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When different flooding drivers co‐occur, they can cause compound floods. Despite the potential impact of compound flooding, few studies have projected how the joint probability of flooding drivers may change. Furthermore, existing projections may not be very robust, as they are based on only 5 to 6 climate model simulations. Here, we use a large ensemble of simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) to project changes in the joint probability of extreme storm surges and precipitation at European tide gauges under a medium and high emissions scenario, enabled by data‐proximate cloud computing and statistical storm surge modeling. We find that the joint probability will increase in the northwest and decrease in most of the southwest of Europe. Averaged over Europe, the absolute magnitude of these changes is 36%–49% by 2080, depending on the scenario. The large‐scale changes in the joint probability of extreme storm surges and precipitation are similar to those in the joint probability of extreme wind speeds and precipitation, but locally, differences can exceed the changes themselves. Due to internal climate variability and inter‐model differences, projections based on simulations of only 5 to 6 randomly chosen CMIP6 models have a probability of higher than 10% to differ qualitatively from projections based on all CMIP6 simulations in multiple regions, especially under the medium emissions scenario and earlier in the twenty‐first century. Therefore, our results provide a more robust and less uncertain representation of changes in the potential for compound flooding in Europe than previous projections. Plain Language Summary: Extreme storm surges, rainfall or river discharge can cause flooding. When these events happen at the same time, even more severe flooding may follow. Climate change could affect the odds that drivers of flooding coincide, potentially leading to larger flood risk. However, few scientists have tried to compute such changes, using only a few different computer models of our climate. Here, we use a much larger set of climate models to compute how the odds that an extreme storm surge coincides with extreme precipitation could change in the future. We find that at the coasts of northwestern Europe, those odds will increase, whereas in southwestern Europe, they will mostly decrease. On average, the changes will be as large as 36%–49% of the current odds, depending on whether the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will increase by a medium or a large amount. When we use smaller sets of climate models for our calculations, we get substantially different results in some cases. In conclusion, by using a larger set of climate models than previous studies, we have made more robust computations of how the odds that extreme storm surges and precipitation coincide will change in Europe. Key Points: We project changes in the joint probability of storm surge and precipitation extremes based on a large ensemble of model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6The joint probability will increase in the northwest and decrease in the southwest of Europe, with an average absolute magnitude of 36%–49%Especially under lower emissions, often more than 5 or 6 climate model simulations are needed to draw robust conclusions on these changes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐tide flooding (HTF) is usually generated by a variety of different processes acting at different temporal scales across different geographic regions, but little is known about the role of interactions between those. We assess the role of compounding effects arising from cross‐covariances between different sea‐level components in generating HTF events along the US coastline. Our results show that compounding effects contribute to both HTF frequencies and magnitudes. The US Gulf and northwest coasts exhibit particularly high potential for compound HTF. Long‐term sea‐level rise is the main driver of accelerated HTF frequencies along the US coastline. However, even in the absence of sea‐level rise, changes in compounding effects due to increased or decreased cross‐covariances between sea‐level components associated with climate variability and change also modulate compound HTF. Our results highlight the importance of adequately modeling compounding effects between sea‐level components when generating future projections of HTF. Plain Language Summary: High‐tide flooding (HTF) is one of the most obvious outcomes of climate change and associated sea‐level rise, raising more public awareness due to its increase in frequency and cumulative impacts. HTF is often produced by several sea level processes operating at various temporal and geographical scales, but little is understood about how interactions between them influence HTF. Our results demonstrate that both the frequency and magnitudes of HTF are modulated by the correlations between these sea level processes. Our findings emphasize the importance of accurately representing the relationships between different sea‐level processes when projecting future HTF. Key Points: Compounding effects between sea level components contribute to both high‐tide flooding (HTF) frequencies and magnitudesThe US Gulf and northwest coasts exhibit particularly high potential for compound HTFChanges in compounding effects due to cross‐covariances between sea‐level components also augment compound HTF changes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal areas are subject to the joint risk associated with rainfall‐driven flooding and storm surge hazards. To capture this dependency and the compound nature of these hazards, bivariate modelling represents a straightforward and easy‐to‐implement approach that relies on observational records. Most existing applications focus on a single tide gauge–rain gauge/streamgauge combination, limiting the applicability of bivariate modelling to develop