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K. Urban
Department of International Agricultural Trade and Food Security, University of Hohenheim, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany

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Journal article
Published: 16 March 2021 in Sustainability
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Over the last twenty years, the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union has evolved into a multifunctional policy instrument. As part of this transformation, most farmer receipts are paid independently of production, granting this class of payment production-neutral or ‘fully decoupled’ status. In prospective agricultural market studies, simulation models routinely represent these payments as decoupled, despite academic evidence to the contrary that posits a number of ‘coupling-channels’. To explore the ramifications of differing degrees of coupling on the three pillars of sustainability, a natural-resources focused simulation model is employed. Comparing with a ‘standard’ decoupled baseline to 2030, higher coupling increases global agricultural employment and reduces production intensity on European Union agricultural land and agricultural emissions. Higher coupling also diminishes the Common Agricultural Policy’s capacity as a safety-net for European Union food-security and agricultural employment, whilst there is tentative evidence of increasing emissions ‘leakage’. At the very least, if the non-distorting status of decoupled payments is mis-specified, this has direct implications for the design of greener policy initiatives under the auspices of the Green Deal that promote sustainable fairer trade. As a result, further empirical research on the production distorting effects of the European Union’s decoupled payments is needed.

ACS Style

Pierre Boulanger; Kirsten Boysen-Urban; George Philippidis. European Union Agricultural Support ‘Coupling’ in Simulation Modelling: Measuring the Sustainability Impacts. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3264 .

AMA Style

Pierre Boulanger, Kirsten Boysen-Urban, George Philippidis. European Union Agricultural Support ‘Coupling’ in Simulation Modelling: Measuring the Sustainability Impacts. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (6):3264.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pierre Boulanger; Kirsten Boysen-Urban; George Philippidis. 2021. "European Union Agricultural Support ‘Coupling’ in Simulation Modelling: Measuring the Sustainability Impacts." Sustainability 13, no. 6: 3264.

Original article
Published: 02 May 2019 in Journal of Agricultural Economics
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We develop an index that measures the overall trade effects of domestic support payments. Our index is based on the Mercantilist Trade Restrictiveness Index (MTRI) and is capable of analysing the development of the trade restrictiveness of domestic support payments over time and across countries. It facilitates the evaluation of agricultural policy reforms introducing changes in the composition of domestic support payments. We conduct this analysis with a computable general equilibrium model that is extended to depict detailed agricultural policies using the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (EU) as an example. For the representation of agricultural policies, we updated the underlying database by incorporating detailed EU domestic support payments taken from the OECD Producer Support Estimate (PSE) tables and reconcile PSE data with the WTO classification scheme. Our index confirms a decrease in trade distortion stemming from the implementation of decoupled support in the EU. In addition, the trade‐equivalent protection rate shows that the trade restrictiveness of domestic support payments depends on the assumptions made with regard to the degree of decoupling of those payments.

ACS Style

Kirsten Boysen‐Urban; Martina Brockmeier; Hans G. Jensen; Ole Boysen. Measuring the Trade Restrictiveness of Domestic Support using the EU Common Agricultural Policy as an Example. Journal of Agricultural Economics 2019, 71, 27 -49.

AMA Style

Kirsten Boysen‐Urban, Martina Brockmeier, Hans G. Jensen, Ole Boysen. Measuring the Trade Restrictiveness of Domestic Support using the EU Common Agricultural Policy as an Example. Journal of Agricultural Economics. 2019; 71 (1):27-49.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kirsten Boysen‐Urban; Martina Brockmeier; Hans G. Jensen; Ole Boysen. 2019. "Measuring the Trade Restrictiveness of Domestic Support using the EU Common Agricultural Policy as an Example." Journal of Agricultural Economics 71, no. 1: 27-49.

