Showing papers in "Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics in 1979"

Some general equilibrium effects of mining growth on the economy

Abstract: The effects of mining sector growth are analysed with a five-sector general equilibrium model. The effect of the mineral discoveries is to cause the agricultural sector to contract, but to cause the import-competing sector to expand by a small amount–a result which differs from Gregory's (1976) analysis. However, a mining boom caused by increases in external demand, rather than by new discoveries, leads to a different set of results. Some likely effects of the boom on the growth rates of the different sectors in the economy are reported. Finally, the effects of an export tax on minerals are considered.

Explaining variations in share contracts: land quality, population pressure and technological change

Abstract: Substantial variations in landowner's share under sharecropping arrangements are documented. Partial relationships between landowner's share and land quality and between landowner's share and physiological population density are explained by extensions of the competitive theory of share tenancy. It is shown that high landowner's share can be expected to be associated with high land quality and or high physiological density. The tendency for increases in population to be associated with increases in landlords' shares can be ameliorated by land-saving technological change.

Stabilisation and risk reduction in australian agriculture

Abstract: Agricultural producers typically are faced with risk about the yields they will experience and the prices they will receive. Stabilisation schemes can spread risk and thereby reduce the risk faced by individual producers. The risk-reducing capacity of a scheme and the cost of risk reduction depend upon the design of the scheme. In particular, it is important to distinguish between risk and instability. A classification of scheme designs is presented to bring out the effects of various design types. Schemes for the wheat industry are given most attention.

The demand for meat - an example of an incomplete commodity demand system

Abstract: Equations describing the demand for beef and veal, mutton, lamb, pork and chicken are estimated using the full information maximum likelihood estimator. Elasticity estimates are presented and the double logarithmic model is compared with a demand system which is derived from the indirect translog utility function. Estimates of the direct price and income elasticities are not particularly sensitive to model specification but the estimated cross-price elasticities are sensitive to the choice of functional form. The results indicate that the double logarithmic specification may be less satisfactory than the alternative presented in cases where restrictions on the parameters are imposed during estimation.

The short-term effect of domestic oil price increases on the australian economy with special reference to the agricultural sector

Abstract: The rise in the domestic price of oil products implied by the new import parity pricing policy for domestic crude oil is likely to pose some problems for macroeconomic management. In this paper an attempt has been made to quantify the short-run adjustment problems involved, using the ORANI 78 model of the Australian economy. Results are presented for a range of variables of interest, including macroeconomic variables, industrial and workforce composition and farm incomes. With fixed real wages, farm incomes are projected to decline by between 6 and 8 per cent.

Pricing efficiency in the retail meat market

Abstract: The degree of pricing efficiency achieved in the retail meat market is reconsidered in this paper. The approach adopted is to develop an economic model of the pricing behaviour of retail butchers, to postulate a behavioural model consistent with the economic model, and to test this model using the data supplied by three retail butchers. The results indicate that the deleterious effects of price levelling and averaging practices on pricing efficiency may have been understated in earlier studies. It is concluded that further research is required to re-assess the extent of the problem of pricing efficiency in the retail meat market.

Optimal buffer stock policies for wheat at the world level

Abstract: Alternative wheat storage policies which maximise the expected present value of returns for consumers, producers, a monopoly storage agency and society as a whole are derived using a dynamic programming model. Results are compared with those from an earlier simulation model, and are found to justify higher investment in storage capacity compared with that suggested by the simulation model. The model is extended to derive optimal storage policies if production follows a stochastic cobweb process.

Empirical tests of spatial and structural effects on cattle auction prices

Abstract: Two investigations are reported. The first is a comparison of average prices for two cattle types within pairs of some major auction centres in Australia. Significant price differences existed in three of the four cases studied. The second is a study of the main determinants of price differences between auction selling centres through a case study of a large and small auction centre. The major factor explaining the price differences between the two auction centres was lot size. This factor also influenced price variation within auctions. The number of buyers purchasing cattle did not affect price levels.

Economic aspects of selection in the dairy herd in israel

Abstract: The paper reports a study of the operation of the breeding system in the milk herd in Israel. Basic notions in quantitative genetics are explained and incorporated in a simulation model which is used to illustrate and analyse the selection process. Particularly emphasised are the traits common to selection and other research and development effort; among them, search, limited information, and biological and technical constraints. Differential technical changes affected the structure of the milk producing industry and its measured productivity; these effects are discussed in the last part of the paper.

A comparison of depreciation methods under current cost accounting

Abstract: In New Zealand the Richardson Report has recommended to government the adoption of a form of inflation accounting known as Current Cost Accounting (CCA). This paper reports research carried out to determine which of the traditional historical cost depreciation methods used in farm accounting might be most appropriate when adapted to a current cost basis. The current cost depreciation methods are compared on the basis of their ability to predict accurately actual replacement values for a survey sample of farm tractors and headers. The resultant measures of depreciation are compared with those currently allowable under New Zealand taxation laws, and the proposition that investment allowances on purchases of new machinery offset the inadequacies of historical cost depreciation is discussed.

New zealand beef and sheep supply relationships

Abstract: The primary purposes of this study are to measure major relationships describing the responses of different components of sheep and beef farming capital stock in New Zealand to changes in economic conditions, and to investigate the way in which this capital stock has changed over time. These objectives are pursued by attempting to specify an econometric model that recognises joint production between sheep and beef cattle and also takes account of joint firm/household decision making. Aggregate New Zealand data for the period 1952/53 to 1973/74 are fitted to the model using Full Information Maximum Likelihood estimation.

The use of a decision maker's utility function in a linear programming analysis of agricultural policy*

Abstract: A decision theoretic approach to agricultural policy decision making is examined to discover whether a utility function of an Australian Wool Corporation decision maker can be established and, if so, whether this can be used to improve the policy analysing performance of an agricultural sector linear programming model After discussing the theoretical requirements of the utility function elicitation and the elicitation procedures, the characteristics of the resulting functions are examined A means for its inclusion in a linear programming framework is described and some analysis of policy is carried out The general conclusions are that the relevance of the agricultural sector analysis is enhanced by the use of such a utility function

The labour response of quasi-subsistent village craftsmen in rural papua new guinea

Abstract: In this study of labour-leisure choice, a labour supply equation is derived from a Stone-Geary utility function and extended to incorporate several 'non-economic' variables. Such variables are made functions of the 'minimum subsistence' quantities which characterise the standard Stone-Geary model. The model is then estimated on cross-sectional data obtained from a field survey of quasi-subsistent piece rate producer-consumers living and working in a number of New Guinean villages. Approximately two-thirds of the observed variation in the weekly work commitment of the sampled workers was explained by the model. The response of cash work commitment to variation in earning rates was found, on average, to be highly inelastic and slightly negative in direction. The econometric approach adopted herein is offered as an alternative to the less formal analyses of Melanesian labour response hitherto undertaken by economic anthropologists.