high‐resolution space–time design events that can be used to quantify the dynamic, that is, varying in space and time, compound flood hazard in coastal basins. Moreover, there is a need to recognize that not all extreme events always come from a single population, but can reflect a mixture of different generating mechanisms. Therefore, this paper describes an empirical approach to develop design storms with high‐resolution in space and time (i.e., ~5 km and hourly) for different joint annual exceedance probabilities. We also stratify extreme rainfall and storm surge events depending on whether they were caused by tropical cyclones (TCs) or not. We find that there are significant differences between the TC and non‐TC populations, with very different dependence structures that are missed if we treat all the events as coming from a single population. While we apply this methodology to one basin near Houston, Texas, our approach is general enough to make it applicable for any coastal basin exposed to compounding flood hazards from storm surge and rainfall‐induced flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal compound flooding events occur when extreme events of rainfall, river discharge and sea level coincide and collectively increase water surface elevation, exacerbating flooding. The meteorological conditions that generate these events are usually low‐pressure systems that generate high winds and intense rainfall. In this study, we identify the types of synoptic atmospheric conditions that are typically associated with coastal compound events using a weather‐type approach, for the North Atlantic coastlines (encompassing northwest Europe and the east coast of the United States). Compound events are identified along the estuaries of the study region from 1980 to 2014 based on an impact function defined by water surface elevation that resulted from the combination of river discharge and sea level. We find that compound events are more frequent along European as opposed to U.S. coastlines. In both cases, they are associated with a few dominant weather patterns. European hotspots of compound events are concentrated in the west coast of United Kingdom, the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula and around the Strait of Gibraltar. These areas share the same weather patterns which represent the main pathways of storms that cross the North Atlantic Ocean. In the case of U.S. locations, the areas with highest number of compound events are located mainly in the Gulf of Mexico and along Mexico and along the mid‐eastern U.S. coastlines. In these areas, compound events are produced by transitional weather patterns, which describe storms that travel northward parallel to the coastline. Splitting the occurrence of compound events in the corresponding weather types discriminates the interannual variability based on the relationship with dominant climate indices in the North Atlantic Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate that long‐term tidally induced changes in extreme sea levels affect estimates of major flood hazard in a predictable way. Long‐term variations in tides due to the 4.4 and 18.6‐year cycles influence extreme sea levels at 380 global tide gauges out of a total of 581 analyzed. Results show coherent regions where the amplitudes of the modulations are particularly relevant in the 100‐year return sea level, reaching more than 20 cm in some regions (western Europe, north Australia, and Singapore). We identify locations that are currently in a positive phase of the modulation and therefore at a higher risk of flooding, as well as when (year) the next peak of the long‐term tidal modulations is expected to occur. The timing of the peak of the modulation is spatially coherent and influenced by the relative importance of each cycle (4.4 or 18.6‐year) over the total amplitude. An evaluation of four locations suggests that the potentially flooded area in a 100‐year event can vary up to ∼45% (in Boston) as a result of the long‐term tidal cycles; however, the flooded area varies due to local topography and tidal characteristics (6%–13%). We conclude that tidally modulated changes in extreme sea levels can alter the potentially inundated area in a 100‐year event and that the traditional, fixed 100‐year floodplain is inadequate for describing coastal flood risk, even without considering sea‐level rise. Plain Language Summary: Interannual and decadal (long‐term) variations in tides modulate extreme sea levels, increasing the risk of flooding at specific and predictable times. Here, we use a data set of 581 tide gauges to estimate the magnitude of the long‐term tidally induced changes in extreme sea levels as well as to identify the timing of the peak of the modulations. We find significant amplitudes of the long‐term tidal modulations in extreme water levels. We conclude that the long‐term modulations in tides influence the total inundation area and, therefore, they should be taken into account when assessing coastal vulnerability. Key Points: Long‐term tidal cycles (4.4 and 18.6‐year) modulate extreme sea levels and affect estimates of flood riskThe timing of the peak of both modulations is influenced by the relative importance of each cycle over the total amplitudeTidally induced changes in extreme sea levels affect estimates of total inundation area [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) cause inland hydrological impacts related to precipitation. However, little is known about coastal hazards associated with these events. We elucidate high‐tide floods (HTFs) and storm surges during ARs on the US West Coast during 1980–2016. HTFs and ARs cooccur more often than expected from chance. Between 10% and 63% of HTFs coincide with ARs on average, depending on location. However, interannual‐to‐decadal variations in HTFs are due more to tides and mean sea‐level changes than storminess variability. Only 2–15% of ARs coincide with HTFs, suggesting that ARs