Angelo Zago

Endogenous Membership in Mixed Duopsonies

Although the role of agricultural cooperatives is well known to many practitioners and economists around the world, in many countries cooperatives are facing new challenging opportunities and problems. Due to the consolidation in the industries upstream and downstream to the agricultural sector, cooperatives are regarded as one possible way to enhance welfare for small producers (Economist). Either in the form of common facilities or through collective bargaining, cooperatives have the potential to improve the terms of trade for their members and contribute to better livelihood in rural areas. However, cooperatives are also facing new difficulties, due to the globalization of markets and the competition with investor-owned firms (IOF). In many countries, ideology is no longer a strong enough reason for farmers to join cooperatives, and more competitive markets imply that this decision must be based mainly on economic terms. In addition, cooperatives have to deal with heterogeneous membership: members may differ in many aspects, namely size of their operations, abilities, and quality of their products. Given these differences, the functioning of the cooperative in the day-to-day operations may become more difficult, and some members may find it more convenient to look for other opportunities and market outlets for their commodities.

Productivity or Discrimination? - Beauty and the Exams

Do good looks make people more productive? An impact of looks on earnings has been found in the empirical literature: plain people earn less than average-looking people who earn less than the good-looking. However, an important question remains unanswered: is the impact of beauty due to pure discrimination or productivity? We provide evidence against the hypothesis of Becker-type discrimination stemming from tastes and in favor of productivity-related discrimination.

A Nonparametric Analysis of Production Models with Multidimensional Quality

This article proposes a methodology to measure the characteristics of intermediate products when quality is multidimensional. It uses a general representation of the multioutput technology via directional distance functions and constructs quality indicators based on differences rather than ratios. The quality indicators may be used to evaluate firms’ output, taking into account the whole set of quality attributes. The paper explores how aggregate quality may vary with the production level and finds a trade-off between quantity and aggregate quality in wine grapes. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.

The Public Provision of Information

Beginning with the 1992 MacSharry reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Union (EU) initiated a series of policies aimed at increasing the diversification of agricultural production in order to achieve a better balance between agricultural commodity supply and demand. A concurrent objective has been to promote production with certain characteristics for the benefit of the rural economy, particularly less favored and remote areas.