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Publications > Cahiers (English)> N° 29, 4th term 1993

 

Gestion bioéconomique d'une population et environnement. L'écrevisse Procambarus Clarkii
[Bioeconomic management of a species and environment; The Procambarus clarkii crayfish]

Rui Junqueira Lopes (Université d'Evora, R. Duques de Cadavak, 7000 Evora, Portugal), P. Michel (Université de Paris I, 1, place du Panthéon, 75005 Paris) and G. Rotillon (Université de Paris X-Nanterre, 200 av. de la République, 92001 Nanterre cedex)

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales, n° 29, 4th term 1993, pp 5-19

Abstract : Procambarus Clarkii is a crayfish originating from North-East Mexico and from the Center and the South of the USA. It has spread througtout the world, except for Australia and Antartica. This species is characterized by a great faculty for adapting itself to environment fluctuations and by a huge propensity to reproduce. It is to be found in particularly dense concentrations in damp cultivated zones. In Europe, it is notably found in Portugal and in South-West France.

Fished for its culinary qualities, Procambarus Clarkii is actually a final consumer product, in cooked, deep freezed or raw form. But it is also an intermediate consumer product, entering as an input in the pet industry and pharmaceuticals, or in the preparation of fish bait. It is a renewable resource, and, as any another resource of that kind, it has to be seen in terms of optimal extraction.

However, the rapid growth of this species is also the cause of dramatic environment damage. Present in field irrigation networks, it provokes, by digging the ground, damage to or even the destruction of agricultural crops near the lakes it lives in.

Hence, this species is of twofold interest, first, for its economic exploitation and secondly, for the damage it causes to the environment. Thus, we propose three simple models to examine the problem of bioeconomic management of Procambarus Clarkii. The first model is concerned only with optimal extraction of the resource and the others deal with the two dimensions quoted above: economic exploitation and environmental damage. For all these models, we characterize optimal policies of quotas and examine their properties according to the initial size of the population.

Key-words : renewable resource, externality, bioeconomic model, quota.

Prévenir les défaillances financières en agriculture. Application de la méthode des scores
[Detection of farm bankruptcies for a better prevention. An application of the score method in the field of agriculture]

F. Colson, D. Désarménien (Laboratoire de recherches et d'études économiques de l'INRA, rue de la Géraudière, BP 527, 44026 Nantes cedex 03), A. Blogowski, B. Dechambre (Direction des affaires financières et économiques du ministère de l'Agriculture, Bureau de l'évaluation et de la prospective, 78, rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris), Eduardo Chia (Département Systèmes agraires et développement de l'INRA, 26, boulevard du Dr. Petitjean, 21000 Dijon) and Bruno Dorin (Département Systèmes agraires et développement de l'INRA, 147, rue de l'Université, 75338, Paris cedex 07)

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales, n° 29, 4th term 1993, pp 21-43

Abstract : Since the beginning of the eighties, the number of farm bankruptcies has increased a great deal in Western Europe. This has led researchers, public institutions and bankers to look for indicators able to detect, as soon as possible, financial strains. At first, investigations focused on a single criterion, like economic size, net farm income, disposable income, or net cash flow. However, although one of these criteria may well be relevant, it became evident that one of them was not enough to analyse the economic capacities of a farm or to detect a bankruptcy in the near future. Results can be improved placing several indicators side by side, but this leads to quite complicated systems, despite their pertinence.

Thanks to computerization which facilitates the use of complex statistical methods, it has become easier to select and combine a few criteria in a more efficient way. As in the case of industrial and commercial firms, the score method appeared to be very relevant for detecting farm bankruptcies with a limited number of economic and financial ratios. Moreover, after selecting and combining a few ratios in linear form, a score function gives a single mark which is easy to interpret.

After having presented the methodology, this paper deals with the effectiveness of score functions for detecting farm bankruptcies in five French sub-regions with various types of agriculture and of course different systems of production. By opposing farms in a healthy financial situation and farms facing very serious problems, each score function turns out to be a good tool for analysing and detecting financial stresses in farming independently of the size or the system of production.

The study also shows that a possible harmonization of the five score achieved functions could be achieved by combining the following three rates : the debt to assets ratio, the short-term liabilities on current assets and the weight of debt service charges. Compared to the "optimal" ones, the "harmonised" functions are almost as efficient but this does not mean that a single score function can be built because coefficients of each ratio vary a lot from sub-region to sub-region. Finally, it appears that the score function is not only a good tool for indicating threats of farm bankruptcies. Indeed, it can also be a good aid to management for the follow up and comparison of results drawn year after year from agricultural enterprises.

