Pesticide use in the U.S. and policy implications: A focus on herbicides

Abstract Recently, serious haze pollution has not only threatened the human health and food security, but also seems to have aggravated the unscientific use of pesticides by rice farmers in rural area of China. Using original data on haze pollution across China, combined with rural household survey data collected from 2014 to 2018, we conducted a detailed empirical study on the effects of haze pollution on pesticide use by rice farmers based on the theory of risk aversion. The empirical results revealed that haze pollution with higher levels of PM2.5 positively impacted the use of chemical pesticides in the rice cultivation. More precisely, with 1% increases in PM2.5 concentration, the amount of pesticide application per mu increased by 7.9%, and the average pesticide fee per mu increased by 2.3%, respectively. The results were robust to a series of tests that addressed potential endogeneity concerns, including omitted variable bias, measurement error and reverse causality. We then examined the heterogeneous effects of haze pollution increase on the use of chemical pesticides and found that the effects of haze pollution on the use of chemical pesticides to be weaker for rice farmer with more rice-planting experience, those with smaller cultivated area of rice, however, the effects on the amount of chemical pesticide application per mu to be weaker for those with rice insurance, but the effects on the average chemical pesticide fee per mu to be stronger for those with rice insurance. Our findings provide important policy implications for pesticide risk management in rural areas of developing countries.

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A Balanced Portfolio Can Have a Higher Geometric Return than the Risky Asset

Journal of Risk and Financial Management ◽

10.3390/jrfm14090409 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (9) ◽

pp. 409

Author(s):

Miriam Arden ◽

Tiemen Woutersen

Keyword(s):

Risk Premium ◽

Large Fraction ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Government Bonds ◽

Stock Portfolios ◽

Bond Portfolio ◽

Target Date ◽

Stock Portfolio ◽

The U.S

In the U.S., the geometric return on stocks has been higher than the geometric return on bonds over long periods. We study whether balanced portfolios have a larger geometric return (and expected log return) than stock portfolios when the risk premium is low. We use a theoretical model and historical data and find that this is the case. This low-risk premium is often observed in other developed countries. Further, in the past two decades, a balanced portfolio with 70% or 90% invested in the U.S. stock market (with the remainder invested in U.S. government bonds) performed better than a 100% stock or bond portfolio. The reason for this is that a pure stock portfolio loses a large fraction of its value in a downturn. We show that this result is not driven by outliers, and that it occurs even when the returns are log normally distributed. This result has broad policy implications for the construction of pension systems and target-date mutual funds.

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Global Displacement of ISIS Activities and the Effectiveness of Police Arrests as a Means of Deterrence

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series – E: Human and Societal Dynamics - From Territorial Defeat to Global ISIS: Lessons Learned ◽

10.3233/nhsdp200083 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ismail Onat ◽

Serdar San

Keyword(s):

Armed Conflict ◽

Online News ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Military Operations ◽

News Source ◽

The World ◽

Significant Achievement ◽

The U.S

U.S.-led coalition forces liberated all of the territory ISIS held in Syria and Iraq in the first quarter of 2019. Although the defeat was a significant achievement, ISIS continues its activities outside the Syria and Iraq region. Turkey matters to ISIS because the group carries out attacks and uses the country to move fighters and supplies. However, Turkey relies heavily on police crackdowns to deter terrorism. Drawing on data from the Armed Conflict Event and Location Database, the Turkish Ministry of Interior, and an online news source, the current study first analyzed trends in ISIS attacks around the world. Then, it explored the extent to which police arrests prevent ISIS from further deadly attacks in Turkey. Results from the study suggest that ISIS activities are likely to decrease in Syria and Iraq after the U.S.-led military operations but increase in other countries. Also, mass arrests were ineffective in preventing subsequent deadly attacks in Turkey. Policy implications are discussed.

