EconStor Collection:
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/15
2024-03-29T13:57:55ZThe role of tenure security in farmers' decision-making on investment in improved seeds: Insights from mental models
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/284401
Title: The role of tenure security in farmers' decision-making on investment in improved seeds: Insights from mental models
Authors: Murken, Lisa; Krähnert, Kati; Van den Broek, Karlijn; Adriko, John; Gornott, Christoph
Abstract: This paper applies a mental model approach to study the role of tenure security in farmers' decisionmaking on agricultural investment in Uganda. We investigate the role that both perceived tenure security and formal land rights, measured by the possession of land certificates, play. Our focus is on investment in improved seeds, a widely applied strategy in agricultural development and climate change adaptation. The study design leverages the roll-out of a large land demarcation and registration project, which creates exogenous variation in farmers' tenure security. Results show that, in contrast to expectations derived from economic theory, tenure security plays only a minor role in farmers' decision-making process to invest in improved seeds. Out of 15 potential factors determining a farmer's investment decision, both perceived tenure security and possession of a land certificate are among the least chosen factors, regardless of whether or not households participated in the land registration project. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that female-headed households value formalized land rights more than male-headed households.2024-01-01T00:00:00ZDrought, livestock holding, and milk production: A difference-in-differences analysis
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/284396
Title: Drought, livestock holding, and milk production: A difference-in-differences analysis
Authors: Abebe, Meseret B.; Alem, Yonas
Abstract: Climate change is making El Niños more frequent and intense. Therefore, understanding the effects of El-Niño-induced climatic events is essential to designing effective coping and adaptation strategies. We identify the impact of the 2015-16 El-Niño-induced large-scale drought on smallholder farmers' livestock holding and milk production using nationally representative data collected before and after the drought. We show that drought reduced milk production and livestock holding by 25.8% and 8.4%, respectively. Heterogenous impact analysis suggests that asset-rich households sold livestock and financed feed purchases, which insulated their milk production from the drought. In contrast, asset-poor households kept their livestock despite the severe drought and absorbed all the decline in milk production. Our findings have important implications for formulating safety net and adaptation programs targeting smallholder farmers and the livestock sector in a rapidly changing climate.2024-01-01T00:00:00ZBiased expectations and labor market outcomes: Evidence from German survey data and implications for the East-West wage gap
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282989
Title: Biased expectations and labor market outcomes: Evidence from German survey data and implications for the East-West wage gap
Authors: Balleer, Almut; Duernecker, Georg; Forstner, Susanne; Goensch, Johannes
Abstract: We measure individual bias in labor market expectations in German survey data and find that workers on average significantly overestimate their individual probabilities to separate from their job when employed as well to find a job when unemployed. These biases vary significantly between population groups. Most notably, East Germans are significantly more pessimistic than West Germans. We find a significantly negative relationship between the pessimistic bias in job separation expectations and wages, and a significantly positive relationship between optimistic bias in job finding expectations and reservation incomes. We interpret and quantify the effects of (such) expectation biases on the labor market equilibrium in a search and matching model of the labor market. Removing the biases could substantially increase wages and expected lifetime income in East Germany. The difference in biases in labor market expectations explains part of the East-West German wage gap.2024-01-01T00:00:00ZThe new merit order: The viability of energy-only electricity markets with only intermittent renewable energy sources and grid-scale storage
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282991
Title: The new merit order: The viability of energy-only electricity markets with only intermittent renewable energy sources and grid-scale storage
Authors: Antweiler, Werner; Muesgens, Felix
Abstract: What happens to the merit order of electricity markets when all electricity is supplied by intermittent renewable energy sources coupled with large-scale electricity storage? With near-zero marginal cost of production, will there still be a role for an energy-only electricity market? We answer these questions both analytically and empirically for electricity markets in Texas and Germany. What emerges in market equilibrium is the 'new merit order'. Our work demonstrates that as long as free entry and competition ensure effective price setting, an efficient new merit order emerges in electricity markets even when the grid is completely powered by intermittent sources with near-zero marginal costs. We find that energy only markets remain viable and functional.2024-01-01T00:00:00Z