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Conservation agriculture and smallholder farming in Africa: The heretics' view

Contents Volume IIIA: Preface. Analytical Tools. Introduction (J. Behrman, T.N. Srinivasan). Data and econometric tools for development analysis (A. Deaton). Human resources: Empirical modeling of household and family decisions (J. Strauss, D. Thomas). Applied general equilibrium models for policy analysis (J.W. Gunning, M. Keyzer). Resources, Technology, and Institutions. Introduction (J. Behrman, T.N. Srinivasan). Savings, credit and insurance (T. Besley). Technological change and technology strategy (R.E. Evenson, L.E. Westphal). Institutions and economic development (J.Y. Lin, J.B. Nugent). Poverty, institutions, and the environmental-resource base (P. Dasgupta, K.-G. Maler) Contents Volume IIIB: Policy Reform, Stabilization, Structural Adjustment and Growth. Introduction (J. Behrman, T.N. Srinivasan). Policy lessons from development experience since the second world war (A. Krueger). Poverty and policy (M. Lipton, M. Ravallion). Power, distortions, revolt and reform in agricultural land relations (H. Binswanger et al.). Human and physical infrastructure: investment and pricing policies in developing countries (E. Jiminez). Structural adjustment, stabilization and policy reform: domestic and international finance (V. Corbo, S. Fischer). Trade and industrial policy reform (D. Rodrik). The contributions of endogenous growth theory to the analysis of development problems: an assessment (P. Bardhan).

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Handbook of development economics

Humanity already possesses the fundamental scientific, technical, and industrial know-how to solve the carbon and climate problem for the next half-century. A portfolio of technologies now exists to meet the world's energy needs over the next 50 years and limit atmospheric CO2 to a trajectory that avoids a doubling of the preindustrial concentration. Every element in this portfolio has passed beyond the laboratory bench and demonstration project; many are already implemented somewhere at full industrial scale. Although no element is a credible candidate for doing the entire job (or even half the job) by itself, the portfolio as a whole is large enough that not every element has to be used.

“Stabilization wedges: Solving the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies” from science magazine (2004)

The use of environmental taxes and charges in OECD countries increased by over 50% between 1987 and 1994. While revenues raised by environmental taxes and charges remain small relative to overall taxation, they comprise a rising proportion in most European countries. Several European countries have either undertaken or are considering systematic shifts in taxes away from labour and onto the use of environmental resources. Potential negative effects on competitiveness, and regressive distributional effects, are the major cause of concern with regard to the introduction of environmental taxes. A number of ways of mitigating such effects exist and have been implemented.

European Environmental Taxes and Charges: Recent Experience, Issues and Trends

A future for small farms

Cet article interroge le paradigme de " transformation structurelle " et de " croissance moderne " qui conduit in fine a un " monde sans agriculture ". Il montre d'abord que ce " chemin de Lewis " (Lewis Path) n'est qu'une voie parmi quatre possibles, et que seuls les pays industrialises ou en transition l'ont suivi durant les dernieres decennies. La moitie de la population mondiale est plutot embarquee dans une direction diametralement opposee (Lewis Trap) ou la population active agricole croit ainsi que son ecart de revenu avec les autres travailleurs. En recomposant les productivites partielles de la terre et du travail en calories de 1961 a 2007, l'article montre ensuite comment la contrainte en terre interdit a la plupart des actifs agricoles d'augmenter la productivite de leur travail par la moto-mecanisation a grande echelle. Enfin, des simulations numeriques projetant l'Inde en 2050 montrent quels facteurs exterieurs a l'agriculture barrent la route de Lewis a ce pays et d'autres. L'article introduit et discute alors un autre paradigme de developpement, celui d'une intensification ecologique hautement productive a petite echelle, intensive en travail comme en savoirs generiques et locaux, inseree dans le secteur manufacturier comme dans celui des services. (Resume d'auteur)

A world without farmers? The lewis path revisited : Working paper No 47-2013

This paper questions the Lewis Path perspective of a "world without agriculture" which underpins the "structural transformation" paradigm of "modern growth." It shows that the Lewis Path is only one of four potential structural paths, and that half of the world's population is spiralling into a "Lewis Trap" with more farmers and an increasing income gap between them and other workers. After showing how land constraints and the productivity dynamics outside agriculture might prevent this population from switching to a Lewis Path, it delineates the condition of an alternative path that would not transfer the disparity problem to cities.

