Main Content
All Seminars are in Cook Office Building 55 Dudley Rd, room 118 at 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., unless noted.
Upcoming Seminars
Wednesday December 11, 2024 (12pm – 1pm)
Farmer Innovators: Assessing Policies that Support Multi-Actor Partnership in the Italian Agricultural Sector
Francesco Del Puente is a visiting scholar from Parthenope University of Naples in Italy.
Abstract: Innovation is shaping the boundaries of sectors of economies (C. Antoneli; 2003), particularly in agriculture, a sector that faces profoundly unique and complex challenges (FAO; 2022) requiring investment in uncertain scenarios (Mazzucato; 2015). The Common Agricultural Policies (CAP) support the innovation capacity of farmers by investing in the establishment of multi-actor arrangements (Garcia-Alvarez-Coque et al., 2021) between public and private organizations: the Operational Groups (OGs). Several EU reports emphasize the importance of OGs for spreading innovation and linking agriculture with other sectors. Literature analyzing case studies of OGs shows that farmers are active players in the design and implementation of innovative solutions. Few studies assess the impact of OGs due to the lack of data on innovations by OGs. This study analyses the role of different types of collaborations between actors in the production of innovations using an innovation production function framework. A major component of this work is collecting data on innovation using LLM techniques on OG projects in Italy. This analysis allows policymakers to highlight the most fruitful collaborations for farmers. In addition, results on farmers innovators, support the new direction of the CAP in its efforts for public investments in innovation in agriculture. About the Speaker: Del Puente’s Ph.D. in Economics focuses on Agricultural policies in collaboration with the Center of Research in Economic Agriculture (CREA-Italy). My research delves into knowledge transfer and innovation, evaluating select policies of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The core objective of my Ph.D. is to evaluate how innovation shapes taxonomies within the agricultural sector. I concentrate on evaluating the EIP-AGRI project implemented by specific CAP policies in the EU. In partnership with CREA and the University Federico II, I am involved in two projects concerning the construction of a dataset on Operational Groups in Italy and the evaluation of a specific innovation measuring the FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network ) database.
About the Speaker: Del Puente’s Ph.D. in Economics focuses on Agricultural policies in collaboration with the Center of Research in Economic Agriculture (CREA-Italy). My research delves into knowledge transfer and innovation, evaluating select policies of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The core objective of my Ph.D. is to evaluate how innovation shapes taxonomies within the agricultural sector. I concentrate on evaluating the EIP-AGRI project implemented by specific CAP policies in the EU. In partnership with CREA and the University Federico II, I am involved in two projects concerning the construction of a dataset on Operational Groups in Italy and the evaluation of a specific innovation measuring the FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network ) database.
Past Seminars
Wednesday November 20, 2024 (12pm – 1pm)
An Analysis of the Poultry Feed Supply Chains in India
Sanjib Bhuyan is a professor and at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Department of Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics.
Abstract: Driven by increasing consumer demand for poultry products, the Indian poultry industry has experienced rapid expansion over the past few decades. Poultry feed supply chains are crucial to sustaining this growth and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the industry. These feed supply chains influence the availability and affordability of poultry feed, directly impacting the industry’s productivity and efficiency. Understanding the complexities of these supply chains is therefore essential for addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities presented by this dynamic industry. This research attempts to address the noticeable gap in well-documented information about the structure and functioning of poultry feed supply chains in India. We also examine the strengths and weaknesses in these linkages by examining the key components of poultry feed supply chains across various regions of India. Our analysis reveals that India’s poultry feed industry is undergoing significant structural transformation through strategic integration and logistics management by market intermediaries. We also highlight the challenges faced by the poultry feed supply chains and offers recommendations for improvement in terms of infrastructure, technology adoption, collaboration, education, research and development, and policy support.
About the Speaker: Dr. Sanjib Bhuyan is a professor of agricultural economics and marketing in the Department of Agricultural, Food & Resource Economics at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. His areas of research and teaching is in the economics of food industries, with special focus on farmer cooperatives, food industry competitiveness, and food consumption behavior by adults and addresses various questions faced by the farmers, consumers, and other market participants as well as policy makers in the face of ever consolidated agri-food production and marketing environments. He has published numerous research articles in world’s leading agricultural/applied economics journals and authored or co-authored multiple book-chapters. Dr. Bhuyan is serving or has served as a member of the editorial board, as an associate editor, and a book review editor for several leading journals in agricultural/agribusiness economics, development economics, and management sciences. Additional details are available at https://sites.rutgers.edu/bhuyan/.
Friday, November 1, 2024 (2pm – 3pm)
Climate Smart Circular Bioeconomy: A Challenge and Opportunity for Agricultural Economics Departments
Professor David Zilberman holds the Robinson Chair at University of California, Berkeley.
Abstract: Zilberman’s research analyzes water, innovation, sustainability, agriculture, energy, and the environment. He has researched the economics and political economy of agricultural biotechnology and the potential of the bioeconomy.
About the Speaker: David Zilberman holds the Robinson Chair in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at UC Berkeley. He received the 2019 Wolf Prize in Agriculture and was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Science in 2019. He is also a Hagler fellow at Texas A&M University. A description of David’s work and career appears here.
Professor Zilberman served as the 2018-19 President of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA). He’s a fellow of AAEA, AERE, and EAERE. He has over 400 referenced journal articles ranging from Science to ARE-Update and has edited 30 books. In addition, he has served as a Consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, USDA, EU, the World Bank, FAO, MARS, BP, and others. David got a BA from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. from Berkeley. David co-founded the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program and is the academic director of the Berkeley MDP program.
Wednesday October 23,2024 (12pm – 1pm)
Are Two Heads Better than One? The impact of Cash Transfers and Couples’ Financial Planning on Household Dynamics and Economic Outcomes*
Dr. Daniel Maggio, Assistant Professor of Economics at Rutgers University, School of Arts and Sciences.
About the Speaker: Dan Maggio is an assistant professor in the economics department at Rutgers University. Dan is a development economist who primarily studies social protection programs, with emphasis on programs targeted toward women, intended to improve maternal and child health, or conducted in fragile- and conflict-affected settings. Dan received his PhD in Applied Economics from Cornell University in 2024.
Abstract: The receipt of large cash transfers by poor households creates a high-stakes resource allocation decision that has substantial economic implications and may lead to intrahousehold conflict. We conducted a randomized trial in rural Liberia, analyzing the effects of a gender-targeted unconditional cash transfer implemented with and without a light-touch facilitated financial planning exercise that provides couples with an opportunity to jointly plan their transfer spending before disbursement. We find that neither the transfer nor the transfer in conjunction with financial planning had meaningful effects on intrahousehold gender dynamics or intimate partner violence. However, there are large positive effects of the cash transfer on a wide range of economic outcomes; and the couples’ planning intervention significantly amplified these positive effects on income, food security, and housing quality, possibly by encouraging households to direct more of their transfer to investment, rather than consumption. Designed to be low-cost and easily scalable, the light-touch joint financial planning intervention may be a useful tool to enhance the positive effects of cash transfers.
