bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Causal Relationships between Public Sector Agricultural Research Expenditures and Output
Authors: Pardey Philip G. , Craig Barbara 
Published: July 2006

AbstractAllocative decisions concerning public sector agricultural research appear to be driven by both supply and politically mediated demand forces. In‐sample Granger tests, along with post‐sample predictive tests, suggest that simultaneity issues should not be ignored when modeling the research expenditure‐output relationship. The results also provide strong evidence that the impact of research expenditures on agricultural output may persist for as long as thirty years. These lags are substantially longer than those commonly used for agricultural research to date. The lagged effect of output on research appears to be shorter, though still between ten and twelve years.
Conditional Qualitative Forecasting
Authors: Feather Peter M. , Kaylen Michael S. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA bayesian method for conditioning the forecast of a qualitative variable on a vector of other qualitative variables is presented. An application is made to forecast the direction of quarterly hog price movements using the direction forecasts from an econometric model, an ARIMA model, and an expert as the conditioning vector. Over the out‐of‐sample 1976–86 period, only the expert outperformed the conditional qualitative forecast. The accuracy of the conditional forecast improved as the bayesian parameters were updated.
Statistical Significance of Indicators of Efficiency and Incentives: Examples from West African Agriculture
Authors: McIntire John , Delgado Christopher L. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractIndicators of efficiency and incentives derived from trade theory, such as the domestic resource cost coefficient (DRC) and effective protection (EP), are generally presented as simple means. Analysis of their distributions, using farm data on millet and sorghum production from West Africa, shows them to be highly variable and, in some cases, to be significantly skewed. The analysis also shows the indicators to be highly elastic to changes in such parameters as input and output prices. If this variability is not considered when making inferences from such data, policy recommendations can be seriously misleading because they are based on different farming populations.
Competitive Storage, Rational Expectations, and Short‐Run Food Price Determination
Authors: Wohlgenant Michael K. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis paper demonstrates that lags between retail and wholesale food prices can be explained by inventory behavior of retailers. Theoretical considerations indicate that the markup model should be modified to include a Jorgenson‐type user cost variable, which depends on expected future wholesale price. The rational expectations hypothesis is used to derive price expectations. The retail price specification, therefore, depends on the stochastic process generating expected wholesale price. The econometric methodology, employing both causality testing and nonlinear estimation, is illustrated by estimating monthly price relationships for beef. The results are consistent with the theory and indicate rejection of the markup model.
Stochastic Efficiency versus Mean‐Variance Criteria as Predictors of Adoption of Reduced Tillage
Authors: Lee John , Brown Deborah J. , Lovejoy Stephen 
Published: July 2006

AbstractCosts and benefits of conservation programs depend on the fraction of participants adopting a practice. Under risk, it is not clear whether predictions of adoption should be based on adoption's effect on the farmers' entire income distribution or only on its mean and variance. It is also unclear whether one must elicit the farmer's subjective beliefs about the effect on his income distribution or whether some “objective” distribution can be used. This paper describes how well mean‐variance and stochastic efficiency criteria predicted adoption of a reduced tillage practice in a watershed in central Indiana when applied to “objective” and “subjective” income distributions.
Household Demand for Convenience and Nonconvenience Foods
Authors: Capps Oral , Tedford John R. , Havlicek Joseph 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA variation of the Almost Ideal Demand System was employed to determine the impacts of total food expenditure, income, food prices, household size, and demographic variables on household demand for convenience and nonconveninece foods in the United States. The budget shares are generally more responsive to prices than to real total expenditure. Additionally, the quantities demanded of convenience and nonconvenience foods are generally more sensitive to changes in income and own‐prices than to changes in cross‐prices. With regard to demographic variates, primary users of convenience foods are white households with employed household managers less than 35 years of age.
Modeling Supply Response in a Multiproduct Framework
Authors: Ball V. Eldon 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe paper models multiproduct supply response in agriculture and tests key assumptions traditionally maintained in supply response studies. The technology is approximated by a restricted profit function. The properties of the restricted profit function are imposed during estimation. The hypothesis that maintains the existence of output price and quantity indexes that satisfy the adding‐up property is rejected. The existence of individual production functions for each output is also rejected. Unless joint production is permitted, the estimates of responsiveness of a particular commodity to changes in own price or prices of competing outputs are likely to be considerably understated.
