| 1. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-
(författare)
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Can a social safety net affect farmers crop portfolios? A study of the productive safety net programme in Ethiopia.
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper, we examine whether a minimum level of ensured consumption from a social safety net has the potential of breaking the vicious circle of risk avoidance and low return in African agriculture. We study how the implementation of a social safety net programme in Ethiopia has affected the value, risk and composition of farmers’ crop portfolios. The effects of programme participation on the value and risk of the crop portfolio are examined in a Just-Pope production function, and the effects of programme participation on composition of the crop portfolio are tested in a set of acreage response models. The empirical analysis is based on unique household panel data that allow us to control for unobserved heterogeneity. No significant effect on the value and risk of the crop portfolio could be found. However, the programme seems to have brought about some changes in the land allocated to different crops. The greatest effect is towards increased cultivation of perennials, which are high-value, high-risk crops in this part of Ethiopia.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-
(författare)
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Changing the risk at the margin : Smallholder farming and public policy in developing countries
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of a summary and four self-contained papers. Paper [I] examines whether the implementation of a social safety net programme in Ethiopia has affected the value, risk and composition of farmers‟ crop portfolios. The empirical analysis suggests that the value and risk of the crop portfolio have not been altered due to the programme. However, the programme seems to have brought about some changes in the land allocated to different crops. Paper [II] studies how a social safety net affects farmers‟ (dis)investments in productive assets. More specifically, it studies how the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia has changed livestock and tree holdings. The results indicate no significant effect on livestock holdings, but a significant increase in tree holdings. Paper [III] investigates if there is a problem of adverse selection in formal microlending in rural Bangladesh. The results indicate that farmers who only borrow formally have a shadow price of capital that is substantially higher than the average informal interest rate. This suggests that farmers that only borrow formally are perceived as poor credit risks by informal lenders. Paper [IV] explores the economic incentives surrounding the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan. Specifically, it examines the impact of eradication policies when opium is used as a means of obtaining credit, and when the crops are produced in sharecropping arrangements. The results indicate that both these features are likely to affect the outcome of eradication policies.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-
(författare)
-
Counterproductive counternarcotic strategies? A study of the effects of opium eradication in the presence of imperfect capital markets and sharecropping arrangements.
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper, we model the economic incentives surrounding opium crop production at farm level in Afghanistan. Specifically, we examine the impact of eradication policies when opium is used as a means of obtaining credit, and when the crops are produced in sharecropping arrangements. The theoretical analysis suggests that when perfect credit markets are available, an increased risk of having the opium poppy eradicated will lead to less land being allocated to opium poppy. Thus, with perfect credit markets, the eradication policy is likely to have the intended effect of lowering opium crop production. However, when opium is sold on futures markets as a means of obtaining credit, the effects of opium eradication are no longer clear-cut: in some cases the outcome may actually increase the land allocated to opium poppy. Finally, the results indicate that when opium is produced in sharecropping arrangements, increased risk of opium eradication will unambiguously make the tenants worse off, while landlords may actually benefit.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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European ozone in a future climate : The importance of changes in dry deposition and isoprene emissions
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 115, s. D02303-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- [1] Using a regional chemistry transport model (CTM) driven with meteorological data from a regional climate model (A2 emission scenario) we have investigated important processes for determining surface ozone concentration across Europe in a future climate. Anthropogenic ozone precursor emissions were kept constant (year 2000) to isolate the effect of climate change from 1961-1990 to 2021-2050 and 2071-2100. Biogenic isoprene emissions were calculated on-line. The results point to substantial increase in daily mean and daily maximum surface ozone over central and southern Europe. The importance of changes in natural isoprene emissions and dry deposition were investigated especially.[2] The isoprene emissions increased by a factor of about 1.8 from the current to the second future period. However, a sensitivity study using a sophisticated rescaling of isoprene emissions shows that the large increase in isoprene emission is of moderate importance in southern Europe for the strong increase in surface ozone (it can explain up to 30% of the change in central, southern and western Europe).[3] The soil-moisture dependent ozone dry deposition formulation and changes in snow cover, affecting the dry deposition, are more important processes: soil moisture dependence explains up to 80% of the change in Spain. Therefore it is vital to include soil moisture dependence in a model study of this type. Isoprene emissions are of less importance (0-30% in central and southern Europe), but not dismissible and should definitely be emitted on-line in climate-ozone projection studies.
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Formal microlending and adverse (or non-existent) selection a case study of shrimp farmers in Bangladesh
- 2011
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Ingår i: Applied Economics. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0003-6846 .- 1466-4283. ; 43:28, s. 4203-4213
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Microcredit schemes have become a popular means of improving smallholders' access to credit and making long term investment possible. However, it remains to be explored whether the current microcredit schemes are more successful than earlier formal small scale lending in identifying successful borrowers. We studied shrimp farming in a rural region in Bangladesh where formal microlending is well established, but where more expensive informal microlending coexists with the formal schemes. Farmers - both those who exclusively use formal loans and those who also use informal loans - remain credit-constrained; both types overutilize labour in order to reduce the need for working capital. However, the credit constraint is actually milder for the informal borrowers: the implicit shadow price of working capital is substantially higher in the group that only takes formal loans than in the group that also uses informal loans. These results suggest that informal lenders - with their closer ties to the individual farmers - remain more successful in identifying those smallholder farmers that are most likely to use the borrowed funds successfully. Informal lenders have an information advantage that formal microlenders lack: the latter need to find routes to access this information in order for formal microcredit schemes to succeed.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Impacts of the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia on livestock and tree holdings of rural households
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Development Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-3878 .- 1872-6089. ; 94:1, s. 119-126
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We evaluated the impacts of the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on rural households' holdings of livestock and forest assets/trees. We found no indication that participation in PSNP induces households to disinvest in livestock or trees. In fact, households that participated in the program increased the number of trees planted, but there was no increase in their livestock holdings. We found no strong evidence that the PSNP protects livestock in times of shock. Shocks appear to lead households to disinvest in livestock, but not in trees. Our results suggest that there is increased forestry activity as a result of PSNP, and that improved credit access encourages households to increase their livestock holdings.
