The addition of commodities to financial portfolios and resulting weight adjustments may create volatility linkages between commodity and financial markets, especially during financial crises. Also, biofuel mandates are suspected to integrate agricultural and energy markets. We calculate...

In this paper we examine the finite sample performance of two estimators one developed by Blundell, Chen, and Kristensen (2007) (BCK) and the other by Gagliardini and Scaillet (2007) (TIR). This paper focuses on the generalization and expansion of these estimators to a full nonparametric...

Parametric Stochastic Frontier Models are widely used in productivity analysis and are commonly estimated using FRONTIER, STATA or LIMDEP packages, which only provide point estimates for firm-specific technical efficiency. Confidence intervals for technical efficiencies with superior coverage...

In this workshop the participants identified five priority areas of concern relative to sustainable management of groundwater irrigation by farmers:1) aquifer drawdown; 2) FMIS groundwaterwater support services, 3) management problems under water-surplus conditions; 4) management problems under...

Although Pakistan's surface irrigation development has a long history, it is only about 30 years ago that the development of groundwater resources was begun. During the past decade, government policy has been reoriented towards private, instead of public, tube well development in fresh...