The United States Tobacco Industry after the Buyout

The elimination of the quota and price support program in 2004 meant limited government intervention and made U.S. tobacco producers more vulnerable to market risks. In this paper we provide an examination of the situation in the U.S. tobacco industry before and after the buyout and identify how the enacted policy change affected the U.S. tobacco industry in terms of supply and demand. The supply and demand system is estimated using the generalized method of moments (GMM). The results suggest that the buyout, which began with lowering the price for tobacco as well as increasing the cost of production, had a negative impact on the number of farmers in the United States as it declined substantially after 2004. However, tobacco producers who remained in the industry apparently became more efficient and more competitive on the world tobacco market in the face of lower tobacco prices. Improved overall competitiveness of the U.S. tobacco industry along with changes in U.S. consumer tastes and preferences for less consumption of tobacco products resulted in an increase in U.S. exports of tobacco leaf after the elimination of the government policy.Agricultural and Food Policy,

The Road to Financial Sustainability. Comparative Analysis of Russia and the Caucasus Region

This paper examines delinquency, profitability, and outreach determinants of microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) performance in Russia and the Caucasus. The estimation is done using the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) technique. The estimation results suggest that Russian and Caucasian MFIs are profit-driven but are expected to improve outreach in the long-run.Microfinance institution, SUR, Financial sustainability, Delinquency, Profitability, Social outreach, Agricultural Finance, Financial Economics, G20, G21,

Gender-specific Risk Preferences and Fertilizer Use in Kenyan Farming Households

The adoption of new technologies, such as fertilizer, plays an important role in improving agricultural production in Africa. Fertilizer is a risky input and its adoption by farmers is often very low. Farmers’ risk attitudes are often considered to be the reason behind low fertilizer adoption. Typical empirical research ignores the family dynamics that affects household’s agricultural choices. This paper uses a collective household model to estimate the effects of experimentally derived risk preferences of both spouses in farming households interacted with relative women’s bargaining power on fertilizer use. We find that empowered females who are more risk and loss averse use less fertilizer, than disempowered females in collective households. More loss averse male household heads opt for using more affordable type of fertilizer to avoid higher losses in the event of a negative shock. More risk averse and loss averse female household heads are also less likely to use riskier types of fertilizer

The United States Tobacco Industry after the Buyout

The elimination of the quota and price support program in 2004 meant limited government intervention and made U.S. tobacco producers more vulnerable to market risks. In this paper we provide an examination of the situation in the U.S. tobacco industry before and after the buyout and identify how the enacted policy change affected the U.S. tobacco industry in terms of supply and demand. The supply and demand system is estimated using the generalized method of moments (GMM). The results suggest that the buyout, which began with lowering the price for tobacco as well as increasing the cost of production, had a negative impact on the number of farmers in the United States as it declined substantially after 2004. However, tobacco producers who remained in the industry apparently became more efficient and more competitive on the world tobacco market in the face of lower tobacco prices. Improved overall competitiveness of the U.S. tobacco industry along with changes in U.S. consumer tastes and preferences for less consumption of tobacco products resulted in an increase in U.S. exports of tobacco leaf after the elimination of the government policy

The Universality of Microfinance Operations Model in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Financial Sustainability vs. Poverty Outreach

This paper examines delinquency, profitability, and outreach determinants of microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) performance in Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The estimation is done using the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) technique. The estimation results suggest that the regions' MFIs are profit-driven but are expected to improve outreach in the long-run

Poverty Outreach in Southern and Northern Ghana

This paper examines financial sustainability and social outreach determinants of microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) performance in the Southern and Northern parts of Ghana using the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) as the estimation technique. Results suggest that although MFIs in both parts of Ghana are profit-driven, they are expected to improve poverty outreach as they expand their clientele

The Road to Financial Sustainability. Comparative Analysis of Russia and the Caucasus Region

This paper examines delinquency, profitability, and outreach determinants of microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) performance in Russia and the Caucasus. The estimation is done using the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) technique. The estimation results suggest that Russian and Caucasian MFIs are profit-driven but are expected to improve outreach in the long-run