IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/anc/wpaper/347.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Modelling Agricultural Public R&D Cofinancing Within A Principal-Agent Framework. The case of an Italian region

Author

Listed:
  • Valentina Cristiana MATERIA

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

  • Roberto ESPOSTI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

Abstract

This paper analyses how a public institution chooses the optimal contract (cofinancing rate) in funding agricultural R&D research projects. A theoretical model is developed within a principal-agent framework taking into account the asymmetric information both players have to handle. The researcher (the agent) initially does not know the cofinancing granted by the funding institution (the principal). This latter, in turn, only observes some objective features of the researchers and of the selected research projects and, ex post, the research outcome, but not the agent's actual effort on the project. The principal uses the available information to offer the cofinancing rate (the contract) that, under specific contractual clauses, induces the agent's effort that maximizes principal's utility. The model eventually assumes the form of a Stackelberg-type game. An empirically testable relation is also derived from the theoretical model and is then applied to the agricultural R&D programme funded by the Italian region Emilia-Romagna over years 2001-2006.

Suggested Citation

  • Valentina Cristiana MATERIA & Roberto ESPOSTI, 2010. "Modelling Agricultural Public R&D Cofinancing Within A Principal-Agent Framework. The case of an Italian region," Working Papers 347, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://docs.dises.univpm.it/web/quaderni/pdf/347.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2010
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huffman, Wallace E. & Norton, George W. & Traxler, Greg & Frisvold, George B. & Foltz, Jeremy D., 2006. "Winners and Losers: Formula versus Competitive Funding of Agricultural Research," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 21(4), pages 1-6.
    2. Roberto Esposti, 2003. "Public R&D investment and cost structure in Italian agriculture, 1960--1995," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 30(4), pages 509-537, December.
    3. Holmstrom, Bengt, 1989. "Agency costs and innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 305-327, December.
    4. Wallace E. Huffman & Richard E. Just, 2000. "Setting Efficient Incentives for Agricultural Research: Lessons from Principal-Agent Theory," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(4), pages 828-841.
    5. Wallace E. Huffman & Richard E. Just, 1999. "The organization of agricultural research in western developed countries," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 21(1), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Pardey, Philip G. & Beintema, Nienke M., 2001. "Slow magic: agricultural R&D a century after Mendel," Food policy statements 36, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Townsend, Robert & Thirtle, Colin, 2001. "Is livestock research unproductive?: Separating health maintenance from improvement research," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 25(2-3), pages 177-189, September.
    8. Pehr-Johan Norbäck & Lars Persson, 2009. "The Organization of the Innovation Industry: Entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, and Oligopolists," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(6), pages 1261-1290, December.
    9. Robert Gibbons, 1998. "Incentives in Organizations," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 115-132, Fall.
    10. Alfranca, Oscar & Huffman, Wallace E, 2003. "Aggregate Private R&D Investments in Agriculture: The Role of Incentives, Public Policies, and Institutions," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 1-21, October.
    11. Huffman, Wallace E. & Evenson, Robert E., 1993. "Science for Agriculture: A Long Term Perspective," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10997, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Wallace E. Huffman & Richard E. Just, 1999. "Agricultural Research: Benefits and Beneficiaries of Alternative Funding Mechanisms," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 21(1), pages 2-18.
    13. Huffman, Wallace & Alfranca, O., 2003. "Private R&D Investments in Agriculture: The Role of Incentives, Public Policies, and Institutions," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10427, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    14. Roberto Esposti & Pierpaolo Pierani, 2006. "Price, private demand and optimal provision of public R&D investment: An application to Italian agriculture, 1960–1995," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 699-715, September.
    15. Chambers,Robert G., 1988. "Applied Production Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521314275, September.
    16. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2005. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521848053, September.
    17. Spielman, David J. & von Grebmer, Klaus, 2004. "Public-private partnerships in agricultural research: an analysis of challenges facing industry and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research," EPTD discussion papers 113, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. McDonald, John, 2009. "Using least squares and tobit in second stage DEA efficiency analyses," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(2), pages 792-798, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alberto Russo, 2014. "A Stochastic Model of Wealth Accumulation with Class Division," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 1-35, February.
    2. Ruggero Grilli & Gabriele Tedeschi & Mauro Gallegati, 2015. "Markets connectivity and financial contagion," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 10(2), pages 287-304, October.