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A World without Farmers ? The Lewis Path Revisited

Cet article traite des impacts au Mali des politiques economiques sur la securite alimentaire des menages, simules a partir d’un modele d’equilibre general. Differents scenarios concernant les politiques commerciales et d’investissement sont compares. Ils refletent des recommandations souvent evoquees en matiere d’amelioration de la situation alimentaire. Le scenario 1 liberalise le commerce exterieur par l’elimination totale des taxes tandis qu’a l’oppose, le scenario 2 protege l’ensemble des produits agricoles locaux des importations. Le scenario 3 ajoute au scenario 1 des prix plus eleves pour les deux principaux produits d’exportation (coton et or). Dans chaque cas, les niveaux de consommation de cereales et de produits animaux (viandes et poissons) des menages en insecurite alimentaire sont compares a la situation de reference (annee 2002). Les impacts simules dans ces trois scenarios commerciaux sont tres faibles. Deux scenarios d’investissement dans l’activite agricole sont egalement testes. Les resultats de la simulation montrent leur efficacite dans la lutte contre l’insecurite alimentaire.

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Comparaison de plusieurs scénarios de lutte contre l'insécurité alimentaire au Mali

This paper proposes to test the global hybrid computable general equilibrium model IMACLIM-R against macroeconomic data. To do so, it compares the modeled and observed responses of the Indian economy to the rise of oil price during the 2003-2006 period. The objective is twofold: first, to disentangle the various mechanisms and policies at play in India’s economy response to rising oil prices and, second, to validate our model as a tool capable of reproducing short-run statistical data. With default parametrization, the model predicts a significant decrease in the Indian growth rate that is not observed. However, this discrepancy is corrected if three additional mechanisms identified by the International Monetary Fund are introduced, namely the rise in exports of refined oil products, the imbalance of the trade balance allowed by large capital inflows, and the incomplete passthrough of the oil price increase to Indian customers. This work is a first step toward model validation, and provides interesting insights on the modeling methodology relevant to represent an economy’s response to a shock, as well as on how short-term mechanisms – and policy action – can smooth the negative impacts of energy price shocks or climate policies.

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Documents de travail / working papers

En Afrique de l’Ouest, les politiques de post ajustement donnent un role croissant aux organisations paysannes dans divers cadres de concertation ou doivent se negocier les politiques sectorielles et se cogerer les filieres agricoles. A travers le cas la filiere coton au Mali, qui concerne pres du quart de la population et un peu moins de 10 % du PIB, il est mis en balance les nouveaux enjeux auxquels se trouvent confrontees les organisations de producteurs et leurs capacites a les relever, capacites qui sont fortement liees aux diverses conditions de leur emergence. Les OP soit sont initiees par les pouvoirs publics (l’Etat ou la societe cotonniere) soit emergent de la societe civile a l’initiative des paysans ou d’Ong. La perspective d’une gestion interprofessionnelle de la filiere coton en cours de privatisation permet de discuter des options offertes et de leurs implications en termes de reglementation, d’appuis et de recherches.

Michel Benoit-Cattin

Papers

A world without farmers? The lewis path revisited : Working paper No 47-2013

A World without Farmers ? The Lewis Path Revisited

Comparaison de plusieurs scénarios de lutte contre l'insécurité alimentaire au Mali

Documents de travail / working papers

Les organisations de producteurs en zone cotonnière au Mali