This paper aims at investigating the price-induced innovation hypothesis in Italian agriculture over the years 1951 to 1991. Price-inducement hypothesis is analysed and tested within the framework proposed by Peeters and Surry (2000). The major difference is the short-run specification of the...

This paper presents an alternative approach to the measurement of technical change. It is based on the latent variable level of technology that enters explicitly the input demand system and on a hypothesis about the innovation generating process. By adding measurement error equations, the...

The paper presents an evolutionary perspective on how Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) have adapted over time to new challenges and technological paradigm and trajectories. Starting from a conventional science-based approach and the robust empirical evidence supporting it,...

We analyse the impacts of the CAP reforms on the technical efficiency of the crop farms. We use an output distance function and an inefficiency effects model which incorporates the influences of exogenous variables on farm efficiency. We formulate policy variables (e.g. the CAP subsidies) and...

Standard deterministic analysis of agricultural and biofuel policies can yield incomplete or misleading results. Stochastic analysis is especially important when policies have asymmetric effects and when there is intrinsic interest in uncommon events or the distribution of possible outcomes. The...

An important approach to reducing persistent technical inefficiency is through technical change. This paper considers the case of genetically modified crop production. A stochastic frontier approach is used to examine how a drastic change from non-GM to GM technology effects the position of the...

The challenges posed by food security for populations in sub-Saharan Africa and the fact that extensive production systems are reaching their limits in food-producing agriculture imply accelerating technological innovation toward ecological intensification of agricultural production systems. A...

The new EU Animal Health Strategy suggests a shift in emphasis away from control towards prevention and surveillance activities for the management of threats to animal health. The optimal combination of these actions will differ among diseases and depend on largely unknown and uncertain costs...

Recent EU regulations have imposed mandatory labelling of all food products that consist of or contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Labelling should state that "this product contains genetically modified organisms". This study examines how different label messages may affect the...