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Climate variability has been shown to have adverse effects on morbidity and mortality. Less is known about its effects on psychological well-being, especially in developing countries with agriculture-based economies. In this paper, we test whether extreme temperature and precipitation in India have an effect on self-reported depression symptoms, cognitive and sleep difficulties, and ability to cope with and control life. We use time and geographic variation in weather and show that hot weather in the previous year worsens psychological well-being among rural, but not urban, Indian adults. We examine potential mechanisms and show that the effect is largely driven by hot temperatures during the agricultural season and could be partly attributed to a reduction in agricultural production. We further provide suggestive evidence that the effects of weather shocks could be mitigated with poverty reduction programs such as India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Poor mental health has been associated with low productivity and high healthcare expenditures and is a serious concern in India and many developing countries. The adverse impacts of climate change on rural, agriculture-based economies such as India are likely to increase over time. Given that nearly half of the global population lives in rural areas and is vulnerable to climate variability, understanding the effects of climate on psychological well-being and identifying potential resolutions is critical for insuring vulnerable populations and breaking the poverty cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to assess the relation between the main structural variables and total factor productivity (TFP) based on Malmquist indices at the regional level in Romania. In order to set up this paper, there were used the data for the period 2007-2013 which were processed using Win4DEAP Program. The main results of our research revealed the necessity to increase the farms size and the share of farms with 50-100 ha and over 100 ha in order to improve the agricultural productivity. Also the results pointed out that the regions with a more developed vegetal sector have a higher TFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses aggregated municipality data, for the years 2001-2009, to explore whether direct payments to farmers affect agricultural employment in Swedish municipalities. The decoupling reform in 2005 included a new grassland support payment accompanied by management obligations that had unexpectedly high redistributive consequences as it greatly increased common agricultural policy payments to municipalities with large areas of grassland. In some municipalities, total payments more than doubled. Thus, since the reform seems exogenous to the behaviour of farmers and the regional economy, the reform can be used to identify a subsidy effect. We find that a permanent increase in agricultural employment can be attributed to the new grassland support. Our results indicate that the grassland support generates an additional job at a cost of SEK 250,000, relative to the average agricultural wage of SEK 333,000. However, the subsidy effect is largely keeping jobs in agriculture, i.e. the grassland support may be slowing down the process of structural change in grassland regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensified concentration of land, powerful political and social processes -headed by the Argentine Agrarian Federation (faa) -current debates about small-scale European agriculture, as well as the active role of small production in economic development in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, among other countries, constitute some of the various phenomena promoting an interest in family farming, especially in the context of a new agenda for rural development in Argentina. In the debate on family farming, we often used to see opposed views on the type of support it should be given and, as a consequence, on the role this sector should play in regional development. The present study makes a number of reflections that turn on these questions, often presented in the academic approach as axioms or dogmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the modeling of growth linkages in the Muda region in Malaysia. Impact of agricultural intensification on rural growth; Macro conditions necessary for productive reinvestment of agricultural surpluses in rural regions; Growth in the region since the 1960s.

The article focuses on the concept of regional research in agricultural economics. The land economist, attempting to discover rational alternative uses of land would find it necessary to include an entirely different regional unit structure than either marketing or farm management. In regional research, the unit is the competitive area having some sort of geographic dimensions; while non-regional research need not have geographic boundaries and may be thought of as test-tube research. Regional research must subordinate analytical dissection to synthesis. In fact, the discovery of the means of balancing the regional economy into the most effective utilization of the available resources in an operating unit should be its primary function. The methods to be used in regional research are more difficult to set forth because of lack of precedent. The methods used thus far in regional research have little to recommend them beyond the methods used in non-regional research. As a usual practice, in a larger area the common feeling seems to be that more statistics are needed.