Browsing by Subject "Developing country"

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An empirical analysis of the Swiss generalized system of preferences
(2018) Ritzel, Christian; Grethe, Harald
The progressively introduced DFQFMA for LDCs has a positive effect on the size of LDCs’ preferential exports to Switzerland. Consequently, the DFQFMA has considerably improved market access for the world’s poorest countries. Eliminating tariffs (progressively) causes preferential agro-food and textile exports of LDCs to rise substantially. However, it has to be remarked that the success of the DFQFMA is limited to the agro-food and textile sectors and to a few countries. The descriptive analysis of agro-food exports indicates that trade liberalization is a success story merely for a few LDCs, namely Tanzania, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda. Those seven countries capture a total share of nearly 80 percent of LDCs’ agro-food exports to Switzerland. In the textile sector we observe an even higher degree of market concentration concerning LDCs’ preferential exports. Here, three countries, namely Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal, account for 98 percent of LDCs’ preferential textile exports. It also can be noted that the GSP is a useful supplement to ‘duty-free tariffs’ (duty-free market access) under the WTO regime. For instance, 100 percent of LDCs’ agro-food exports from 2002 to 2011 entered Switzerland under reduced or duty-free tariffs. However, the share of preferential exports under the GSP was on average only 36 percent. In this context, the preference margin, which represents the main incentive to export under preferential conditions, compensates the costs of compliance associated with the GSP and yields an additional benefit for the importer has a consistent and positive effect on the level of the utilization rate. In particular, the application of the Heckman´selection model in article no. 1 makes clear that once trade contracts are established and an exporter has overcome bureaucratic obstacles in the form of proof of origin and proof of direct shipment, the ‘preference margin’ appears as the main incentive to export under preferential conditions granted by the GSP. While the effect of the size of ‘GSP eligible trade’ has a positive and significant effect in the case of the PPML estimations, the effect turned negative when the sample was restricted to positive values of the utilization rate in the case of the outcome equation of the Heckman selection model. This finding encourages our confidence that the ‘preference margin’ acts as the main incentive for exporting under preferential conditions. However, to benefit from these preferential tariffs, the institutional quality of a given DC or LDC is of crucial importance. Additionally, we address the question of whether reciprocal trade preferences are more beneficial for DCs compared to non-reciprocal trade preferences. Because trade preferences under the Swiss GSP are offered to the country group of DCs as a whole, non-reciprocal trade preferences are not tailored to the export structure of a particular DC. Consequently, by switching from non-reciprocal to negotiated reciprocal trade preferences, DCs such as Tunisia expect to negotiate terms which are tailored to their export structure and better conditions than competitors from countries which are still beneficiaries of the GSP. The Tunisian case study reveals that the switch from the GSP to an FTA causes no significant advantage in most of the export sectors. This implies that switching from non-reciprocal to reciprocal trade preferences yields advantages in export sectors where Tunisia has comparative cost advantages. This is especially true for the textile sector and partly so for the agro-food sector.
Engel curves, spatial variation in prices and demand for commodities in Cote d'Ivoire
(2011) Sousa-Poza, Alfonso; Gbakou, Monnet Benoit Patrick
This paper aims to estimate the price and income elasticities of the demand for essential commodities in Cote d?Ivoire. Using data from the 2002 Cote d'Ivoire Living Standard Survey and a theoretical framework developed by Crawford et al. (2003), we analyse price effects on the demand for groups of commodities by exploiting a relationship between unit values and commodity quantities and deriving Engel curves. Our findings reveal that the own-price elasticity of meat and dairy products is considerably stronger for rich households (those in the 90th percentile of total expenditure) than for poor households (those in the 10th percentile of total expenditure). Although all the modelled groups of commodities are normal goods, the paper shows that starch is more of a necessity for poor households than for rich ones, whereas meat and dairy products are more of a luxury good for poor households than for rich households.
Identifying loss and waste hotspots and data gaps throughout the wheat and bread lifecycle in the Fars province of Iran through value stream mapping
(2023) Ghaziani, Shahin; Dehbozorgi, Gholamreza; Bakhshoodeh, Mohammad; Doluschitz, Reiner
Reducing wheat and bread loss and waste is crucial for ensuring global food security and sustainability. The importance of reducing wheat and bread loss is particularly significant in Iran, where wheat is a staple crop and a vital component of the country’s food security. A value stream mapping study was conducted to identify loss and waste hotspots and critical data gaps along the wheat and bread lifecycle (WBL). In October 2018, 14 experts were surveyed in Fars province, Iran’s second-largest wheat producer. The study presents a detailed cradle-to-grave overview of WBL and identifies farms, foodservice, and households as the loss and waste hotspots. The results revealed significant data gaps regarding on-farm wheat loss and household bread waste. Additionally, although data exist in other segments of WBL, they are not readily accessible nor utilized to report loss and waste, highlighting the need for transparency within the WBL system and further research to compile existing data and analyze wheat and bread loss and waste. Other researchers can employ the holistic approach of the present study to investigate loss and waste throughout the lifecycle of other food items in different geographical contexts. The methodology adopted in this study offers advantages for defining the scope of research in lifecycle assessment and circular economy studies.
Labour as a utility measure in contingent valuation studies
how good is it really?
(2010) Ahlheim, Michael; Frör, Oliver; Heinke, Antonia; Duc, Nguyen Minh; Van Dinh, Pham
The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) aims at the assessment of people's willingness to pay (WTP) for a public project. The sum of the individual WTPs is interpreted as the social benefits of the project under consideration and compared to the project costs. If the benefits exceed the costs the project is recommended for realization. In very poor societies budgets are so tight that households cannot give up any part of their income, i.e. of their market consumption, in favour of a public project, so that their WTP for that project stated in a CVM interview has to be zero or close to zero. This leads to a severe discrimination against poor regions in the decision process on the allocation of public funds. Therefore, several authors suggest to use labour contributions to the realization of a public project instead of monetary contributions as a measure of people's WTP for that project. In this paper we show theoretically and empirically, based on a CVM study conducted in Vietnam, that labour is severely flawed as a measuring rod for individual utility so that CVM based on labour contributions does not provide a reliable and meaningful decision rule for the allocation of public projects.
Labour as a utility measure reconsidered
(2017) Pham, Van Dinh; Ahlheim, Michael; Frör, Oliver; Nguyen, Minh Duc; Rehl, Antonia; Siepmann, Ute
In Stated Preference studies for the appraisal of environmental projects in poor countries or regions it often turns out that the stated willingness to pay of people for environmental improvements, which is used as measure of individual welfare changes, is very low. This is often interpreted as the result of extremely tight budget constraints, which make it impossible that people express their true appreciation of an environmental project in terms of their willingness to pay for it. Therefore, it is sometimes suggested to use labour contributions instead of money as a numeraire to measure utility in such studies. In this paper we show theoretically and empirically that this suggestion is not compatible with the principles of welfare theory because of several inconsistencies. We also illustrate the validity of our arguments empirically based on the results of a Contingent Valuation study conducted in a rural area in northern Vietnam.