Wednesday October 2, 2024 (12pm to 1pm)
History, Culture, and Economy of Uzbekistan
Dr. Khabibullo Pirmatov, “Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers” National Research University
Abstract: This country talk will focus on History, Culture and Economy of Uzbekistan. Country study, economic performance and investment opportunities of the Republic of Uzbekistan will also be discussed in this seminar.
About the Speaker: Khabibullo Pirmatov is the Dean of Ecology and Law Faculty, PhD, Associate Professor at “Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers” National Research University (“TIIAME” NRU). He is also a coordinator of the Consortium of Agricultural Universities for the Development of Central Asia and the South Caucasus (CASCADE) from “TIIAME” NRU. He obtained his PhD degree from the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra under the TIMUR Erasmus Mundus Program. His research interests are Conservation Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Agrarian Trade and Marketing. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at Rutgers University, Department of Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics within the framework of Faculty Enrichment Program (FEP) financed by the U.S Embassy in Tashkent and administrated by the American Councils for International Education.
Friday, September 27,2024 (2pm – 3pm)
Women Empowerment in Agriculture
Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr., Professor and Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University.
Abstract: This talk will focus on the importance of women empowerment in agriculture, measurement issues, and the effectiveness of women empowerment measures in predicting intra-household bargaining power in agricultural households. It will discuss two studies: a pilot descriptive study done in Vietnam to examine the correlation between women empowerment and farmer productivity/income, and a lab-in-the field-experiment with agricultural households in North Macedonia where spouses made decisions about money allocations. This experiment tested whether they would choose efficient overall household gains or favor individual monetary benefits across different women empowerment levels.
About the Speaker: Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr. is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. Dr. Nayga’s research interests include the economics of food valuation, consumption, policy, and health. Prior to rejoining Texas A&M University in 2021, Dr. Nayga was Distinguished Professor and Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics at the University of Arkansas. He also was a faculty member at Rutgers University and at Massey University, New Zealand. He has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, adjunct professor at Korea University and Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research, NBER research economist, and senior research fellow of the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study in Tokyo. He also was member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast. He is a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA), and currently serving as Editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE) and AAEA’s Past President.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Nature of Opposition to GM Crops: The Saga of GM Mustard in India
Chandra Nuthalapati, Visiting Professor from Cornell University
Abstract: The ongoing litigation in the Supreme Court stalls the governmental clearance for conditional environmental release of GM mustard in India after a prolonged process of regulatory testing since 2003. Civil society groups have been waging a relentless struggle for GMO-free India since the mid-1990s, leading to a broad coalition of forces from the left and right wings. The central plank of the opposition hinges on resisting multinational companies’ dominance and corporate control of the seed sector. Intensive and creative campaigns are successfully spreading disinformation about the hypothetical dangers of GM technologies as serious. In the process, they could divert the frustration and anger over the deep-seated crisis in the agrarian sector, stagnated farmers’ incomes, and environmental problems towards modern agricultural practices and GM technologies. This study aims to examine the nature of the opposition, framing of GM technologies, emerging broad coalitions, and looming policy uncertainty in harnessing discoveries in biology for improving the agricultural sector in one of the largest populated democracies in the world.
About the Speaker: Chandra S Nuthalapati is currently a visiting professor at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. He is a regular faculty member at the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, India since 2012. Early he worked at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad for ten years and a field functionary in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Department of Agriculture. He was a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at Cornell University, NY during 2010-11. His research interests include food value chains, economics of technological change, natural resource management and social sector. His coedited, with Carl E Pray and Ronald J Herring, the book Biotechnology for a Second Green Revolution in India: Socioeconomic, Political and Public Policy issues. Currently working on a longitudinal study on agri-food transformation, deregulation of biotech products, and startup-led innovations and disruptions in food system.
Wednesday, March 27, 2023
Two tigers in One Mountain: Are there Implicit Collusions in the U.S. Corn Seed Market?
Dr. Guanming Shi, University of Wisconsin
Abstract: In a market dominated by a few leading firms, firms can implicitly divide the market and offer different products from their rivals to avoid direct competition. Such implicit collusion can increase firms’ market power to obtain additional profits. We show the difference in the Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium (SPNE) of implicit collusion between duopoly and those among oligopoly. Using U.S. corn seed market as a case study, we examine whether there is evidence of implicit collusion in setting prices and/or product lines. Results indicate that there is significant collusion in not only price setting stage, but also product line choosing stage. However, the implicit collusion is not symmetric.
About the Speaker: Dr. Guanming Shi is Renk Agribusiness Chair, Professor & Department Chair, the Director of MS Professional Option program in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, and the Chair of College of Agricultural and Life Science Global International Committee at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is a core faculty member of the Initiative for Studies in Transformational Entrepreneurship Cluster, UW Madison, School of Business, and serves in multiple campus level academic administrative committees. Her research includes the investigations of strategic firm behavior under imperfect competition, with applications to the U.S. biotech seed industry; the economic evaluation of the productivity, profitability and adoption of biotechnology in the agricultural sector; and the economics of innovation, intellectual property rights, as well as technology diffusion. Her work has been published in top field economics journals such as American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Review of Industrial Organization, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Agricultural Economics, Environment and Development Economics, as well as in high impact interdisciplinary journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Crop Science, and Science of the Total Environment. Her papers have won several outstanding paper awards from the journal of publication, as well as the AAEA Quality of Communication Award.
Dr. Shi received a B.S. in Economics and Finance at the Fudan University in PR China, a M.S. in Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Residential Mobility in the U.S.
Dr. Lei, Department of Sociology at Rutgers University
Abstract: In this talk, Lei will introduce two studies about the COVID pandemic and residential mobility in the U.S. In the first article, she and coauthors theorized how the COVID pandemic could influence intentions of making different types of residential moves. Then, using Google Trends data, they conducted a time‐series analysis to assess the transitory, short‐term, and long‐lasting changes in various types of mobility intentions since the pandemic. In the second study, they used survey data from 2013 to 2021 to examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic changed the rate at which young adults return to and leave the parental home and the types of young adults who make these residential transitions.
About the Speaker: Lei earned her Ph.D. degree in sociology at the University at Albany-SUNY in 2016. Lei’s research and teaching interests include health, family, demography, and urban sociology. She teaches Introduction to Statistics in Sociology, Global Health, Statistical Methods in Sociology II, and Multilevel and Longitudinal Data Analysis.