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| 7. |
- Berlin, Cecilia, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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Keyword Mingling workshop - a method for identifying and consolidating industrially perceived needs and requirements of future operators
- 2012
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Ingår i: Swedish Production Symposium, SPS12. - 9789175197524
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Investments into the production technology of the future require a firm basis in the needsof production industry. However, gathering, sorting and ranking cross-industrial futureneeds remains a steep challenge to technology developers. Gathering feedback from justone or a few case companies can result in a biased set of priorities, since feedback fromspecific industrial sectors may often be highly influenced by their industry- and productspecificchallenges. This paper describes a structured method called “Keyword Mingling”that addresses the collection of such feedback in a multi-partner workshop format.The workshop method presented in this paper resolves this by using a highly interactive"mingling" technique to get participants in a large group workshop (between 15 - 20people) to answer a specific question. The participants discuss ideas in smaller groups,share their findings to the group at large, co-operatively organize the input from allparticipants into functional categories, and finally perform a 'ranking' of the results. Theoutcome is a prioritized list of concerns to focus research efforts on, providing workshopanalysts with a finished structure for reporting the results. The method was tested in twoworkshops within the project "The Operator of the Future" and resulted in plenty ofpositive feedback from participants, who felt that the input was relevant, well-structured,and easy to agree with due to the consensus categorizing.
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| 8. |
- Grane, Camilla, et al.
(författare)
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The operator of the future – a key to competitive industry in a future information society
- 2012
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Ingår i: Swedish Production Symposium, SPS12. - 9789175197524
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increased global competition and forthcoming demographic changes is expected for the Swedish industry. The process and manufacturing industry needs to develop solutions that can provide increased flexibility and production efficiency. A key for the future competitiveness is the operator of the future who works closest to the value adding processes. In the project “The operator of the future”, “Framtidsoperatören” in Swedish, the overall aim is to increase the competiveness of Swedish industry by developing an advanced toolbox that meets future needs. In a pre-study, the tasks and needs of the operator of the future were investigated through workshops with 25 representatives from 15 Swedish process and manufacturing industries and system developers. The results had similarities across industries and suggest solutions that support communication, control and constant learning. The tools should be intuitive and situation adapted with use of strengthened senses. These results give the direction for a continued development of a future toolbox. Through a combination of new supporting technologies and new ways of collaboration the operators of the future might find their work more interesting, stimulating, and developing, leading to enhanced competiveness of Swedish industry.
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| 9. |
- Kroon, Renee, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of electron-withdrawing side chain modifications on the optical properties of thiophene-quinoxaline acceptor based polymers
- 2013
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Ingår i: Polymer. - : Elsevier BV. - 0032-3861. ; 54:4, s. 1285-1288
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Four new thiophene-quinoxaline acceptor based polymers have been synthesized. The parent thiophene-quinoxaline acceptor based copolymer was modified by introducing different electron-withdrawing groups adjacent to the thiophene side group. The effect on the physical, electrochemical and optical properties of the polymer series is discussed with respect to the parent thiophene-quinoxaline acceptor based polymer. The side chain carbonyl from one modified monomer could conveniently be transformed to either a difluoromethylene or an -ylidene malononitrile group via carbonyl transformations. For all polymers incorporating an electron-withdrawing side group both the HOMO and especially the LUMO were significantly shifted away from vacuum while all exhibit enhanced light harvesting ability. Especially the incorporation of an -ylidine malononitrile side group increases both the spectral coverage and absorption coefficient. Incorporation of a difluoromethylene side group resulted in a twofold increase of the molecular weight compared to the parent polymer structure.
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| 10. |
- Kuckertz, Jennie M., et al.
(författare)
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Moderation and mediation of the effect of attention training in social anxiety disorder
- 2014
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Ingår i: Behaviour Research and Therapy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0005-7967 .- 1873-622X. ; 53, s. 30-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While attention modification programs (AMP) have shown promise as laboratory-based treatments for social anxiety disorder, trials of internet-delivered AMP have not yielded significant differences between active and control conditions. To address these inconsistencies, we examined the moderational and mediational role of attention bias in the efficacy of attention training. We compared data reported by Carlbring et al. (2012) to an identical AMP condition, with the exception that participants were instructed to activate social anxiety fears prior to each attention training session (AMP + FACT; n = 39). We also compared all attention training groups to an internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (iCBT) condition (n = 40). Participants in the AMP + FACT group experienced greater reductions in social anxiety symptoms than both active (n = 40) and control (n = 39) groups reported by Carlbring et al., and did not differ in symptom reductions from the iCBT group. Higher attention bias predicted greater symptom reductions for participants who completed AMP, but not for the control group. Moreover, change in attention bias mediated the relationship between AMP group (active condition reported by Carlbring et al. versus AMP + FACT) and change in social anxiety symptoms. These results suggest the importance of interpreting findings related to symptom change in attention training studies in the context of bias effects.
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