Helge Berglann
Research Scientist
Abstract
Income comparisons between farm and non-farm households play a crucial role in many aspects of farm policy. Using household income data from tax returns of all Norwegian taxpayers in the period 2006–2015 we study these income differences. We find that the unconditional mean income is higher for farm households, but with important differences depending on the comparison group considered. We also find that the income difference is reduced when we control for differences in the personal characteristics of the different non-farm comparison sub-groups. This finding implies that income comparison using unconditional means, as frequently done in agricultural policy making, is potentially misleading. We also show that the income effect of personal characteristics is not the same for different comparison sub-groups, as has been assumed in previous studies of income disparities. Differences in personal characteristics, and the income effect of those characteristics, therefore need to be accounted for if income comparisons between farmers and non-farmers are to inform farm support policies.
Authors
Helge BerglannAbstract
This article considers the use of convex taxation as an instrument to regulate fisheries, comparing it with linear taxation with regards to economic yields and the risk of resource depletion. Convex taxation is shown to be central in studies with static models but has rarely been explored in the context of dynamic fisheries. Literature shows that a linear tax regime is superior to quantity regulation when the stock estimate is uncertain in terms of economic gains and its ability to prevent resource extinction. Furthermore, when cost uncertainty is involved, a strictly convex tax on landings can prove even more efficient. A numerical example with a single-species demersal fishery having both ecological and economic uncertainty demonstrates the gain in value of moving from a linear to a strictly convex tax.
Authors
Geir Wæhler Gustavsen Helge Berglann Elisabeth Jenssen Signe Kårstad Divina Gracia P. RodriguezAbstract
Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as an important sustainable pathway for climate change adaptation and mitigation, for building more resilient cities, and for citizens’ health. Urban agriculture systems appear in many forms – both commercial and non-commercial. The value of the services derived from urban agriculture, e.g., enhanced food security, air quality, water regulation, and high level of biodiversity, is often difficult to quantify to inform policymakers and the general public in their decision making. We perform a contingent valuation survey of four different types of urban agriculture Where the citizens of Oslo are asked about their attitudes and willingness to pay non-commercial (urban community gardens and urban gardens for work training, education and kindergartens) and for commercial (i.e. aquaponics and vertical production) forms of urban agriculture. Results show that the citizens of Oslo are willing to increase their tax payments to contribute to further development of urban farming in Oslo.
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Geir Wæhler Gustavsen Helge Berglann Elisabeth Jenssen Signe Kårstad Divina Gracia P. RodriguezAbstract
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Authors
Geir Wæhler Gustavsen Helge Berglann Elisabeth Jenssen Signe Kårstad Divina Gracia P. RodriguezAbstract
Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as an important sustainable pathway for climate change adaptation and mitigation, for building more resilient cities, and for citizens’ health. Urban agriculture systems appear in many forms – both commercial and non-commercial. The value of the services derived from urban agriculture, e.g. enhanced food security, air quality, water regulation, and high level of biodiversity, is often difficult to quantify to inform policymakers and the general public in their decision making. We perform a contingent valuation survey regarding four different types of urban agriculture in Oslo. The citizens of Oslo are asked about their attitudes and willingness to pay for non-commercial and commercial urban agriculture. The non-commercial agriculture consists of urban community gardens for the citizens and urban gardens for work training, education and kindergartens. On the other hand, the commercial urban agriculture consists of aquaponics and vertical production. Results show that the citizens of Oslo are willing to increase their tax payments to contribute to further development of urban farming in Oslo. Keywords: Willingness to pay; community garden; aquaponics; vertical farming; Oslo
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This study deals with the composition of corporate boards and examines the impact of independent (outside) and inside directors. We analyze the effect of independent and representative board members on firm performance and shareholder protection. Overseeing the CEO to ensure value maximization is one of the key functions of boards. Hence, boards appear as a protective mechanism that protects shareholder rights. With this reasoning regulators promote independent directors at boardrooms. The literature corroborates the notion that independent directors are instrumental in mitigating agency problems. At the same time, increasing worker representation has been considered as a mechanism to contain, or balance the power of controlling shareholders for big companies. In Norway, employee representation in boards has been promoted by the legislation long before. Employee representatives have insider information about the companies and leaves little room for executives to mislead the board. For companies that adopt the gender balance law, and change their boards, we look at the impact of outsiders. We take the insiders into consideration by controlling for the board ownership, and use the incremental effect of female additions to the board as variable capturing the outsider impact. We examine the explanatory power of outsiders at board over the value and tax returns of the company. Conversely, we try to see how the employee representatives are related with firm fundamentals. For the companies that change their organizational form, we gauge the differential impact of employee representation when we control for other factors. The key posits are that employee representatives can protect employee rights, alleviate layoffs, and moderate the executive pay. This view has found audience among policy makers recently. Preliminary results demonstrate that increasing outside and independent directors have a positive effect on the firm value. Furthermore, independent board directors are essential in promoting efficient outcomes. Further, they are instrumental in returning the value to shareholders, limiting the executive compensation, and curbing the relative tax burden.
