Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Comparison Of The Economic Profitability Of Specified Risk Management Alternatives For Intermountain West Farmers, Cody D. Bingham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research is to provide quantitative and limited qualitative analysis for the United States Intermountain West on the economic effectiveness of risk management alternatives in an agricultural operation. This research is not meant to be an exhaustive comparison of every potential combination of alternatives and risk scenarios. Instead, specific parameters such as farm size, crops grown, risk attitudes and risk management strategies are set to guide the research and offer a basis of comparison.

This research evaluates several levels of coverage using Multiple Peril Crop Insurance, Crop Revenue Coverage Insurance, Adjusted Gross Revenue – Lite Insurance and …

A Critical Analysis Of The Cooperatives Working Together Program, Spencer N. Parkinson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study analyzes the effectiveness of the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program. This program is believed to have improved the farm-level price of milk since it began in July 2003. To date, no publicly available analysis addressing this question has been conducted. Total milk removed by the program was determined and expressed as a percentage of total milk produced nationally during the same time frame. Elasticity measures from prior studies were adapted to determine the impact of the program. This analysis suggests the program has had a significantly positive effect on the price of milk. Issues dealing with future action …

Essays On Investment Fluctuation And Market Volatility, Chaoqun Lai

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation includes two different groups of objects in macroeconomics and financial economics. In macroeconomics, the aggregate investment fluctuation and its relation to an individual firm's behavior have been extensively studied for the past three decades. Most studies on the interdependence behavior of firms' investment focus on the key issue of separating a firm's reaction to others' behavior from reaction to common shocks. However, few researchers have addressed the issue of isolating this endogenous effect from a statistical and econometrical approach. The first essay starts with a comprehensive review of the investment fluctuation and firms' interdependence behavior, followed by an …

An Assessment Of Housing Affordability In Cache County, Utah, Melanie Jewkes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Multiple housing affordability indexes are used to measure and assess housing affordability. Each index has its own definition of affordability, causing varying viewpoints on what is to be considered affordable or unaffordable. Four indexes were used in this study: two from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), one from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and the last from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The indexes were applied to Census data to assess the housing affordability situation of both homeowners and renters in the census tracts of Cache County, Utah. The measures together show distinct differences in …

Transportation And Quality Adjusted Basis: Does The Law Of One Price Hold For Feeder Cattle?, Chad Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Beef cattle and calves are raised in all areas of the United States. Since beef cattle are scattered throughout the US, there are many different types of cattle with numerous different quality characteristics which are valued differently. Many calves raised until weaning age across the US are then sent to cattle feeding areas primarily located in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska. The prices that are offered for beef calves vary considerably based on quality and location. The theory of the law of one price suggests that prices in areas that trade should not differ by more than the cost of …

D Is For Dillydally?, Arthur J. Caplan, John Gilbert

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Evidence from online assignments in an intermediate microeconomics course suggests that nonprocrastinators (both early-starters and front-loaders) score higher than their dilly-dallying counterparts. Students who are busier in school tend to start their assignments earlier.

Incremental And Average Control Costs In A Model Of Water Quality Trading With Discrete Abatement Units, Arthur J. Caplan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This paper answers three questions related to the discrete nature of pollution abatement: (i) does a source's incremental control cost (as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) necessarily exceed its average control cost, (ii) is incremental control cost a better approximation of a source's willingness to pay for abatement credits than average control cost, and (iii) exactly how does trading in discrete and continuous abatement markets differ? We find that the answer to the first two questions are both "no", suggesting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency needs to refine its reliance on incremental control cost as the sole …