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Abstract:We use linear time series and wavelets approach to study the relationships between U.S. and international prices for corn, soybeans, and cotton. We then compare results obtained with each approach and verify that structural breaks discovered with wavelet analysis match those produced with subsequent partial-period cointegration analysis. We find little evidence that short-term fluctuations between domestic and international prices are stable, while long-term relationships for many price pairs experience distinct structural breaks. We further find that even though China is among the largest importers of U.S. agricultural products, its commodity prices share little or no relationship with those prevailing in U.S. markets.

This paper uses nonparametric method to study the relationship between economic growth and the level of pollution. The results indicate that as income increases the level of PM10 pollution rises and falls for low-and middle-income countries, respectively. Countries with GDP per capita above $32,000 experience an increased pollution level. Statistical tests show that nonparametric result provides better analysis than cubic specification, which dominates research works. Among the control variables in semiparametric setting, the higher the proportion of urban population, the higher is the level of pollutions while coal consumption and trade openness have no effect on PM10 pollution.

We propose an ‘allocate-and-trade’ institution to manage the eastern Nile River Basin for Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt as the basin faces a new reality of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). We find that a social planner could increase the region's economic welfare by assigning water rights to the riparian states. An alternative intrabasin water rights arrangement and trade could achieve more than 95 per cent of the welfare created by the social planner. GERD will change both the economic benefits and hydrological positions of the riparian countries. Economic benefits from alternative water use would be sufficient to make riparian countries better off compared with the status quo. Furthermore, riparian countries could raise more than US$680 m annually for protecting and conserving the natural resources of the region.