bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Experimental Methods in Agricultural and Resource Economics: How Useful are They?
Authors: Fisher Ann , Wheeler William J. , Zwick Rami
Published: September 2016

Experimental economics has the potential to fill some of the gaps in the economist's tool kit. This article describes experimental economics, its advantages and disadvantages, and why this tool might be a good choice in some situations. The article summarizes the history of its use by agricultural and resource economists. An illustrative example compares laboratory experiment data with survey data.
Lunch with Pigou: Externalities and the “Hidden” Cost of Food
Authors: Lusk Jayson L.
Published: September 2016

Social critics have taken aim at modern production agriculture using a common theme: many food, health, and environmental problems are explained by corporate farms, agribusinesses, and fast-food restaurants failing to account for the full costs of their actions. How accurate is this diagnosis? How feasible is the assumption that these externalities are most effectively mitigated via Pigovian taxes and subsidies? Drawing on my experiences at a National Institute of Medicine meeting on the subject, I seek to clarify the definition and nature of externalities and discuss situations in which public policy is most and least effective in efficiently making “hidden” costs of food visible.
GM vs. Non-GM: A Survival Analysis of U.S. Hybrid Seed Corn
Authors: Ma Xingliang , Shi Guanming
Published: September 2016

We analyze the rate of survival of hybrid seed corn in the U.S. market between 2000 and 2007 and find that product characteristics and market structures have significant impacts. The results suggest that survival rates depend on spillover effects of learning regarding genetically modified seeds and close substitute seeds and that hybrids planted in the Corn Belt survive longer in the market than hybrids planted in other parts of the country. Given increasing concentration in seed and agricultural biotechnology sectors, our results shed light on factors that affect the survival of hybrid corn seeds under various market conditions.
Reducing Rice Imports in Côte d'Ivoire: Is a Rise in Import Tariff the Solution?
Authors: Coulibaly Jeanne Y. , Tebila Nakelse , Diagne Aliou
Published: September 2016

The first-difference version of a source-differentiated almost ideal demand system is used to estimate demand for Ivorian rice imports. The results indicate that Thailand will benefit most from an expansion of imports of luxury rice and broken rice products. Vietnam will gain from growth in the market for standard rice. The results also suggest that adoption of a new 35 percent tariff policy to protect the domestic industry will not be enough to improve social welfare in Côte d'Ivoire in spite of increased production value.
Potential Farmer Adoption of High Available Phosphorus Corn over a Three-year Period
Authors: Bernard John C. , Pesek John D. , Parish Amy
Published: September 2016

Corn containing high levels of available phosphorus (HAP) allows poultry to use more of the phosphorus they consume and could potentially reduce contamination of water from run-off. This study uses a conjoint analysis survey of Delmarva corn growers to model adoption of hypothetical HAP varieties over a three-year period. An optimal variety has a low technology fee and yield drag and a high harvest premium. Adoption of HAP corn increases during the period although growers’ tolerance of technology fees and yield drags diminishes over time. Adoption is further affected by farm size, farmer age, and the portion of income from corn.
How Does the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Affect the U.S. Economy?
Authors: Reimer Jeffrey J. , Weerasooriya Senal , West Tyler T.
Published: September 2016

The impact of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on the national economy is examined using a general equilibrium model and comparing measures of the economy from 2010 to a simulation of that economy without SNAP. Without the SNAP program, the overall size of the economy hardly differs—demand for labor increases slightly. However, households that would be eligible for SNAP experience a net loss. They have 5.5 percent less disposable income while ineligible households have approximately 1 percent more income without SNAP, and output of products eligible for purchase with SNAP funds declines approximately one billion dollars.
Managing the Invasive Small Indian Mongoose in Fiji
Authors: Brown Philip , Daigneault Adam
Published: September 2016

The small Indian mongoose is among the worst of invasive alien species, yet the implications of managing the species are poorly understood. To address concerns of interest to practitioners and policymakers, we analyze survey data to document the impacts of this species in Fiji and conduct a cost-benefit analysis of management approaches that are both culturally appropriate and readily implementable: live trapping, kill trapping, and hunting. We find that the monetized benefits of kill trapping exceed the benefits of live trapping and hunting. Still, all of these management options are preferred to the status quo of no management.
Agricultural Economists' Effectiveness in Reporting and Conveying Research Procedures and Results
Authors: Parcell Joe L. , Kastens Terry L. , Dhuyvetter Kevin C. , Schroeder Ted C.
Published: September 2016

