Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Growing The Experience Economy, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

Some of us, and I confess I am in this group, can remember when our mother would make us a birthday cake. She used basic ingredients or commodities like flour, sugar, eggs and cocoa to create it from scratch. It was always a wonderful creation and quite affordable – probably under 50 cents for the entire cake. Then a few years later it seemed fashionable to use cake mixes and canned frostings. Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines and others figured out that they could take the commodities and package them in such a way as to make a consumer good. …

2012 Nebraska Crop Budgets, Roger Wilson

Cornhusker Economics

Overall, average projected cash costs per unit of production for 2012 are almost 15 percent higher than the 2011 projections made in April.

Some of this increase is due to a higher labor wage. Twenty dollars per hour was used as the wage rate in 2012, compared to $12 per hour in 2011. Wage rates vary substantially from one producer to the next, and there is no suitable index for determining a representative wage. It is not likely that actual wages paid increased that much from one year to the next, so this change represents an adjustment upwards as well …

Ecological Revival And Sustainable Living In The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest Of Tamil Nadu: A Measurement Of Residential Perception In Sadhana Forest, Elizabeth Collette Mcguire

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Since 1970, the role and function of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been to promote environmental quality and to form strategies for carrying out environmental policy¹. The EPA has committed to sustainability as the next level of environmental protection. The agency states that sustainability calls for policies and strategies that meet society’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs². Presently, society’s requirements have resulted in natural resource exploitation and population distention- projected to reach 10 billion people within two human generations³. These paired occurrences are …

World Food Crisis: Imperfect Markets Starving Development, A Decomposition Of Recent Food Price Increases, Christine Costello

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The recent decade has experienced two rather substantial food price spikes. This thesis sets out to provide an in-depth look at the recent food price increases by achieving two goals: assessing the forces driving food prices, and determining the magnitude of those forces. These goals are reached by reviewing selected rhetoric on the recent food price increases, analyzing case studies, and lastly determining our modeling capabilities in decomposing food price changes. Additionally, this thesis will serve as a tool for stakeholder's to better address critical policy issues surrounding food, agriculture, and energy policies.

Adviser: Hendrik Van Den Berg

Agricultural Productivity Growth In Central America And The Caribbean, Ayako Ebata

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

This thesis estimates total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the agricultural sector of fourteen regions in Central America and the Caribbean. First, TFP is measured parametrically and non-parametrically, using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method and the Maximum Likelihood (ML) method to estimate a translog production function and the Malmquist index approach. Secondly, the thesis incorporates an environmental bad, CO₂ emissions from expansion of agricultural land by sacrificing forest area and estimates environmentally adjusted productivity (EAP) growth rates using an output distance function in order to assess how the growth of TFP rates changes when such a bad is …

Sensitivity Analysis On Mapping Evapotranspiration At High Resolution Using Internal Calibration (Metric), Venkata Naga Ravi Kumar Choragudi

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution using Internal Calibration (METRIC) is most widely used to quantify evapotranspiration (ET) spatially and temporally. It is essential to inspect the model’s response to errors in various parameters used in the model. Landsat 5 images from May 30 2009, July 1 2009 and a Landsat 7 image from September 27 2009 are used in this study. Fourteen different fields composed of Corn, Soybeans, Alfalfa are randomly chosen for each crop type.

Two kinds of errors are addressed in this study. One, with the errors that are transferred and potentially compensated by calibration (Global error) and …

Public Opinion And Food Animal Welfare, Randolph L. Cantrell

Cornhusker Economics

In the October 12, 2011 edition of Cornhusker Economics, Professor Dave Aiken brought us up to date on the issue of food animal welfare as it might affect Nebraska agriculture. His update was rendered out of date a mere six days later when the Nebraska Farmers’ Union (NEFU) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced an agreement and the formation of a new advisory body, the Nebraska Agricultural Council of the Humane Society of the United States. The stated goal of the new organization is “To advance more humane practices on farms and ranches and to …

The Increasing World Population: A Call For Entrepreneurial Leadership And Innovation, Connie Reimers-Hild

Cornhusker Economics

According to the United Nations, the world’s population hit seven billion on October 31, 2011. The United Nations is projecting the world population to reach 9.3 billion by 2050. The new population landmark set off alarms in governments and organizations around the world. Most of the growth will occur in the poorest and least developed regions of the world, which already must work to resolve issues related to shortages of quality food, soil, air and water. Many people living in these countries also lack access to education, healthcare and global political capital.

