"Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de maîtrise en droit (LL.M) option recherche" / Encore une fois, il semble que la question des subventions agricoles ait refait surface comme l'élément clé du présent cycle de négociations commerciales multilatérales à l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC). Pourtant, le cycle d'Uruguay, qui s'est achevé en 1994, avait tenté de rétablir l'agriculture comme un secteur «normal» de négociations à l'OMC. Or, il semble que plutôt que d'en faire un secteur comme les autres en ce qui a trait aux subventions, le cycle d'Uruguay ait surtout contribué à établir un régime de disciplines pour l'agriculture qui se distingue à plusieurs égards du régime général établi par l'Accord sur les subventions et les mesures compensatoires (SMC). Une analyse des disciplines en place lors du système GATT (1947-1994) démontre que ce double régime n'avait pas formellement été mis en place avant la conclusion, en 1994, de l'Accord SMC et de l'Accord sur l'agriculture. En fait, malgré quelques distinctions qui sont apparues graduellement, ce clivage ne s'est véritablement effectué qu'à partir du cycle d'Uruguay. Tant sur le plan des subventions à l'exportation que du soutien interne, il apparaît que le système actuel impose des règles beaucoup moins contraignantes pour les subventions de produits agricoles que pour tout autre produit. Cette situation s'explique, en partie, par le haut degré de sensibilité politique de l'agriculture, de même que par certaines particularités économiques intrinsèques à cette industrie. L'avenir de ce double régime demeure encore incertain. Il semble cependant qu'aucun changement en profondeur ne peut être anticipé pour le présent cycle de Doha. / Once again, it seems that the issue of agricultural subsidies has emerged has the key concern of the current round of WTO multilateral trade negotiations - even as the Uruguay Round, which was completed in 1994, had tried to bring agriculture back into a "normal" negotiating sector at the WTO. Rather, it seems that instead of making it a sector like any other concerning subsidies, the Uruguay Round has above al1 contributed to establish a regime of disciplines for agriculture that distinguished itself in many respect from the general regime established by the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM). An examination of disciplines in place during the GATT system (1947-1994) shows that this double regime was not formally instituted before the conclusion, in 1994, of the SCM Agreement and of the Agreement on Agriculture. In fact, despite a few distinctions that evolved gradual1y, this division only real1y established itself from the Uruguay Round onwards. With regard to export subsidies as wel1 as to domestic support, it appears that the current system subjects subsidies in the field of agriculture to rules are substantially less restricting than subsidies in other fields. This situation can be explained in part by the high degree of political sensitivity in agriculture, as wel1 as by some of the intrinsic economic characteristics of this sector. The future of this double regime remains uncertain. However, it seems that no major change can be expected during the current Doha Round.

