R. Wes Harrison, Aylin Ozayan, and Samuel P. Meyers
Author Affiliations: Harrison is an assistant professor and Özayan is a research assistant, both in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Louisiana State University. Meyers is a professor in the Department of Food Science, Louisiana State University.
Contact:
R. Wes Harrison
Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness
Louisiana State University
101 Agricultural Admin. Building
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-5604
Phone: (504) 388-2724
Fax: (504) 388-2716
e-mail: rharris@lsuvm.sncc.lsu.edu
Abstract: Attributes for two value-added seafood products derived from underutilized crawfish are analyzed using conjoint data from seafood restaurants in the southern region of the United States. Preferences for the products' form, price, and flavor attributes were tested. Statistical tests revealed that the attribute interactions were not significant, and part-worth utilities for all main effects were estimated using an additive preference model. Results indicate that the new crawfish products should be marketed as a high-quality fresh soup base or seafood stuffing, priced between 30% and 50% of the cost of fresh crawfish tail meat.
Key words: conjoint analysis, minced meat, seafood, value added.
JEL Classification System: Q13, M31
Author Affiliations: Mohanty is an assistant scientist with the Food
and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, Iowa State University; Peterson
is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of
Nebraska-Lincoln; and Smith is managing director of the Food and Agricultural
Policy Research Institute, Iowa State University.
Contact:
Samarendu Mohanty
Food and Ag. Policy Research Institute
Iowa State University
578 Heady Hall
Ames, IA 50011-1070
Phone: (515) 294-6296
Fax: (515) 294-6336
e-mail: smohanty@iastate.edu
Abstract: This study examines the Law of One Price (LOP) in international commodity markets using fractional cointegration analysis. For proper evaluation of the LOP, fractional cointegration analysis seems to be appropriate because of its flexibility in capturing a wider range of mean reversion behavior than standard cointegration analysis. Out of nine pairs of price series examined, fractional cointegration supports the existence of the LOP in eight cases, as compared to three cases using standard cointegration procedures. Overall, these results suggest that there is a long-run tendency for the LOP to hold for commodity prices.
Key Words: fractional cointegration, international commodity markets, Law of One Price.
JEL Classification System: Q17
P. Lynn Kennedy and Cemal Atici
Author Affilitations: The authors are assistant professor and graduate
assistant, respectively, in the Department of Agricultural Economics and
Agribusiness, Louisiana State University Agriculture Center, Baton Rouge.
Contact:
P. Lynn Kennedy
Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
101 Ag. Administration Bldg.
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-5604
Phone: (504) 388-2726
Fax: (504) 388-2716
e-mail: lkennedy@agctr.lsu.edu
Abstract: Complete agricultural trade liberalization between the United States and the European Union is examined with respect to the agricultural sector. A static, partial equilibrium model, distinguishing among the European Union, the United States, and a politically passive rest of the world, is used to simulate agricultural policy removal. The results of this research reveal how European Union and United States adoption of free trade affects domestic and world prices, production, consumption, self-sufficiency, and welfare.
Key Words: agricultural policy, European Union, trade liberalization, United States.
JEL Classification System: Q13
The research was completed while the authors were assistant professor and
adjunct research scientist, respectively, in the Department of Agricultural
and Applied Economics, University of Georgia.
Contact:
Bryan J. Hubbell
P.O. Box 28142
Raleigh, NC 27611
Phone: (919) 541-0621
Fax: (919) 541-0839
e-mail: hubbell.bryan@epa.gov
Abstract: Geographic concentration in U.S. hog production from 1974 96 is investigated using a measure based on Theil's entropy index. For the U.S. as a whole, geographic concentration is occurring at a slow rate, both for hog farms and hog numbers. However, for particular states, primarily in the new Southern Atlantic production region, concentration is high and increasing at a rapid pace. Concentration was increasing for the 23-year period for 16 out of the 20 states in the analysis. Results indicate that geographic concentration by augmentation is occurring to the greatest degree in Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.
Key Words: entropy, geographic concentration, hog production.
JEL Classification System: Q10, R12, R14
Author Affiliations: Martinez is an agricultural economist with
the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Smith
is a Ph.D. candidate and Zering is an associate professor/extension specialist,
both at North Carolina State University.
