We measure the total benefits from rice varietal improvement research in China and India, using variety adoption and performance data over the last two decades. Genetic or pedigree information is used to partition the total benefits between these two countries and International Rice Research...

Despite the efforts of various economists and agricultural scientists in calling for more investments, funding for agricultural R&D has been stagnated for the last two decades in China. This will pose a great challenge for the China's agricultural sector. Productivity has leveled off, and...

This study empirically investigates the dynamics of motivations behind China's outward foreign direct investment (FDI). Based on a dataset of 75 host countries of China's outward FDI, we test the relative importance of outward FDI motives in different time periods. We account for endogeneity...

This article evaluates irrigated agriculture sector response and resultant economic impacts of climate change for a part of the Murray Darling Basin in Australia. A water balance model is used to predict reduced basin inflows for mild, moderate and severe climate change scenarios involving 10,...

Invasive animal pests inflict many kinds of damage on the environment, and threaten native fauna and flora. We attempt to value the benefits from the extra biodiversity that is protected if these threats were removed. The NSW Rural Lands Protection Board is a major agency that undertakes pest...

The paper presents empirical evidence of the determinants of catastrophe insurance participation in one of the poorest and most disaster prone countries in the world. In a large-scale household survey carried out in 2006 we ask 3,000 residents in six different districts in Bangladesh facing...

Chinese grasslands are suffering considerable pressures from human and livestock populations. It has been estimated that 90% of Chinese grasslands are suffering from light to heavy levels of degradation. Allied to this is the low household income of herders and farmers dependant upon livestock...

This paper seeks to examine the impact of corruption on economic growth in Lebanon. Using a neoclassical model, we hypothesise that corruption reduces the country's standard of living as measured by real per capita GDP. We show that corruption deters growth indirectly through reducing the factor...