We develop a variation of the Grossman-Helpman Protection for Saleʺ model, where organized groups, representing various sectors of the economy, influence government policy. In particular, this paper focuses on the rise of food prices and a greater level of influence of a food sector lobby,...

In the search for effective pesticide risk management tools, the design of pesticide risk indicators is nowadays receiving increasing attention as a complement to more established regulatory strategies. In the present paper, we apply some recently developed pesticide risk indices and test their...

Motivated by the conclusions from various modelling studies, modifications to the bioenergy sector regulations are under way in Europe and in the USA to account for emissions from indirect land-use change (ILUC). Despite their influence on the policy-making, evaluations of the capacity of...

We examine co-movements between biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) and a wide range of commodities and assets in the USA, Europe, and Brazil. The main contributions are twofold. First, we analyze a unique dataset of 32 commodities and relevant assets (between 2003 and 2015) which is unprecedented...

Despite favourable ecological and economic results, many developing countries have not yet adopted an integrated pesticide management (IPM). Given rising marginal costs and diminishing marginal benefits from IPM technology transfer, an optimal control framework is used to identify optimal rates...

This article investigates the connections between the prices of biofuels and many traded commodities and other relevant assets in Europe, USA and Brazil. The analysis uses a comprehensive dataset covering price data for 38 traded titles over the period 2003-2020. We utilize the minimum spanning...

This paper presents a novel agent-based model of land use and technological change in the agricultural sector under environmental boundaries, finite available resources and changing land productivity. In particular, we model a spatially explicit economy populated by boundedly-rational farmers...

This paper analyses the pathways of technology diffusion through social networks, following the experimental introduction of new technologies in Guinea-Bissau. In the context of an agricultural extension project, we document both the direct effects of this intervention and subsequent diffusion...

Do constraints to technology adoption vary by behavioral traits? We randomize 150 villages in Bangladesh into being offered standard microcredit, loans with a grace period, the choice between those two contracts, and control. No discernible average effects are detected on the adoption of...

This paper considers those sectors of the economy that operate under the same regimes of rewarding private innovators as others, but differ in that they face recurring problems of resistance, as occur in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. This recurrence originates in the natural...