Journal article
Published: 27 March 2019 in World Development
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The consumption of highly processed food has been singled out as one of the factors responsible for the rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity and its associated non-communicable diseases and costs. While obesity prevalence is still comparatively low in lower-income sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), development prospects in this region render markets especially attractive for these foods, whose consumption is already growing at higher rates than in developed countries. This might be reflected in the massive rise in obesity prevalence growth rates in SSA over the past decade, while many of these countries are simultaneously struggling with high undernutrition prevalence. Using a newly constructed cross-country panel dataset, this study econometrically investigates the effect of higher import tariffs on highly processed vis-à-vis less-processed foods with respect to their impacts on obesity and underweight prevalence in the adult population. While the analysis is global, the discussion focuses primarily on SSA. The effects of the tariff differences are found to be significant and substantial and to differ by income level of the country as well as by gender. More generally, the results show that policies affecting the consumer price differential between the two food groups are effective in influencing obesity and underweight prevalence and that these two issues cannot be treated separately.

ACS Style

Ole Boysen; Kirsten Boysen-Urban; Harvey Bradford; Jean Balié. Taxing highly processed foods: What could be the impacts on obesity and underweight in sub-Saharan Africa? World Development 2019, 119, 55 -67.

AMA Style

Ole Boysen, Kirsten Boysen-Urban, Harvey Bradford, Jean Balié. Taxing highly processed foods: What could be the impacts on obesity and underweight in sub-Saharan Africa? World Development. 2019; 119 ():55-67.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ole Boysen; Kirsten Boysen-Urban; Harvey Bradford; Jean Balié. 2019. "Taxing highly processed foods: What could be the impacts on obesity and underweight in sub-Saharan Africa?" World Development 119, no. : 55-67.

Chapter
Published: 13 December 2017 in Bioeconomy
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Markets of Biobased Resources and Products: This chapter takes a closer look at the global market for biobased products and resources and its interactions with agricultural and food markets. In particular, it describes the effect of increasing demand for biobased products on market prices and thus the quantity of agricultural resources demanded and supplied. Furthermore, we discuss factors that may drive or limit demand and supply of biobased products. We analyse the market for biobased resources and products, considering products that are already established in the market, such as biofuels, as well as products that could acquire a substantial market acceptance in the future, such as bio-plastics. In addition, we briefly introduce selected policy instruments applied to support biobased products. The chapter provides a simple example of a perfectly competitive market for biobased products to introduce the market model. It starts by presenting the supply and demand curves and discussing the differences between price changes and those of other determinants of supply and demand with respect to their effects on the respective curve. It then explains how the supply and demand curves jointly determine the equilibrium price and quantity on the market and how the market price regulates surpluses and shortages under the assumption of an autarkic country. We apply this market model to demonstrate the effect of one particular policy for promoting the production of biobased products on the equilibrium market price and quantity. Sustainable Development and Sustainability Management: In the last decade(s), the idea of sustainable development has become a widely acknowledged topic which is supported by many actors in modern society. Companies, as central economic players, are increasingly pressured by a wide set of stakeholders to engage in sustainability management and to contribute their share towards sustainability. Against this background, this chapter first introduces the general idea of sustainable development with its elements of intragenerational and intergenerational justice and illustrates the roots of sustainable development as a normative-anthropocentric concept. Since sustainability is a contested idea with many different notions, the different understandings of weak, strong and quasi-sustainability are introduced and the status quo of sustainability in society is highlighted. Following this general introduction, actors of sustainability in society are named and the relevance of sustainability management for companies is discussed. In the remainder of this chapter, three base strategies to achieve sustainability (i.e. eco-efficiency, eco-effectiveness and sufficiency) are explained along with their opportunities and limitations in achieving sustainability. Finally, some exemplary elements and tools of sustainability management from the areas of sustainability accounting and management control as well as of sustainable supply chain management are introduced to provide a first glimpse of possibilities for companies to engage with sustainability. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: The bioeconomy is based on the three pillars of sustainability and aims to balance the environmental, economic and social aspects. For this task, tools are required that provide qualitative and quantitative information on the environmental, economic and social performance of biobased products and on the trade-offs between the goals of the three dimensions of sustainability. In this chapter, a methodological approach for a Sustainability Assessment based on ‘Life-Cycle Thinking’ is presented. This approach combines the use of three forms of assessment: Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the environmental aspects, Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) for the economic aspects and Social Life-Cycle Assessment (sLCA) for the social aspects. Together these form the most comprehensive methodology for sustainability assessment: Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). A hypothetical example of an LCSA is elaborated for a biobased product to illustrate the different assessment steps. Entrepreneurial Ventures and the Bioeconomy: Entrepreneurship is based on entrepreneurial opportunities and the bioeconomy offers a plethora of such opportunities. As the bioeconomy—at least partially—addresses humanity’s greatest challenges, it consequently offers the greatest entrepreneurial opportunities as well. One useful tool to break down the idea generation process and manage the entrepreneurial process is the business model canvas, which makes it possible to clearly describe the value proposition of a new venture in the bioeconomy. The lean start-up approach can help entrepreneurs in the bioeconomy to move efficiently through the entrepreneurial process and to quickly develop a value proposition and a validated business model.

