Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Two And A Half Cheers For The Midwestern Bourgeoisie: Role Of The Virtues In Tempering Business Decisions, Marianna Khachaturyan, Gary D. Lynne

Cornhusker Economics

A recent book (The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce, D. N. McCloskey), raises the matter of the role of the virtues in business and economic choice, arguing that capitalism can indeed, be virtuous or at least better than the alternative(s). This argument is especially timely in light of the apparent excesses on Wall Street and in some banking/financial institutions. Excessive greed and often the lack of business ethics contributed in substantive ways to the financial crisis and near economic meltdown we have been experiencing. As McCloskey, (2006, pp. 1-2) argues (in setting the stage for …

Tyranny And Economic Greed: The Disintegration Of The Sudanese Nation, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The present paper is part of unpublished book divided into three interrelated manuscripts that analyze the collapse of the Sudan. The current paper conclude that the decision of the International Criminal Court to arrest President Bashir triggered a process for the disintegration of an unprecedented tyrannical regime that embezzled the Sudanese nation under the pretext of imposing Islamic Sharia Laws. However, there is a pronounced prominent conflict manifested here which is the question whether it was a real Islamic laws, or was it only a powerful tool to control the country. The dogma imposed hegemonic regime that extracted all economic …

Science And The Climate Change Debacle, Ray Supalla

Cornhusker Economics

As I write this on the first business day of 2010, I find myself thinking about the importance of respecting alternative views --- not only alternative political views, but also alternative scientific views. Good science requires that we understand the limits of knowledge and continuously seek the truth through respectful questioning, replication and review. In the climate change debate, which recently culminated in a disappointing and largely ineffective conference in Copenhagen, these salient principles of science were grossly violated. Well respected climate scientists proceeded well beyond the limits of their knowledge and became policy advocates. They demeaned anyone who dared …

Massachusetts Landowner Participation In Forest Management Programs For Carbon Sequestration: An Ordered Logit Analysis Of Ratings Data, Brenton J. Dickinson

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The Family Forest Research Center recently conducted a mail survey of about 1,400 Massachusetts landowners. Respondents were given questions about themselves and their land and were then asked to rate three carbon sequestration programs in terms of their likelihood to participate. An ordered logit model is used to estimate probabilities that landowners would participate in various improved forest management programs. There are several estimation issues to consider with the ordered logit model. The relative merits of alternative models, including the multinomial and binomial logit, rank-ordered logit, binary logit and mixed ordered logit are discussed.

Results of the ordered logit indicate …

Dynamic Model Pooling Methodology For Improving Aberration Detection Algorithms, Brenton J. Sellati

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Syndromic surveillance is defined generally as the collection and statistical analysis of data which are believed to be leading indicators for the presence of deleterious activities developing within a system. Conceptually, syndromic surveillance can be applied to any discipline in which it is important to know when external influences manifest themselves in a system by forcing it to depart from its baseline. Comparing syndromic surveillance systems have led to mixed results, where models that dominate in one performance metric are often sorely deficient in another. This results in a zero-sum trade off where one performance metric must be afforded greater …

Whole Farm Modeling Of Precision Agriculture Technologies, Jordan Murphy Shockley

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigated farm management concerns faced by grain producers due to the acquisition of various precision agriculture technologies. The technologies evaluated in the three manuscripts included 1) auto-steer navigation, 2) automatic section control, and 3) autonomous machinery. Each manuscript utilized a multifaceted economic model in a whole-farm decision-making framework to determine the impact of precision agriculture technology on machinery management, production management, and risk management. This approach allowed for a thorough investigation into various precision agriculture technologies which helped address the relative dearth of economic studies of precision agriculture and farm management. Moreover, the research conducted on the above …

The Tomato Queen Of San Joaquin, Ken Albala

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

The life of Tillie Lewis exemplifies key moments in American food history from the rise of the canning industry to wartime rations to the craze for diet food. Her biography was consciously manipulated and fashioned through the years to make it a quintessential rags-to-riches story. Nonetheless, her accomplishments stand out, marking her as a brilliantly successful woman in an industry dominated by men.

Measuring Economic Impacts Of Drought: A Review And Discussion, Ya Ding, Michael J. Hayes, Melissa Widhalm

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A comprehensive assessment of drought economic impacts provides critical information to rational decisions supporting drought mitigation policies and programs. The objective of this paper is to increase the understanding of the full scope of drought economic impacts and the associated quantitative assessment methodologies. To accomplish this, the paper reviews the literature of drought economic impact studies in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, summarizes the methods and data employed, compares the various results, and investigates the problems and limitations of previous studies. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges and directions of future improvement on drought economic impact assessment.

Sustainability Through Profitability: The Triple Bottom Line, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

Today’s highly competitive, globalized world requires organizations and businesses to think differently about how they are going to stay in business. Businesses can no longer afford to focus on profits as their sole purpose for existence. Organizations must instead think about the “Triple Bottom Line” and its implications for their ability to grow their brand, customer loyalty and profits.

Department Of Economics Publication List 2010, Penny Stover

Economics Pamphlet Series

This compilation lists published works authored by Department of Economics faculty members and other staff working on projects funded through the Department of Economics. Publications resulting from their research and academic activities are indexed by author at the end of this pamphlet for easy access by the public. The articles were published between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009.