Her research focuses on social determinants of health, family dynamics, and social inequality in different societies, including China, India, and the US. One line of her research seeks to understand how social factors, such as residential contexts, working conditions, and family dynamics, get under the skin to produce and perpetuate health inequalities. She has published articles examining how neighborhood environments influence educational achievement, children’s health and nutrition, and adults’ health. Another strand of her research investigates the determinants and consequences of young adults’ prolonged dependence on parents. She examines the role of gender, race, class, life-course events, and non-standard employment in determining the timing of home-leaving and home-returning among young adults in the US. More recently, she investigated the impact of coresidence with parents on young adults’ demographic behaviors, including residential mobility, romantic relationships, and sexual activities.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Local Energy Transition, Sustainable Rural Development and Bioenergy Villages in Germany
Professor Xiaohua Yu, PH.D., University of Gottingen
Abstract: Bioenergy Villages (BEVs) are a local concept, originating in Germany, that use regionally sourced biomass to meet rural energy demand. BEVs not only foster the sustainable energy transition and ensure reliable, local energy supply with reduced GHG emissions, but they also have a structural impact on rural economic development. Nevertheless, economic externalities linked to BEV designation are sparsely investigated and the economic value for local communities remains underestimated. This study investigates the local effects of BEV designation on income, tax and employment outcomes; indicators of rural economic development. Methodologically, a multidimensional instrumental variable approach in a high-dimensional setting is applied, using both conventional as well as machine learning techniques. The results reveal that the overall effect of BEV designation on local economic development supports the assumption of positive externalities and confirms the economic value of BEVs. Positive externalities are independent of feed-in-tariffs or farmers’ income diversification but yield large-scale benefits for the broader community. Derived conclusions advocate in favor of a rural energy transition based on bioenergy villages that act as local agents of an accelerated sustainable energy transition, fostering rural development through positive effects on living standards as well as climate change mitigation. From a policy perspective, the continuous expansion of BEVs requires active support form governmental and financial institutions to overcome remaining investment, organization and technological barriers.
Machinery Structure, Machinery Subsidies and Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from China
Abstract:Although agricultural machinery is indispensable for modern agriculture, the effect of machinery structure on food production is rarely scrutinized. In response, this paper investigates how agricultural machinery structurally impacts food production theoretically and empirically, particularly emphasizing the effects of capacity structure and subsidy policy. The article estimates a Translog production function with a panel dataset covering 126 counties across Xinjiang and Hubei province from 2002 to 2012 in China. Though we find the general elasticity of output with respect to machinery inputs is 0.09, the capacity structure of agricultural machines could impact agricultural production by inducing structural reallocation of other input factors. Along with upsizing of farming machines, we observe land consolidation and less intensive use of fertilizers. The average marginal effects of capacity structure change from negative to positive as harvest area increases while the technical efficiency is heterogeneous across different machinery capacity sizes.
About the Speaker: Prof. Xiaohua Yu is a University Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in the University of Göttingen, Germany, and visiting scholar to the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in Cornell University. He obtained his PhD from Penn State University in 2009, and his research interests cover agricultural economics, behavioral economics, and machine learning.
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Artificial Intelligence and Food Industry
Sonal Pandey PhD, Middlesex College, North America International Education Group, Wharton Business School, PA, New Jersey, USA, Sonal.bhu@gmail.com, spandey@middlesexcc.edu
Abstract: The potential role of Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly clear. To keep up with this enormous growth, manufacturers are looking for revolutionary manufacturing techniques, and one such example is the Emergence of AI. The usability of AI provides some form of interactivity between the system users and the system itself, hence enhancing usability. One of the basic human rights is the right to decide. Until now, I have made do with my own brains. If a human solution is forced on me, I can argue, but in the case of “absolute” artificial intelligence, I will be forced to accept. Do I need this? In my research article, I tried to focus on the pros and cons of the adoption of AI in the food industry. With the help of SWOT analysis and BCG matrix there are beneficial suggestions about how the industry can check whether it is good for their unique industry requirement needs and how much is the reliability of AI implementation in the food industry. The objective of this research is to find out how AI is doing for the betterment of the food industry and is it good to implement/adopt.
KEYWORDS: Artificial Intelligence, BCG matrix, Food Industry, SWOT Analysis.
About the Speaker: Dr. Sonal Pandey has worked on various Economics and Agriculture/Food Economics projects over the past 10 years that are multidisciplinary in nature. Her publications and presentations cover topics such as agricultural investment, agricultural subsidies, Artificial Intelligence impacting the human workforce, the WTO and India’s foreign trade, and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on both the NYC restaurant industry and US-China trade relations, including her recent publication: “COVID-19 and Recession or She-cession?” Dr. Pandey’s work draws on design integrated geospatial tools, collaborative work with faculty to develop cross-disciplinary research, and building innovative decision-making tools. Dr. Pandey’s educational background includes economics, business analysis-data insights, statistics, marketing management, and finance from Banaras Hindu University, Wisconsin University, and Wharton Business School. Besides being a member of American Economic association, Indian Economic Association and published author, she serves on the editorial board of a business and economic publication group. She also writes data analysis articles that focus on issues pertaining to economic development. Dr. Pandey teaches courses in management, business, economics, marketing, business statistics, and marketing at colleges based in New Jersey as well as in the North America International Education group.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
The importance of agricultural total factor productivity growth for global food and environmental security
Keith Fuglie at ERS, in DAFRE, Rutgers
Abstract: Improvements in agricultural productivity have been the antidote to the Malthusian dilemma of how to feed a growing population in the face of constraints on natural resources. “Total factor productivity” or TFP, is the broadest available measure of productivity, measuring aggregate output of a sector relative to the total land, labor, capital and material inputs used in production. This seminar describes the International Agricultural Productivity Data Product published and updated annually by the USDA Economic Research Service that constructs indexes of real agricultural outputs, inputs, and TFP by country, region and for the world as a whole from 1961 to 2020. These data show that TFP growth now accounts for most of the growth in global agricultural output, due in large part to rising investments in R&D and associated technical change. TFP growth is also associated with reduced intensity of natural resource use in agriculture, including fewer greenhouse gas emissions per unit of output. In low income, agrarian economies, accelerating growth in agricultural TFP can stimulate economic transformation, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition. However, in the most recent decade (2011-2020) there has been a noticeable slowdown in the global rate of growth in agricultural TFP.
About the Speaker: Keith Fuglie is a senior economist with the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he conducts research on the economics of technological change and science policy for agriculture. While with the Federal Government, Keith has also worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau of Food Security and served as senior staff economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisors. In 2012 Keith was recognized with the USDA Secretary’s Honor Award for Professional Service, and in 2014 he received the Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. Earlier in his career, Keith spent ten years with the International Potato Center (CIP) stationed in Indonesia and Tunisia, where he headed CIP’s social science research program and was regional representative for CIP in Asia. Keith received his M.S. and PhD in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota and a BA from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
The Effects of Renewable Electricity Supply when Renewables Dominate: Evidence from Uruguay
Dr. Natalia D’Agosti’s seminar at DAFRE, Rutgers
Abstract: The benefits of expanding wind and solar electricity generation depend on the effect they have on the electricity production mix. Using hourly production data from Uruguay, I study its electricity transition to renewables; a country which currently has 94% of its grid green. In particular, I quantify how an increase in wind and solar production first, displace thermal, hydro, and biomass production. Second, I analyze how this transition reduces CO2 emissions in a context of large hydro production; and third how it affects spot prices. I find that the increase in wind and solar production has several positive effects: (i) a displacement of thermal production, especially in winter; (ii) a reduction in the CO2 emissions; (iii) a spillover effect to the region due to an increase in exports to Argentina and Brazil; (iv) a decrease in spot prices caused by the shutting off of the most (mg) costly plants. However, the increase in wind and solar production is not enough to eradicate thermal entirely. These results show what countries can expect from increasing their production in renewables: how renewables interact with other electricity sources, its effect in emissions, and spot prices.
