Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: A. Rusek Author-Workplace-Name: Dept. of Economics, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA, USA Title: Euro: the engine of integration or the seed of dissolution? Abstract: The common currency Euro is considered one of the biggest achievements of the European political and economic integration. However, it is necessary to stress that Euro was always first and foremost a political feat. Economists by and large pointed out that the EU - even in its 1992 reincarnation - is not an optimum common currency area (OCA). But politicians and some economists hoped that the existence of Euro itself may accelerate the processes toward the OCA. However, this did not happen and the divergence processes inside the Eurozone accelerated after 1999. Today, the Eurozone stands near the crossroad - where some countries may be increasingly tempted to leave. Keywords: Euro, optimum currency area, asymmetric shocks, divergence Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 137-149 Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/290-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/290-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200804-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:4:id:290-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: T. Doucha Author-Workplace-Name: Research Institute of Agricultural Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: I. Foltýn Author-Workplace-Name: Research Institute of Agricultural Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Czech agriculture after the accession to the European Union - impacts on the development of its multifunctionality Abstract: The article presents the evaluation of multifunctionality of Czech agriculture and its individual farm categories in the period of 2003-2005. It compares the situation before and after the EU accession. The assessment is based on the set of indicators for the three elementary axes of multifunctionality: economic efficiency, relations to environment and relations to rural development. Applying the presented method of multi-criterion evaluation and during the period of 2003-2005 on average, the highest level of multifunctionality is found in the category of farms of physical persons with 101-300 ha (score 174) and the lowest level in the category of collective farms - cooperatives and joint stock companies (score about 115). However, compared with the pre-accession period, the collective farms show the highest growth of the score (by 17%) after the EU accession. Keywords: agriculture, multifunctionality, agricultural policy, farm categories Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 150-157 Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/291-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/291-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200804-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:4:id:291-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Z. Sojková Author-Workplace-Name: Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Z. Kropková Author-Workplace-Name: Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovak Republic Author-Name: V. Benda Author-Workplace-Name: Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovak Republic Title: Slovak agricultural farms in different regions - comparison of efficiency Abstract: This paper presents the results of stochastic parametric approach used in estimation of production frontier. The estimation of output oriented technical efficiency was based on the Stochastic Frontier analysis with Cobb-Douglas production function. The model also included a dummy variable which expressed production conditions in which Slovak farms are operating. We divided farms into two groups regarding production conditions: productive regions (PR) and less favorable area (LFA) regions. The data set included 79 Slovak farms operating in different regions in the 2003-2005 time periods. The following input variables are included in the model: capital, material, labour and agricultural land according to the LPIS system. Total output was used as the output variable. From the achieved results, we can conclude that the significant statistical differences in average technical efficiency were detected only in year 2005 between the farms of the mentioned production conditions. A higher level of variability in technical efficiency was detected in farms operating in productive regions compared to technical efficiency of farms in the LFA regions. Keywords: less favorable area (LFA), subsidy, stochastic production frontier, panel data, output - oriented technical efficiency, Cobb-Douglas production function Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 158-165 Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/294-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/294-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200804-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:4:id:294-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M. Štolbová Author-Workplace-Name: Research Institute of Agricultural Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Eligibility criteria for less-favoured areas payments in the EU countries and the position of the Czech Republic Abstract: The delimitation of less-favoured areas (LFA) on the territorial and the farm level in the EU member states varies in many ways. The Commission emphasizes the unification of criteria on the territorial level. But the EU countries use very different criteria for the eligibility area definition and for the eligibility on farm level. This makes the comparison very difficult. The CR belongs to the countries with a lower level of differentiation of payments rates. The eligibility area is restricted to the grassland in the CR and degresivity of payments is not applied. In particular, collective farms as the owners' association play an important social role in the country of the Czech Republic and some other countries in the Central and Eastern Europe. It would be necessary to find such differentiation of payment system that would reflect these specific conditions. The holdings with different size and different form of farming as well as the effect of other subsidies to holdings should be taken into account. The support potential within the axis III of the Rural Development Program would be necessary strengthen to elimination of the adverse impact due to further lay-off of the employees in agriculture Keywords: less-favoured areas, LFA, eligibility criteria, eligible area, LFA payments, rural employment, Rural Development Program Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 166-175 Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/293-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/293-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200804-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:4:id:293-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: A. Gyau Author-Workplace-Name: Georg-August University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany Author-Name: A. Spiller Author-Workplace-Name: Georg-August University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany Title: The impact of supply chain governance structures on the inter-firm relationship performance in agribusiness Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the types of supply chain governance structure and the perceived relationship performance of Ghanaian fresh fruit and vegetable exporters concerning their business with European importers. Using the principal component and regression analyses based on data obtained from 101 interviews with exporters in Ghana, we show that relationship performance is a multi dimensional construct with economic and behavioral relationships as the two main dimensions. The study reveals that whereas the economic relationship performance is influenced by the type of governance structure used, the behavioral relationship performance is not. Thus, the economic dimension of the relationship improves as the firms adopt a more coordinated type of governance structure. We conclude that both the exporters and the importers can improve their economic performance and enhance efficiency in the supply chain if they adopt a more coordinated supply chain governance structure type if there are appropriate mechanisms for equitable distribution of benefits. Keywords: relationship performance, governance structures, fresh fruit and vegetable, Ghana, Europe Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 176-185 Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/292-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/292-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200804-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:4:id:292-AGRICECON