This study reviews articles using regression analysis published in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics from 1994 to 1998 to determine agricultural economists’ effectiveness in reporting and conveying research procedures and results. Based on the authors’ experiences of surveying articles for this study, several suggestions for reporting of results and how to better separate statistical from economic significance are offered. First, clearly define the dependent variable—preferably in the results table as well as within the text. Second, report parameter estimates in an interpretable form either in the results table or in a subsequent table. Third, report summary statistics. Fourth, report degrees of freedom conspicuously in the results table. Fifth, report if statistically insignificant variables have been dropped. Lastly, weigh economic importance aside from statistical significance and use simulation to express economic significance where appropriate.
A Multi-Sector Export Base Model of Long-Run Regional Employment Growth
Authors: Lego Brian , Gebremedhin Tesfa , Cushing Brian
Published: September 2016

The relationships between intersectoral export and local employment and regional economic growth are analyzed in a long-run equilibrium framework. Dynamic location quotients decompose regional employment into export and local components for multiple sectors. Johansen's Full-Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) approach is used to identify the existence and resultant rank of the co-integrating relationship between sectoral export and local employment in West Virginia's four metropolitan areas. Empirical results indicate inter-sectoral basic and non-basic employment form a co-integrating system of equations. Furthermore, this analysis shows that inter-sector shocks to local and export employment may cause multipliers to be positive or negative in magnitude.
Assessing Performance Impacts in Food Retail Distribution Systems: A Stochastic Frontier Model Correcting for Sample Selection
Authors: Park Timothy A.
Published: September 2016

A key organizational decision for retailers is whether to self-distribute or rely on a wholesaler-supplied network and yet little is known about the impact of this strategic choice on store-level productivity. We estimate a stochastic frontier model for food retailers that accounts for selectivity effects linked to the choice of distribution strategy. We find that adoption of data-sharing technologies has a positive impact on store-level gross margins of stores in self-distributing chains. Technical inefficiency among U.S. food retailers leads to a gross margin that is around $5,000 less for a conventional food retailer and about $7,670 less for a supercenter.
The Impact of Pasture Insurance on Farmland Values
Authors: Ifft Jennifer , Wu Shang , Kuethe Todd
Published: September 2016

This study examines the impact of publicly supported insurance on agricultural land values. The analysis employs confidential, nationally representative panel data on field-level pastureland values and exploits a natural experiment provided by gradual introduction of the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Insurance Pilot Program. We use a field-level fixed-effects model that controls for several time-variant factors. We find that insurance availability is associated with an increase of at least 4 percent in pastureland values. This increase is comparable with increases generated by other government programs but is much smaller than total farmland value increases experienced in recent years.
Weather Index Insurance and Common Property Resources
Authors: Bhattacharya Haimanti , Osgood Daniel E.
Published: September 2016

With weather index insurance expanding and common property resources diminishing in low-income agricultural areas, it is essential to understand the potential effects of such insurance on resources that serve as vital input bases for low-income households. Using simple analytical constructs, we illustrate how index insurance may increase or decrease use of common property resources depending on common implementation characteristics such as binding constraints and multiple sources of income in a multi-temporal decision context. This analysis of how index insurance might assist low-income families without degrading the commons can be informative for insurance administrators and policymakers.
The Performance of Compliance Measures and Instruments for Nitrate Nonpoint Pollution Control Under Uncertainty and Alternative Agricultural Commodity Policy Regimes
Authors: Abrahams Nii Adote , Shortle James S.
Published: September 2016

Following Weitzman (1974), there is ample theoretical literature indicating that choice of pollution control instruments under conditions of uncertainty will affect the expected net benefits that can be realized from environmental protection. However, there is little empirical research on the ex ante efficiency of alternative instruments for controlling water, or other types of pollution, under uncertainty about costs and benefits. Using a simulation model that incorporates various sources of uncertainty, the ex ante efficiency of price and quantity controls applied to two alternative policy targets, fertilizer application rates and estimated excess nitrogen applications, are examined under varying assumptions about agricultural income support policies. Results indicate price instruments outperform quantity instruments. A tax on excess nitrogen substantially outperforms a fertilizer tax in the scenario with support programs, while the ranking is reversed in the scenario without support programs.
Simulating the Effects of a Green Payment Program on the Diffusion Rate of a Conservation Technology
Authors: Baerenklau Kenneth A.
Published: September 2016

The decision to adopt a potentially profitable but unfamiliar conservation technology is cast in a multi-period Bayesian framework. Specifically, dairy farmers who are both risk-averse and susceptible to peer group influence progressively learn about the true impact of adopting reduced phosphorus dairy diets on their income distributions as they repeatedly experiment with this new technology. Empirically calibrated simulations are used to examine the effects of a voluntary green payment program on the rate of technological diffusion. Results suggest that (a) green payments can accelerate learning and produce significant, permanent changes in behavior relatively quickly and for a reasonable cost; (b) shorter contracts offering larger incentives may be more cost-effective when learning plays an important role in behavioral change; and (c) unknown prior beliefs can reduce the efficacy of a green payment program, implying efforts to verify these priors or to ensure against them by increasing the payment level may be worthwhile.
Integrating Farmer Decision Making to Target Land Retirement Programs
Authors: Yang Wanhong , Isik Murat
Published: September 2016