About the Speaker: Natalia D’Agosti is a Ph.D candidate at the econ. department at Rutgers. Her areas of interest are energy economics, climate change, and development. Her webpage that has more information
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Incorporating Endogenous Attitudinal Factors in Discrete Choice Experiments: An Integrated Choice and Latent Variable Model Approach
Dr. Xuan Wei’s seminar at DAFRE, Rutgers
Abstract: The importance of psychological factors such as consumer attitudes and perceptions in driving preference heterogeneity has been increasingly acknowledged in recent choice experimental research. In this study, we extend the integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) framework to elicit consumer preferences for ornamental plants grown with or without controversial neonicotinoids with additional pollinator-related information provided. The endogeneity of individual attitudes is explicitly considered, and their influences on plant choices are jointly modeled under information treatment. We identify a significantly positive impact of information on shaping individuals’ attitudes toward pollinator health. Additional information on neonicotinoids increases individual environmental concerns and their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for labels disclosing the absence of neonicotinoids. Further, individual plant choices are compared to a counterfactual situation where pollinator conservation practices are mandatory. We find significant improvements in the probability of choosing neonic-free plants across all demographic segments of informed consumers.
About the Speaker: Dr. Xuan Wei is a Research Assistant Scientist in the Food and Resource Economics Department and Mid-Florida Research and Education Center at the University of Florida. Her research program utilizes horticultural producer and consumer surveys, controlled experiments, biometric data (e.g., eye-tracking technology) and economic models to examining the relationships between consumer behavior, horticultural production, and the marketing of horticultural products. Her current research focuses on consumer preference for environmentally friendly plant production practices (such as pollinator-friendly labeling) in the ornamental horticulture industry. She held a Ph.D. degree in Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, and Economics (dual degree program) from Michigan State University.
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Effect of Minimum Wage Increase on Food Safety in the Restaurant Industry
Bhagyashree Katare’s seminar at DAFRE, Rutgers
Abstract: This paper studies the effect of minimum wage increases on food safety in the restaurant industry as measured by food safety inspection violations. There is a recent debate among lawmakers about increasing the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $15 an hour. However, several state and local governments have minimum wage ordinances that are higher than the federal minimum wage. Recent studies have focused on the effect of minimum wage increase on employee wage distribution (Cengiz et al. 2019), retail price adjustment (Renkin et al. 2020; Leung 2021), and employment (Clemens and Wither 2019). However, considerably less attention has been paid to the effect of minimum wage increase on consumer welfare. In this paper, we study the impact of minimum wage increase on consumer welfare by evaluating the effect that minimum wage increase has on service quality in the restaurant industry. We use a unique dataset of restaurant level food safety violations to study the effect of minimum wage on employee- and employer-related violations. Our hypothesis is that number of employee-related food safety violations decrease, and the employer-related food safety violations increase in response to the increase in minimum wage. We find that increase in wages significantly increases the number of employer-related food safety violations, such as restaurant maintenance, workplace design, equipment, and supplies violations. On the other hand, the increase in wages significantly decreases the number of employee-related food safety violations, including cooking, food handling, food storage, and cleaning violations.
About the Speaker: Dr. Bhagyashree Katare is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. She is a health and labor economist, and her research program studies the effect of policies, behavioral nudges, and economic interventions on individual health, education, and labor outcomes. Dr. Katare’s current work includes the effect of recent changes in governmental assistance programs and governmental policies on food insecurity, food safety, and labor outcomes. Dr. Katare’s discoveries are published in high impact peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, and American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Her research program has received funding from several agencies including United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Intergroup Differences in Extended Family Mental Health Issues and Wealth
Jermaine Toney, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Bloustein School
Abstract: Stock market participation is a critical component of long-run wealth building. Yet, many studies find that black households are less prone, while white households are more likely, to be directly invested in the stock market. Previous research also exposes how a household’s wealth building is dampened by extended family mental health issues (psychological distress). Additionally, past research finds that black adults are more likely than white adults to experience persistent mental health issues. Here, we merge the three literatures by investigating how racial differences in extended family mental health issues affect portfolio allocation (stocks, mutual funds). We use an eldest sibling sample that is between the ages of 34 and 71 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We demonstrate that having a younger sibling with a mental health issue is (significantly) associated with decreases in stock ownership, decreases in stocks as a proportion of financial assets, and decreases in total stock value; especially disadvantaging the wealth of black households compared to their white counterparts.
About the Speaker: Jermaine Toney, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Bloustein School. Prior to joining the Bloustein School faculty, he was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. Currently, Professor Toney is a research fellow with the Institute for Behavioral and Household Finance at Cornell University. Dr. Toney’s research focuses on finance, family, and health. An overarching focus of his research is the distribution and stratification of various socio-economic indicators, such as wealth and income.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Appointments: A More Effective Commitment Device for Health Behaviors
Dr. Jason Kerwin, Assistant Professor – University of Minnesota
Abstract: Health behaviors are plagued by self-control problems, and commitment devices are frequently proposed as a solution. We show that a simple alternative works even better: appointments. We randomly offer HIV testing appointments and financial commitment devices to high-risk men in Malawi. Appointments are much more effective than financial commitment devices, more that doubling testing rates. In contrast, most men who take up financial commitment devices lose their investments. Appointments address procrastination without potential drawback of monnitment failure, and also address limited memory problems. Appointments have the potential to increast demand for healthcare in the developing world.
About the Speaker: Dr. Jason Kerwin currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota and an Affiliated Professor at J-PAL. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan, where he was also an Economic Demography Trainee at Michigan’s Population Studies Center. His research focuses on understanding the choices people in developing countried make about health, education, employment, and savings, with a specific focus on Malawi, Uganda, and India.
See publication (PDF)
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Pollution and the Decline in Human Cognition: Evidence from China
Prof. Maoyong Fan
Maoyong Fan is a professor of Economics at Ball State University. His research interests include environmental economics, health economics and policy, labor economics and development economics. The research projects he has done covers (1) the health effects of environmental pollution; (2) health insurance designs and outcomes; (3) labor migration; (4) public health policies and demographics; and (5) the causes of obesity. Other facets of his research fall into development, industrial organization, and applied econometrics. Maoyong is currently an academic editor of PLOS ONE. Maoyong received many awards and recognition for his research including university research award and CHAMPS best paper award.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Dr. Kajal Gulati, Purdue University
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Putting Agricultural History to Work Today: A Global Blueprint from the Jewish Past
Prof. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Co-hosted with The Allan and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life
This presentation follows the publication of a scholarly forum in the Fall 2020 issue in Agricultural History based on my proposal to mobilize lessons from the long history of Jewish agrarian resettlement to assist in the relief and local inte-gration of large, displaced ethnic minority migrant communities today. The organizational and practical blueprint has at its center the global arc of modern Jewish agrarianization from the nineteenth into the mid-twentieth centuries, which at its height encompassed hundreds of thousands of farmers settled on millions of acres. From this aggregated history of reset-tlement projects in a variety of regions and political conditions comes a set of applied “lessons.” I then suggest how these “lessons” might be used to construct a upscaleable, working model for reconstruction programs in the service of endan-gered refugee communities today in Europe, the Near East, and elsewhere.
