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Measuring Impacts Of Uncertainty, Irreversibility, And Loss Aversion On The Adoption Of Crop Canopy Sensors Among Nebraska Corn Producers, Brooks Ronspies

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding barriers to adoption of Precision Agricultural Technologies (PATs) is important to the growth of agricultural productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. This thesis proposes and evaluates a model for estimating the impact of uncertainty, irreversibility, and loss aversion on producers’ adoption of crop canopy sensors in order to explain adoption behavior that contradicts previous expectations about the conditions necessary for technology adoption. The model is evaluated using estimated statistical distributions of price and field characteristics designed to match observations of actual corn and nitrogen prices, and of conventional and crop canopy sensor based nitrogen application. Results from this model using expected …

How Does Identifying As Gluten-Free Impact Information Choice Regarding The Gluten-Free Diet?, Pratiksha Baishya

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The market for gluten-free products is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States and has seen tremendous growth in the recent years. The retail sales of gluten-free foods in the United States almost tripled between 2011 and 2015, although rates of diagnosed gluten-related health problems have not risen. In addition to people who suffer from Celiac Disease, Wheat Allergy and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, there is a category or people known as PWAG (people who avoid gluten) who seem to have significantly contributed to this boom in the market for gluten-free foods. With more people choosing to adopt the gluten-free diet, …

How Do Restaurant Menu Calorie Labeling Requirements And Exercise Impact Consumer Food Decision Making?, Nigina Rakhmatullaeva

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The percentage of the U.S. population that is obese has increased markedly over the past fifty years. Obesity is driven in part by imbalances in energy consumption and expenditures. There are two main behavioral factors that influence that balance: food consumption and exercise. In this thesis, I report the results of two experiments that encompass both food choice and exercise.

The consumption of food prepared away from home is growing rapidly. Since individuals do not control the ingredients in foods prepared away from home, these foods are frequently less healthy than home-cooked foods. The role of calorie labeling for foods …

The Role Of Safety First Risk Preferences In Grain Marketing: A Laboratory Economic Experiment Using A Grain Marketing Simulation Game, Stamatina Kotsakou

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this study, the Marketing in a New Era (MINE) grain marketing simulation game is used to carry out a context-rich economic experiment to evaluate the role of risk preferences in grain marketing decisions. The model of risk preferences that we consider is an improved Safety First decision rule model proposed by Levy and Levy (2009). We experimentally test if Safety First decision rule describes individuals’ post-harvest marketing decisions. In our experiment, we incorporate real-world features which are usually omitted in marketing studies such as: multiple storage decisions, storage cost, actual price series and multiple contract frequency. MINE plays a …

Consumer Perceptions Of Food Safety And Preferences For Food Safety Interventions, Kofi Britwum

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation consists of three essays that investigate consumers’ response to technologies that mitigate food safety risks: cattle vaccines against E. coli and direct-fed microbials.

The first essay examines the influence of information framing and issue involvement on perceptions of the two food safety technologies. This essay also examines the role of issue involvement on food safety perceptions. A hypothetical survey which includes six information treatments was developed, and targeted a representative, random sample of U.S consumers. Participants were exposed to general information about E. coli and the two food safety technologies, a gain-framed message, a loss-framed message, a media …

The Influence Of Projection Bias On Outcomes Of Healthcare Financial Incentive Programs, Jordyn M. Bader

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis contributes to the behavioral health literature and literature regarding healthcare financial incentive programs by discussing the influences of the behavioral economic concept of projection bias on programs designed to recruit healthcare providers to rural or under served areas. First, I propose an adaptation to the model of projection bias by introducing a term that captures variability in individuals’ propensity to exhibit projection bias based on the amount of effort expended in predicting future preferences. Next, I conduct a probit model regression to observe what incentive program design features and participant characteristics are likely to influence the probability of …