An Organonic and Modern Problems Approach for Teaching Agricultural Economics Principles
Authors: Wetzstein Michael E. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractInstructors in principles courses should consider placing greater emphasis on modern problems and organonic teaching techniques to increase students' proficiency in agricultural economics. These techniques will stimulate student imaginations, modify learning styles toward collaborative and independent learners, and stimulate interest in the subject matter. Unfortunately, recent developments in teaching principles are aphoristic techniques, including programmed learning, television, and computer‐aided instruction. These aphoristic techniques stifle students' imaginations, contribute to a dependent learning style, and fail to stimulate interest in the subject matter. The degree of instructors' adoption of modern problems and organonic techniques depend on their teaching abilities, class size, types of students, and how their courses blend into the curriculum.
Pest Externalities from Agricultural Inputs
Authors: Harper Carolyn R. , Zilberman David 
Published: July 2006

AbstractAgricultural inputs such as water, pesticide, and even time may have the unintended effect of stimulating some pest populations, leading to crop losses. A conceptual model is developed to contrast optimal use of pesticide and nonpesticide inputs with myopic use patterns which ignore pest externalities. Under most conditions, optimal management is found to entail reduced input levels. These issues are illustrated for Imperial Valley cotton using biological simulation. Correct calculation of the relative profitability of conventional and integrated pest management techniques, such as a shortened growing season, are found to depend crucially on whether pest externalities are taken into account.
The Demand for Dairy Products: Structure, Prediction, and Decomposition
Authors: Heien Dale M. , Wessells Cathy Roheim 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis article presents an analysis of the demand for dairy products. First, the structure of dairy product demand is estimated using the Household Food Consumption Survey data. Under the assumption of a two‐stage budgeting procedure, a complete demand system for food incorporating demographic effects is estimated. Next, using the demand relations estimated from cross‐section data, prediction interval tests utilizing time‐series data are performed for milk and butter. Last, factors affecting consumption are classified into economic and demographic effects and a decomposition of the causes of changes in demand over time is performed.
Intermediation Costs in an Agricultural Development Bank: A Cost‐Function Approach to Measuring Scale Economies
Authors: Cuevas Carlos E. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe cost‐output relationships and production technology in the Agricultural Development Bank of Honduras are analyzed using a translog model. Scale economies for the average branch are not significantly different from one. They are a function of output levels reflecting U‐shaped cost surfaces. Product‐specific economies of scale are substantially different. Returns to scale of lending activities approach unity, whereas there are important unexploited economies to the expansion of deposit mobilization. Cost complementarities between lending and deposit mobilization indicate advantages of joint provision of financial services over the traditional specialization in lending of agricultural development banks in developing countries.
A Nonparametric Investigation of Agricultural Production Behavior for U.S. Subregions
Authors: Fawson Chris , Shumway C. Richard 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis research provides an empirical application of nonparametric techniques to determine whether agricultural production behavior in the United States and ten farm production regions over the period 1939 to 1982 has been inconsistent with the joint hypothesis of profit maximization, convex technology, and monotonic nonregressive technical change.
Use of Dichotomous Choice Nonmarket Methods to Value the Whooping Crane Resource
Authors: Bowker J. M. , Stoll John R. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA dichotomous choice form of contingent valuation is applied to quantify individuals' economic surplus associated with preservation of the whooping crane resource. Specific issues and limitations of the empirical approach are discussed. The results of this case study reveal that models with similar statistical fits can lead to very disparate measures of economic value, regardless of whether the mean or median is chosen to estimate average willingness to pay. Such results suggest caution is necessary when applying dichotomous choice models in contingent valuation.
Implications of Private Salmon Aquaculture on Prices, Production, and Management of Salmon Resources
Authors: Anderson James L. , Wilen James E. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe emergence of large‐scale salmon ranching in the Pacific Northwest has led to significant controversy over the potential impact of salmon ranching on market structure, salmon prices, ocean and aquacultural production, and salmon fishing regulation. This paper models the behavior of a dominant salmon rancher facing a competitive open‐access fishery using a dynamic nonlinear programming model. Primary attention is given to production and regulation‐influencing strategies of an optimally managed salmon ranch under selected institutional and biological constraints. The effect of such behavior is evaluated with regard to salmon prices, natural salmon stocks, ocean fishing effort, and ocean fishery productivity.
An Adjustment‐Cost Rationalization of Asset Fixity Theory
Authors: Hsu Shih‐Hsun , Chang Ching‐Cheng 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis article integrates a classic concept in production economics (G. L. Johnson's asset fixity theory) with the dynamic adjustment cost model. Until now the literature has considered these two to be incompatible. By relaxing the smoothness assumption of the adjustment cost function at the origin, the theory of costs of adjustment can provide a rigorous endogenization of asset fixity. G. L. Johnson and Edwards' results are then obtained when the linearity assumption of the adjustment cost function is imposed. The work reported here also indicates that both smoothness at the origin and symmetry of adjustment cost function should be subject to empirical tests.
Whither Armington Trade Models?