This study develops a model to examine the impacts of uncertainty about crop production and irreversibility of program participation on determining land rental payments and least-cost land retirement targeting in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Results show that under risk aversion only, the marginal cost of abatement and the average land rental payment are less than those under risk neutrality. However, under uncertainty and irreversibility, the marginal cost of abatement and the average land rental payment are considerably higher than those under risk neutrality or risk aversion only. It is important to incorporate uncertainty and irreversibility into the design of land rental payments and in determining participation constraints.
Farm Return and Land Price Effects from Environmental Standards and Stocking Density Restrictions
Authors: Weersink Alfons , deVos Greg , Stonehouse Peter
Published: September 2016

This study assesses the economic and environmental effects to hog finishing farms from residual taxes/standards and restrictions on manure application and stocking density. Economic effects are measured in terms of net farm income and land prices, while levels of ammonia and excess nitrogen and phosphorus proxy the environmental effects. Any environmental policy requiring the need for additional land comes at a small cost to farmers who have access to adequate neighboring land. If this is not the case, then manure application and stocking density restrictions are expensive since the producer is basically forced to either purchase land or reduce hog production levels.
Farmland Preservation and Differential Taxation: Evaluating Optimal Policy Under Conditions of Uncertainty
Authors: Johnston Robert J.
Published: September 2016

Differential property tax policy for farmland is often set under conditions of uncertainty and limited information regarding landowners’ objective functions. This study examines optimal differential tax policy for a parcel of agricultural land facing uncertain development, identifying instances in which common farmland taxation policies may be non-optimal. Optimal tax rates are characterized given three possible causes of uncertain development: exogenous offers from developers, tax-related reductions in landowner wealth, and a combination of these factors. Model results indicate that underlying causes of uncertain development are critical when seeking to assess the optimality of differential taxation policies, and the use of a single, time-invariant differential tax levy is rarely optimal given uncertain development.
The Potential Value of Agricultural Trade Options
Authors: Frechette Darren L.
Published: September 2016

Hedgers located far from organized commodity exchanges suffer a mismatch between their local prices and exchange prices. Futures and options traded on the exchange may still be valuable to distant hedgers, but only to the extent that basis risk is small. Forward contracting allows hedgers to manage risk using a local delivery price, but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has long banned the sale of off-exchange options, limiting the opportunities available to hedgers. Recently, agricultural trade options (ATOs) have been introduced as over-the-counter option products designed specifically for hedgers. To date, ATOs have found little interest from potential sellers, but the potential demand for these options may be substantial. This study develops a methodology for measuring the potential value of ATOs. It describes and quantifies the demand for corn ATOs by dairy farms in Pennsylvania and estimates the value these farms might place on ATO contracts offered locally.
The Importance of Nutrition Labeling and Health Claim Regulation on Product Choice: An Analysis of the Cooking Oils Market
Authors: Mathios Alan D.
Published: September 2016

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) prohibits health claims for foods containing more than a certain amount of fat per serving. This disqualifier level eliminates health claims for cooking oils since these products have approximately 14 grams of fat per serving, above the acceptable threshold. However, a number of scientific studies indicate that, from a heart-health perspective, cooking oils lower in saturated fat and higher in monounsaturated fats are superior to other oils. Prior to the NLEA, firms actively competed on this basis, with manufacturers of cooking oils making explicit heart-health claims in print advertising and labeling. This study utilizes supermarket scanner data from twenty stores to examine the type of cooking oil chosen by consumers. The results indicate that after implementation of the NLEA, consumers shifted purchases toward cooking oils higher in saturated fat and lower in monounsaturated fat. This study does not address whether consumers changed their total consumption of cooking oil after implementation of the NLEA.
Student Learning on a Multistage Market Simulation
Authors: White Fred C.
Published: September 2016

Simulations are widely used to teach economic principles and to provide students experience in decision making. This paper describes and evaluates a simulation exercise that helps students understand public policy impacts in a multistage market. Student teams of producers, marketers, and processors use information on costs and demand in negotiations to determine prices and quantities. Selected public policies such as marketing orders with price discrimination are implemented and analyzed. The simulation exercise improved student understanding of marketing orders and policy impacts on prices, quantities, and profits in a multistage market. Financial outcomes in the simulation were related to student learning as evidenced by exam scores.
What Determines Welfare Losses from Oligopoly Power in the Food and Tobacco Industries?
Authors: Bhuyan Sanjib , Lopez Rigoberto A.
Published: September 2016