Evaluation Of Frontline Demonstration Of Greengram (Vigna Radiata L.) In Sundarbans, West Bengal, Ganesh Chandra

Ganesh Chandra

Green gram (mungbean) is one of the important pulse crop in India, which plays a major role in augmenting the income of small and marginal farmers of Sundarban. The prevalent farming situation in Sundarban areas being characterised by kharif season with paddy cultivation in rain-fed condition and water requirement for growing rabi and summer crops are met only through residual soil moisture and/or stored rain-water. The low production of traditional varieties of greengram was a cause of concern for the farmers at large. To overcome this problem of low yield, Krishi Vigyan Kendra of CIFRI has conducted frontline demonstration field …

Mitigation And The Geoengineering Threat, Juan B. Moreno-Cruz

Juan B. Moreno-Cruz

Recent scientific advances have introduced the possibility of engineering the climate system to lower ambient temperatures without lowering greenhouse gas concentrations. This possibility has created an intense debate given the ethical, moral and scientific questions it raises. In this paper I examine the economic issues introduced when geoengineering becomes available in a standard two-period two-country model where strategic interaction leads to suboptimal mitigation. Geoengineering introduces the possibility of technical substitution away from mitigation, but it also affects the strategic interaction across countries: mitigation decisions made in the first period directly affect the geoengineering decisions made in the second period. With …

Revisiting The Economics Of Climate Change: The Role Of Geoengineering, Juan B. Moreno-Cruz, Sjak Smulders

Juan B. Moreno-Cruz

Technically simple and reversible measures to directly reduce mean global temper- atures could be available anytime soon. We introduce the concept of \geoengineering" into an analytical model of climate change. We model the technical and economic characteristics of geoengineering in line with the recent literature from physical and environmental management sciences. We investigate (i) under which circumstances geoengineering can substitute, partly or completely, for traditional abatement strate- gies, (ii) under which conditions and at what level geoengineering is optimally em- ployed, and (iii) whether geoengineering can mitigate free-riding problems.

Implications Of The Economic Interactions Between Northern And Southern Tribes Of Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The present paper discusses issues of the tribal interactions living on the borders between North and South Sudan. Fore-sights are looked for, especially after secession. There are multiple ethnic relations and mutual resources collectively utilized. Different tribes live on those resources, in specifics those who depend on a livelihood of herding cattle, camels, sheep and goats. The conceptions of no-borders, free water resources and open range were entrenched for hundreds of years. The sudden realization of necessities of new borders generates revulsion, sense of deprivation and end of traditional life practice. Additionally, development issues are weak with lack of infrastructure, …

Effects Of Investment On Macroeconomic Variables In The Sudanese Economy, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Most developing and underdeveloped countries beside Sudan suffer from the low levels of income in addition to the low savings that are result from the lack of sophisticated savings channels. Hence, the investment depends on the individual's abilities on self savings, where the investment is considered as major motivating vehicle for economic activity due to its direct correlation with the capital accumulation process that increases the productivity capacity for the national economy and creating job opportunities and achieving economic development. Subsequently, the importance of the investment comes from effective role that can be practiced on the national product. The present …

Empirical Analysis Of Field Data On Hiv/Aids Epidemic In Khartoum State, Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The study focuses on the HIV/AIDS in Khartoum state during the period (2003-2007). The main objectives are to study the situation of HIV/AIDS in Khartoum state through a sample of 1439 of volunteers for the three selected blood testing and counseling centers in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North teaching hospitals. The data of the study were collected from secondary source namely the registered information about volunteers after testing blood for HIV. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, chi-square test for dependency between demographic variables and HIV/AIDS incidence, and logistic regression model to discover the effect of predictors variables …

Introduction To The Macroeconomic Structure Of Yemen, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

In countries where tools of economic control are immature and disabled due to totalitarian systems, macroeconomic analyses for aggregate quantities and relationships, such as total consumption, investment, and government expenditures represents a difficult task. The practice of aggregation distinguishes this field of microeconomics and has advantages but also creates problems, a brief survey of these problems is required now, although a deeper appreciation of these must await the critical attitudes that can only develop with more exposure to entire subject. One difficulty is the complex area known as the aggregation problem, the classifying of widely varying goods or activities into …

Property Rights, Land Disputes And Social Discontent In Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Under the present civil Sudanese conditions, the country endures many hardships which are manifested in economic retraction, inflation, recession and stagflation. However, those are not the sole reasons for the sporadic conflicts that infest the people. Illegitimate property and economic hoardings seem to be inflaming the Sudanese societies. Social conflicts are manifested in simple man's daily complaints to open rebellions. Most academicians agree on one point, that the society endures abnormal conditions. The current paper delves into land disputes in the South Kordofan region and displays there anomalies affecting the Sudanese state of affairs. The economic and social structures are …

The Political Economy Of Contract Farming In Tea In Kenya: The Kenya Tea Development Agency (Ktda), Cosmas Milton Obote Ochieng Ochieng

Cosmas Milton Obote Ochieng Ochieng

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Community-Based Natural Resource Management, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This article analyzes the importance of increasing civil society actor access to and influence in international legal and policy negotiations, drawing from academic scholarship on governance, conservation and environmental sustainability, natural resource management, observations of civil society actors, and the authors’ experiences as participants in international environmental negotiations.