This is the first paper to analyze the impact of biofuels on the price transmission along the food chain. Specifically, we analyze the U.S. corn sector and its vertical links to food and ethanol markets. The key result of this paper is that the presence of biofuels affects the price transmission...

In the past decade several certification schemes have been developed in order to promote sustainable resource use, especially in foreign countries where it is impossible to rely on direct enforcement of process standards. Based on the concept of 'Self-Enforcing Contracts' a model is developed...

The methodology used for Economic Valuation of the Externalities generated by the Watershead Restoration and Erosion Control Projects in the Hydrographic Basins of the Mediterranean Slope, is based on the Replacement Cost Method. Environmental Economics, however, today offer us other...

This paper applies a semi-parametric approach to estimating a generalised model of investments in energy installations. The model accounts for irreversibility and lumpiness of investments by linking a parametric specification of the unobservable dynamic shadow price to observed investment...

Water management for irrigation requires suitable policy tools able to meet social objectives and private behaviour. The legal framework in the EU is today faced with the new water framework directive (60/2000), that sets up new criteria for water management, regulation and pricing. Among other...

The agricultural sector model SILAS-dyn has been used by Agroscope ART for 10 years for the political advisory of the Swiss agricultural administration. To evaluate the environmental effects of different policy scenarios, a LCA module has been developed, connecting a hierarchical linkage to an...

A mathematical programming model is developed and associated to a spatial pattern index (Ripley L-function) to analyse the optimal reserve design and implementation for the Little Bustard conservation in Plaine de Niort. The model structure corresponds to three spatial levels, fields, farm and...

In its Progress Report on Biofuels the European Commission proposes a more restrictive biofuel directive which sets a mandatory minimum share of biofuels in total fuel consumption in the transport sector of 10% per Member State by 2020. This is likely to have a strong impact on demand for...

This paper analyses the adoption process of water-conserving irrigation technologies by a risk averse farmer in a context of uncertain water availability. Firstly, it is analytically shown that the increase in water efficiency that the new technology allows results in a decrease in the cost of...

The groundwater resource, the drinking water areas and the surface water quality can be protected by measures, e.g. by reductions of pesticide and nutrient applications, conversion of arable land to grasslands or forests etc. The objective of the paper is to estimate the benefits of groundwater...