ACS Style

K. Urban; C. Schiesari; O. Boysen; R. Hahn; M. Wagner; Iris Lewandowski; A. Kuckertz; E. S. C. Berger; C. A. Morales Reyes. Markets, Sustainability Management and Entrepreneurship. Bioeconomy 2017, 231 -286.

AMA Style

K. Urban, C. Schiesari, O. Boysen, R. Hahn, M. Wagner, Iris Lewandowski, A. Kuckertz, E. S. C. Berger, C. A. Morales Reyes. Markets, Sustainability Management and Entrepreneurship. Bioeconomy. 2017; ():231-286.

Chicago/Turabian Style

K. Urban; C. Schiesari; O. Boysen; R. Hahn; M. Wagner; Iris Lewandowski; A. Kuckertz; E. S. C. Berger; C. A. Morales Reyes. 2017. "Markets, Sustainability Management and Entrepreneurship." Bioeconomy , no. : 231-286.

Journal article
Published: 06 November 2017 in China Agricultural Economic Review
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The purpose of this paper is to develop a modelling approach that enables the analysis of long-term food security policies. Specifically, the authors explore the effect of China’s agricultural domestic support on its agricultural and food market by also considering the impact of incomplete price transmission. The authors extend the standard Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) modelling framework. First, the authors incorporate incomplete price transmission into the GTAP model by generating tariff-equivalent price transmission elasticities. Second, the authors improve the current representation of China’s agricultural domestic support in the GTAP model and the underlying database by considering the production requirements and the trade-distorting effect of different policy instruments. Running a set of simulations, the authors examine first how the incorporation of incomplete price transmission affects the model’s results and second how increased agricultural domestic support affects China’s agricultural and food market accounting for incomplete price transmission. Considering incomplete price transmission mitigates the domestic price increases as responses to high international agricultural prices, which also lead to an increase in China’s trade deficit and prohibits net food sellers from receiving high prices. In the long term, an increase in China’s agricultural domestic support to its World Trade Organisation de minimis commitment level would increase domestic agricultural production and reduce its demand pressure on the international market. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the impact of increased agricultural domestic support on the domestic market while innovatively accounting for incomplete food price transmission. The authors combine econometric estimated price transmission elasticities and an extended GTAP framework to underscore the importance of enhancing the model’s ability in accounting for incomplete price transmission when analysing the impact of agricultural policies.

ACS Style

Fan Yang; Kirsten Urban; Martina Brockmeier; Eddy Bekkers; Joseph Francois. Impact of increasing agricultural domestic support on China’s food prices considering incomplete international agricultural price transmission. China Agricultural Economic Review 2017, 9, 535 -557.

