Agricultural Economics, 2014 (vol. 60), issue 4

The creative ways of improving the enterprise's financial outcomeOriginal Paper

Slawomir JUSZCZYK, Rafal BALINA

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(4):147-158 | DOI: 10.17221/36/2013-AGRICECON  

The aim of the paper is to propose a discussion about five ways of improving the effectiveness in an enterprise as a result of singular decisions in the light of the rational managing principle as it has been understood so far as well as in a proposed extended version. The results of authors' researches indicate that the rational managing principle, also in the meaning ex ante, does not exhaust the complexity of this issue. The authors suggest an extension of the content of this principle. The improvement of the enterprise's financial outcome may be achieved in five ways. There are 25 variants of the change of the production value with respect to the...

Macroeconomic factors influencing interest rates of microfinance institutions in the Latin America and the CaribbeanOriginal Paper

Karel JANDA, Pavel ZETEK

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(4):159-173 | DOI: 10.17221/62/2013-AGRICECON  

Agricultural output in developing countries still represents a substantial part of the GDP. This ratio has actually increased in some areas such as the Latin America. As such, there is an increasing importance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) focusing on the activities associated with agriculture and encouraging entrepreneurship in agriculture and in the rural communities in general. The contribution of microfinance institutions consists mainly in providing special-purpose loans, usually without collateral. However, questions exist as to the magnitude and the adequate level of risk of providing micro-credit loans in relation to the interest rates...

Hedging techniques in commodity risk managementOriginal Paper

Josef TAUŠER, Radek ČAJKA

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(4):174-182 | DOI: 10.17221/120/2013-AGRICECON  

The article focuses on selected aspects of risk management in agricultural business with the aim to discuss and compare different hedging methods which are relevant for managing the commodity risks associated with agricultural production. The article provides a broader context for understanding the risks and possible responses to it and analyses four basic hedging strategies - commodity futures, forward contracts, options and option strategies. The substance, advantages and disadvantages of each hedging technique are pointed out and compared to each other with the conclusion that there is always some kind of trade-off between the advantages and disadvantages...

The role of market makers in the Euronext milling wheat contractScientific Information

Martin ZIEGELBAECK, Guenther BREUER

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(4):183-187 | DOI: 10.17221/65/2013-AGRICECON  

The knowledge of transaction costs is important for market participants. Profits accrued while dealing in e.g. commodity futures do not just depend on the development of the futures or the underlying commodity, but on the transaction costs as well. In the commodity futures markets, transaction costs - usually addressed as the bid/ask spread - are influenced if not set by the market makers (liquidity providers) and other intermediaries that broker the contracts. This paper tests the assumption that liquidity providers have the ability to shift prices, and this ability is negatively correlated with the degree of competition. Using Roll's measure (1984)...

A simple global food system modelScientific Information

Li JIANG, Xuefeng CUI, Xia XU, Yuan JIANG, Mark ROUNSEVELL, Dave MURRAY-RUST, Yinghui LIU

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(4):188-197 | DOI: 10.17221/40/2013-AGRICECON  

In this study, we develop a simple dimension model to construct the food system in response to the population growth, the land use change and various socio-economic developments. The model simulates the consumption and production of agricultural goods in the individual countries, and maintains the global balance of food through the international trade flows between countries. Although there are some biases in the model results at the country levels, we suggest that such a simple model is feasible for simulating the global food supply system and assessing the uncertainties coming from various environmental and socio-economic factors.