Biofuel policies (blend mandate or tax credit) have impacts on food and energy prices, and on land-use. The magnitude of these effects depends on the market response to price, and thus on the agricultural supply curve, which, in turn, depends on the land availability (quantity and agronomic quality) and relative prices. To understand these relationships, we develop a theoretical framework with ...

The sparsely populated northern Sweden has been the main target area for regional policy efforts since the 1960s. A rich variety of regional policy measures have been launched over the years. However, despite this and a heavy expansion of welfare undertakings a significant depopulation has taken place. Also the first generation of EU Structural Funds show very weak structural impacts on develop...

A difference in logsum terms (also known as inclusive values) is becoming standard practice for anticipating the welfare impacts of transport policy when choice alternatives are discrete and behavior is (assumed to be) random-utility maximizing. This paper examines the effect of error term correlations in such analyses, recognizing that individual preferences and unobserved attributes influenci...

Welfare persistence is estimated and compared between Swedish-born and foreign-born households during the 1990s. This is done within the framework of a dynamic discrete choice model controlling for the initial condition and permanent unobserved heterogeneity. We control for three types of persistence in terms of observed and unobserved heterogeneity, serial correlation, and structural state dep...

In 1996, federal welfare reform legislation eliminated Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Numerous studies have estimated impacts of reform on welfare caseloads, employment, earnings, family structure, income, and poverty. Two principal challenges to identifying TANF’s impact have been discussed in the literature. ...

In 1996, federal welfare-reform legislation eliminated Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Numerous studies have estimated impacts of reform on welfare caseloads, employment, earnings, family structure, income, and poverty. Two principal challenges to identifying TANF’s impact have been discussed in the literature. ...

Lameness in dairy cows impacts negatively on herd welfare and productivity. It is thought to be closely associated with avoidance of pain caused by limb lesions and, particularly in dairy cattle, by hoof lesions (Dyer et al., 2007). Freedom from pain is one of the Five Freedoms of animal welfare (FAWC, 1997), so lameness is a sign of poor welfare. Besides this, there are treatment costs (Almeid...

Increasing global demand for animal products produced with ever greater efficiency makes it unlikely that the pressure placed on livestock industries and therefore the animals themselves will diminish in the foreseeable future. Increasing affluence and awareness of welfare issues by society may drive improvements in welfare standards, but this may be regional rather than global in impact. Some ...