Authors: Alston Julian M. , Carter Colin A. , Green Richard , Pick Daniel 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe Armington trade model distinguishes commodities by country of origin, and import demand is determined in a separable two‐step procedure. This framework has been applied to numerous international agricultural markets with the objective of modeling import demand. In addition, computable general equilibrium (CGE) models commonly employ the Armington formulation in the trade linkage equations.The purpose of this paper is to test the Armington assumptions of homotheticity and separability with data from the international cotton and wheat markets. Both parametric and nonparametric tests were performed, and the empirical results reject the Armington assumptions. This has important implications for international trade modeling and CGE modeling.
An Analytical Model of Farmers' Demand for Replacement Seed
Authors: Heisey Paul W. , Brennan John P. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractSeed replacement choices differ from decisions about other inputs, such as fertilizer, because the farmer can reproduce seed. Assumptions about rates of improvement in yield potential and depreciation of retained seed are combined with behavioral assumptions and price and technical information to develop a model predicting the number of years before a farmer will buy new seed. Parameter estimates for wheat in Pakistan are fed into the model and results compared with observed replacement times. Time horizon strongly conditions effects of model parameters. To speed varietal change, better information for farmers is likely to be preferred to seed subsidies.
Productivity Growth in U.S. Agriculture under Dynamic Adjustment
Authors: Luh Yir‐Hueih , Stefanou Spiro E. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA dynamic measure of productivity growth adjusted for deviations from the long‐run equilibrium is established within an adjustment‐cost framework. An empirical application to U.S. agriculture is presented which permits identifying the dynamic linkages between technical change and productivity growth in U.S. agriculture. Total factor productivity as dynamically measured grew at 1.50% per annum. The combined effect of scale, quality‐adjusted input growth, and long‐run disequilibrium input use contributes only 3.44% of the growth, while technical change dominates the growth of total factor productivity.
Estimating Interrelated Demands for Meats Using New Measures for Ground and Table Cut Beef
Authors: Brester Gary. W. , Wohlgenant Michael K. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractTwo systems of demand equations for meats ate estimated using traditional and new measures of ground and table cut beef. The choice of disaggregation has a significant impact on estimated demand elasticities for hamburger and table cuts. A multivariate version of the PE‐test is used as a nonnested test of the alternative specifications. The PE‐test is an appropriate nonnested specification test when the models in question have different (but related) dependent variables. The PE‐test rejects the nonfed beef model specification but does not reject the ground beef model, which uses the new measures of ground and table cut beef.
Explaining Price Policy Bias in Agriculture: The Calculus of Support‐Maximizing Politicians
Authors: de Gorter Harry , Tsur Yacov 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA model is developed to explain observed patterns of policy intervention in agriculture. We analyze the interaction between political support‐seeking politicians and support‐supplying citizens. Society consists of a rural and urban group. We determine the effects on transfers of relative group size, disparities in income endowments between groups, and the deadweight loss of redistribution. The framework advanced is an alternative to that of the interest group model and is used to explain, for example, why the export sectors in developing countries are taxed more and why the United Kingdom is less adamant for higher price supports than Germany.
Public Policy and Constitutional Prescription
Authors: Rausser Gordon C. , Zusman Pinhas 
Published: July 2006

AbstractIn public policy analysis, much confusion exists about the roles of explanation and prescription. To offer a new perspective, a paradigm is developed that gives both theoretical and empirical meaning to the constitutional determination of political preference functions or public sector governance structures. Current policies are viewed as a rational outcome of a political‐economic process. Three relevant spaces are specified: result, policy instrument, and constitutional. For the policy instrument space, the paradigm provides a framework for generating testable propositions on government behavior, while, for the constitutional space, the framework is prescriptive. The collective‐choice rules of the constitutional space structure the tradeoff between public and special interests.
A State‐Space Approach to Perennial Crop Supply Analysis
Authors: Kalaitzandonakes Nicholas G. , Shonkwiler J. S. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractIn perennial crop supply analysis, separate estimation of the qualitatively different new planting and replanting decisions is desirable. Commonly, data paucity restricts estimation to a single reduced form equation. This study develops a dynamic unobserved components method where separate estimation of the structural equations is possible in the absence of detailed data on new plantings and replantings. The proposed method is empirically implemented in a case study of the Florida grapefruit industry. In terms of both statistical and forecasting performance, the proposed structural approach is found superior to a single equation reduced form specification.
