Purpose Pesticide overuse has caused a series of negative impacts on environment and human health. The purpose of this paper is to examine the farmers’ behavior of pesticide overuse and to identify the underlying determinants, based on the survey data from Shandong Province, China. Design/methodology/approach A two-stage semiparametric approach and the binary probit model were employed in this study to analyze the marginal pesticide productivity and investigate the determinants of the pesticide overuse. Findings Results suggest that the marginal pesticide productivity is negative, indicating a serious overuse of pesticides in the surveyed area. Both market factors and government regulation have impacts on farmers’ use of pesticides. Originality/value This study estimates marginal pesticide productivity with an innovative methodology, and explores the role of market factors and government regulation in regulating farmers’ behavior of pesticide use, especially in a typical vegetable growing area and targeting a specific type of vegetable.

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A growing number of governments have begun to implement benchmarking or energy disclosure policies. By requiring owners to measure and disclose their energy use, these policies are intended to transform the market for energy-efficient investments in existing buildings. To improve future policy efforts, two critical questions are: first, how much energy do these policies save? and second, what particular aspects of these policies are most effective? To answer these questions, this study explores how different aspects of these policies were phased-in to different groups of buildings over the first four years of the City of New York's benchmarking ordinance. By applying a novel difference-indifferences strategy, we can causally attribute observed declines in energy consumption to specific owner behaviors and policy mechanisms. Our analysis indicates that in comparison with the control group and before the policies were implemented in 2011, total disclosure of both energy use and Energy Star together can be credited with a 6% reduction in building energy use intensity (EUI) three years later and a 14% reduction in EUI four years later. Disclosure of Energy Star scores decreased building EUI by 9% three years later and 13% four years later. These two separate findings are a consequence of the policy design and different control groups.

When stored in the refrigerator, pasteurized and leftover pasteurized milk may be stored for at least 7 days when considering the variables studied. Caution should be used when storing pasteurized and leftover pasteurized milk at room temperature to prevent an increase in bacterial growth and a decrease in total protein and SIgA activity.