typically must cooccur with high tides or mean sea levels to cause HTFs. Storm surges during ARs reflect local wind, pressure, and precipitation forcing: meridional wind and barometric pressure are primary drivers, but precipitation makes secondary contributions. This study highlights the relevance of ARs to coastal impacts, clarifies the drivers of storm surge during ARs, and identifies future research directions. Plain Language Summary: ARs drive hydrological hazards over land related to extreme precipitation. As they make landfall, ARs typically bring heavy rains, strong winds, and low pressures to the coast. While these factors can cause storm surge and coastal flooding, little attention has been paid to possible coastal impacts of ARs. We establish relationships between ARs and HTFs on the US West Coast and identify the factors causing storm surge during ARs. HTFs occur at nearly the same time that ARs make landfall more often than expected from chance, suggesting that ARs contribute importantly to HTFs. Even so, few ARs lead to HTFs—favorable tides or mean sea‐level anomalies are usually needed on top of the storm surge from an AR to cause a HTF. Storm surge during an AR can be explained by the heavy rain, strong wind, and low pressure typically associated with the event; wind and pressure are the primary factors causing the surge, but rainfall can also have a secondary influence. Our results highlight that HTFs arise from the subtle interweaving of storm surge, tide, and mean sea‐level effects, thus providing important information to managers and modelers, and motivating future studies on relationships between ARs and coastal hazards globally. Key Points: HTFs on the US West Coast cooccur with landfalling ARs more often than expected from random chanceBetween 10% and 63% of HTFs observed by tide gauges coincide with landfalling ARs, depending on locationMeridional wind and barometric pressure make primary contributions to storm surge during ARs, but rainfall can also have a secondary effect [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compound flooding may result from the interaction of two or more contributing processes, which may not be extreme themselves, but in combination lead to extreme impacts. Here, we use statistical methods to assess compounding effects from storm surge and multiple riverine discharges in Sabine Lake, TX. We employ several trivariate statistical models, including vine‐copulas and a conditional extreme value model, to examine the sensitivity of results to the choice of data pre‐processing steps, statistical model setup, and outliers. We define a response function that represents water levels resulting from the interaction between discharge and surge processes inside Sabine Lake and explore how it is affected by including or ignoring dependencies between the contributing flooding drivers. Our results show that accounting for dependencies leads to water levels that are up to 30 cm higher for a 2% annual exceedance probability (AEP) event and up to 35 cm higher for a 1% AEP event, compared to assuming independence. We also find notable variations in the results across different sampling schemes, multivariate model configurations, and sensitivity to outlier removal. Under data constraints, this highlights the need for testing various statistical modelling approaches, while the choice of an optimal approach remains subjective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of new and updated sea-level rise (SLR) information, such as from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports, needs to be better anticipated in coastal risk and adaptation assessments. This requires risk and adaptation assessments to be regularly reviewed and updated as needed, reflecting the new information but retaining useful information from earlier assessments. In this paper, updated guidance on the types of SLR information available is presented, including for sea-level extremes. An intercomparison of the evolution of the headline projected ranges across all the IPCC reports show an increase from the fourth and fifth assessments to the most recent "Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate" assessment. IPCC reports have begun to highlight the importance of potential high-end sea-level response, mainly reflecting uncertainties in the Greenland/Antarctic ice sheet components, and how this might be considered in scenarios. The methods that are developed here are practical and consider coastal risk assessment, adaptation planning, and long-term decision-making to be an ongoing process and ensure that despite the large uncertainties, pragmatic adaptation decisions can be made. It is concluded that new sealevel information should not be seen as an automatic reason for abandoning existing assessments, but as an opportunity to review (i) the assessment's robustness in the light of new science and (ii) the utility of proactive adaptation and planning strategies, especially over the more uncertain longer term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform the first global analysis of the spatial footprints of storm surges, using observed and simulated storm surge data. Three different techniques are applied to quantify the spatial footprints: clustering analysis, percentage of co‐occurrence, and joint probability analysis. The capability of the simulated data to represent the observed storm surge footprints is demonstrated. Results lead to the identification of coastline stretches prone to be impacted simultaneously by the same storm surge events. The spatial footprint sizes differ around the globe, partially conditioned by the geography of the coastline, that is, more irregular coastlines consist of a larger number of different storm surge clusters with varying footprint sizes. For the northwestern Atlantic, spatial footprints of storm surges vary when specifically accounting for tropical cyclones, using storm track information in the storm surge