This history can inform us about how refugee communities might be economically and socially empowered today in what might seem unlikely, nationalist environments. To that end, the presentation explores the significance of coopera-tive institutions, political advocacy, transnational philanthropic engagement, and the application of agro-technical expertise in the successful empowerment of new, ethnically “other” farmers in the midst of complex, at times hostile, local environ-ments. The presentation will account for comments and criticisms made on the original article by the respondents in the Agricultural History forum (R. Douglas Hurt, Ben Nobbs-Thiessen and Nahum Karlinsky). Finally, my hope is that the work-shop at Rutgers can help to craft a more concrete action plan for this proposal or other ideas that may emerge, particularly given the results of the November 2020 Presidential elections in the U.S., which seem to suggest that more significant in-ternational cooperative efforts are now possible.
Professor Jonathan Dekel-Chen is the Rabbi Edward Sandrow Chair in Soviet & East European Jewry at the Hebrew University. He holds a dual appointment in the Department of Jewish History and in the Department of General History. He also serves as the Academic Chairman of the Leo-nid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry and is Chairman of the Rus-sian Studies Department. Prof. Dekel-Chen has held visiting professorships and research fellow-ships at the University of Pennsylvania (2008-2009) and at Columbia University (2015-2016). His research and publications deal with transnational philanthropy and advocacy, non-state diplomacy, agrarian history and migration. In 2014 he co-founded the Bikurim Youth Village for the Arts in Eshkol, which provides world-class artistic training for gifted, under-served high school students from throughout Israel.
Wednesday, December 9th, 2020
Digital Technologies for the Transformation of the Global Agri-food System
By Dr. Julian A. Lampietti
Manager, Global Agriculture Practice
Dr. Lampietti is the Manager for Global Engagement in the Agriculture and Food Global Practice. His responsibilities include strategic planning, donor outreach, and oversight for global knowledge and advisory programs. Previously, he managed the Agriculture and Food program in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Julian used to be based in Buenos Aires, Argentina and he has published books and journal articles on a broad range of topics including poverty, economics, agriculture, food security, logistics, and energy. He has a PhD in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master’s in Natural Resources Economics from Duke University and a Bachelor of Science in General Agriculture, Rutgers University.
Abstract: The world’s agri-food system has the potential to help reduce poverty, improve nutrition, and provide vast environmental benefits. But it is off course in achieving these aspirational goals. The global food supply is plentiful, yet undernourishment has been rising since 2014. Poverty rates are on the rise with most of the world poor living in rural areas. Foodborne diseases continue taking a toll on human life and public budgets. And agriculture remains a major contributor to negative environmental outcomes. This presentation will examine the pathways through which digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system and outline the role public policy and investment can play in maximizing the positive and minimizing the negative impact of digital technologies on this transformation.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
The Welfare Impact of Subsidizing Grocery Stores into Food Deserts
Dr. LinLin Fan, PhD
Dr. LinLin Fan studies the impact of government subsidies for grocery stores to enter the most severe food de-serts (low-income communities with limited access to grocery stores) on consumer and producer welfare in the U.S. Dr. Fan uses detailed, geocoded, store sales and consumer store choice data to (1) estimate a discrete choice demand system for food stores with consumer heterogeneity, (2) estimate a supply side profit maximiza-tion function based on Nash-Bertrand price competition model (3) simulate the welfare impact of a low-cost gro-cery store to enter the most severe food deserts. Dr. Fan finds that although consumers gain significantly from this policy, the new low-cost grocery stores would find it unprofitable to operate in the most severe food deserts, thus casting doubt on the effectiveness of this policy.
Wednesday, Feb. 19th, 2020
Conflict and Development: What we Know and What We Don’t Based on Recent Research in Africa
Speaker: Soji Adelaja, PhD
John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Land Policy, Michigan State University
Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC.
Abstract: Conflict has recently emerged as a key barrier to development in developing countries. Unlike other well-understood barriers that development policies have historically sought to address, the role of conflict in development is not well understood. Conflicts range from simple (e.g., protests, demonstrations, riots & electoral violence), complex (e.g., kidnappings, ethnic violence, & pastoral violence) and wicked (e.g. battles, domestic terrorism, trans-national terrorism, etc.) conflicts, and depending on their complexity and virulence, they can result in a vicious cycle of destruction and poverty, thereby reversing advancements from past development investments. For example, as reported by the FAO, those countries that have not met their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are mainly those that are struggling with conflict, violence and fragility (FAO et al. 2017).
Based on recent research, Dr. Adelaja will review what we know and what we don’t about conflict in Africa, particularly highlighting his recent research on domestic and transnational terrorism, transhumance-related violence, battles, demonstrations and riots and their impacts on agriculture, food security and land use decisions. He will also review his efforts to predict various forms of conflict and the impacts of food insecurity on the fomentation of conflict. He will further present recommendations about future priority research and policy needs to address the growing wave of violence in developing countries.
February 12, 2020
African Food Policy: A Focus on Sustainable Banana Production Value Chain
Esendugue Greg Fonsah
Bananas and Plantains are the 4th most important crops in the world in terms of consumption, after wheat, corn and rice. The crop is grown in 170 countries worldwide, more than any other fruit crop. Uganda, is ranked as the 2nd world banana producing country while Cameroon and Tanzania are ranked 9th and 10th respectively. Nigeria is one of the largest banana and plantain growing countries in Africa and the largest plantain producing country in West Africa. Yet, none of these countries are major exporters except Cameroon. Although these crops are amongst the most important source of staple food supply in the entire continent, it is also the most neglected farming system in the continent due to the following challenges: lack of private and government capital investment, pests and diseases, lack of experience, insufficient agricultural research, financial constraints, lack of appropriate storage facilities, lack of farm inputs, lack of infrastructure and lack of market knowledge and penetration strategies. With the anticipated exponential population explosion growth rate in Africa and the presence of Tropical race (TR4) disease capable of destroying the banana and plantain industry, there is need to derive proactive agricultural policies that would enable the continent to contain and feed the additional two billion inhabitants forecasted by 2050. This presentation will unravel the multifaceted missing links in the standard operation procedures, needed for sustainable banana and plantain production value chain (farm-to-fork), in Africa.