Key-words : agricultural management, bankruptcy, farmer in difficulty, financial analysis, score function, farm income.

L'agriculture dans les sciences sociales. Au-delà des spécificités
[Agriculture in social science : beyond specificities]

Bernard Lepetit (HESS, Centre de recherches historiques, 54, boulevard Raspail, 75006  Paris), C. Grignon, F. Weber (Laboratoire de recherche sur la consommation de l'INRA, 65, boulevard de Brandebourg, 94205 Ivry cedex), Alice Barthez (Station d'économie et sociologie rurales de l'INRA, 26, boulevard du Docteur Petitjean, 21000 Dijon),  G. Caire (Université de Paris X-Nanterre, 200, avenue de la République, 92001 Nanterre cedex), Robert Boyer (EHESS et CEPREMAP, 142, rue du Chevaleret, 75013 Paris), J. Mairesse (CREST-ENSAE, 15, boulevard Gabriel Péri, 92245 Malakoff cedex), D. Vermersch (Station d'économie et sociologie rurales de l'INRA, 65, rue de Saint-Brieuc, 35042 Rennes cedex), P Picard (THEMA, Université Paris X-Nanterre et CEPREMAP, 142, rue du Chevaleret, 75013 Paris)

  • B. Lepetit - L'histoire rurale francaise : une vue cavalière
    [French rural history : an external point of view]
  • C. Grignon, F. Weber - Sociologie et ruralisme, ou les séquelles d'une mauvaise rencontre
    [Sociology and rural studies or the aftermath of an unpleasant encounter]
  • Alice Barthez - De la sociologie rurale à la fonction critique de la sociologie
    [From the rural sociology to the critical role of sociology]
  • G. Caire - Questions à l'économie anciennement dite rurale
    [Questioning the once called rural economics]
  • Robert Boyer - L'agriculture, terrain de choix pour les recherches en économie institutionnelle
    [Agriculture as a selected field for research in institutional economics]
  • J. Mairesse - Economie agricole : les raisons d'une prééminence
    [Agricultural economics : the reasons of a pre-eminence]
  • D. Vermersch - L'économie agricole en question
    [Agricultural economics in question]
  • P. Picard - Quelques réflexions sur l'économie agricole aujourd'hui
    [A few remarks on agricultural economics perspectives]

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales, n° 29, 4th term 1993, pp 45-107

Abstract : The panel discussion on the role of agriculture in social science was initiated as a result of the observable crisis in rural studies. It led to debate on the internal partitioning of the disciplines involved (economics, history, sociology, ethnology) and the interrelated issue of the different relations between empirical and theoretical work in each of these disciplines.

The changes that have taken place in rural history have tended merely to reproduce the internal cleavages and thematic shifts that have affected the discipline as a whole. Present uncertainty is not therefore specific to the discpline but rather caused by the movement of history itself. In order to overcome the twofold illusion that sees rural history either as total history or as "natural" history, it is necessary to develop comparative studies which explore town and countryside together, and raise the question of their interrelations.

The crisis in French rural sociology is due to the way in which it developed, contenting itself with importing political and social issues that were once considered of crucial importance in the form of a false sociological specialisation. The approach in terms of the acculturation of the peasantry contains the seeds of its own destruction along with the studies that have been devoted to it. The disappearance of rural sociology as such will make it possible to construct new and more healthy relations between sociology and rural studies. This autonomous and more productive approach will then be able to deal with the specifically sociological issues raised by agriculture : i.e. among others, the measurement of work, and more generally, the problems of the transformation of the salariat, or the historical comparability of economic and social phenomena.

Rural economics largely contributed to founding modern political economy, and contemporary economic analysis continues to illustrate the contribution of rural economist to developments in the discipline. The historical importance of agriculture and the resources devoted to research on this industry of course help to explain this situation. However, the economic and institutional particularities of agriculture are gradually disappearing, to the extent that the scientific legitimity of rural economics is now being called into question. Nonetheless, certain issues which, in the past, were specific to the industry, are now relevant to the rest of society ; the role of space in socio-economic relations, the new forms of competition based on product quality, or the influence that intermediate organisation may have on competition, are all indeed of central importance to contemporary economics. Thus, specialist research on agriculture and agri-foodstruffs can be seen as a testing ground for general economics. This optimistic vision will remain valid only if agricultural economists, whilst renewing their themes and methods, conserve the original "factor set" that made them so effective, and continue to bring together theoretical developments, pratical implementation of methods and factual knowledge.

Key-words : rural economics, agricultural economics, agriculture, social science, rural history, rural sociology.

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