular? What policies and programs facilitate their potential to enhance development and the inclusion of poor constituents?

Information and communication technologies for the poor

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:00:00 -0400

This brief is based on Information and Communication Technologies for Development and Poverty Reduction: The Potential of Telecommunications, ed. Maximo Torero and Joachim von Braun (Johns Hopkins University Press and IFPRI, 2006)

Information and communication technologies for development and poverty reduction

PDF file:

ib40.pdf(505.6KB)