Landowner Incorporation of Onsite Soil Erosion Costs: An Application to the Conservation Reserve Program
Authors: Miranda Marie Lynn 
Published: July 2006

AbstractUsing data from the first signup of the Conservation Reserve Program, this paper examines whether or not landowners consider soil erosion productivity effects as they formulate their land management strategies. The empirical results indicate that regional differences exist in how well landowners incorporate the intertemporal consequences of land management decisions. With the exception of the Farm Belt, farmers either do not understand or are failing to act on the onsite productivity effects caused by soil erosion.
Nonparametric Test of the Expected Utility Hypothesis
Authors: Bar‐Shira Ziv 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA nonparametric test of the expected utility hypothesis is developed in this paper. The expected utility hypothesis is shown to hold if there exists a feasible solution to a particular system of linear inequalities. Furthermore, when a feasible solution exists, boundaries on the coefficient of absolute risk aversion can be calculated explicitly. The test is applied to data on land allocations modeled as choices over lottery sets. Results, contrary to those obtained in many laboratory experiments, show that in most cases the expected utility hypothesis cannot be rejected.
A Farm‐Level Financial Analysis of Farmers' Use of Futures and Options under Alternative Farm Programs
Authors: Turvey Calum G. , Baker Timothy G. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the relationships of farm programs and farm finance on farmers' decisions to hedge with futures or options. Results from a two‐period discrete sequential stochastic programming model of the farm firm indicates two important points. First, farmers' use of futures and options decreases in the presence of loan rates and target prices, and second, farms with high debt hedge more than farms with low debt. The results imply that evaluating farmers' use of futures and options based solely on market risks may exclude important information, namely participation in farm programs and the farm's capital structure.
An Analysis of Farmers' Agricultural Policy Preferences
Authors: Orazem Peter F. , Otto Daniel M. , Edelman Mark A. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis paper analyzes farmers' attitudes toward competing agricultural policies. The empirical work utilizes data on Iowa farmers' opinions of four policies: continuing the current program, targeting benefits to fiscally stressed farmers, mandatory controls, and decoupling. The results show that a farmer's financial situation, size and type of operation, education, and farm experience significantly influence his opinions. Attitudes toward mandatory controls and targeting are most sensitive, and attitudes toward continuation of the current program are least sensitive to changes in economic characteristics. Strong identifiable camps of both support and opposition are found for each policy except the current program.
Railroad Rate Deregulation and Uncertainly of Farm‐Level Prices for Corn
Authors: Sarwar Ghulam , Anderson Dale G. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractUncertainty of country elevator prices for corn, in terms of error‐variance and mean‐squared forecast errors, failed to increase in response to the deregulation in 1980 of railroad rates. Regression analysis was used to separate the uncertainty impacts of deregulation from those of other unanticipated changes in supply and demand. Factors influencing uncertainty included unexpected changes in storage costs, export demand, corn futures, and rail car utilization. Some of the factors creating price uncertainty prior to deregulation were replaced by new uncertainty factors occurring as a result of deregulation.
Cost Efficiency in U.S. Corn Production
Authors: Cooke Stephen C. , Sundquist W. Burt 
Published: July 2006

AbstractDiewert's quadratic lemma is used to derive indexes of intertemporal and interregional cost efficiency and of economies of scale for a sample of U.S. corn regions. Using U.S. Department of Agriculture farm enterprise survey data, the results indicate that intertemporal cost efficiency in U.S. corn production increased 1.3% per year, on average, between 1974 and 1983. Regions in Illinois and Iowa have a competitive advantage in corn production over those in Indiana and Nebraska. Between 1974 and 1983, very large corn enterprises (500–1,000 acres) were 4%–8% more cost efficient than large enterprises (300–460 acres) and 8%–15% more efficient than medium size corn enterprises (175–290 acres).
Modeling Government Program Participation Decisions at the Farm Level
Authors: Perry Gregory M. , McCarl Bruce A. , Rister M. Edward , Richardson James W. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractChanges in the U.S. farm economy during the 1980s have caused many farmers to give careful consideration to participation in the government farm program. Analytical techniques to identify optimal participation and resulting crop mix strategies at a whole‐farm level can aid farmers faced with these decisions. This paper presents a mathematical programming approach adaptable to farm‐level decision analysis. An empirical example involving a Texas farm suggests that resource levels, base acreage endowments, limited cross compliance, and returns outside the program can influence participation decisions.
Tax Versus Quota Regulation: A Stochastic Model of the Fishery
Authors: Androkovich Robert A. , Stollery Kenneth R. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractIn a deterministic setting, it has been demonstrated that taxes and quotas can be equivalent regulatory instruments and that both can in principle induce an optimal allocation of resources in markets where externalities are problematic. In this paper we consider growth, harvest, and demand uncertainty within the context of Canada's Pacific halibut fishery and find that, while taxes remain the preferred instrument, the welfare losses arising from the use of individual boat quotas are minor.