    3. Alessandro STERLACCHINI, 2012. "Patent Oppositions as Competitive Tools: An Analysis of the Major Players in the European Market of White Goods," Working Papers 374, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    4. Eralba CELA & Tineke FOKKEMA & Elena AMBROSETTI, 2012. "Links Between Transnationalism Integration and Duration of Residence: The Case of eastern European Migrants in Italy," Working Papers 386, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    5. Elena AMBROSETTI & Eralba CELA & Tineke FOKKEMA, 2011. "The Remittances Behaviour of the Second Generation in Europe: Altruism or Self-Interest?," Working Papers 368, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    6. Lenzu, Simone & Tedeschi, Gabriele, 2012. "Systemic risk on different interbank network topologies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(18), pages 4331-4341.
    7. Materia, Valentina Cristiana, 2012. "The Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System in Italy: dynamics, incentives, monitoring and evaluation experiences," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 114(2), pages 1-8, October.
    8. Luca RICCETTI, 2011. "A Copula-GARCH Model for Macro Asset Allocation of a Portfolio with Commodities: an Out-of-Sample Analysis," Working Papers 355, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    9. Giovanni Cerulli, 2012. "Are R&D Subsidies Provided Optimally? Evidence from a Simulated Agency-Firm Stochastic Dynamic Game," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7.
    10. Esposti, Roberto & Materia, Valentina, 2015. "The determinants of the public R&D cofinancing rate An empirical assessment on agricultural research," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211624, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Esposti, Roberto & Materia, Valentina, 2015. "The determinants of the public R&D cofinancing rate An empirical assessment on agricultural research," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211624, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Esposti, Roberto, 2012. "Knowledge, Technology and Innovations for a Bio-based Economy: Lessons from the Past, Challenges for the Future," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 1(3), pages 1-34, December.
    3. Materia, V.C. & Pascucci, S. & Kolympiris, C., 2015. "Understanding the selection processes of public research projects in agriculture: The role of scientific merit," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 87-99.
    4. Huffman, Wallace, 2005. "Developments in the Organization and Finance of Public Agricultural Research in the United States, 1988-1999," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12485, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    5. Kremer, Michael & Zwane, Alix Peterson, 2005. "Encouraging Private Sector Research for Tropical Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 87-105, January.
    6. Sparger, John Adam & Norton, George W. & Heisey, Paul W. & Alwang, Jeffrey, 2013. "Is the share of agricultural maintenance research rising in the United States?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 126-135.
    7. Huffman, Wallace E., 2001. "Human capital: Education and agriculture," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 333-381, Elsevier.
    8. Jin, Yu & Huffman, Wallace E., 2013. "Reduced U.S. Funding of Public Agricultural Research and Extension Risks Lowering Future Agricultural Productivity Growth Prospects," Staff General Research Papers Archive 36796, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Yu Jin & Wallace E. Huffman, 2016. "Measuring public agricultural research and extension and estimating their impacts on agricultural productivity: new insights from U.S. evidence," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(1), pages 15-31, January.
    10. Huffman, Wallace E. & Evenson, Robert E., 2003. "Determinants Of The Demand For State Agricultural Experiment Station Resources: A Demand-System Approach," Working Papers 18206, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    11. repec:kap:iaecre:v:11:y:2005:i:2:p:201-213 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Oscar Alfranca, 2005. "Private R&D and Spillovers in European Agriculture," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 11(2), pages 201-213, May.
    13. Anwar Naseem & David J. Spielman & Steven Were Omamo, 2010. "Private-sector investment in R&D: a review of policy options to promote its growth in developing-country agriculture," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 143-173.
    14. Edoardo Baldoni & Roberto Esposti, 2021. "Agricultural Productivity in Space: an Econometric Assessment Based on Farm‐Level Data," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(4), pages 1525-1544, August.
    15. Mathews, Kenneth H. & Jones, Keithly G. & McConnell, Michael J. & Johnson, Rachel J., 2013. "Trade-adjusted measures of productivity increases in US hog production," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 32-37.
    16. Lachaud, Michée A. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2022. "A Bayesian statistical analysis of return to agricultural R&D investment in Latin America: Implications for food security," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    17. Shumway, C. Richard & Davis, George C., 2001. "Does consistent aggregation really matter?," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 45(2), pages 1-34.
    18. Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees, 2008. "Institutionalizing end-user demand steering in agricultural R&D: Farmer levy funding of R&D in The Netherlands," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 460-472, April.
    19. Msangi, Siwa & Howitt, Richard E., 2006. "Estimating Disaggregate Production Functions: An Application to Northern Mexico," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21080, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Stéphane Lemarié & Valérie Orozco & Jean-Pierre Butault & Antonio Musolesi & Michel Simioni & Bertrand Schmitt, 2020. "Assessing the long-term impact of agricultural research on productivity: evidence from France," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(4), pages 1559-1586.
    21. Huffman, Wallace E & Just, Richard E, 2004. "Implications of Agency Theory for Optimal Land Tenure Contracts," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(3), pages 617-642, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Censored-Normal Regression; Principal-Agent Problem; Public R&D Funding; Stackelberg-type game;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:347. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Maurizio Mariotti (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deancit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.