Contact:
Steve Martinez
USDA/Economic Research Service
Room 2101
1800 M Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036-5831
Phone: (202) 694-5378
Fax: (202) 694-5662
e-mail: martinez@econ.ag.gov
Abstract: This study examines the motivation behind contracts and vertical integration in the pork industry, and simulates the effects of potential improvements in coordination. Incentives related to lowering costs of measuring and sorting hogs, and protecting against opportunistic behavior associated with specific assets, can result in hog quality improvements. A framework for simulating the effects of increased coordination through contracts and vertical integration was developed and used to evaluate potential improvements in leanness. Although simulations suggest only modest changes in pork prices and supplies, gains in consumers' surplus could be substantial for larger demand shifts due to quality improvements.
Key Words: contracts, hogs, lean pork, simulation model, vertical coordination, vertical integration.
JEL Classification System: L14
B. Wade Brorsen, Jay T. Akridge, Michael A. Boland, Sean Mauney, and John C. Forrest
Author Affiliations: B. Wade Brorsen is a Regents Professor in the
Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University; Jay Akridge
is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University;
Michael Boland is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural
Economics, Kansas State University; Sean Mauney is a plant superintendent
with Stokely, USA in Hoopeston, Illinois; and John Forrest is a professor
in the Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University.
Contact:
B. Wade Brorsen
Department of Agricultural Economics
526 Ag Hall
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078-6026
Phone: (405) 744-6836
Fax: (405) 744-8210
e-mail: brorsen@okway.okstate.edu
Abstract: One method of implementing value-based marketing is a component pricing system. This research develops and evaluates alternative component pricing systems for pork. Two electronic technologies for estimating carcass components (optical probe and electromagnetic scanner) were evaluated on two sets of data representing different populations. Model accuracy increased as additional components were added.
Key Words: carcass merit, component pricing, electromagnetic scanning, pork.
JEL Classification System: Q13
Author Affiliations: Ngarambé is a postdoctoral fellow, Goetz
is an associate professor, and Debertin is a professor, all in the Department
of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky.
Contact:
Stephan J. Goetz
Department of Agricultural Economics
317 Agricultural Engineering Building
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40546-0276
Phone: (606) 257-8842
Fax: (606) 257-7290
e-mail: aecgoetz@ukcc.uky.edu
Abstract: Changes in income distribution are estimated for
the U.S. South over the 1970 and 1980 decades using Gini coefficients for
county-level, real family income. To explicitly investigate causal
relationships between economic growth and inequality, a two-stage least squares
model was estimated. In the 1970s, more rapid increases in inequality
were associated with a reduced income growth rate, ceteris paribus, while
in the 1980s, the opposite was true. Faster rates of income growth
were associated with more rapid increases in inequality during the 1980s,
but rates of income growth had no effect on changes in inequality during
the 1970s.
Key Words: causality, economic growth, inequality, U.S. South.
JEL Classification System: O00, O4
Author Affiliations: The author is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Contact:
Julie A. Bunn
Department of Economics
Macalester College
1600 Grand Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55105
Phone: (612) 696-6776
Fax: (612) 696-6746
e-mail: bunn@macalester.edu
Abstract: The 1996 farm bill challenges agricultural producers to pursue conservation objectives while allowing flexibility and reducing subsidies. The nature of this challenge for semi-arid rainfed, wind-erosion-prone agriculture is explored via a behavioral model. Simulations of farm-firm decision making under scenarios in the southern Texas High Plains are evaluated. Results indicate that the removal of subsidies, while lowering farm incomes, does not, under most assumptions, alter cropping system choice. Alternatively, under a variety of assumptions, the imposition of an erosion tax shuts down cropping.
Key Words: conservation practices, cropping system choice, economic dynamics, FAIR Act of 1996.
JEL Classification System: Q38, Q18
Author Affiliations: Van der Sluis is an assistant professor, Department of Economics, South Dakota State University; and Peterson is Morse Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota.
Contact:
Evert Van der Sluis
Department of Economics
105 Scobey Hall, Box 504A
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD 57007-0895
Phone: (605) 688-4872
Fax: (605) 688-6386
e-mail: weco@sdsumus.sdstate.edu
Abstract: Data from 100 farming-dependent counties in the U.S. are used to measure the impact of acreage reduction programs on the level of the rural nonfarm population. Results of a simultaneous equation model suggest that the programs had a negative influence on the number of rural nonfarm people, reducing the rural nonfarm population in these counties by an estimated 15 22% over the 1960 90 period.
