ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, TRADE, AND AGRIBUSINESS

Dila Ikiz

In the first chapter, I investigate the effects of the Iraq War on Iraq’s trade with Turkey. Specifically, I develop an empirical model in the spirit of the gravity model and the difference-in-differences (DID) approach. The results show that the Iraq War had a positive and statistically significant effect, while the magnitude indicates that the war induced Turkey’s exports to Iraq to increase by an additional 1.88 percent relative to other countries during the same war period. In terms of export volume, this implies that the Iraq War on average led Turkey to export an additional $47.9 million in real terms per year during the war period. In the second chapter, I examine the causes of coups and revolutions between 1981 and 2014 by developing a two-step model. My empirical analysis demonstrates that both coups and revolutions are more likely to occur in resource-rich societies with high income inequalities. Specifically, I find that a 1% increase in the dependence of GDP on natural resources from its status quo increases about 3.9% and 3% in the odds of the occurrence of a coup and a revolution respectively, by inducing a higher income inequality. My findings indicate that in resource-rich nations, considerable redistribution of wealth may be a more appealing policy to avoid both coups and revolutions. The objective of chapter three is to estimate consumers’ preferences and valuation for sliced fresh pears. The North American fresh pear industry faces marketing challenges that could jeopardize its’ long term economic profitability. The production of sliced fresh pears is a promising alternative to overcome the lack of supplying consistently a product with superior quality with added convenience, potentially able of increasing domestic consumption. In this paper we used sensory evaluation and a Vickrey experimental auction to elicit consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for sliced packed fresh pears treated with SmartFresh™ (1-methylcyclopropene) and subsequently with a ripening compound (RC) in the form of glyoxylic acid at different concentration levels (1%, 2%, 3%, and control). Panelists were willing to pay a price premium equivalent to $0.119/ 2 oz packet for the 2% RC sample, $0.055/ 2 oz packet for the 3% RC sample, and $0.025/2 oz packet for the 1% RC sample compared to the control sample. Results from a market segmentation analyses indicate the presence of two groups in the panelist sample. The group that liked sliced pears assigned higher importance to locally grown fruit and price, shopped at conventional retailer grocery stores, had fewer children in the household, and were younger compared to the group that disliked sliced pears.

ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, TRADE, AND AGRIBUSINESS

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