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In this paper, we examine citizen and consumer attitudes towards, and preferences for, private and public goods from organic agriculture in Norway. The study is based on a survey among 939 Norwegians. The results show that in the role as citizens, the respondents hold a moderate belief in the superiority of organic farming concerning the production of public goods, but they give relatively low priority to prompting organic farming compared to other agricultural policy goals. In the role as consumers (choice experiment), the respondents were willing to pay for several attributes of organic food. Only 6% of the respondents buy organic food as often as they can. The most important reasons for buying organic food are health and environmental concerns, while animal welfare has little importance. Lack of perceived superiority regarding health benefits, taste, safety and environment are important reasons for not consuming (more) organic food among those who rarely or never buy organic food.
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Helge BerglannAbstract
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Helge BerglannAbstract
This paper shows that a simple scheme of non-linear taxes coupled with tradable pollution permits can secure the .rst best outcome even in absence of information about abatement costs. Evidence of the existence of a Pareto optimal Nash equilibrium is given. Di¤erential system theory and stochastic approximation are used to prove that the outcome is globally and locally stable. Equilibrium is reached after repeated play. At each round agents make myopic steps and form local approximations, restricting their attention to one variable at any stage. The same procedure also applies also when stochastic elements are involved.
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Working paper 2012-1 presents the outcome of the project “Miljø- og klimaanalyse for norsk landbruk og matsektor” (Analysis of Environmental and Climate-related aspects of Norwegian agri-food sector). The project has been led by NILF in cooperation with MiSA and John Hille. The objective has been to develop methodological guidelines for comprehensive assessments of measures aimed at relieving environmental and climatic stresses from Norwegian food production and consumption.
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Helge BerglannAbstract
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This ESEE 2011 conference paper examines attitudes to private and public goods and bads from agriculture in Norway with a particular focus on organic agriculture. The issue is based on a survey among 939 Norwegians. The results show that the respondents strongly value public attributes of agriculture like a vivid countryside and cultural landscapes. Almost 60 percent of the sample emphasise that the government should aim to increase the production and sale of organic food. Respondents’ behaviour as consumers were investigated by collecting and analysing data that indicate which conditions respondents find most important when they buy milk, eggs, carrots and ketchup. Important conditions were taste, fresh, produced in Norway and no use of pesticides or fertilizers. The most important reasons for buying organic food were avoidance of pesticides, health and environmental concerns.
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We examine the origins and outcome of entrepreneurship on the basis of exceptionally comprehensive Norwegian matched worker–firm–owner data. In contrast to most existing studies, our notion of entrepreneurship not only comprises self-employment, but also employment in partly self-owned limited liability companies. Based on this extended entrepreneurship concept, we find that entrepreneurship tends to be profitable. It also raises income variability, but the most successful quartile gains much more than the least successful quartile loses. Key determinants of the decision to become an entrepreneur are occupational qualifications, family resources, gender, and work environments. Individual unemployment encourages, while aggregate unemployment discourages, entrepreneurship.
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Authors
Helge BerglannAbstract
This article considers the use of a hybrid instrument to regulate .sheries, comparing this instrument with quantity control and linear taxation in regards to economic yields and the risk of resource deple- tion. Hybrid instruments have shown to be central in studies with static models but have hardly ever been explored in the context of dy- namic .sheries. A numerical example concerned with a single-species demersal .shery where the stock estimate is uncertain indicates that a combination of price and quantity control in the form of a strictly convex tax on landings is clearly superior to quantity control. When cost uncertainty is involved, it can also prove more e¢ cient than the price instrument.
Authors
Helge BerglannAbstract
This paper presents a simple system for efficient regulation under asymmetric information. Each firm’s income is controlled by a tax that depends on the firm’s own output and on a parameter construed as a share permit. These "shares of total expected output" lower a firm’s tax burden and are acquired in a competitive market. By employing this scheme, the planner only requires knowledge of marginal damage to induce the first-best outcome. Relative to a traditional cap-and-trade approach the system increases expected social welfare. If incentives for strategic behavior in the market exist, their impact may be scaled down.