This paper estimates welfare losses in thirty-eight U.S. food and tobacco industries at the four-digit SIC level, then relates such losses to market structure and conduct variables to identify the welfare loss determinants. Empirical findings indicate that these losses are higher in markets characterized by high export intensity, high advertising expenditures, economies of scale, mergers and acquisitions, and market concentration. In addition, losses are larger in industries that sell finished consumer products and face lower import competition.
Carving Out Policy Space for Sustainability in Biofuel Production
Authors: Marshall Liz
Published: September 2016

Biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel are increasingly promoted as green alternatives to petroleum-derived transport fuels. Scaling up feedstock production to produce enough biofuel to displace a significant portion of current petroleum demand will put pressure on land and water resources both domestically and internationally, however, and could potentially be accompanied by unacceptable changes in landscape-level land use patterns and provisioning of ecosystem services. Ensuring that feedstock production is sustainable and that biofuels provide the social and environmental benefits that are often attributed to them will require a carefully designed portfolio of agricultural, forestry, energy, and trade policies related to biofuels and feedstock production. Despite the difficulties associated with development and application of such policies, they should be in place before further policy incentive is provided for expansion of biofuel industries.
The Impact of Domestic and Import Prices on U.S. Lamb Imports: A Production System Approach
Authors: Muhammad Andrew , Jones Keithly G. , Hahn William F.
Published: September 2016

As U.S. lamb imports increased relative to domestic production, and the relative share of chilled to frozen lamb imports increased, importers of chilled lamb have become less responsive to domestic and import prices, while the direct opposite is the case for frozen lamb imports. From 1990 to 2003, chilled lamb imports from Australia and New Zealand became less and less responsive to U.S. prices, and frozen imports became more responsive. Unconditional own-price elasticities also show that, over time, imports of chilled lamb became less responsive to import prices while frozen imports became more responsive to import prices.
The Impact of Environmental and Health Motivations on the Organic Share of Produce Purchases
Authors: Durham Catherine A.
Published: September 2016

As demand and supply of organic produce has increased, it has become possible to distinguish between the many individuals that express a preference for organic and the share of their purchases that is organically produced. This study examines the share of a consumer's produce purchases that are organic, and how that is influenced by economic factors, environmental and health motivations, and demographic characteristics. Results from a model of organic preference are compared to those from a model of organic buying proportions. Buying proportion models are also estimated separately for those that preferred organic and those that preferred conventional produce. A limitation in this study is that it evaluates stated buying proportions rather than actual purchases.
Experimental Economics and the Environment: Eliciting Values for Controversial Goods
Authors: Shogren Jason F. , Parkhurst Gregory M. , Hudson Darren
Published: September 2016

We illustrate the experimental method by examining bidding behavior for controversial goods, i.e., goods in which bidders have positive and negative values. Our results suggest that bidding behavior differs across auction type. Bidders with positive induced values bid sincerely in a WTP auction. Bidders bid conservatively, however, in the WTA auction, foregoing profitable opportunities. Informing bidders of their optimal strategy serves to attenuate bidding discrepancies but does not eliminate them. Treating the WTP and WTA auctions as equivalent given positive and negative values could lead one to overstate the costs relative to the benefits of the controversial good.
An Experimental Analysis of Auctioning Emission Allowances Under a Loose Cap
Authors: Shobe William , Palmer Karen , Myers Erica , Holt Charles , Goeree Jacob , Burtraw Dallas
Published: September 2016

The direct sale of emission allowances by auction is an emerging characteristic of cap-and-trade programs. This study is motivated by the observation that all of the major implementations of cap-and-trade regulations for the control of air pollution have started with a generous allocation of allowances relative to recent emissions history, a situation we refer to as a “loose cap.” Typically more stringent reductions are achieved in subsequent years of a program. We use an experimental setting to investigate the effects of a loose cap environment on a variety of auction types. We find that all auction formats studied are efficient in allocating emission allowances, but auction revenues tend to be lower relative to competitive benchmarks when the cap is loose. Regardless of whether the cap is tight or loose, the different auction formats tend to yield comparable revenues toward the end of a series of auctions. However, aggressive bidding behavior in initial discriminatory auctions yields higher revenues than in the other auction formats, a difference that disappears as bidders learn to adjust their bids closer to the cut-off that separates winning and losing bids.
The Impact of Catfish Imports on the U.S. Wholesale and Farm Sectors
Authors: Muhammad Andrew , Neal Sammy J. , Hanson Terrill R. , Jones Keithly G.
Published: September 2016

