At first glance, the Sonoran table grape industry may seem to fit the profile of a typical non-traditional agro-export system; and thus it might be expected that most of the generally accepted distinguishing characteristics of such systems would also be found here. However, a closer look at each link of this particular global commodity chain, and a greater appreciation of the historical precedents of the production region, reveals that individuals, rather than transnational corporations, are able to exert fairly high levels of control over the system, and reap a fair share of the benefits. Global commodity chain analysis, coupled with a political economy perspective, reveals that important changes further up the chain, at the retailing link, may in the future determine more of how table grapes are grown and distributed, and how the benefits of this production system are distributed. The analysis of changing agro-food systems is important because of their central role in determining the course of a nation and the well being of its people; in essence, as the food system goes, so goes the country. In diverse locations around the globe, food is increasingly being produced, distributed and marketed under the dictates of transnational corporations, which changes the role that nations, communities and individuals play in the global food system. Thus in recent years social scientists have been adding to the corpus of studies that constitute the political economy of the global agro-food system; this study intends to contribute to our knowledge of this important and rapidly evolving field.

The City of Tucson, located in a semi-arid region, faces escalating pressure on its groundwater resources associated with rapid urbanization and population growth over tbe past 50 years. Because of concern that the declining water table will threaten the city's development, bringing water from Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project (CAP) was perceived as the sole solution for Tucson's water problem. As soon as CAP water arrived in Tucson in 1992, its quality provoked a quarrel over its use for potable purposes. A significant outcome of that quarrel was the enactment of the 1995 Consumer Protection Act (CPA). The primary objective of the CPA is to preclude the use of CAP water for drinking purposes at least until year 2000, unless it is treated to achieve the same quality as the groundwater previously supplied. The CPA encourages using CAP water for non-potable purposes and for replenishing Tucson aquifer through recharge. This study examines the economic and institutional issues involved in utilizing CAP water for recharge and non-potable purposes in the Tucson Basin. The economic assessment focuses on the impact of CAP water recharge on the water table, the resulting pumping cost savings, and the concomitant benefits of saving groundwater and of using CAP water instead of reclaimed water. The institutional assessment focuses on the effectiveness of using CAP water in stabilizing groundwater withdrawal and replenishing Tucson's aquifer. Four planning scenarios were designed to measure and compare the costs and benefits with and without CAP water recharge. Cost-Benefit Analysis was utilized to measure recharge costs and benefits and to derive a rough estimate of cost savings from preventing land subsidence. The results indicate that the institutional requirements can be met since one scenario relatively stabilizes groundwater and the two other scenarios will recover it. The economic benefits from reducing pumping cost and saving groundwater are not economically significant. Yet, when combing the use of CAP water for recharge and non-potable purposes, scenario 3 would not only augment the water table, but also demonstrate positive net economic benefits from savings groundwater, decreasing pumping costs and using CAP water instead of reclaimed water.

The Belizean export sugar industry is dominated by small family farmers who produce the nation's most important cash crop in terms of area under cultivation, employment, and export earnings. These peasant farmers control both cane cultivation and the harvest transport system and receive the lion' s share of the proceeds from the sale of Belizean sugar. The origins of this anomalous industry can be traced to the regions' long history of peasant resistance to exploitation. Sugarcane was brought to Belize by refugees of the Mayan Caste Wars in the mid-nineteenth century who began producing sugar for the local market using swidden technology. Sugar production was briefly taken over by British plantations; however, the peasants were never fully proletarianized despite attempts to turn them into a plantation labor force. The peasantry's historical resistance to proletarianization is the result of several factors. Colonial officials and capitalists found it difficult to control either the movements or the labor of these independent cultivators. Low rural population density, peasants' refusal to give up subsistence farming, sugarcane's compatibility with swidden farming practices, and the peasantry's politicization all contributed to the dominance of small-farmer cane production during this century. During the 1950s plantation production was resurrected in order to meet the colony's recently acquired Commonwealth Sugar Agreement export quota. Colonial planners assumed that plantations were more efficient and competitive than peasant farmers. Nevertheless, in 1972 the state sponsored plantations were forced to shut down due to competition from independent small cane farmers. Peasant sugarcane farming has proven to be remarkably resilient in the face of crises spawned by chronic fluctuations in the price and demand for cane sugar. Most farmers depend heavily on family labor to minimize their production costs. Because they have minimal capital inputs to production, they can sustain negative profits from cane and still survive by deploying family labor into other income and/or subsistence producing activities. The viability of peasant farming families that allows them to compete successfully with large-scale capitalist sugarcane farmers contradicts the Marxian notion of the inevitability of polarization into capitalist farmers and proletarian workers.

