This paper investigates the effects of network based individual social capital on the access of rural households to services. In the context of development economics, an innovative data collection approach is used to determine network based social capital. The approach originates from the field...

The paper develops a composite index of GMO standards restrictiveness for 60 countries, assigning objective scores to six different regulatory dimensions. Using this index and its components, we empirically investigate the political and economic determinants of GMO regulations. Results show that...

With the possible exception of nuclear technology, few scientific breakthroughs have generated the level of emotive debate that has surrounded the roll-out of agricultural biotechnology. Initial discussion about the environmental impacts of agricultural genetic modification, are now frequently...

The global market for agri-food products has been divided for a decade. The division arose over the approval of biotechnology-based innovations – with the European Union temporarily suspending approvals and imports until it could devise a new approval mechanism. Other countries chose between...

Increasing awareness of food safety issues has brought a boost in sanitary and phytosanitary regulations and standards. Although is likely that these regulations have increased health and welfare in the countries that impose them, they may also have an important effect in exporting countries,...

Importing country standards emerge as an effective trade barrier when they exceed those of the exporting country’s domestic market. We introduce a new concept: bridge to cross (BTC), the regulatory gap between the exporting and importing countries. Importer regulations cannot be identified in...

Over the last 150 years, agriculture has been subject to several waves of innovation which have significantly altered its institutional structures, its products and the way it is practised. Mechanical, biological and chemical innovations have, in turn, reduced labour requirements, increased...