Key Words: cropland diversion programs, farming-dependent counties, rural nonfarm population change.
JEL Classification System: Q18
Author Affiliations: Bierlen is a research associate, Ahrendsen is an associate professor, and Dixon is a professor, all in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas. Ahrendsen and Dixon are principals of the Center for Farm and Rural Business Finance, a joint effort of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois and the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas.
Contact:
Ralph Bierlen
Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
221 Agricultural Bldg.
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Phone: (501) 575-2130
Fax: (501) 575-5306
e-mail: rbierlen@comp.uark.edu
Abstract: The sensitivity of farm inventory investment to movements in cash flow is tested. Inventories should be sensitive to shifts in cash flow because inventory investment is readily reversible and inventories are a significant portion of assets. Investment models estimated with Kansas farm panel data indicate that: (a) farms absorb internal finance shocks by adjusting inventories, (b) the inventory investment of livestock and high-debt farms are more sensitive to movements in cash flow than crop and low-debt farms, and (c) inventory investment is more sensitive to cash flow during the 1981- 86 bust and the 1987 -92 recovery than during the 1975- 80 boom.
Key Words: cash flow, credit constraints, farm cycles, farm inventories, investment, investment models.
JEL Classification System: G14, Q14, E22
Author Affiliations: H. Arlen Smith is a senior research associate, and C. Robert Taylor is a professor and Alfa Eminent Scholar, College of Agriculture, Auburn University.
Contact:
H. Arlen Smith
Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology
Comer Hall
Auburn University
Auburn University, AL 36830-5406
Phone: (334) 844-3511
Fax: (334) 844-5639
e-mail: arlens@acesag.auburn.edu
Abstract: Finite mixture estimation (FME) is compared to estimated generalized least squares (EGLS) in the estimation of economies of size and production cost frontiers for Alabama dairy farms. FME provides several unique insights into the economic forces behind recent changes in Alabama's dairy industry. FME provides estimation of a stochastic average cost frontier with known statistical properties, which it was not otherwise possible to obtain using available stochastic frontier estimation packages.
Key Words: dairy, economies of size, finite mixture estimation, stochastic cost frontier.
JEL Classification System: C23, Q10
Author Affiliations: Ralph J. Alig is a research forester, USDA Forest
Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, Oregon; Darius M.
Adams is a professor in the College of Forestry, Oregon State University;
and Bruce A. McCarl is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics,
Texas A&M University.
Contact:
Ralph J. Alig
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Research Station
3200 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: (541) 750-7267
Fax: (541) 750-7329
e-mail: aligr@fsl.orst.edu
Abstract: The forest and agriculture sectors are linked by having a portion of their land bases suitable for use in either sector. A substantial part of the southern land base is suitable for either forestry or agriculture use, with most tree planting on U.S. agriculture land in the South. We examine how land exchanges between forestry and agriculture are influenced by specific federal conservation and farm support policies, including changes in the Conservation Reserve Program. Reallocation of land is a significant part of the sectors' responses to the policies, along with intensification of timber management on existing southern forests.
Key Words: agriculture, conservation, forest sector, land use, projections.
JEL Classification System: Q15, R14
Bruce A. McCarl
Author Affiliations: Bruce McCarl is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University.
Contact:
Bruce A. McCarl
Department of Agricultural Economics
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas 77843-2124
Phone: (409) 845-1706
Fax: (409) 862-1563
e-mail: mccarl@tamu.edu
Abstract: Mathematical programming formulations can yield faulty answers. Models can be unbounded, infeasible, or optimal with unrealistic answers. This article presents techniques for theory-based discovery of the cause of faulty models. The approaches are demonstrated in the context of linear programming. They have been computerized and interfaced using the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), and are distributed free of charge through new GAMS versions and an online web page.
Key Words: debugging, GAMS software, mathematical programming.
JEL Classification System: C61
Contact:
James E. Epperson
Dept. of Agricultural & Applied Economics
315 Conner Hall
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-7509
Phone: (706) 542-0766
Fax: (706) 542-0739
e-mail: jepperson@agecon.uga.edu
Contact:
Eric J. Wailes
Dept. of Agr. Econ. & Agribusiness
221 Agriculture Building
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Phone: (501) 575-2278
Fax: (501) 575-5306
e-mail: ewailes@comp.uark.edu
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