Understanding challenges to food security in dry Arab micro states: evidence from Qatari micro data

Basher, Syed Abul and Raboy, David G. and Kaitibie, Simeon and Hossain, Ishrat (2012): Understanding challenges to food security in dry Arab micro states: evidence from Qatari micro data.

Abstract

Using Qatar as a case study, we exploit a novel micro dataset for 102 raw agricultural imported commodities on a shipment-by-shipment basis over the period January 1, 2005 to June 30, 2010. The data comprise over half a million individual observations, with a very rich set of characteristic specifications. Several interesting initial results emerge from the analysis. First, we find evidence of import-price volatility far in excess of world price volatility across a wide spectrum of commodities. Second, supply origins for virtually all commodities are highly concentrated. In many cases commodities are sole sourced. Third, although less so, concentration is evidenced among Qatari importing companies for certain commodities. Fourth, we notice anomalies that lead to inefficient shipping methodologies and associated increased costs. The paper concludes by providing guidance for future empirical research.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Food security; Import data; Market concentration; Price volatility; Logistic inefficiency; Hedonic price modeling.
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L10 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy

References

Armstrong, H., Read, R., 1995. Western European micro-states and EU autonomous regions: The advantages of size and sovereignty. World Development 23, 1229-1245.

Azzam, A.M. and Rettab, B., 2012. A welfare measure of consumer vulnerability to rising prices of food imports in the UAE. Food Policy 37, 554-560.

Bech, M., Gyrd-Hansen, D., 2005. Effects coding in discrete choice experiments. Health Economics 14, 1079-1083.

Billor, N., Hadi, A.S., Velleman, P.F., 2000. BACON: Blocked adaptive computationally efficient outlier nominators. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis 34, 279–298.

Davis, M.J. 2010. Contrast coding in multiple regression analysis: Strengths, weaknesses and utility of popular coding structures. Journal of Data Science 8, 61-73.

Easterly, W., Kraay, A., 2000. Small states, small problems? Income growth, and volatility in small states. World Development 28, 2013-2027.

FAO, 2011. HLPE Consultation on Price Volatility. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome.

Hirschman, A.O., 1964. The paternity of an index. American Economic Review 54, 761-762.

Ianchovichina, E., Loening, J., Wood, C., 2012. How vulnerable are Arab countries to global food price shocks? Policy Research Working Paper No. 6018. The World Bank, Washington DC.

Martin, W., Anderson, K., 2010. Trade distortions and food price surges. Paper for the World Bank-UC Berkeley Conference on Agriculture for Development – Revisited, Berkeley, 1-2 October.

Pedhazur, E.J. 1997. Multiple Regression in Behavioral Research: Explanation and Prediction. Third edition, New York: Harcourt Brace.

Richards, J.J., van Ispelen, P., Kagan, A., 1997. A two-stage analysis of the effectiveness of promotion programs for U.S. apples. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 79, 825-837.

Robinson, E.A.G., (Eds.), 1960. The Economic Consequences of the Size of Nations. Macmillan, London.

Rosen, S., 1974. Hedonic prices and implicit markets: Product differentiation in pure competition. Journal of Political Economy 82, 34-55.

Rousseeuw, P.J., 1985. Multivariate estimation with high breakdown point, in: Mathematical Statistics and Applications, Grossmann, W., Pflug, G., Vincze, I., Wertz, W., (Eds.), Dordrecht Reidel, The Netherlands, 8, 283–297.

Rousseeuw, P.J., van Driessen, K., 1999. A fast algorithm for the minimum covariance determinant estimator. Technometrics 41, 212–223.

Sashi, C.M., 2004. The division of labor in distribution and industry growth. Journal of Marketing Channels 12, 53-81.

Scherer, F.M., Ross, D., 1990. Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance, third edition. Houghton Muffin, Boston.

Shah, M., 2010. Gulf Cooperation Council food security: balancing the equation. Nature, Commentary, April 25, 2010.

Sokal R.R., Rohlf, F.J., 1995. Biometry, third edition. Freeman, New York.

Streeten, P., 1993. The special problems of small countries. World Development 21, 197-202.

UNCTAD, 2008. Review of Maritime Transport 2008. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva.

USDA-AMS, 2009. Grain Transportation Report. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Washington.

U.S. Department of Justice, 2010. Horizontal Merger Guidelines. August 19. Washington DC. < http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/guidelines/hmg-2010.pdf>

USITC, 2011. United States International Trade Commission Data Web. Available at: <http://dataweb.usitc.gov/>.

USITC, 2012. United States International Trade Commission Data Web. Available at: <http://dataweb.usitc.gov/>.

Wiggins, S., Raboy, D.G., 1996. Price premia to name brands: An empirical analysis. Journal of Industrial Economics 44, 377-388.

World Bank, 2009. Improving Food Security in Arab Countries. The World Bank, Washington DC.

World Bank, 2011. Responding to Global Food Price Volatility and Its Impact on Food Security. The World Bank, Washington DC.

Yang, S.R., Koo, W.W., 1994. Japanese meat import demand estimation with the source differentiated AIDS model. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 19, 396-408.

Yun, M-S., 2005. A simple solution to the identification problem in detailed wage decompositions. Economic Inquiry 43, 766-772.