Esendugue Greg Fonsah is a Professor and the Research, Extension and Instruction (REI) Coordinator and Agribusiness Extension Economist, Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics, University of Georgia, Tifton Campus. He is also the Extra-Ordinary Professor of North West University Business School, Republic of South Africa, the External Examiner of the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, West Africa, and the External Examiner of the University of West Indies, Jamaica, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada and Auburn University, Alabama. He is a veteran with 32 year of experience in all aspects of agricultural production, farm management, agribusiness, agricultural marketing, international trade and policy of the fresh food industry (fruits, vegetables, pecans included). He is also a banana veteran with 32 years of experience serving in various executive managerial positions with multinational companies around the world including Del Monte Fresh Produce, Cameroon Division, Lapanday Food Co., Philippines, and Aloha Banana Farm Inc., Hawaii, USA respectively.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Member Participation and Satisfaction in Agricultural Cooperatives:
A Pilot Study of the Largest Dairy Cooperative in Northeast India
Presenter: Dipanjan Kashyap
Member-owned business organizations, such as cooperatives (or co-ops), are engaged in various eco-nomic activities that touch our everyday lives. Agricultural cooperatives are common in the agricultural sector in India and these cooperatives provide various advantages to small and medium farmers, such as lowering their marketing costs, production costs (input costs), improve their bargaining abilities, etc.
Dr. Dipanjan Kashyap, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics (MBA- Agri Business) at the Assam Agricultural University (AAU) in Jorhat, Assam, India. Mr. Kashyap has completed his first MBA from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai in 2011, and his second MBA in Marketing Management from Pondicherry University in 2018. He also holds Post Graduate Diploma in Agricultural Extension Management from MANAGE, Hyderabad, India (2018).
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Financial Wellness: Twelve Timeless Tips
Abstract: In a “farewell seminar” after 41 years of service to Rutgers University as a county Extension educator in Sussex County and Specialist in Financial Resource Management, Dr. Barbara O’Neill will discuss 12 “evergreen” financial recommendations that apply to all ages and stages of life. Topics to be covered include managing cash flow, financial goal-setting, income taxes, net worth, insurance, and saving and investing. Handouts will be distributed and time will be available at the end of the seminar for questions and answers.
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Did the Reform of China’s Agricultural Commodity Support Policy Affect Grain Production: The Case of Corn?
Shuang Liu, Visiting Student from Renmin University of China
Agricultural commodity support policies play an important role for agricultural production, farmer income, and food security in both developed and developing countries. Recognizing the resultant significant distortions to production, supply and prices from the price support for agricultural commodities implemented in 2000s, China initiated reforms of the agricultural support policy for two major non-staple commodities (soybean and cotton) in 2014, and then for staple commodities (corn) in 2016. The reform for corn was piloted in four major corn-production provinces. Specially, in April 2016 the government decided not to purchase corn surplus anymore; in June 2016 the government announced to provide income subsidy to corn farmers based on their acreage and called the four provinces for detailed subsidy plans. A total of 6,106 farm households in 2015-2017 were analyzed in addition to the provincial data in 2010-2017.
We find that the removal of surplus purchase by the government caused a statistically significant reduction in total production, acreage, and cost of input per mu for corn in 2016. The income subsidy based on the price difference and acreage took effect for the 2017 corn production. As we expected, total production and acreage increased in 2017. No statistical yield change was found in both 2016 and 2017, suggesting the production reduction in 2016 and the production increase in 2017 were mainly due to the acreage change rather than the yield change. The results from the robustness The causal effects of the policy reform on corn production are robust based on the four different robustness checks based on a) the estimated policy effects for wheat and paddy that were not directly exposed to the reform; b) a placebo test by assuming the policy reform took place in 2015; c) a falsification test by using neighboring provinces without the policy reform as a treatment group instead of the four pilot provinces.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
M.S. Thesis Lightning Presentations
Our Food and Business Economics graduate students will each have an opportunity to present their thesis ideas and progress during a “lightning” presentation. This is the perfect opportunity for each student to receive assistance and direction prior to their final submission and defense.
Please plan to attend and provide our students with beneficial feedback.
The proposed topics of research for each student is below. Biofuel Farming Marketing Opportunities in the Mid-Atlantic United States
By: Maria Ramos
Assessing the Potential of Reducing Malnutrition in Kenya by Improving the Productivity and Nutritional Quality of AIV (African Indigenous Vegetables)
By: Stacy Lopez
Food Consumption Behavior of American Adults (at home and away from home) Nationally and the Implications on their Health
By: Daniel Berlin
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
M.S. Thesis Lightning Presentations
Our Food and Business Economics graduate students will each have an opportunity to present their thesis ideas and progress during a “lightning” presentation. This is the perfect opportunity for each student to receive assistance and direction prior to their final submission and defense.
The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act: Environmental Policy and its Effect on the Supply of Affordable Housing
By: John Borrmann
How the Legalization of Marijuana affects Use and Its Potential Connection to the Opioid Crisis
By: Katie Postle
Wednesday Sept 25, 2019
Does Digital Inclusive Finance Improve Income and Reduce Income Disparity in China?
Dan Liu and Yanhong Jin
Dan Liu: Visiting scholar from the School of Finance at Nanjing Agricultural University; Liudan19870317@gmail.com
Yanhong Jin: Professor in Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Rutgers; Yanhong.Jin@Rutgers.Edu
China has an unprecedented economic growth in the last three decade, which lifted millions of population out of poverty and improved wellbeing for both rural and urban households. However, income disparity is pronounced between rural and urban, which created challenges for further economic growth and social development. Digital Inclusive Finance (DIF), taking advantage of digital technology and the emerge of fintech and financial companies along with the evolution of traditional financial institutes, provides a range of financial services to those who have no access to or lack of financial services. Especially, DIF enables rural households to be included in the financial system in a responsible, affordable and sustainable way. This study uses three different data sources, including provincial DIF index released by the Digital Finance Research Center of Peking University, the China Household Financial Survey (CHFS) data provided by the Survey and Research Center for China Household Finance at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, and various statistical yearbooks. This study employs panel data analyses to examine 1) whether DIF improved household income and reduced income disparity within rural and urban as well as between urban and rural; and 2) pathways through DIF impacted household income level and distribution.
Wednesday April 24, 2019
“Different Ways of Measuring Success in Farmland Preservation.”
Tom Daniels, Professor
City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
“April is National Social Security Month:
What Everyone Needs to Know About Social Security”
Mr. Everett Lo, Deputy Regional Communication Director, Social Security Administration
Abstract: An overview of the Social Security Program, including retirement, disabil-ity, and survivor benefits, as well as a brief discussion about enrolling in traditional Medicare, Parts A (Hospital) and B (Medical), Supplemental Se-curity Income, a program based on need, and what you can do online to prepare for retirement.