AMA Style

Fan Yang, Kirsten Urban, Martina Brockmeier, Eddy Bekkers, Joseph Francois. Impact of increasing agricultural domestic support on China’s food prices considering incomplete international agricultural price transmission. China Agricultural Economic Review. 2017; 9 (4):535-557.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Fan Yang; Kirsten Urban; Martina Brockmeier; Eddy Bekkers; Joseph Francois. 2017. "Impact of increasing agricultural domestic support on China’s food prices considering incomplete international agricultural price transmission." China Agricultural Economic Review 9, no. 4: 535-557.

Journal article
Published: 01 February 2016 in Food Policy
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The extent to which decoupled agricultural support – including the European Union Single Farm Payment (SFP) – creates production incentives remains unclear. We apply an extended version of the standard Global Trade Analysis Project model and generate a set of 21 databases that captures a comprehensive representation of domestic support. By considering and modeling a range of different assumptions regarding the SFP’s degree of decoupling, we investigate the SFP’s effect on the model’s results. The results of our analysis reveal substantially different effects that depend on the degree of decoupling, and the findings can help validate trade analysis results, particularly for developing countries.

ACS Style

Kirsten Urban; Hans G. Jensen; Martina Brockmeier. How decoupled is the Single Farm Payment and does it matter for international trade? Food Policy 2016, 59, 126 -138.

AMA Style

Kirsten Urban, Hans G. Jensen, Martina Brockmeier. How decoupled is the Single Farm Payment and does it matter for international trade? Food Policy. 2016; 59 ():126-138.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kirsten Urban; Hans G. Jensen; Martina Brockmeier. 2016. "How decoupled is the Single Farm Payment and does it matter for international trade?" Food Policy 59, no. : 126-138.

Preprint
Published: 01 January 2014
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The EU Single Farm Payment (SFP) is currently distributed in proportion to primary factor shares in version 8 of the GTAP database. In this paper, we investigate whether this way of modeling the EU SFP makes a difference in analyzing agricultural policy reforms. To do so, we create alternative versions of the GTAP database to compare the effects with the default setting in GTAP. Employing OECD data, along with the GTAP framework, we vary the assumptions about the allocation of the SFP. In the process, we demonstrate how to alter and update the GTAP database to implement domestic support of OECD PSE tables. We provide a detailed overview supplemented with assumptions of payment allocation, shock calculations and in particular, the Altertax procedure to update value flows and price equations extended in the GTAP model. Subsequently, we illustrate the impact of those assumptions by simulating a 100% removal of the SFP using the deviating versions of GTAP database. This sensitivity analysis reveals strong differences in results, but particularly in production responses of food and agricultural sectors that decrease with an increasing degree of decoupling. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the effect on welfare and the trade balance decreases with an increasing degree of decoupling. This experiment shows that the allocation of the SFP can have strong impacts on simulation results.

ACS Style

Kirsten Urban; Hans Grinsted Jensen; Martina Brockmeier. Extending the GTAP Data Base and Model to Cover Domestic Support Issues using the EU as Example. 2014, 1 .

AMA Style

Kirsten Urban, Hans Grinsted Jensen, Martina Brockmeier. Extending the GTAP Data Base and Model to Cover Domestic Support Issues using the EU as Example. . 2014; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kirsten Urban; Hans Grinsted Jensen; Martina Brockmeier. 2014. "Extending the GTAP Data Base and Model to Cover Domestic Support Issues using the EU as Example." , no. : 1.

Preprint
Published: 01 January 2013
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ACS Style

Kirsten Urban; Martina Brockmeier; Hans G. Jensen. Reconciling WTO Boxes and PSE Data in the GTAP Framework to Calculate Indicators for Domestic Support. 2013, 1 .

AMA Style

Kirsten Urban, Martina Brockmeier, Hans G. Jensen. Reconciling WTO Boxes and PSE Data in the GTAP Framework to Calculate Indicators for Domestic Support. . 2013; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kirsten Urban; Martina Brockmeier; Hans G. Jensen. 2013. "Reconciling WTO Boxes and PSE Data in the GTAP Framework to Calculate Indicators for Domestic Support." , no. : 1.