Interest of STI policies to influence the innovation behaviour of firms has been increased considerably. This gives rise to the notion of behavioural additionality, broadening traditional evaluation concepts of input and output additionality. Though there is empirical work measuring behavioural additionalities, we know little about what role distinct firm characteristics play for their occurrence. The objective is to estimate how distinct firm characteristics influence the realisation of behavioural additionalities. We use survey data on 155 firms, considering the behavioural additionalities stimulated by the Austrian R&D funding scheme in the field of intelligent transport systems in 2006. We focus on three different forms of behavioural additionality project additionality, scale additionality and cooperation additionality and employ binary regression models to address this question. Results indicate that R&D related firm characteristics significantly affect the realisation of behavioural additionality. Firms with a high level of R&D resources are less likely to substantiate behavioural additionalities, while small, young and technologically specialised firms more likely realise behavioural additionalities. From a policy perspective, this indicates that direct R&D promotion of firms with high R&D resources may be misallocated, while attention of public support should be shifted to smaller, technologically specialised firms with lower R&D experience.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru Hanawa Peterson / This thesis focuses on the question of the effect of commodity pricing and Federal programs on the cost of food in the United States. For many decades the debate around subsidy payments has been argued in the halls of Congress and in farm fields across the country. Corn, wheat, and soybeans are the three largest crops subsidized in the United States today; arguably, the prices of these crops are influenced by subsidy payments. The goal of this thesis is to determine the effects of the prices of the top three subsidized crops on the thrifty market basket for families for four published by the USDA, factoring in transportation costs, market spread, agricultural technology advancements, and market value share. Previous studies have focused on direct subsidy payments as a whole and their aggregate influence on the price of food. This paper builds on the past studies by evaluating the effects of crop-specific programs on the cost of food. Econometric regression analysis was used to analyze the data gathered to support or refute the hypothesis that commodity prices and Federal payments do influence the cost of food. Initially data were gathered from January 1960 to December 2012. The data were adjusted for inflation using the Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index where appropriate. After multiple attempts of modeling it was discovered that data from 1960 to 1970 needed to be discarded due to the difference in the market basket price calculations from the rest of the series. Furthermore, the model was adjusted based on the presence of multicollinearity, and the Hildreth-Lu Method was utilized to correct for the autocorrelation in error. The regression results illustrated that the only commodity of the three considered in the study that had a positive and statistically significant impact on the cost of food over the sample period was corn (p-value = 0.005). The coefficients on wheat and soybean prices were statistically insignificant. The historical fuel price had the expected positive sign and was statistically significant. The agricultural technology factor was not significant. The results also suggested that the cereal grains supply chain has significantly increased the cost of food. Both the cereal grain farm value share and the retail-to-farm spread for cereal grains were statistically significant (p-value < 0.000) with positive coefficients. The price spread of fruit was statistically significant, (p-value = 0.000), but the farm value was not. The regression results were initially surprising for the crop price variables. The overall analysis supports previous studies that crop subsidies alone may not have impacted food prices per se, but biofuel policies may have had unintended consequences. Crop-specific results provide more information to consider when discussing The Farm Bill and the implications of such a complicated and omnibus piece of legislation.

This research examines the feasibility of a gasoline and diesel consumer subsidy phase-out in Venezuela from a transportation planning perspective. It surveys the literature and discusses case studies from Iran, Brazil, and Bolivia in order to identify the lessons that Venezuela can learn from these countries’ successes and mistakes. It examines how strengthening and investing in the public transportation system can be used as a means to gain public support for the reform. I discuss the current political, social, and economic conditions that make a fossil-fuel subsidy reform difficult, and offer suggestions from a transportation planner’s perspective on how the transition can be made as smoothly as possible. Finally, I explore the opportunities that present themselves to transportation planners in shaping the country’s future approach toward transportation.

Um politische Ziele wie Wirtschaftswachstum, geringe Arbeitslosigkeit und langfristige internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zu erreichen, wird die Förderung der nationalen Innovationstätigkeit als ein zentrales Element für erfolgreiche Wirtschaftspolitik angesehen. Diese Dissertation trägt zu der Diskussion über den Einfluss von regulativen und finanziellen Politikinstrumenten auf unternehmerische Entscheidungen bei, indem die Effekte von spezifischen Politikinstrumenten auf die individuelle Innovationstätigkeit und das Kooperationsverhalten analysiert werden. Es werden dabei die Effekte dreier Politikinstrumente – intellektuelle Eigentumsrechte, Innovationswettbewerbe und Subventionen – mit Hilfe von Laborexperimenten in einem neuen experimentellen Design untersucht, das im Kern eine Scrabble-ähnliche Wort-Suchaufgabe beinhaltet. Auf diese Weise können die individuellen Reaktionen auf die institutionellen Parameter im Rahmen eines sequentiellen Innovationsprozesses simuliert werden. Die Ergebnisse des ersten Experiments bezüglich intellektueller Eigentumsrechte zeigen, dass diese einen negativen Effekt auf das Auftreten sequentieller Innovationen haben. Die Wohlfahrt sinkt durch das Vorhandensein von intellektuellen Eigentumsrechten signifikant um 20 bis 30 Prozent, da eine geringere Anzahl und weniger wertvolle Innovationen erstellt werden. Im zweiten Experiment werden die Effekte von Innovationswettbewerben untersucht. Im Ergebnis sinkt in beiden untersuchten Wettbewerben die Kooperationsbereitschaft, jedoch haben Innovationswettbewerbe weder Einfluss auf die Kooperationsneigung der Individuen noch auf die gesamte Innovationsaktivität. Das dritte Experiment analysiert die Effekte von Subventionen auf das Innovationsverhalten und auf die Kooperationstätigkeit. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich ein substantielles Crowding-Out von privaten Investitionen und – je nach Subventionsart – keine positiven, bzw. sogar negative Effekte auf die Wohlfahrt. Im abschließenden Kapitel wird die aktuelle Literatur zur experimentellen Innovationsforschung zusammengefasst und ihre Vor- und Nachteile diskutiert. Insgesamt wird für eine pragmatische Nutzung von Laborexperimenten plädiert, um die Ergebnisse etablierter Methoden in der Innovationsforschung durch diesen methodischen Ansatz zu bereichern.