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Implications of the U.S.–China Trade War for Taiwan

Asian Economic Papers ◽

10.1162/asep_a_00747 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 61-81

Author(s):

Wen-jen Hsieh

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

The United States ◽

Policy Implications ◽

High Tech ◽

Chinese Market ◽

Economic Relationships ◽

China Trade ◽

Trade War ◽

The Impact ◽

The U.S

The ongoing U.S.-China trade war and ensuing high-tech conflicts are regarded as Taiwan's most crucial opportunity to slow down its progressively increasing economic dependence on China. The impact of the U.S.–China trade tensions on Taiwan are important to analyze because of Taiwan's relatively unique political and economic relationships with the United States and China, especially since the latter views Taiwan as its “breakaway province.” The regression results indicate that Taiwan's outward investment to China is significantly affected by Taiwan's lagged investment and exports to China, and the gap in the economic growth rates between Taiwan and China. Policy implications are provided for Taiwan to alleviate its economic dependency on the Chinese market and the negative impact from the U.S.-China trade war.

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A Critical Examination of the U.S. Nursing Shortage: Contributing Factors, Public Policy Implications

Nursing Forum ◽

10.1111/j.1744-6198.2009.00149.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 235-244 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Rebekah L. Fox ◽

Kathleen Abrahamson

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Nursing Shortage ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Critical Examination ◽

Contributing Factors ◽

The U.S

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Health Care Public Sector Share and the U.S. Life Expectancy Lag: A Country-level Longitudinal Study

International Journal of Health Services ◽

10.1177/0020731417753673 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 328-348 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Megan M. Reynolds

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Political Economy ◽

Public Sector ◽

Life Expectancy ◽

Policy Implications ◽

The Political ◽

Life Expectancy At Birth ◽

Political Economy Of Health ◽

The Impact ◽

The U.S

Growing research on the political economy of health has begun to emphasize sociopolitical influences on cross-national differences in population health above and beyond economic growth. While this research investigates the impact of overall public health spending as a share of GDP (“health care effort”), it has for the most part overlooked the distribution of health care spending across the public and private spheres (“public sector share”). I evaluate the relative contributions of health care effort, public sector share, and GDP to the large and growing disadvantage in U.S. life expectancy at birth relative to peer nations. I do so using fixed effects models with data from 16 wealthy democratic nations between 1960 and 2010. Results indicate that public sector share has a beneficial effect on longevity net of the effect of health care effort and that this effect is nonlinear, decreasing in magnitude as levels rise. Moreover, public sector share is a more powerful predictor of life expectancy at birth than GDP per capita. This study contributes to discussions around the political economy of health, the growth consensus, and the American lag in life expectancy. Policy implications vis-à-vis the U.S. Affordable Care Act are discussed.

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Determinants and overuse of pesticides in grain production

China Agricultural Economic Review ◽

10.1108/caer-07-2018-0152 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 367-379 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Shengyang Sun ◽

Chao Zhang ◽

Ruifa Hu

Keyword(s):

Damage Control ◽

Equation System ◽

Agricultural Extension ◽

Optimal Level ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Pesticide Use ◽

Grain Production ◽

Content Type ◽

Extension System ◽

Pesticide Reduction

Purpose The negative externalities of pesticide overuse increasingly concern the public. However, little empirical evidence has been provided for pesticide overuse and the relationship between the governmental agricultural extension system reforms and pesticide use in grain production from a nationwide perspective. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the productive effect and overuse of pesticides, and it also investigates the effect of the governmental agricultural extension system reforms on pesticide expenditure in rice, maize and wheat production in China. Design/methodology/approach A two-equation system model consisting of an exponential-specific damage-control production function and a pesticide use function is applied to the provincial-level data during the period 1985–2016. Findings While pesticide expenditure significantly increases grain productivity, the actual pesticide expenditure exceeds the economically optimal level. The commercialization reform of the governmental agricultural extension system contributed to the increase in pesticide expenditure. Moreover, the de-commercialization reform of the governmental agricultural extension system plays a limited role in pesticide reduction. Price fluctuations for grain and pesticide also impose significant effects on pesticide expenditure. Originality/value This study has two important policy implications for pesticide reduction in China. It is urgent to specify the functions of the governmental agricultural extension system, and encourage the development of the socialized agricultural technology service. More efforts should also be made to remove the bureaucratic intervention on the pricing mechanism of grain product and pesticide.

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