The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of catfish imports and tariffs on the U.S. catfish industry, with particular focus on the U.S. International Trade Commission ruling on Vietnam in 2003. Given the importance of Vietnam to the U.S. catfish market, it was assumed that catfish import prices would increase by 35 percent if the maximum tariff was imposed on catfish from Vietnam. With the tariff, domestic catfish prices at the wholesale level would increase by $0.06 per lb, and farm prices by $0.03 per lb. Processor sales would increase by 1.66 percent. Total welfare at the wholesale level would increase from $69.2 million to $71.7 million, an increase of about 3.63 percent, and processor and farm revenue would increase by 4.4 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively. These results represent the greatest possible benefit and suggest modest gains for the U.S. catfish industry.
U.S. Soybean Producer Perceptions and Management of Soybean Rust in the United States under the USDA Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education
Authors: Livingston Michael J.
Published: September 2016

Recent survey data are examined to improve current understanding of the factors that help to determine the value of information reported on a website that serves as the centerpiece of the USDA's “Soybean Rust Integrated Pest Management—Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education.” Respondents’ initial beliefs about their chances of experiencing a rust outbreak are shown to affect the likelihood that soybean producers will visit the website and change their management of fungicide use as a result.
Sustainability Science: A Call to Collaborative Action
Authors: Hart David D. , Bell Kathleen P.
Published: September 2016

Sustainability science is an emerging field directed at advancing sustainable development. Informed by recent scholarship and institutional experiments, we identify key roles for economists and encourage their greater participation in this research. Our call to collaborative action comes from positive experiences with the Sustainability Solutions Initiative based at the University of Maine, where economists collaborate with other experts and diverse stakeholders on real-world problems involving interactions between natural and human systems. We articulate a mutually beneficial setting where economists’ methods, skills, and norms add value to the problem-focused, interdisciplinary research of sustainability science and where resources, opportunities, and challenges from science bolster economic research specifically and land/sea grant institutions broadly.
The Value of Forever Wild: An Economic Analysis of Land Use in the Adirondacks
Authors: Tuttle Carrie M. , Heintzelman Martin D.
Published: September 2016

The mix of public and private land ownership within the Adirondack Park often leads to conflict between development and conservation interests. We explore the effects of the Adirondack Park Agency's classifications on property values through hedonic analysis while simultaneously controlling for environmental and recreational amenities. Results show that lands in the park classified for moderate-intensity use sell at a premium of up to 7 percent while lands in more restrictive classes are discounted. There is also evidence that decreasing the impact of humans by one unit increases property values by approximately 2 percent.
Valuing Environmental Assets on Rural Lifestyle Properties
Authors: Polyakov Maksym , Pannell David J. , Pandit Ram , Tapsuwan Sorada , Park Geoff
Published: September 2016

Lifestyle landowners value land for its amenities and ecological characteristics and could play an important role in managing and conserving native vegetation in multifunctional rural landscapes. We quantify values of ecosystem services captured by owners of rural lifestyle properties in Victoria, Australia, using a spatial hedonic property price model. The value of ecosystem services provided by native vegetation is maximized when that vegetation occupies about 40 percent of the area of a lifestyle property. Since the current median proportion of native vegetation is 15 percent, most lifestyle landowners could benefit from increasing the area of native vegetation on their properties.
Economic Issues in Ecosystem Management: An Introduction and Overview
Authors: Swallow Stephen K.
Published: September 2016

Ecosystem management may extend multiple use management, where economists identify and value a complex mix of ecosystem outputs. The dominant theme in conservation biology favors “safe minimum standard” (SMS) constraints on ecosystem attributes, which respond to complex and purely uncertain ecological knowledge and lead economists toward valuation questions that identify “tolerable” constraints. A hierarchical SMS constraint raises substitution possibilities among ecosystem-level components. Economists may identify unavoidable resource tradeoffs, such as in allocating land among elements of a reserve network, particularly when ecological wealth differs among geographically dispersed human communities. Economic and ecological ironies obfuscate intuitive contributions to ecosystem management policy.
Future Directions for the Government in Agriculture
Authors: Dunn James W.
Published: September 2016

The 1996 Farm Bill marks a new direction for the government in agriculture. By decoupling payments from price levels for crops, it undermines long-run political support for programs. Dairy price supports will end in 2000, and nutrition programs will be on a separate reauthorization schedule from farm programs. Together, these actions should weaken the farm bill coalition, making the remaining programs much more difficult to reauthorize than in earlier years. The 1996 Farm Bill may be the last farm bill of its kind and the beginning of the end to active government involvement in agricultural markets.
The Importance of the Market Area Determination for Estimating Aggregate Benefits of Public Goods: Testing Differences in Resident and Nonresident Willingness to Pay
Authors: Loomis John B. , Gonzalez-Caban Armando
Published: September 2016