simulations. Our results provide important new insights into the spatial footprints of storm surges at the global scale and will help to facilitate improvements in how coastal flood risk is identified, assessed, and managed, by taking these spatial features into account. Plain Language Summary: When an extreme storm surge event impacts a particular site on the coast, other coastal locations are expected to also experience an extreme storm surge. Thus, a single extreme event can affect multiple critical service locations, populations, interconnected infrastructure systems, and diverse industrial sectors simultaneously, increasing the impact level of the event. Understanding the spatial dependence of surges on coasts is crucial for accurate risk analyses and the development of efficient emergency management plans. In the present paper, we identified the coastal stretches prone to be impacted simultaneously by a storm surge event. Our results show that not only contiguous but also unconnected coastlines are often affected by the same storm surge events and highlight that the spatial footprints of storm surges are not biased toward individual extreme events. Instead, we find that many other events, smaller in height and intensity (while still being extremes), have similar spatial footprints. Key Points: Contiguous and unconnected coastal stretches are often affected by the same storm surge event.Storm surge reanalysis data is able to correctly represent the spatial patterns of storm surge.A set of reference storm surge time series can be used as indicators of storm surge behavior for spatially coherent coastlines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines meat consumption in China, the world's largest meat consumer and producer, by considering both meat consumed at home and away from home based upon a diary‐based household survey. The results indicate that income growth leads to beef, poultry, other meat and pork away from home consumption to grow more than proportionally to total meat consumption. We also find that meats consumed away from home grow faster than at home counterparts due to higher income elasticities, suggesting that ignoring meat away from home could significantly underestimate current and future meat consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present a methodology to reconstruct the daily maximum storm surge levels, obtained from tide gauges, based on the surrounding atmospheric conditions from an atmospheric reanalysis (20th Century Reanalysis—20CR). Tide gauge records in Southeast Asia are relatively short, so this area is often underrepresented in studies based on long observational records, and there are just a few studies that have analyzed storm surge trends, variability or return water levels (RWLs) from numerical models in this area. Here we develop, calibrate, and validate a multivariate linear regression model that relates the storm surge with the principal components of the local atmospheric conditions. This allows us to reconstruct storm surges for the 147 year 20CR period (1866–2012) and therefore to calculate more robust RWLs from the entire simulated data set and subsets thereof. RWLs are obtained by fitting the monthly maxima values to the Generalize Extreme Value (GEV) distribution. We find an increase in the 50 year RWL from the second half of the 19th century to the present unrelated to mean sea level; this increase is less noticeable when comparing only recent periods. Therefore, further research is needed since there is evidence that atmospheric reanalyses can include spurious trends in the late 19th and early 20th. RWLs obtained from the statistical reconstruction are validated against the ones obtained from observations and from a numerical model. Agreements are generally higher when using surge levels from the statistical model, even before its calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in functional foods has been growing as consumers become increasingly concerned with diet and nutrition. This article measures consumers' responses to apples enriched with an antioxidant coating. Antioxidant-enriched apples are believed to provide additional health benefits reducing the risk of cancer and heart diseases. We discuss the consumer's benefit-risk trade-offs. Although functional food products provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition, some consumers may reject them because they utilize new technology. Face-to-face consumer surveys with contingent valuation questions were conducted in Seattle and Spokane, Washington in 2006. Consumers who choose where to shop based on organic availability are less likely to pay a premium for apples enriched with antioxidants. Also, there is evidence that consumers in Spokane are more likely to pay a premium for the product than consumers in supermarkets in Seattle. Information regarding the potential health benefits of antioxidants has a positive significant effect on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). The estimated mean WTP suggests that there is a small premium associated with this product in the mind of an average consumer. L'intérêt pour les aliments fonctionnels ne cesse de croître étant donné que les consommateurs s'intéressent de plus en plus au régime alimentaire et à la nutrition. Le présent article évalue la réaction des consommateurs à la vente de pommes enrobées d'antioxydants. On croit que les pommes enrichies d'antioxydants procureraient des bienfaits supplémentaires pour la santé en diminuant le risque de cancer et de cardiopathies. Nous avons examiné les avantages et les risques pour le consommateur. Bien que les aliments fonctionnels apportent des bienfaits pour la santé en plus d'une nutrition de base, certains consommateurs peuvent les refuser parce qu'ils ont nécessité l'utilisation de nouvelles technologies. En 2006, nous avons effectué, à Seattle et à Spokane dans l'État de Washington, des sondages en personne à l'aide de l'approche