Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics-Revue Canadienne D Agroeconomie最新文献

Price is one of the most important factors affecting consumer purchase decisions. Consumers may use price as a quality cue or reference point to make the decisions. However, few studies have considered the quality cue by controlling the price anchoring and vice versa. We conduct four identical experiments weeks apart to estimate the effect of price on consumers' product quality evaluation and WTP. The results show that (1) the price has a significant impact on appearance rating and taste rating; (2) product quality mediates the price effect on consumer WTP only if consumers have incomplete quality information about the product; and (3) the marginal effect of price on consumer WTP differs over time. The results of this study provide deep insights into the role of price on consumers' quality assessment and valuation formation of products.

In September 2024, China launched a dumping investigation against imports of Canadian canola. The announcement is the latest move in a series of trade disputes between the two countries and is widely seen as retaliation for Canadian tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. This paper examines the institutions that govern the dumping investigation and the likely price effects stemming from China's announcement. The investigation will be conducted exclusively within China and appeals to the WTO can only be made on the basis that the Chinese investigation violated WTO rules. Such investigations typically sustain the finding of dumping. Given that Chinese imports of canola seed accounted for 23% of Canadian production in 2023, anti-dumping duties could significantly disrupt trade flows. However, the impact of anti-dumping measures on Canadian canola prices may be mitigated through trade diversion, increased domestic processing, and the pass-through of duties to Chinese importers.

Framing the same information in different ways can influence consumers’ decision making. This study assesses the impacts of information framing tools on consumer preference for a relatively novel food biotechnology tool – Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR). Using an online survey of U.S. orange juice consumers, we randomized consumers into a control and two treatment groups (gain vs. loss framing) and used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to measure and compare consumers’ preferences across treatments. We find that both frames are effective in reducing the degree of aversion towards CRISPR, but the gain frame carries a stronger effect.

Grocery stockpiling is a common behavioral response to the emergence of disasters or heightened uncertainty. Nonetheless, the phenomenon and methods for mitigating it are not well understood. Using a model of household shopping and inventory management, we conceptualize stockpiling as a result of an increase in the fixed cost of making grocery shopping trips, or the opportunity cost of time associated with shopping. In a laboratory experiment, we find that stockpiling increases (decreases) by 78 and 41% (22%) with an increase in fixed costs and price reductions (imposition of purchase limits), respectively. We also find that stockpiling leads to fewer (more) grocery trips by 33 and 22% (36%) under the same three conditions, respectively. Our experiment and subsequent cluster analysis suggest that loss aversion suppresses stockpiling. Our experiment shows that imposing purchase limits, a common retail response to stock-outs, can trigger stockpiling during shopping trips without purchase limits. Although we do not claim external validity, our study suggests that store managers and policymakers should be careful about solutions during a stockpiling event, such that they do not exacerbate stockpiling, which may disproportionately affect vulnerable groups and disrupt supply chains.

This study conducts a meta-regression analysis to synthesize the marginal effects of 12 factors that frequently appear in empirical studies examining farmer's technology adoption behavior. The analysis includes 187 observational studies on technology adoption in agriculture, which are published in 32 peer-reviewed journals in the broader field of agricultural economics, covering farmer's adoption in 47 countries for a diverse range of agricultural technologies. Using this broad meta-dataset, we investigate whether each of the 12 determinants has a true effect on technology adoption rates and examine whether Type I and Type II publication bias are present in the adoption literature. Our results reveal that while most determinant factors significantly affect adoption rates, their marginal effects are generally of small magnitude and vary considerably by technology type and country group. Additionally, our results provide evidence of the presence of Type I publication bias in half of the factors considered and Type II publication bias in nearly all, underscoring the need for caution when interpreting results in the adoption literature by researchers and policymakers. Overall, the findings highlight the critical need for proactive measures to address publication bias and promote more transparent and credible research practices in agricultural economics.

The idea of switching costs and how they affect agricultural technology adoption has received little attention in the literature. We employ a dynamic switching model to show that switching costs generally discourage the adoption of new technologies by farmers, but the extent of the effect depends on the level of switching costs, as well as farmer perceptions and foresight. We provide an empirical strategy to identify switching costs and estimate their effects on adoption under different farmers’ perceptions about adoption uncertainty. An application to hybrid seed adoption in Kenya confirms the existence of switching costs. The correlated-random-effects probit results suggest there is heterogeneity in dominant farmer types across agro-ecological zones in Kenya. Area-specific policies are suggested to promote technology adoption in different environments.

Digital advancements have reshaped the sales channels for industrial products like chemical fertilizers, allowing for the elimination of certain intermediaries. Utilizing survey data from 1374 rice-growing smallholder farmers across counties in central China, this study explored the impact of disintermediation in chemical fertilizer sales channels on application rates among smallholder farmers. Benchmark regression analyses indicated that channel disintermediation significantly decreased chemical fertilizer application across various scenarios. Additionally, the alignment of contractual factors and technical services between chemical suppliers and farmers, facilitated by disintermediation, reduced chemical fertilizer application. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the reduction in chemical fertilizer application due to channel disintermediation was more pronounced among farmers with higher digital literacy or lower production capacity. These findings highlighted the importance of encouraging chemical suppliers with direct-to-consumer channels to enhance their technical services and increase supervision over the quality of their products and services, thereby building trust among farmers and facilitating their adaptation to changes in the sales channel structure.

This paper examines the effect that the export boom in wheat had on US counties from 1870 to 1900. I find that increased exports in wheat, exogenously driven by declines in British wheat production, led to an unequal effect on wheat production across counties. Specifically, counties that were less well-suited to wheat production increased their wheat output relative to more productive counties. These low-yield counties also reduced their urban population share and increased the amount of agricultural activity occurring within their borders. Taken together, my results suggest that the wheat boom in 19th century America led to more wheat production in counties which were less well-suited for growing it, which slowed these counties' transition from rural to urban.

Asymmetric price transmission has been the subject of many studies in agricultural economics, but few has been said on Quebec grain market. This study uses threshold cointegration models to examine the dynamic relationship between Quebec spot and futures prices. Estimation results with daily, weekly, and monthly data from September 1994 to May 2022 are three-fold. First, the main point to keep from cointegration tests is that futures prices and Quebec local grain prices are integrated but estimations with daily data are consistent to highlight a nonlinear long-run relationship. Second, results indicate overall positive asymmetric for daily and weekly prices transmissions from futures to spot market. Third, the positive asymmetric prices transmissions shed light on the oligopoly structure of Quebec grain market and inefficiencies in the pricing mechanism which favor local grain sellers. Results with different data frequencies show that aggregated monthly prices data compared to more disaggregated data such as daily and weekly prices may lead to different results. Results imply that policymakers and market stakeholders could facilitate increased grain market competition. Grain users like Quebec hog producers need to better understand additional tools for their management of price risk like futures market and real time prices movement monitoring.