In an attempt to identify the net benefits of different allocations of western water resources, resource economists have developed several techniques to value nonconsumptive water uses--uses which are not well-represented in the marketplace. The application of these techniques to sites with flowing streams and riparian ecosystems is the topic of this thesis. A survey incorporating the travel cost method, the contingent valuation method, and local economic impact analysis was used to assess the benefits of the Hassayampa River Preserve near Wickenburg, Arizona. Wildlife viewing is the primary visitor activity at this site, and is fully dependent on the availability of water in the Hassayampa River. This riparian site produces economic benefits that, while previously unmeasured and unaccounted for, should be included in future water allocation decisions.

This thesis examines the impact of emigration and return migration on sending communities of northwestern Portugal. Literature about recent trends in Portuguese emigration to central Europe is reviewed. Historical, political, economic and social factors are considered "push" and "pull" forces for both emigration and return migration. I demonstrate that emigration has resulted in altering the traditional social structure. I argue there are two cohort groups, first and second generation emigrants, which have different economic interests and which must be treated differently by policy makers concerned with agriculture. This thesis also contributes to the dialogue about the World systems Paradigm by demonstrating that emigration to a "core" has long term, substantial gains for the "periphery".

<p> The purpose of this dissertation is to advance the understanding of the impacts of trade and domestic policies on production, trade, welfare, and productivity. The first chapter summarizes and extends the New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) literature by showing that the cost function specification plays a crucial role in identifying the market power parameter in both autarky and trade models. </p><p> The second chapter uses a strategic trade policy framework and the NEIO literature to analyze the oligopolistic competition between U.S. and Chinese apple exporters in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and in their domestic apple markets. A theoretical model is defined and quantitative results are derived for changes in ASEAN tariffs on imports of U.S. and Chinese apples and the latter countries' subsidies. A structural econometric model is estimated and simulated to quantify the effects of changes in the tariffs and subsidies on trade flows, price, and welfare. </p><p> The third paper develops a strategic trade model based on the new trade theory to analyze competition between Florida and S&atilde;o Paulo processors in the U.S. orange juice market and S&atilde;o Paulo processors in the European orange juice market. Comparative static results are derived to analyze the effect of a reduction in the U.S. and European tariffs on sales and welfare in the United States, S&atilde;o Paulo, and Europe. A structural econometric model is specified, and the NEIO literature is utilized to identify the market power parameters. The estimated structural model is simulated to quantify a reduction in the U.S. and European tariffs. </p><p> The fourth chapter analyzes the short- and long-run effects of various subsidies by developing a dynamic general equilibrium model with firm-level productivity shocks and endogenous entry and exit. Measurement statistics are specified for welfare, real gross domestic product, and total factor productivity to make the analysis resemble the data-based measurements macroeconomist typically implement. The model is calibrated to a general and widely accepted set of functional forms and parameters. The impacts of the elimination of subsidies are quantified by numerically solving the model for both steady state values and equilibrium transition paths for the above measurement statistics.</p>

This dissertation examines measurement problems caused by imperfect data and productivity issues in a microeconometric framework. The empirical work is done on a panel of 384 farmers in the Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, for the period extending from 1979-84. The farmers use modern, labor and traditional inputs towards the production of two broad categories of outputs: crops and livestock. The first goal is to study estimation methods of agricultural input demand systems in the light of imperfect data and compare the consequences of not taking data quality into account versus when they are. These problems are addressed using techniques that include discrete choice models and virtual price methods. The second goal is to measure and examine the productivity of farmers and investigate the sources for existing variations in efficiencies. This is done using Stochastic Frontier Analysis methods and Data Envelopment Analysis. Besides the estimation of efficiency scores, investigating the effects of tenancy status and input-use on productivity are also addressed. The final goal is to link the above treatments empirically. This is done by examining the degree of misspecification that might arise from a failure to include the efficiency measures in the estimation of demand systems.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri - Columbia, 2005. / (UMI)AAI3253197. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0664. Adviser: Michael Cook.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4277. Adviser: Jay P. Kesan. Includes bibliographical references. Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Abstract not available.