Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy最新文献

Using a randomized controlled trial and a choice experiment in Nigeria, we examine the impact of a 2-year free provision of tailored advice through a digital decision support tool (DST) on farmers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a targeted decision support system. We find that farmers are willing to pay varying subscription fees to access different kinds of tailored advice. Also, we find that 2 years of exposure to DST-mediated interventions significantly increases farmers' WTP for tailored advice, particularly for soil fertility management and market information, but does not fully cover the costs of delivering such advice. On average, control farmers are willing to pay around 1–2 USD per year for different kinds of tailored advice, and treatment farmers are willing to pay 19%–85% more than the control in response to the interventions. In settings like ours, where there is limited viability of business models for DST-mediated advice that rely on full cost recovery from farmers, continued public support—through subsidized subscription fees and public investment in upscaling DSTs may be required, consistent with the public good nature of traditional agricultural extension.

This study evaluates the economic feasibility of carbon sequestration through cover cropping in Alabama cotton fields, emphasizing the role of implicit costs, proxied by cash rent and reflecting land productivity and market proximity. Using a cost-efficiency optimization model, we compare carbon supply curves under two cost assumptions: one with explicit costs and another with both explicit and implicit costs. While the carbon supply appears nearly linear with explicit costs alone, adding implicit costs sharply raises sequestration costs, revealing diminishing carbon sequestration efficiency. Spatial analysis highlights regional disparities driven by land values, underscoring the need for targeted, region-specific policy incentives to strengthen the effectiveness of agricultural carbon markets.

This study examines the impact of minimum wage policies on low-wage food processing workers. The empirical analysis assesses how minimum wage policies affect hourly wages, working hours and weeks, and the likelihood of employment. The findings indicate significant wage increases but no adverse employment effects in the overall food-manufacturing industry. However, subsector and subpopulation analyses reveal significant heterogeneity, with wage gains concentrated in certain subsectors and positive employment effects for males and natives but negative effects for immigrants. These findings emphasize the need to consider industry specific and demographic characteristics when evaluating the impact of minimum wage policies.

Zinc biofortified rice presents a promising solution for addressing zinc deficiencies in developing countries, but its adoption is still very limited. Interventions that provide information on both demand and supply, along with social interactions, have the potential to increase farmers' adoption of biofortified crops such as zinc rice, though their combined effects are not well explored. Our study examines how information-based interventions and social interactions impact smallholder farmers' valuations of zinc and non-zinc rice seeds in the context of Bangladesh. Results reveal that demand-side information about zinc rice alone significantly raises farmers' willingness to pay for zinc rice seeds and that additional supply-side information further raises this premium. Our findings also indicate that combining information-based interventions with social interactions among farmers had a synergistic effect, promoting greater adoption of zinc rice. The results provide a key policy implication that combining information-based interventions with social interactions can effectively promote biofortified crops and other agricultural innovations.

The COVID-19 pandemic compelled governments to implement various stringent measures, causing changes in food consumption patterns. In this study, we examine changes in consumer behaviors such as online grocery shopping and restaurant dine-in/takeouts in the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Japan from 2021 to 2023 using multivariate probit regressions. The results reveal that food acquisition behaviors are shaped by a complex interplay of risk perceptions, socio-demographic characteristics, and changing pandemic phases. Our study offers insights for food business marketing strategies and provides information for stakeholders in the international agribusiness industry through a multi-country comparison.

This article presents findings from a large, longitudinal randomized evaluation of the effectiveness of 10 SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) pilots that offered new and innovative strategies to increase the earnings and employment of SNAP participants. All the pilots increased the take-up of employment and training-related activities and nearly all increased receipt of case management and support services. The pilots increased annual earnings in three states by $800 to $2,000 and increased the rate of employment by 4 to 6percentage points. Findings can help policymakers identify new promising strategies for expanding opportunities and reducing barriers to work.