Publications > Cahiers (English)> N° 72, 3rd term 2004

• Lutte contre la pollution diffuse sur un bassin d'élevage : comparaison d'instruments de régulation en présence d'asymétrie d'information, N. TURPIN, P. BONTEMS, G. ROTILLON texte au format PDF
  [Reducing non-point source pollution from dairy farming: a comparison of policy instruments when information asymmetry matters]  
• Les contraintes de la création et de la reprise d'entreprise : une application aux régions françaises, R. ABDESSELAM, J. BONNET, N. LE PAPE
  [Constraints on starting-up and taking-over a firm : the case of French regions]
  
• An economic interpretation of innovations in rural microfinance, S. LARIVIÈRE, F. MARTIN, P. CALKINS
  
• Le temps et la construction du regard sur l'animal de rente. Ethnographie des pratiques et récits des éleveurs bretons, A. PROCOLI texte au format PDF
  [Observing farm animals as a function of time. The ethnography of practice and narratives of breeders in Brittany]
  

COMPTES RENDUS DE LECTURE

L.E. ANDERSEN, C.W.J. GRANGER, E.J. REIS, D. WEINHOLD and S. WUNDER, The Dynamics of Deforestation and Economic Growth in the Brasilian Amazon, by H. Jayet ; A. TORRE (éd.), Le local à l'épreuve de l'économie spatiale. Agriculture, environnement, espaces ruraux, by M.-U. Proulx ; M. DARMON, Devenir anorexique. Une approche sociologique, by S. Gojard

Lutte contre la pollution diffuse sur un bassin d'élevage : comparaison d'instruments de régulation en présence d'asymétrie d'information
[Reducing non-point source pollution from dairy farming: a comparison of policy instruments when information asymmetry matters]

Nadine TURPIN *, Philippe BONTEMS **, Gilles ROTILLON *** (* Cemagref, UR GERE, 17 avenue de Cucillé, CS 64427, 35044 Rennes Cedex - e-mail : nadine.turpin@cemagref.fr ; ** INRA, IDEI, Université de Toulouse 1, Pôle Manufacture, 21 allée de Brienne, 31000 Toulouse - e-mail : bontems@toulouse-inra.fr ; *** THEMA, Université de Paris X, 200 avenue de la République, 92001 Nanterre Cedex -e-mail : rotillon@u-paris10.fr)

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales, n° 72, 2004, pp 5-31

Summary - A regulator who wishes to mitigate non-point source pollution and maintain the farmers' revenue can choose among several policy tools. This paper compares the expected effects of several instruments on the pollution and profit levels, taking into account their acceptability : linear taxation of fertilisers, uniform extensification, fertiliser quota. We focus on the interest of designing regulation mechanisms based on a non-linear taxation of the production. The empirical results concern a watershed in the western part of France.

Key-words: non linear taxation, asymmetric information, non point source pollution, water quality.

Les contraintes de la création et de la reprise d'entreprise : une application aux régions françaises
[Constraints on starting-up and taking-over a firm : the case of French regions]

Rafik ABDESSELAM*, Jean BONNET*, Nicolas LE PAPE* (* CREM, UMR CNRS-Université de Caen, Esplanade de la Paix,14032 Caen Cedex - e-mail : abdesselam@econ.unicaen.fr ; bonnet@econ.unicaen.fr ; lepape@econ.unicaen.fr)

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales, n° 72, 2004, pp 33-68

Summary - The decision to start up or to take over an enterprise is induced both by the social and personal situation of the individual and by an environment which is more or less favorable to entrepreneurship. In this environment, we identify several constraints such as financial, technical, informational and entrepreneurial networking constraints. Data analysis methods allow us to build models of new entrepreneurs based on the type of constraints they are confronted to and to characterize the evolution of the employment associated with these profiles. At a national level, less constrained individuals who take-over a firm are more prone to create jobs. This is not the case for new entrepreneurs (ex nihilo). In this paper, we also describe the heterogeneity of French regions. For instance, the West part of France is representative of less constrained entrepreneurs. The profile of constrained new entrepreneurs (ex nihilo) characterizes Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Languedoc-Roussillon, and is associated with a rather unfavorable evolution of employment. By contrast, other regions (Haute-Normandie and Nord-Pas-de-Calais) exhibit the profile of constrained new entrepreneurs associated with a favorable evolution of employment in these firms. A regional public policy that alleviates the constraints borne by new entrepreneurs with the aim of promoting local employment does not necessarily give positive results.

Key-words : starting-up, taking-over firms, employment, regions, data analysis methods.

An economic interpretation of innovations in rural microfinance

Sylvain LARIVIÈRE*, Frédéric MARTIN**, Peter CALKINS** (* IDEA International Institute, 962 rue Mainguy, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada G1V 3S4 - e-mail : slariviere@idea-international.org ; ** Centre de recherche en économie agroalimentaire (CRéA), Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4 - e-mail : frederic.martin@eac.ulaval.ca ; peter.calkins@eac.ulaval.ca)

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales, n° 72, 2004, pp 69-89

Summary - This paper presents an analytical framework for understanding what drives innovations in rural microfinance both from the point of view of microfinance institutions and their rural producer clients. Three typical strategies of innovation towards greater viability and accessibility that are used by microfinance institutions are analyzed. A compendium of case studies provides an overview of the frequency of adoption of existing innovations by various types of microfinance institutions. Finally, an important innovation in microfinance, group lending, is analyzed both theoretically and empirically.

Key-words : microfinance, innovation, strategy, institution, rural.

Le temps et la construction du regard sur l'animal de rente. Ethnographie des pratiques et récits des éleveurs bretons
[Observing farm animals as a function of time. The ethnography of practice and narratives of breeders in Brittany]

Angela PROCOLI * (* Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale, CNRS, 52, rue Cardinal Lemoine, 75005 Paris - e-mail : procoli@ehess.fr)

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales, n° 72, 2004, pp 91-112

Summary - While historical and philosophical literature tends to focus on a strictly utilitarian view of farm animals in the agriculture of today, the anthropological approach based on the observation of techniques shows how variable representations of the animals may be and identifies several categories of animals. Taking this line, I analyse the ethnographic data of a field study carried out in Brittany with breeders of poultry, pigs and bovines. It appears that the organization of work and the build up of knowledge are directly related to time. The longer the animal's life cycle (poultry, pigs and bovines in that order have an increasing life span), the longer the life cycle controlled by the breeder himself is important (breeders proceeding to selection control the whole cycle, those responsible for fattening do not), the more the activity is considered to be “noble”, the more the power to observe is developed and the more the relationship between the breeder and his animal is intense. The case of the animal as a “machine” can occur only if the animal's life cycle is reduced. While this situation is not far removed from the poultry intensive breeding, field surveys show that it cannot be extended to bovines (not even to all breeds of pigs) because of these animals long “biological” cycles.

Key-words : time, farm animal, work, breeder, non-animal relationship,ownership of the animal, animal-"machine”.