des préférences exprimées. Les consommateurs qui choisissaient un magasin d'alimentation en fonction de la disponibilité de produits biologiques étaient moins enclins à payer une prime pour obtenir des pommes enrichies d'antioxydants. Les consommateurs de Spokane ont semblé plus enclins à payer une prime pour ce produit que les consommateurs qui fréquentaient les supermarchés de Seattle. L'information sur les bienfaits potentiels des antioxydants sur la santé a des répercussions positives considérables sur la volonté de payer des consommateurs. La volonté de payer moyenne estimative laisse supposer que, dans l'esprit du consommateur moyen, ce produit procure un certain avantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional apple demand and supply parameters using Bayesian estimation were utilized to develop a spatial equilibrium model for the world apple market. A baseline scenario with existing tariffs was developed; a reduced tariff and free trade scenarios were simulated. Comparison of these scenarios with the baseline shows that apple trade is significantly greater under trade liberalization. China increases its exports by 174% under free trade and replaces France as the largest exporter. U.S. exports increased by about 140% to all regions except to Canada and Southeast Asia. Results confirm the importance of transportation costs and the interlinkages of prices in the world market in determining the trade flows. Nous avons utilisé des paramètres régionaux de l'offre et de la demande de pomme, déterminés à l'aide d'une estimation bayésienne, pour élaborer un modèle d'équilibre spatial du marché mondial de la pomme. Nous avons élaboré un scénario de base utilisant des tarifs douaniers existants et nous avons simulé des scénarios utilisant des tarifs douaniers réduits et le libre-échange. Une comparaison de ces scénarios avec le scénario de base montre que le commerce de la pomme est significativement plus important dans un contexte de libéralisation des échanges. La Chine augmente ses exportations de 174 p. 100 dans un contexte de libre-échange et détrône la France en tant que premier exportateur mondial. Les exportations des États-Unis augmentent d'environ 140 p. 100 dans toutes les régions sauf au Canada et en Asie du Sud-Est. Les résultats confirment l'importance des coûts de transport et des liens entre les prix sur le marché mondial dans la détermination du flux des échanges commerciaux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study relates the social-demographic characteristics of urban Chinese consumers to their consumption of fluid milk. A Tobit model is estimated drawing on individual consumer survey data collected in urban Qingdao in China in 2005. The major results of this study indicate that fluid milk consumption in urban Qingdao is much higher compared to China's national level. The effect of increased income on milk consumption is positive, as expected. The expansion of modern food retailers also appears to play a positive role by facilitating consumers’ fluid milk consumption and influencing their food shopping patterns. The young and old consume significantly more fluid milk than the middle-aged. Health consciousness of the elderly and the openness of youth to new foods appear to be fuelling these consumption patterns. If the findings of this study apply to other urban regions in China, then as urbanisation continues so also will the trend of increasing fluid milk consumption in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple maggot is an economically important apple pest that is native to the East Coast of North America, including Canada and the United States. Introduced to the West Coast of the United States in 1979, the pest is spreading rapidly in the region, threatening the major apple production area of Washington State, as well as British Columbia. A dynamic simulation model for perennial fruit production is developed to study the potential economic impact of a pest species, such as apple maggot. The model is designed to provide essential information, including the intertemporal distribution of welfare, to aid the design of effective and efficient policy response to pest outbreaks. This model is used to simulate the economic impact of apple maggot spread in Washington State on apple price, trade flows, and welfare changes. La mouche de la pomme est un ravageur originaire de la côte Est de l'Amérique du Nord (canadienne et étatsunienne) qui cause des pertes économiques considérables. Ce ravageur, qui s'est introduit sur la côte Ouest des États-Unis en 1979, se propage rapidement et menace les principales zones de production de pomme de l'État de Washington et de la Colombie-Britannique. Nous avons élaboré un modèle de simulation dynamique pour la production pluriannuelle de fruits afin d'étudier l'incidence économique potentielle d'espèces ravageuses telles que la mouche de la pomme. Le modèle a été conçu pour fournir de l'information essentielle, dont la distribution du bien-être intertemporel, en vue de contribuer à l'élaboration d'une réaction politique efficace de lutte contre les pullulations de ravageurs. Ce modèle est utilisé pour simuler l'incidence économique de la propagation de la mouche de la pomme dans l'État de Washington sur le prix des pommes, le flux des échanges commerciaux et les changements touchant le bien-être. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as‘mad cow disease’, in Japan caused anxiety about consuming beef and beef products. As a result, there was a sudden fall in sales of beef that hurt the Japanese beef industry as well as major beef exporters to Japan. We analyse factors that affect Japanese consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) price premiums for BSE-tested beef and estimate the mean WTP for BSE-tested beef using data obtained from a consumer survey in Japan. A single-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation model is used to recover the premium amount. We find that attitudes to food safety, reduction in beef consumption following the BSE outbreak, and being female all have a statistically significant positive effect on the WTP for BSE-tested beef. Interestingly, demographic variables such as age and income do not affect the WTP, possibly indicating that the BSE scare similarly affected multiple segments of the population. In our sample, consumers are willing to pay a premium on average of greater than 50 per cent for BSE-tested beef. