A Bulgarian project at Maritsa East power station demonstrated the proper transformation of air pollutants (SOx and NOx) into nitrogen fertilizer. Although this technology has not been put into practice in Bulgaria, it seems feasible on an industrial scale and so it may help to ease Portugal’s reliance on imports of nitrogen fertilizer and thereby contain the outfl ow of Portuguese funds. The d...

Using farm level data we evaluate the input use and environmental effects of revenue insurance. A priori, the moral hazard effect on input use is indeterminate. This paper empirically assesses the input use impact of the increasingly popular, and federally subsidized, risk management instrument of revenue insurance and the extent to which its effects on input use may differ from those of the ol...

Background Achieving the goals set by Roll Back Malaria and the Government of Kenya for use of insecticide treated bednets (ITNs) will require that the private retail market for nets and insecticide treatments grow substantially. This paper applies some basic concepts of market structure and pricing to a set of recently-collected retail price data from Kenya in order to answer the question, “Ho...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the explanatory factors affecting introductory prices of new pharmaceuticals in a heavily regulated and highly subsidized market. We collect a data set consisting of all new chemical entities launched in Spain between 1997 and 2005, and model launching prices. We found that, unlike in the US and Sweden, therapeutically "innovative" products are not over...

Nitrogen fertilizer is one of the largest input costs for growing corn. Across the Corn Belt, N is typically the most yield-limiting nutrient. Facing record high N fertilizer prices and potential supply problems, producers are concerned about N fertilization rates. Soil fertility researchers and extension specialists from seven states across the Corn Belt (see list in acknowledgements section) ...

Abstract United States (US) sugar policy buffers domestic producers against subsidized and dumped world market resulting in generally higher US prices compared to prices. A fixed-effects panel regression is used estimate factors associated with sugar-containing-product (SCP) retail SCPs are defined by sucrose being a primary ingredient. Explanatory variables the were prices, SCP characteristics...

Farmers in developing countries sometimes receive incorrect and misleading information regarding the fertilizer inputs into food production, especially during crises or times of unusually high demand. In the early 2000’s farmers of Thailand were sold fake fertilizer or advised to apply excessive amounts of fertilizers by fertilizer dealers. The problem was so pervasive that a protocol was devel...

The continuing depletion of nutrients from agricultural soils in Sub-Saharan African is accompanied by a lack of substantial progress in crop yield improvement. In this paper we investigate yield gaps for corn under two scenarios: a micro-dosing scenario with marginal increases in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) of 10 kg ha(-1) and a larger yet still conservative scenario with proposed N and P ...

There continues to be considerable interest in P and K fertilizer placement among cash grain producers for several reasons. Growers have faced low commodity prices for several years and are interested in certain placement methods that may enhance the efficiency of nutrient use and therefore reduce their input costs. This issue seems be more important in high residue management systems where bro...