A combined telephone contact-mail booklet-telephone interview of California and New England households regarding their willingness to pay for fire management in California and Oregon's old-growth forests was performed to test hypotheses regarding the spatial extent of the public goods market. Using a multiple-bounded contingent valuation question, the study found that New England households' annual willingness to pay for the California and Oregon programs was statistically different from zero. This analysis points out that households receive benefits from fire protection of old-growth forests in states other than their own. In this case study, limiting the survey sample to state residents where the National Forest is located would reflect about 20% of the national benefits. However, using resident values as a proxy for nonresidents would overstate the national benefits by 75%, since the values per household are significantly different. This finding suggests more emphasis in future surveys on selecting an institutionally and economically relevant sample frame rather than an expedient one.
Multiple-Objective Decision Making for Agroecosystem Management
Authors: Prato Tony , Fulcher Chris , Wu Shunxiang , Ma Jian
Published: September 2016

Multiple-objective decision making (MODEM) provides an effective framework for integrated resource assessment of agroecosystems. Two elements of integrated assessment are discussed and illustrated: (1) adding noneconomic objectives as constraints in an optimization problem; and (2) evaluating tradeoffs among competing objectives using the efficiency frontier for objectives. These elements are illustrated for a crop farm and watershed in northern Missouri. An interactive, spatial decision support system (ISDSS) makes the MODEM framework accessible to unsophisticated users. A conceptual ISDSS is presented that assesses the socioeconomic, environmental, and ecological consequences of alternative management plans for reducing soil erosion and nonpoint source pollution in agroecosystems. A watershed decision support system based on the ISDSS is discussed.
A Review of Alternative Expectations Regimes in Commodity Markets: Specification, Estimation, and Hypothesis Testing Using Structural Models
Authors: Burton Diana M. , Love H. Alan
Published: September 2016

Price expectations play a critical role in commodity markets where producers must make input decisions well before output is realized. This paper brings together alternative expectations regimes, their estimation, and hypothesis tests for use in structural commodity models to determine their use by commodity producers. Extrapolative mechanisms and rational expectations are considered under risk neutrality and risk aversion. The assumptions implicit in the use of aggregate data in these models are made explicit. Structural models using individual survey data are discussed. While Muth's rational expectations hypothesis has found widespread acceptance in the macroeconomic literature, empirical results from industry studies indicate that commodity producers may have heterogeneous price expectations, with no single expectations hypothesis dominating. This is not surprising given that different producers possess different information and have different costs associated with information collection and processing.
Residential Broadband Availability: Evidence from Kentucky and North Carolina
Authors: Renkow Mitch
Published: September 2016

I analyze the determinants of county-level broadband availability to gauge the extent to which the rural-urban broadband gap has narrowed and the factors that underlie that narrowing. Using data that have been collected by organizations tracking and promoting broadband in Kentucky and North Carolina, I find that in both states the rural-urban availability gap has indeed narrowed substantially, although there appears to be a limit on the extent to which broadband service will extend into the least densely populated counties. Among rural counties, availability rates increase systematically with the size of the county's urbanized population.
Determining Consumer Perceptions of and Willingness to Pay for Appalachian Grass-Fed Beef: An Experimental Economics Approach
Authors: Evans Jason R. , D'Souza Gerard E. , Collins Alan , Cheryl Brown , Sperow Mark
Published: September 2016

The focus of the current study was on the market potential for grass-fed beef in the Appalachian region, given that these products embody observed, experiential, nutritional, and process attributes that may appeal to a large consumer base. An in-store variant of the Becker-DeGroot-Marschack experimental auction mechanism was employed in the region to determine consumer preferences and willingness to pay. A majority of respondents preferred the grass-fed product over conventional grain-fed samples and were willing to pay a price premium to obtain it. Preferences for grass-fed were rooted largely in the associated superior nutritional content and core observed attributes.
Food Safety and Spinach Demand: A Generalized Error Correction Model
Authors: Arnade Carlos , Kuchler Fred , Calvin Linda
Published: September 2016

We estimate an error correction model representing demand for leafy green vegetables but generalize the structure to allow for adjustment to one conspicuous shock. We investigate whether the adjustment rate to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 2006 warning that fresh spinach was contaminated with deadly bacteria was distinct from the overall adjustment rate. Our model allows consumers to correct both for past errors and for any errors in their reaction to the shock. This method yields an estimate of the adjustment rate to the policy shock and points to an improved estimate of the duration of policy impacts.
Separating Resource Rents from Intra-marginal Rents in Fisheries’ Economic Survey Data
Authors: Coglan Louisa , Pascoe Sean
Published: September 2016