About the Speaker: Everett Lo is Deputy Regional Communication Director, Social Security Administration (SSA) – New York Region, responsible for community, intergovernmental, and media en-gagement. Throughout his 25-year career with Social Security, Mr. Lo has worked closely with the staff of federal, state, and local elected officials and agencies, community-based or-ganizations, advocacy and affinity groups, employers, attorneys, and media outlets to pro-mote public awareness of Social Security’s programs, benefits, and services. He was ap-pointed SSA’s designee to the Interagency Working Group of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) and chair of WHIAAPI’s New York/New Jersey Regional Network, leading the outreach and engagement efforts of 32 partici-pating federal agencies. Mr. Lo is a long time member of the regional chapter of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, and other federal interagency working groups, as well as the Organization of Chinese Americans, and the Asian American Journalists Associa-tion.
Wednesday, April 24th, 2019
“Different Ways of Measuring Success in Farmland Preservation.”
Tom Daniels, Professor, City and Regional Planning University of Pennsylvania
Abstract: Preserving large farming landscapes is one of the main goals of farmland preservation programs. Creating large blocks of preserved farmland take time, however, because of the hefty funding requirements and the detailed process of preserving farmland through the acquisition of conservation easements by purchase or donation. The standard measures of dollars spent and farmland acres preserved do not give an accurate picture of the spatial outcomes of preservation and preservation effectiveness. Three other measures better reflect the spatial effectiveness of farmland preservation: the acreage and percentage of preserved farm parcels located in agricultural zones, the number and acreage of preserved farm parcels in large contiguous blocks, and the number and acreage of preserved farm parcels along growth boundaries. Scattered preserved farms and preserved farms not located in agricultural zones are likely to face more non-farm development nearby as well as problems with non-farm neighbors. The farmland preservation effort in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, provides an important case study of the pattern of farmland preservation over time. Other counties and land trusts can employ the geographic information systems (GIS) methods in this study to monitor and evaluate the progress of their farmland preservation efforts.
Friday, February 22, 2019
Investigating the Grape Wine Industry of Ningxia, China: Impacts, Competitiveness, Marketing Strategies, Technology, and Policy Support
Dr. Carl Pray, Distinguished Professor, DAFRE
Dr. Yanhong Jin, Associate Professor, DAFRE
Abstract: Ningxia Hui autonomous region was poverty-stricken and in a danger of desertifica-tion in the recent history. The Chinse government began to invest heavily in its infra-structure, in particularly the irrigating system connecting the Yellow River and the Helan Mountains in the 1900s. A few years ago, Ningxia received the government support to build a “wine route” through the region, similar to Bordeaux’s Route des Vins. Now Ningxia has more than 40,000 hectares of vineyards and has been expand-ing its wine industry in an unprecedented pace. It also gradually gains international recognition winning tasting contests in London and Paris. Ningxia’s emergence as a wine region is a source of regional and national pride.
Based on the field interviews in Ningxia in August 2018 and January 2019 with the local government officials, vinery owners and wine makers, and industry experts, this talk will present some preliminary findings on 1) the impacts of the wine industry to Ningxia’s economy and environment; 2) supply chain and marketing strategies used to promote awareness and consumption of Ningxia wine; 3) competitiveness of Ning-xia wine compared with wine from other regions in China as well as those imported from other countries; and 4) the importance of government research and technology support.
The talk and feedback that we receive will go into a proposal to the Ningxia govern-ment for funding to conduct more in depth research on these issues.
Nov. 30th, 2019
Fair Trade Wide Prices: Premium, Dispersion and Markups
Karl Storchmann, NYU
Similar to bananas, coffee, or sugar, Fairtrade standards for wine are designed to improve employment conditions and protect the rights of workers on wine grape plantations and to support small wine grape farmers. South Africa is the largest producer of Fairtrade wine globally, accounting for approximately two-third of all sales (others come from Chile, Argentina, and Lebanon).
It is a central idea of all Fairtrade products that the higher production costs are passed on along the supply chain and that the final consumer is willing to pay a price premium to support the noble cause.
This paper will analyze three related issues.
First, drawing on Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade retail wine prices of South-African wine in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands and a few other European countries, I examine the size of the Fairtrade price premium. I will compare the results of an Instrumental variable (IV) model and a Propensity Score Matching approach.
Second, I analyze the price dispersion of Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade wines in the UK and in Germany. If consumers add social value to the Fairtrade logo, one may assume that, due to less intensive searching (for the lowest price), Fairtrade wines exhibit greater price dispersion than comparable non-Fairtrade wines.
Third, drawing on import, wholesale, and retail prices of selected South African (Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade) wines in the U.S., I am particularly interested in the question if the Fairtrade price premium is profit-neutral and passed on along the entire supply chain to the final consumer.
Friday, October 5, 2018
Substitutability of Freshwater and Non-Freshwater Sources in Irrigation: An Economic Analysis
We develop a structural econometric framework to assess whether the pros or cons of non-freshwater sources dominate from the farmers perspective. Cook Office Building
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Genetically Modified Maize Adoption in Southern Vietnam
This paper compares costs and returns between GM and non-GM maize production and identify determinants of GM maize adoption in Southern Vietnam. Cook Office Building
Monday June 4, 2018
Exploring Further Avenues for Collaboration Between the World Vegetable Center and Rutgers University
Victor Afari-Sefa, World Vegetable Center, Cotonou, Benin Republic
Abstract: Vegetables are high value compared to staple crops and generate significant incomes from a range of fresh and processed products. Production in developing countries is often mediated by women from small plots of rural and urban land and during relatively short growing seasons. However, vegetable production is knowledge intensive and technology dependent. Further, value chains are often informal, involving several actors along the value chain resulting in persistent post harvest losses that affect both the quantity and quality of produce vegetables. Technological solutions include selection of vegetable varieties adapted to environments and markets, availability of high quality seed, sustainable production across sites and seasons, efficient storage and transport, plus novel processing methods. These offer opportunities for engagement of agri-business entrepreneurs and youth. Perpetual linkage of producers to markets requires support from breeding programs, community and commercial seed production, grafting enterprises, protected cultivation and postharvest technologies. Market demand is facilitated through awareness of the benefit of nutritious vegetables and recipes to ensure nutrient availability in order to mitigate malnutrition. This is where an R4D Center such as the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) plays a critical role in conducting research to realize the potential of vegetables for healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods.
WorldVeg (www.avrdc.org) is a unique International Agricultural Research Center, headquartered in Shanhua, Taiwan with 5 regional research centers located in Thailand, India, Mali and Tanzania and more recently Benin. WorldVeg has been collaborating with Rutgers University over several years in implementing bilateral projects. The most recent project is the 5-year (2015-2020) “Improving Nutrition and Income of Smallholder Farmers in Eastern Africa using a Market Driven Approach to Enhance Value Chain Production of African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs)” led by Rutgers and funded by USAID via the horticultural innovation Labs and implemented in Kenya and Zambia. The goals of this project is to improve the production and increase consumption of AIVs. Activities implemented in this project so far include:baseline surveys on production and consumption of AIVs, cross country multi-location trials to help assess the stability of breeding lines and accessions, establishment and management of breeding trials with genetic materials from Rutgers and WorldVeg, capacity of famers and extension officers through training and field assessments of the status of AIV production, consumption, marketing and awareness using socio-economic tools.
