The capacity of Canada’s export-oriented agrifood sectors to cope with contemporary challenges may hinge on their ability to identify new export markets. This thesis uses an import demand model, developed by Hallak (2006), to assess how per capita expenditure on Canadian agrifood exports is influenced by income growth and the presence of a preferential trade agreement for a group of emerging economies, known as ‘the Next-11.’ Results reveal that while as a group the Next-11 does not appear to be distinct from other income groups or the BRICs in terms of their expenditures on agrifood imports, Vietnam and South Korea demonstrate expenditure elasticities notably higher then other Next-11 and BRIC members. Finally, the findings cast doubt on the capacity of PTAs to enhance Canadian agrifood trade. However, this result may be indicative of Canada’s longstanding commitment to multilateral trade liberalization and the corresponding delay in the adoption of PTAs.

Scholars often address the process of enlargement as one-sided argument. This work provides a general theory of organizational expansion by including strategies and actions of both, applicant states and members of international organizations. It is argued that dependent on the domestic characteristics of states an organization strategically implement a set of conditions to avoid the application and admission of states, which are either not able to conform with the rules or not willing to pay the costs of membership. This process incorporates two stages. I test this theory by utilizing a Heckman-Probit-Selection Model, which accounts for this two-stage procedure. The results confirm that conditions are important to avoid costs in the process of expansion.

The paper decomposes average income differentials between Roma and non-Roma in South East Europe into the component that can be explained by group differences in income-related characteristics (characteristics effect), and the component which is due to differing returns to these characteristics (coefficients or discrimination effect). The decomposition analysis is based on Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) and uses three weighting matrices, reflecting the different assumptions about income structures that would prevail in the absence of discrimination. Heckman (1979) estimators control for selectivity bias. Using microdata from the 2004 UNDP household survey on Roma minorities, the paper finds that a large share of the average income differential between Roma and non-Roma is explained by human capital differences. Nevertheless, significant labour market discrimination is found in Kosovo for all weight specifications and in Bulgaria and Serbia for two weight specifications. (author's abstract)

There are several well-known negative side effects associated with pesticide use such as health problems and environmental pollution.  Integrated Pest Management (IPM) seeks to minimize pesticide use while reducing pest infestation to economically tolerable levels.  The introduction of IPM CRSP activities in Ecuador to institutionalize IPM methods focused on priority crops in the country. This study analyzes adoption and the economic impacts of IPM technologies on potato production in the province of Carchi. A model is estimated in which IPM adoption is discrete and ordered and pesticides expenditures are estimated as a function of education, farming experience, wealth, plot size and farmer being sick due to pesticide use for each level of IPM adoption. Results indicate that farmers who were exposed to certain IPM information sources increased adoption of IPM practices on potatoes, but farmers\' education and experience were not important factors in explaining IPM adoption. The calculated economic benefits in terms of aggregate cost savings per production cycle were $823,000. / Master of Science