As the potential for a trade war with China escalates, and the rhetoric about NAFTA continues to heat up, we thought we’d step back and talk a bit about the perception underlying current political concern regarding trade: trade deficits. President Trump’s comments early in March stated that the U.S. has a deficit with almost every […]
Archive | International
The Japanese beef market’s lessons for trade policy
By Steve Burak, Kathy Baylis, Jonathan Coppess and Qianting Xie on February 1, 2018 in Agriculture, Commodities, Consumer, Economics, Food and Nutrition, International
For ten consecutive years, Japan has increased its meat consumption; consumption increased by 3.4 percent last year over the previous year to produce the highest level of growth in five years. Beef consumption, in particular, is expected to grow nearly 4 percent this year after two straight years of decline. Japan is already one of […]
Designing a Health Service Program for Rural Uganda: Application of Expected Utility Theory
Introduction: A large proportion of the population in rural East Africa live beyond walking distance to a clinic. Their access to healthcare is further compromised by poverty, limited health infrastructure, lack of health information, severely limited qualified health personnel, and lack of familiarity with the practices, assumptions, and culture of modern health care. This has […]
Coffee farmers face dangerously low profits, experts warn at 6th Consultative Forum on Coffee Sector Finance
By Federico Ceballos Sierra on August 18, 2017 in Agriculture, Commodities, Consumer, Economics, International
Coffee prices have always been a source of uncertainty for all the agents of the value chain, especially small coffee farmers that have seen their livelihoods worsened every time prices drop. The most recent Consultative Forum on Coffee Finance took the subject of price volatility and increasing production costs as its main focus, seeing how […]
Why will the coming years see more interest for interstate food supply linkages?
By Sandy Dall’erba and Zhangliang Chen on December 8, 2016 in Agriculture, Consumer, Economics, International
Why should a cattle rancher in Texas care about a severe drought hitting the Corn Belt states? Although genuine sympathy could be part of the answer, the main reason might be less charitable: cattle farmers in Texas are major buyers of corn from the Midwest. A drought in the Corn Belt would increase the corn […]
Some Strings Attached: Cash Transfers and Brazil’s Continued Response to Poverty
For Brazil’s poor, systemic poverty, inequity, and corruption shape the landscape of the country. Even the picturesque beaches of Rio de Janeiro offer high-rise luxury apartments that sit neatly across from dilapidated slums in an ironic homage to a country holding some of the highest rates of economic inequality in the world. The fight to […]
Livestock program breaks the cycle of hunger in Zambia’s Copperbelt
By Alex Winter-Nelson and Kashi Kafle on January 13, 2016 in Economics, Food and Nutrition, International
International livestock donation is a popular way for people in prosperous countries to support families in need in developing regions. By giving farm animals, donors might provide access to foods like milk and eggs and also provide a source of regular income to reduce poverty and further improve nutrition. While recipients of donated animals often […]
Can peers help improve crop revenues in villages in India?
By Tisorn Songsermsawas, Kathy Baylis and Hope Michelson on December 7, 2015 in Agriculture, Consumer, Economics, International
Why do some farmers earn more than others? Scholars have worked to explain the large observed differences in economic outcomes across firms, households, and industries. In developing countries, where small farmers often face limited access to agricultural markets, their agricultural revenues can vary dramatically within the same region, even after accounting for differences in capital […]
Wetter Wet Seasons, Drier Dry Seasons Harm Agriculture and Fuel Conflict in Asia
Climate change is set to disrupt weather patterns in many parts of the world. Many places will become hotter on average, some will see more rainfall than they used to, others less. But changes to average temperatures and precipitation are not the only thing we should worry about. Recent evidence shows that, over the past […]
Small Farmer Fertilizer Subsidies and Child Health — Evidence from Malawi
In a previous post I wrote about the potential significance of new “smart subsidies” for agricultural inputs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Zambia, Tanzania, and Malawi have initiated such programs to help populations of small farmers acquire mineral fertilizer and hybrid seed at a lower cost. One key objective is to increase staple cereal yields from these […]