This diploma thesis is focused on analysis of the financial and operating indicators of the agricultural cooperative "Kalich Kamenice nad Lipou" in years 2002-2017. Thesis uses methods of financial analysis and intercompany comparison. For this purpose, is used analysis of ratio indicators, creditworthy and bankruptcy models, determination of criteria weights with Saaty's method and intercompany comparison with sample of companies using the point method. Cost analysis is in the separate part. Analysis of operating indicators include crop and animal production, where was shown the yield of selected commodities. In the next part is an overview of subsidies. All indicators were compared with the sample of companies. Results were summarized in final part and the company was classified positively.

La connexion entre milieux aquatiques et terrestres a suscité l’intérêt de la communauté scientifique, notamment l’effet du transfert d’énergie et de matière sur le fonctionnement des écosystèmes adjacents. Beaucoup d’études se sont intéressées aux apports d’insectes aquatiques ailés dans les écosystèmes naturels, mais peu à leur impact en milieu agricole. En modifiant la production secondaire d’invertébrés aquatiques, les pratiques agricoles sont à même d’intensifier ou diminuer l’effet de ces apports aquatiques dans les terres agricoles et par conséquent la fourniture de services écosystémiques utiles à l’agriculture. Nous avons collecté des données d’émergences et de dispersion d’insectes aquatiques depuis plusieurs rivières dans des paysages agricoles. Les principaux groupes d’insectes émergents sont les trichoptères (56%), chironomidés (25%) et éphéméroptères (19%). Nous estimons la biomasse sèche émergente entre 1445 et 7374 mg m-2 an-1 selon les sites. Une majorité de ces insectes aquatiques se déposent sur une bande entre 0 et 10 mètres du bord de la rivière mais une proportion importante (45%) se dépose dans les cultures après 20 mètres. Nous apportons de nouvelles et prometteuses connaissances suggérant que les insectes aquatiques participent à la fourniture de plusieurs services écosystémiques (fertilisation, contrôle biologie, épuration de l’eau et pollinisation). En paysage agricole, une communauté d’insectes riche et abondant est nécessaire à la mise en place d’un système agricole durable. Nous pensons que le rôle des insectes aquatiques est à ce titre important et suggérons de nouvelles pistes de recherches pour l’agroécologie. / The connection between aquatic and terrestrial habitats has increased scientific interest in ecological subsidies, focusing on how the transfer of matter and energy between adjacent ecosystems can modify the ecosystems functioning. Much attention has focused on aquatic subsidies associated with winged aquatic insects in pristine areas, but their implication in agricultural landscapes is rarely considered. By altering the production of benthic macroinvertebrates, agricultural practices can increase or decrease the strength of aquatic subsidies and subsequently the provision of several ecosystem services to agriculture. We have monitored the emergence and inland dispersal of adult aquatic insects from several agricultural streams. Most emerging dry mass (DM) belong to Trichoptera (56%), Chironomidae (25%) and Ephemeroptera (19%). We estimate that annual emerging dry mass of aquatic insects ranged between 1445 and 7374 mg m-2 y-1 depending on stream. The majority of aquatic insects emerging falls between 0 and 10 meters from stream hedges. However, a great proportion (45%) though disperses and eventually falls after 20 meters from the stream. We provide new and promising evidence suggesting that winged stream insects can support several ecosystem services (soil fertilization, crop pest control, water purification and pollination). In agricultural landscapes, a rich and abundant insect community is necessary to promote sustainable practices, and we believe the role of aquatic subsidies in providing ecosystem services to agriculture is a new and promising field of research in agroecology.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 161-165. / by Alden Howland Drake. / M.C.P.

Thesis. 1975. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Rotch. / Bibliography: p. [157]-[159]. / by Theodore S. Jojola. / M.C.P.

Thesis. 1976. B.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Rotch. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Jill Feblowitz. / B.S.