Do Ideas Matter in Strategic Choices Made by Organizations? An Empirical Work on the Participation of Agricultural Organizations to the Political Making Process in Costa Rica

The new institutional economics has recently developed the idea that the institutional environment can have an impact on economic actors' mental perceptions, and reciprocally, that these perceptions can impact on the institutional environment. This latter point seems particularly relevant in the field of economic organisations participation in the political making process. Nevertheless the empirical description of this role of mental perceptions in the political behaviour had not been made clearly. To contribute to this empirical description we lead a comparative study of 4 farm sectors in Costa Rica, based on a dynamic approach of mental perceptions in relation with the institutional change occurring during the liberalisation process. We carry out a statistical analysis of mental perceptions through a textual analysis of actors perceptions of the institutional change, leading to two main conclusions. Firstly we provide an empirical confirmation that mental models are influenced by specific institutional environments and lead to different strategies regarding the participation to the political making process. Secondly, we show that when an exogenous change occurs in the institutional environment, the mental models existing before the change can persist and lead to inefficient behaviours. This can partly explain part of the difficulties some sectors to lead efficient political activity that ensures their survival in a liberalized environment.Political Economy, D7, N5, Z0,

Maize price volatility and on-farm storage in Burkina Faso

The role of grain storage by inventory holders or government agencies in managing price volatility has received a great deal of attention. But the role of on-farm storage on price volatility is not so richly documented, in spite of its importance in rural areas in Africa. In this paper, we merge historical price and household data on maize markets in Burkina Faso to measure the influence of on-farm storage on price volatility. We show how the seasonal management of on-farm storage is responsible for price volatility. We focus in particular on the analysis of carry-over and its impact on price pattern. In an inter-temporal analysis, an unexpected price drop is followed by a decrease in production and tends to stabilize price to its original level. But in a seasonal pattern, an unexpected price drop occurring during the planting season simply delays the sale of existing stocks, without decreasing the production, which generates further price drops later in the year, generally right before the harvest or during the harvest time. We establish that on-farm carryover increases the occurrence of unexpected price drops after harvest. (Résumé d'auteur

The potential role for collective preferences in determining the rules of the international trading system

En ligne : http://www.iddri.org/Publications/Collections/Analyses/An_0804.CollectivePreferences.pd

Degeneration of aflatoxin gene clusters in Aspergillus flavus from Africa and North America

Open Access journal; Published online: 31 August 2016Aspergillus flavus is the most common causal agent of aflatoxin contamination of food and feed. However, aflatoxin-producing potential varies widely among A. flavus genotypes with many producing no aflatoxins. Some non-aflatoxigenic genotypes are used as biocontrol agents to prevent contamination. Aflatoxin biosynthesis genes are tightly clustered in a highly conserved order. Gene deletions and presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in aflatoxin biosynthesis genes are often associated with A. flavus inability to produce aflatoxins. In order to identify mechanisms of non-aflatoxigenicity in non-aflatoxigenic genotypes of value in aflatoxin biocontrol, complete cluster sequences of 35 A. flavus genotypes from Africa and North America were analyzed. Inability of some genotypes to produce aflatoxin resulted from deletion of biosynthesis genes. In other genotypes, non-aflatoxigenicity originated from SNP formation. The process of degeneration differed across the gene cluster; genes involved in early biosynthesis stages were more likely to be deleted while genes involved in later stages displayed high frequencies of SNPs. Comparative analyses of aflatoxin gene clusters provides insight into the diversity of mechanisms of non-aflatoxigenicity in A. flavus genotypes used as biological control agents. The sequences provide resources for both diagnosis of non-aflatoxigenicity and monitoring of biocontrol genotypes during biopesticide manufacture and in the environment

Farmers' impatience and fertilizer use in Burkina Faso

This paper investigates the reasons why African farmers who face similar nan- cial constraints, market environments and agro-ecological conditions di er in their chemical fertilizer use behaviors. We analyze the in uence of individual preferences on fertilizer use. We model the fertilizer investment decision of a farmer : the model predicts that the quantity of fertilizer used is an increasing function of discounting. We then empirically test the empirical relevance of such a model, building upon an agricultural survey that we conducted on 1277 maize producers in the Mouhoun and Tuy provinces of Burkina Faso and upon an eld experiment we led to elicit their risk aversion and discounting. Controlling for individual nancial constraints and access to fertilizer, we show that experimental choices about time preferences correlate with observed fertilizer use behavior. This paper presents one of the the rst eld evidence that links hypothetical time discount questions to observed agri- cultural decisions. (Résumé d'auteur