More developed countries face many of the same …

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Cornhusker Economics

Thanksgiving Holiday

Equity Redemption Practices Of Nebraska Farmer Cooperatives, Jeffrey S. Royer

Cornhusker Economics

The ability of a cooperative to redeem the equities of members and former members depends on its particular business and financial characteristics. However, data on the equity redemption practices of other cooperatives can provide useful benchmarks for assessing a cooperative’s equity redemption performance. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report based on a 2008 survey of 792 farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives offers valuable information about the equity redemption practices of cooperatives according to organizational form, major business activity, asset size, and geographic location. In particular, the report contains some information specific to Nebraska cooperatives.

In 2008, there were …

Nebraska’S Entrepreneur Acceleration System, Marilyn Schlake

Cornhusker Economics

On December 8, 2011, 120 Nebraska business owners will complete their first year enrollment in the Entrepreneur Acceleration System (EAS). The program encourages the growth of a business by creating value-based relationships with customers through engaged employees, leading to economic growth and job creation. It was offered in partnership with Gallup, Inc., University of Nebraska- Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nebraska Department of Economic Development and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Twenty-six individuals from various Nebraska communities and business backgrounds were selected to participate in the EAS mentor training at the Gallup Campus in Omaha, in the …

What Do We Do With All This Carbon?, Benjamin Eigbrett

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Urban Sprawl, Noah Philson

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

No Means No, Mr. President, Danny Martin

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Electrifying Nebraska's Daily Commuters, Dirk Wiseman

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Ethanol's Impact On Nebraska's Economy, Kasey Rathke

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

From Climate Change To Mountain Range, Mitchell Flash

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Suburbanization: Not A Good Fit For The Future, Gavin Salee

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

From Trash To Treasure, Caleb Greenfield

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Nuclear's True Image, Bryan Bordenkecher

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Red Ethanol, Blake Albers

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Cleaner And Greener Doesn't Always Mean Clean And Green, Justin Hladik

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Riding The Gdpism Wave, Zach Mcdonald

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

The Benefits Of Biogas, Sam Neal

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Does Contribution Equal Compensation?, Dave Goeller

Cornhusker Economics

Should contributions to the success of a family farm or ranch be compensated? One of the most difficult decisions owners of a farm and ranch business confront occurs when one heir returns to the family business, while he or she has siblings that do not. If you start out with the premise that we all love our children and hope to treat them fairly, it follows that if contributions to the success of the farming business are more or less equal we should compensate our children more or less equally. The difficulty arises because the farming heir will many times …

Residential Scaled Renewable Energy System In Nebraska, Jerrod Bley

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Review Of Remaking The Heartland: Middle America Since The 1950s. By Robert Wuthnow, Randolph Cantrell

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Shrinking farm numbers, population losses, and empty storefronts on Main Street have come to be seen as symptoms of an inevitable slide to oblivion for many Heartland communities. Empirical evidence of such decline is easily found, making the trend a favorite topic for journalists. In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow offers a very different interpretation of the same trends. His central argument is that Middle America (defined as eight states including most of the Great Plains) has been characterized by adaptation to changing social and economic realities in a way that has made the region a "more vibrant contributor …

Review Of Hard Grass: Life On The Crazy Woman Bison Ranch. By Mary Zeiss Stange, Linda M. Hasselstrom

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Twenty years ago, Stange and her husband traded a modest New Jersey house for seven square miles of overgrazed prairie and set out to right the wrongs done to a place that had been mismanaged ecologically as well as environmentally. The restoration begins disastrously with llamas before it proceeds to success with bison. Her narration includes her own experiences, but most of her essays are serious, in-depth studies of the broader topics that constitute life in the great grasslands spreading across the interior of the country. She begins with prehistory, analyzing the evolution of both plants and animals in the …

Animal Welfare Update, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Beginning in 2002, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) embarked upon a campaign to ban battery cages for laying hens, gestation crates for pregnant sows and veal crates for veal calves. The HSUS strategy is to gather sufficient signatures to place their animal welfare initiative on the ballot, and present an emotional campaign regarding food animal confinement including sad pictures of laying hens, pregnant sows and veal calves in tight confinement. This approach has resulted, in recent years, in voter support exceeding 60 percent.

It seemed that the HSUS could do no wrong, and that wherever they proposed …

Changing Farm Policies For Changing Times, Bradley Lubben, Jim A. Jansen, Matthew C. Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

It has long been said that farm policy and farm bills are much more evolutionary than revolutionary. Policy changes tend to occur rather slowly and gradually, unless some economic or policy shock creates an opportunity or urgent need for a change in policy direction.

The current debate in Washington could provide just that shock to point federal farm policy in a new direction. Farm legislation authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill expires in 2012, and the initial debate over re-authorization was already well underway when the Federal Debt Ceiling/Deficit Reduction Compromise legislation was passed in August. That legislation created a …