Economic surveys of fisheries are undertaken in several countries as a means of assessing the economic performance of their fisheries. The level of economic profits accruing in the fishery can be estimated from the average economic profits of the boats surveyed. Economic profits consist of two components—resource rent and intra-marginal rent. From a fisheries management perspective, the key indicator of performance is the level of resource rent being generated in the fishery. Consequently, these different components need to be separated out. In this paper, a means of separating out the rent components is identified for a heterogeneous fishery. This is applied to the multi-purpose fleet operating in the English Channel. The paper demonstrates that failing to separate out these two components may result in a misrepresentation of the economic performance of the fishery.
Market Integration: Case Studies of Structural Change
Authors: Franken Jason R.V. , Parcell Joe L. , Sykuta Michael E. , Fulcher Christopher L.
Published: September 2016

The grain/oilseed industry is undergoing considerable structural change through mergers and new value-added businesses, which raises price-related questions. We analyze the level of price integration prior to and following a merger between two grain firms and the start-up of a producer-owned ethanol facility. This research utilizes error correction vector autoregression analysis to compute market integration structural change effects. We find evidence that market integration initially increases with the merger, but deteriorates with time following the merger. We find no significant localized change in the level of price integration for the case of a new value-added business.
Applying the Miceli Model to Explain Cooperation in Municipal Solid Waste Management
Authors: Tiller Kelly J. , Jakus Paul M.
Published: September 2016

As traditional methods of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) become increasingly expensive due to increased regulation, many local governments are considering cooperation as a waste management strategy. A theoretical model is used to specify a partial observability probability model to analyze the decision Tennessee counties made to form either a single-county solid waste region or a multi-county region. We find that, while economies of scale may be a factor in the consolidation decision, similarities and differences between counties in current individual provision levels of solid waste services, ability to pay for services, and expectations for future solid waste service demands are statistically more important.
The Changing Rural Policy Context: Discussion
Authors: Hastings Steven E. , Cole Gerald L.
Published: September 2016

This paper discusses a paper presented by Stephen Smith at the 1995 annual meeting of the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association. Smith presented key issues that have changed the context for rural development policy in the United States. We propose that the induced innovation model of economic development can be used to identify a variety of ways that LGU's can contribute to developing and delivering appropriate rural economic development programs. These ways include assisting rural communities in identifying comparative advantage, identifying and/or providing relevant resource persons, delivering appropriate educational programs and conducting research on important issues. The success of LGU's in these areas will depend on their willingness to undertake these activities and their ability to recognize and adapt to current to future economic and social realities affecting rural America.
Phytosanitary Regulation and Agricultural Flows: Tobacco Inputs and Cigarettes Outputs
Authors: Overton Benny , Beghin John , Foster William
Published: September 2016

This paper examines the effects of the use of increasingly-popular phytosanitary regulations on production costs, and output and factor trade flows. The case addressed is that of the European regulation of maximum chemical residues in cigarettes manufactured with tobacco containing maleic hydrazide. The paper presents simulations of the effects of tightening the EU regulation on the tobacco growing and manufacturing industries. The analysis focusses on input/output market linkages and on the substitution away from the residue-contaminated U.S. input to residue-free non-U.S. inputs. This induced substitution results in higher costs, lower quantity supplied of the final product, and higher prices for U.S. cigarettes in Europe. Cross-price effects lead to higher quantities of EU cigarettes sold and a corresponding increase in the use of all inputs, including U.S. tobacco. When the U.S. tobacco price is allowed to fall, direct price effects stimulate the EU derived demand for U.S. tobacco. Although the regulation is protectionist in the output market, it leads to increased EU imports of the residue-contaminated input. When the price of U.S. tobacco adjusts, the regulation is actually antiprotective for EU growers. The regulation also indirectly influences production practices of U.S. tobacco growers and leads to lower levels of MH residues on U.S. leaf.
Subtleties Associated with Derived Demand Relationships
Authors: Schrimper Ronald A.
Published: September 2016

Subtleties involving measurement of quantities and prices when derived demands are graphically displayed in frameworks representing market linkages are discussed. Complications arising from assuming variable proportions rather than fixed coefficients are noted. Finally, an example developed by Wohlgenant and Haidacher is clarified.
Product Differentiation and Market Segmentation in Applesauce: Using a Choice Experiment to Assess the Value of Organic, Local, and Nutrition Attributes
Authors: James Jennifer S. , Rickard Bradley J. , Rossman William J.
Published: September 2016