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of public acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food products in Europe. Using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation methodology, we find that, on average, survey respondents with a positive attitude toward the use of biotechnology in food production, higher educated, younger, and male need less of a discount to choose to purchase bread made with GM wheat. Further, we estimate confidence intervals for the mean discount required for consumers to choose GM bread. The 95% confidence interval for the mean discount required for the respondents to choose the GM bread is a 37% to 63% discount relative to conventional bread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 20 years the growth of China’s agricultural economy has been extraordinary. However, it seems unlikely that China will maintain self-sufficiency in grains by 2005 without substantial intervention. We develop a CGE model to assess the options available to Chinese policy makers. We compare the welfare effects of import tariffs and domestic support, and explore the potential of biotechnology as a means to achieve self-sufficiency through improvements in agricultural productivity. Our results indicate that the price interventions that would be required to maintain China’s desired self-sufficiency ratios are considerable, and are unlikely to be compatible with WTO accession. The productivity improvements required are also significant, and likely beyond the current potential of biotechnology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper has two objectives: to increase the accessibility of the CGE literature to policymakers interested in Chinese trade policy, and to provide modellers with an overview of the types of models that have been used to analyse trade reform issues in China, and the major results that have emerged. In the process we provide a convenient set of references to what is an extensive and growing literature, and insights into where gaps remain and future contributions can be made. We also provide some new simulation results on one of the more recent trade policy developments mdash; China's accession to the Bangkok agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a hedonic price analysis of quality characteristics of Japanese Wagyu beef. Liberalization of the beef market; Sale of genetics to producers in other prefectures; Prevention of additional genetics from leaving Japan.

Examines the effects of sprouting on supply and demand under different arrangements for the entry of sprouted wheat in food markets. Description of sprouting; Model used to examine the international effects of various levels of sprouting among major suppliers.

Examines the likely consequences of the 1998 Japanese Beef Market Access Agreement on the Japanese livestock industry and beef imports via dynamic simulation analysis. Impact on quota levels of beef imports; Effect of the shift from the import quota to the import tariff in 1991 on beef prices.

Develops a microeconomic optimization model of grain elevator cleaning and commingling decisions in the United States, when the firm is faced with different discounting schedules. Use of generalizations of Jensen's inequality; Possible impact of a separate market for cleanings; Analysis of wheat elevator records; Reference to rearrangement activities.

Stresses the supply and demand inflexibilities arising from decision making in commodity futures prices volatility. Decision made on the supply side as making future supply responses less elastic; Shock arising after a decision is made as more effective in changing the futures price; State variable hypotheses of futures price volatility.

Analyzes the dynamic adjustment of Japanese livestock markets following the 1988 Japanese Beef Market Access Agreement and the complete liberalization of Japanese beef import policies. Japanese livestock industry and policy; Effect of beef import liberalization.

Analysis the tests for quasi-separability, net and perfect substitutability developed and implemented on a demand system model of the Japanese meat sector. Net complimentarity between chicken and dairy beef and chicken and pork; Japanese Wagyu beef as a separate commodity to both imported beef and dairy beef; Importance of fish in the Japanese meat demand system.

Multivariate analysis of variance and econometric analysis are used in conjunction to analyze China's rural household consumption behavior across households that differ in the level of self-sufficiency relative to the production/purchase of fruits and vegetables. There is a significant difference in consumption patterns for different households with different levels of self-sufficiency. Households that purchase but do not produce fruits and vegetables exhibit a notably more market-oriented price responsive behavior. The consumption decisions of households that produce fruits and vegetables, but do not purchase them, are influenced more heavily by implicit income effects than by implicit price effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of papers which explores the comparison of economic theories and countries which impose trade regulations. `Regional Impact of Change in Dairy Trade Policies on the Northeast U.S. and Central Canada Dairy Sectors,' by Maurice Doyon, James Pratt and others; `Sectoral and Economywide Impacts of Eliminating the Export Enhancement Program,' by Kenneth Hunson, Stephen Vogel et al.