Bio: Victor, a citizen of Ghana holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany and has been managing the World Vegetable Center’s operations in West and Central Africa – Coastal and Humid Regions from his base in Cotonou, Benin since early 2017. From 2011 to 2016, he was the Center’s Global Theme Leader for its defunct Consumption R&D Theme that comprised of produce postharvest, marketing, nutrition and M&E. He is a successful author and co-author of several grant proposals and has extensive experience in performance monitoring and impact assessment of horticultural value chains on smallholder livelihoods. He also has expertise in managing multi-country projects in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia where he emphasizes on proactive planning processes to attain set deliverables. His current research and project management experiences focuses on assessing opportunities and challenges in vegetable production systems, analysing constraints in the value chain, and policy in interdisciplinary context. He also has international experience in integrated economic-biophysical optimization modeling of agricultural water use in Africa and Nova scotia, Canada. Prior to joining the Center in 2010, he worked as the Monitoring, Evaluation (M&E) and Impact Specialist for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ghana, where he implemented the M&E framework of the closed Sustainable Tree Crops Program in 5 West African countries. Victor transitioned into his research career position from an academic background where he taught and researched diverse courses in agricultural and economic development thinking and practice. He remains connected to academia as an adjunct Professor at the University of Applied Management in Ghana where teaches courses in International Cooperation & Development and Project Management. Victor has published over 50 peer reviewed articles in international scholarly journals.
Friday April 27, 2018
Managerial Incentives for Environmental Protection in Chinese-Style Federalism
Yuanyuan Yi, PhD, World Bank’s Development Research Group
Abstract: China’s fast economic growth has come at the expense of environmental quality and the degradation of natural resources such as forests. In this paper, we identify career concerns by managers of state-owned enterprises that manage natural resources, and asymmetric information between managers and their superiors regarding the enterprises’ environmental performance, as sources of environmental degradation. A manager of such an enterprise is the agent of two principals: national and sub-national governments. As well as needing to meet ecological targets imposed by the national government, a manager wants to be promoted into the ranks of the sub-national government. We develop three hypotheses based on a theoretical model with two principals and one agent. We then empirically test these hypotheses for the case of China’s northeastern state-owned forests, combining satellite imagery data on deforestation with economic survey data. Our findings suggest that managers of state forests that have a larger area and volume, and are thus more difficult to monitor with respect to ecological targets, log more timber and are more likely to deforest. The same holds true for managers who share a larger percentage of profits with the local government. In turn, we find that sharing more revenue with the local government increases the likelihood of getting promoted.
Bio: Yuanyuan Yi currently works at the World Bank’s Development Research Group. She holds her PhD in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research interests include Environmental and Resource Economics, Development Economics, and Applied Econometrics. Her previous and current work include impact evaluation on China’s forest devolution reform in collective forest areas, China’s state-owned forest management, and impact evaluation on Zambia’s Climate Smart Agriculture project.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: Personal and Professional Implications for Rutgers Faculty and Staff
A Lunch and Learn Seminar
Barbara O’Neill, Distinguished Professor Specialist in Financial Resource Management
Abstract: With the 2017 income tax filing season coming to a close, it is time to turn our attention to 2018 income tax planning and the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The TCJA is the most comprehensive tax overhaul in 30 years and impacts income tax withholding and workers’ net income, itemized deductions, charitable contributions, housing values, divorce settlements, out-of-pocket business expenses, and more. This webinar will include a basic overview of income taxation followed by an overview of the TCJA, a discussion of its impacts on individuals, tax planning strategies, and resources (e.g., tax law calculators) for personal income tax planning.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
OPEC members’ incentives for abiding or violating quotas
Hamed Ghoddusi, Assistant Professor of Finance at the School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology
Abstract: Over the last decades quota violations have become a norm for OPEC countries. However, the academic literature on OPEC focuses more on its production behavior than on analyzing the quota allocation process or characterizing quota violation patterns. This paper offers a theoretical model with empirical evidence to explain OPEC members’ incentives for abiding or violating quotas. We first offer a cartel model with a quota allocation rule and an endogenous capacity choice. The model highlights the trade-off between building spare capacity to bargain for a higher legitimate quota versus risking quota violation punishment. Using the quarterly data from 1995 to 2007, we empirically support the main results and intuitions for the model. Our empirical evidence is consistent with a theoretical framing in which capacity constraints work as an enforcement mechanism in good times and OPEC’s quota system disciplining its members in bad times.
Bio: Hamed Ghoddusi is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology. Before joining Stevens he was a postdoctoral associate at MIT’s Engineering Systems Division (ESD). He has received his Ph.D. from the Vienna Graduate School of Finance (VGSF) and holds degrees in Quantitative Economics, Management Science, and Industrial Engineering from the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) and Sharif University of Technology (Tehran). His research interests include Resource and Energy Economics, Real Options, Sustainability, and Risk Management. He has published more than 10 papers on topics related to energy and resource economics. Hamed has been a visiting scholar/consultant at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), UT Austin, UC Berkeley, UNDP, and UNIDO.
Friday, March 23rd, 2018
Technology and Innovation in Agriculture
Prof. Pardey at the University of Minnesota and
Prof. Manish Parashar of Rutgers
Thursday, March 22, 2018
MahindiMaster: A Virtual Learning Platform to Enable Maize Farmers to UDiscover Soil-Optimized Inputs
Dr. Travis Lybbert, PhD, Professor
Agricultural and Resources Economics
University of California, Davis
Abstract: While temporal variability that stems from stochastic weather events is a defining feature of smallholder agriculture, its effects in practice are shaped by spatial heterogeneity at regional, village and household levels. In Kenya, as elsewhere, significant within village heterogeneity in soil quality can render uniform fertilizer recommendations inappropriate and learning from others challenging. Advances in soil testing and precision agriculture can produce sitespecific input recommendations, but these innovations face a distinct “last mile” problem: How can such recommendations be accessible and actionable for smallholder farmers? We build and test a prototype virtual farming app that combines a maize crop model and plotspecific soil tests to gamify the process of learning about the impact of different input combinations. We find that farmers quickly understand the marginal productivity of different inputs by experimenting costlessly and risklessly through this app. Specifically, farmers who most need lime to raise the pH of their soils become aware of and respond to this need in this virtual farming environment. We explore potential implications of such active, ICT-based learning tools for input supply chains.
Speaker Bio: Travis J. Lybbert is a Professor at the University of California, Davis in the Agricultural & Resource Economics Department. As an economist, he has published research in applied microeconomics on topics ranging from poverty dynamics, climate change and childhood nutrition to technology adoption, intellectual property and innovation policy. Collaborating with researchers, students, NGOs, governments, and firms, he has lived and worked in India, Haiti, and throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and Europe. He has spent time as a visiting researcher in the Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization, in the Economics and Statistics Division of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and in universities in Ghana, Germany and Sweden. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Morocco before earning his M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Economics from Cornell University in 2004.
Industry Relatedness, FDI Liberalization and the Indigenous Innovation Process in China
Anthony Howell
School of Economics, Peking University