Recently, there has been much interest among horticultural producers concerning the marketing of organic and locally produced food. A consumer survey was administered that asked respondents to choose an applesauce product from a list of products differentiated by price, and by labels that described fat content, nutrition content, and whether the product was grown organically and/or locally. Our analysis indicates that consumers were willing to pay more for locally grown applesauce compared to applesauce that was labeled USDA Organic, Low Fat, or No Sugar Added. Furthermore, we find evidence that increased knowledge of agriculture decreases the willingness to pay for organic and locally grown applesauce.
Exotic Pests and Trade: When Is Pest-Free Status Certification Worthwhile?
Authors: Lichtenberg Erik , Lynch Lori
Published: September 2016

Pest-free status certification is desirable if the demand-side impacts (increased export revenue) and supply-side impacts (lower pest damage and decreased ongoing control costs) exceed the compliance monitoring and eradication costs. Thus, eradication may be optimal without certification. Certification is more likely for regions facing costly treatment requirements (bans) or possessing geographic traits that lower monitoring costs and infestation probabilities than for those exporting higher-valued products. Certification benefits producers but hurts consumers. Thus, political feasibility may be greater if domestic consumption is a small share of the market and if the additional tax burden of certification programs is light.
Controlling the Biological Invasion of a Commercial Fishery by a Space Competitor: A Bioeconomic Model with Reference to the Bay of St-Brieuc Scallop Fishery
Authors: Frésard Marjolaine , Boncoeur Jean
Published: September 2016

This paper presents a bioeconomic model of a commercial fishery facing biological invasion by an alien species acting as a space competitor for the native species. The model is illustrated in a case study of the common scallop fishery of the Bay of St-Brieuc (France), where biological invasion by a slipper-limpet (Crepidula fornicata) is now addressed by a control program. First we present the model, which combines the dynamics of the two competing stocks. We then use the model to analyze the equilibrium of the fishery under various assumptions concerning invasive species control, and to assess the social cost of the invasion. Finally we propose a set of dynamic simulations concerning the ongoing program, emphasizing the influence of its starting date on its overall economic results.
I Want In On That: Community-level Policies for Unconventional Gas Development in New York
Authors: Zirogiannis Nikolaos , Alcorn Jessica , Piepenburg Jayne , Rupp John
Published: September 2016

We investigate geospatial and socio-demographic attributes that explain differences in community-level policies affecting unconventional gas development (UGD) in New York. We examine local policy decisions (i.e., municipal bans, moratoria, and pre-emptive resolutions supporting development) through ordered probit models and middle-inflated and zero-inflated ordered probits to account for communities without UGD policies and estimate a spatial ordered probit to address spatial correlations between communities' decisions. Our findings suggest that New York communities near Pennsylvania UGD are more likely to support UGD. Communities that are predominantly Democrat or have more citizens who have bachelor's degrees are more likely to adopt policies opposing UGD.
OPTIMAL INFLATION TARGETING RULE UNDER POSITIVE HAZARD FUNCTIONS FOR PRICE CHANGES
Authors: Di Bartolomeo Giovanni , Di Pietro Marco
Published: September 2016

This paper reconsiders optimal inflation targeting in a model where persistence is generated by rational choices of the price makers because of a time-dependent pricing mechanism. In this framework, which generalizes the traditional Calvo model, inflation persistence is intrinsic, as it is micro-founded assuming that firms' pricing decisions depend on the time elapsed from the last price reset. We use a linear–quadratic approach to study the welfare effects and optimal policies. We disentangled two distortion sources showing how welfare falls in both the average of the probability of changing prices and its distribution among different firms. Described the underlying distortions of our setup, we analyze its normative implications for optimal inflation. The issues of uncertainty and robustness are also considered: By using robust control techniques, we, in fact, consider the consequences of implementing a “wrong” monetary rule due to a misinterpretation of sources of inflation inertia.
EXT-FINITE MODULES FOR WEAKLY SYMMETRIC ALGEBRAS WITH RADICAL CUBE ZERO
Authors: ERDMANN KARIN
Published: September 2016

Assume that $A$ is a finite-dimensional algebra over some field, and assume that $A$ is weakly symmetric and indecomposable, with radical cube zero and radical square nonzero. We show that such an algebra of wild representation type does not have a nonprojective module $M$ whose ext-algebra is finite dimensional. This gives a complete classification of weakly symmetric indecomposable algebras which have a nonprojective module whose ext-algebra is finite dimensional. This shows in particular that existence of ext-finite nonprojective modules is not equivalent with the failure of the finite generation condition (Fg), which ensures that modules have support varieties.