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79 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is the premise of Paul Erlich's book "Population Bomb?"
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That the World was going to have a food shortage because of the increasing population and decreasing mortality.
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What is population per square kilometer?
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Population Density
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Who has highest population density? Lowest?
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Highest is south and east asia
Lowest is latin america |
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What is Yield?
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Production per land area.
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Why is growth in yield better?
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because there is only so much land that can be farmed.
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How does agriculture science reduce poverty?
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because it increases yields which increases agriculture income therefore decreasing poverty.
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Why did yields dramatically increase in the 1960's?
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Because hybrid mais was dicovered
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Why must agriculture research be conducted all over the world?
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Because not all technologies work everywhere.
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Why have corn prices increased since 2008?
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Because of drought and ethanol for cars.
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Where do we expect farmers to use more machinery?
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where the population density is lower, Places where labor is less abundant.
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What are some agricultural inputs?
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Irrigation, Improved varieties(green revolution), and Fertilizer use.
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Why is the use of green revolution varieties so low in Africa?
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Because they need h2o which is scarce.
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Why the increased use of fertilizer with green revolution?
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Because new varieties are very responsive to fertilizer and marginal product increases dramatically.
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What is the issue with land redistribution?
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Usually the larger land owners are the successful farmers so if you take their land away production decreases.
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In terms of yields, what size farm has more?
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Smaller farms tend to have higher yields.
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What are some risks that farmers worry about?
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Weather, pests, and droughts
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What is an ex-ante risk strategy?
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Taking precautions before observed action takes place.
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What is an ex-post risk strategy?
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making decisions after the realization of action.
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What is an aggregate shock?
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shocks that are also affecting other farmers.
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What is an idiosyncratic shock?
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Shocks limited to a single farmer.
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What is the ideal way to make insurance pools in regards to agriculture?
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Want risks that area idiosyncratic so that when some are doing bad, others are doing well to offset costs.
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What is number 1 social safety net in developing countries?
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Family through transfers.
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Why is there no private insurance in developing countries/
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Because of the moral hazard, asymmetric information and adverse selection.
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What growing method to farmers use to diversify risk?
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Inter-cropping
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What must a firm do to maximize profits? where is this point on the graph?
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They must minimize their costs. Where the isocost curve is tangent to isoquant.
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What area 2 major reasons for yield increases?
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The use of hybrid varieties and an increased use of fertilizer.
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What happens to fertilizer use when relative price increases/
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The use decreases, like a demand curve.
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What is institutional innovation?
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The establishment of research centers with scientists working on agriculture problems to increase yields.
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How did irrigation affect rice crops in Japan and Korea?
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Irrigation allowed for multiple crops per year which increased yields.
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How are hybrid rice varieties different?
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They are shorter in stature and more responsive to fertilizer.
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Which rice variety really improved yields and when did it come out/
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IR 8 in 1966
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What were varieties after IR 8 aimed at and how wee the yields affected?
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Aimed at pest and disease resistance which increased yields due to decreasing loss from pest damage to crops.
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Why didn't Thailand use modern varieties of rice in 70's and 80's?
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because the use deep water farming which would drown MV plant. Aldo they are rice exporter so need tast to be top notch.
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Why did east and central india get bypassed by green revolution?
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because mv of rice need irrigation which they lacked.
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What area reasons that sub-saharan africa didn't see a green revolution?
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They dont have irrigation, they don't grow wheat, lack of agriculture scientists, hard to pay scientists.
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What is the return on investment like for agriculture research?
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Very high, greater than 40%
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Is research private or public in regards to green revolution?
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Public sector
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What are characteristics of a public good?
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A public good has NO exclusions and NO rivalry.
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can you use hybrid crop to seed next years crop?
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no, because the quality decreases due changing properties of genetic seeds. Have to buy new seed every year.
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What are "Breeders Rights?"
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existed until 1980's, makes it so no copyright on strains of agriculture.
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What was the court ruling over gene splicing in 1980?
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Allowed patents which gave private sector incentive to do research because now there is a profit to be made.
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What was effect of genetically modified seed in china?
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Same yield, but lower costs from not having to use pesticides. Chinese gov. won't release this variety because of political pressure from europe.
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What is a direct tax?
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a tax applied agriculture that gives less $ to farmers. The diference between the price the farmer gets and the official government exchange rate.
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What is an indirect tax?
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difference between what farmer gets and the parallel exchange rate.
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explain an overvalued exchange rate.
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When the amount of domestic currency that a dollar will fetch is lower at the official exchange rate then in a private market.
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what is urban bias?
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policies that are biased toward urban because politicians are from urban areas, farmers get screwed.
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why is diversifying agriculture important?
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so you are not dependent on fluctuating world prices.
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what is a way to reduce price spreads in agriculture?
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improving roads and infrastructure with a private market.
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what methods do developed countries use to protect their agriculture?
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tariffs and quotas.
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why is supply line horizontal in small countries?
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because they cannot affect world prices.
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why is it bad for developing countries when developed countries impose tariffs?
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because it lowers world prices and hurts the farmers in developing countries.
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what spiked foreign aid in 80's and why did it fall?
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The green revolution spiked it then hope declined and money shifted to health care.
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What are the principle investments in people?
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schooling, health, and fertility.
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what relationship did economists find in the 60's in regards to schooling and income?
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income increased 8-10% with every year of additional schooling, the more schooling, the higher level of spending per capita.
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how does more education affect women especially?
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makes the opportunity cost of staying home higher, so they work more and earn more.
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why has child mortality decreased with more educated mothers?
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they boil water, visit doctors and know about re-hydration pils.
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how is fertility affected with women's education.
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the higher the women's education the lower fertility except in sub-saharan africa.
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Gross enrollment equation
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# of children enrolled/# of at age children
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Net enrollment equation
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# of chilren enrolled who are of age/ # of children of age
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What happens to transition rates as blocks of education are completed?
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decreases
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What do the studies show about low income countries reading levels and why?
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not learning reading well because of low quality schools
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What did the study by mean cain find about enrollment rates?
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low enrollment rates is from high child labor rates
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What is full income?
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market income + home production
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Where are marginal returns of school highest?
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Places where green revolution has taken place.
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What is a conditional cash transfer subsidy?
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households targeted to receive cash based on poverty.
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what is difference between public and private school?
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private schools deliver better education at lower costs.
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What is rational behind subsidizing schools?
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efficiency and equity
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what is the equity rational for school subsidies?
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to help increase the likelihood of poor children getting access to school.
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why are vouchers avicated by economists?
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so low income can benefit from private education.
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Is a voucher system targeted or general?
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general and therefore not as effective
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What is the trend on the Preston health curves over time?
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They shift up
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What is the cause of the upward shift in the Preston curves?
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Better public health infrastructure and nutrition.
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Why have the life expectancies of rich and poor converged more recently?
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Decrease in infectious diseases and the invention of the incubator.
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What are the two parts of health transition? Explain both
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Demographic-transfer for high mortality and low fertility to low infant mortality and high fertility
Health transition-transfer from infectious to chronic diseases. |
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How is Vo2 max related to height and income?
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Taller people have a higher Vo2 max so they can work harder and make more $
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What are three external technical constraints in health?
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health technology
susceptibility to diseases climate, tropical lacks winter which kills bacteria |
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Why are children from urban areas taller?
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parents are better educated and better public health infrastructure
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What is height diff so much smaller in the first six months?
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breast feeding
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What is the Barker hypothesis?
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People born during famine conditions will have genes expreseed diff so they can survive with less food, but if famine ends they don't fair as well.
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