Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

The Influence Of Crop Insurance Agents On Coverage Choices: The Role Of Agent Competition, Nathan Delay, Hayley Chouinard, Cory Walters, Philip Wandschneider

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

We examine how competition among crop insurance agents affects coverage choice in the federal crop insurance program. Agents may influence producers’ insurance decisions to maximize their total compensation. We develop a theoretical model of producer–agent interaction to examine how loss potential, agent compensation mechanisms, and market competition affect the coverage level selected. Using crop insurance unit-level datasets from five states, we find evidence that agent market concentration and agents’ market share matter in the insurance coverage decisions of producers but that the economic significance of the influence is relatively small. Agent influence over coverage level, premium, and liability choice is …

Health Policy: Universal Pre-Existing Conditions, Gary D. Lynne

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Next to food policy, perhaps no domestic policy issue has raised the ire of more people than that related to the healthcare system. The US Affordable Care Act, which was based in and otherwise formulated with a heavy orientation towards the shared Other-interest in health, has been rejected outright by many who see the healthcare system is only to facilitate maximizing one’s own Self-interest. The latter perspective is easily understood, as there is perhaps nothing more in one’s own Self-interest then taking care of one’s health. So, it would be easily expected that many people would consider mainly their own …

Food Policy: Stability, Sustainability, And Safety, Gary D. Lynne

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Everyone needs to eat, and eat well, as it is essential to the process of slowing down the pace to and time of our death, the point of maximum entropy for each person. As a result, it is perhaps the best example of the need to seek one’s Self-interest. It also puts us in the position, however, to more easily Empathize, walk-in-the-shoes of someone who may not have enough food, or the best kind of food, and help in forming a shared Other-interest, too. As a result, we might choose to support, with our tax money, some kind of a …

Tax Policy: Pay The Price, Gary D. Lynne

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Taxes are the price we pay in order to obtain many of the outcomes pursued in the shared Other-interest. So, Metaeconomics in contrast to Microeconomics gives a substantive analytical system for dealing with the tax question, because of recognizing the Other-interest. Metaeconomics clarifies that taxation is about paying for, and thus bringing forth the payoffs from that which we share, like recording deeds and titles to private property; enforcing property rights, which is essential to a Market; licensing, registering, and enforcing patents; military, police, and fire services; road and harbor construction and maintenance; dams and reservoirs to provide for water …

Introduction To Metaeconomics, Gary D. Lynne

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Metaeconomics is fundamentally about the problem of having too much emphasis on the Market or too much emphasis on the Government. It is about the essential need to bring empirical reality and ethics into finding balance: It is essential to achieving a good capitalism. Why? Well, because of the natural tendency to excessive Greed. As DeWaal (2009) would have it, we live in an age of Empathy: Ego based Greed is out. The Greed needs to be tempered, balanced, and perhaps bounded, with Empathy-based ethics. And, as Metaeconomics makes clear, it is because there is a dual nature of human …

Is The World Converging To A ‘Western Diet’?, Azzeddine Azzam

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Objective: To test the nutrition transition hypothesis of global dietary convergence to a ‘Western diet’.

Design: Consumer-waste-adjusted FAO Food Balance Sheets are used to construct for each country a Western Diet Similarity Index (WSI), expressed as a ratio of calories from animal-sourced foods, oils, fats and sweeteners to total per capita calories. β-Convergence and associated speed are estimated by growth regressions using 1992–2013 panel data. Speed of convergence, a non-linear function of income per capita, globalisation and urbanisation, determines the steady-state or long-term global WSI. The long-term global WSI is compared with the WSI of the group of countries with …

Mechanized Percussion Well Drilling, Nathan A. Henry, Nate Harnish, Nathan D. King, Chris Martin, Tommy Denlinger, Darren J. Heisey, Griffin M. Means

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Mechanized Percussion Well Drilling Project seeks to design a simple mechanized well drilling system to be used for drilling shallow water wells in Burkina Faso, Africa. These systems will be operated by local drilling teams, allowing them to earn an income for themselves and their families. Currently our end users, the Burkinabe Well Drilling Team, have trouble drilling through hard rock layers, and often must abandon holes due to inadequate equipment. The goal of this project is to enable the drillers to efficiently drill through these rock layers with a mechanized percussion rig and supporting drilling equipment.

One of …

Landmine Neutralization: Air Excavator, Nuttapat Kueakomoldej, Hunter D. Casey, Andrew F. Kurian, Evan Poust

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Landmine Neutralization team’s goal is to help neutralize dangerous ordnance in wartorn areas around the world. To accomplish this, the project team is working with our client, the HALO Trust. They are the world’s largest demining non-governmental organization. The HALO Trust works in many countries to remove the debris of war, including improvised explosive devices, landmines, and unexploded ordnance. We are helping our client achieve their goals through designing, prototyping, and testing of an earth and debris excavator that uses air to excavate areas. This project will help HALO’s deminers clear debris and dust from war-torn areas to help …

Fluency Assistance Device, Michael D. Jenkins, Larry A. Vega, Corey Bean, Jacob R. Cornwell, Lydia Reber, Arrington Register

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

Currently about 1% of the world population (~70 million people) have a stutter considered a fluency disorder. Some fluency assistance devices are available for this population, but most are highly expensive or unreliable. Fluency Assistance Device (FAD) seeks to assist a niche community of these individuals for whom therapy has been unsuccessful but are currently depending on a device originally known as the Edinburgh Masker. FAD aims to redesign the masker to be more comfortable for the end user. FAD is developing versions 1.1 and 2.0 of the improved masker. Version 1.1 will update the original masker circuitry with surface …

Solar Pv - Equipping The Future, Christopher E. Benner, Collin T. Binford, Joshua J. Kripas, Trey B. Witmer, Jonas E. Kolb, Noah A. Rood

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Solar PV team has installed several solar power systems for various partners in the developing world. Most recently, the team installed a solar-powered well pump at the Living Love Ministries Children’s Home in Ol Kalou, Kenya. As is true for all the previous installations, the team gained a wealth of valuable knowledge and experience on the trip to Kenya. A problem the team faces is that a lot of that experience gained leaves when seniors graduate. With the goal of passing on our knowledge and experience to future generations of the Solar PV team, we have been constructing a …

Gravity Fed Water System, Ella Sobek, Sarah A. Aldrich, Jordan E. Higley, Joseph Grant

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Gravity Fed Water Project aims to provide direct access to safe and clean water to about 150 people in Sipacapa, Guatemala by using gravity to transport water from groundwater seeps down a mountain to the community. The project partners with the Mennonite Central Committee. Concrete intake structures will be built for various groundwater seeps, then water from those will be combined into one large concrete intake structure. The water will then be piped down to a concrete water tank which will help to store enough water for a day's use for the village. There will then be piping going …

Small-Scale Hydroelectric Power For Remote Communities, Robert Kameron Dickey, Edward J. Yesilonis, Cameron K. Kanter, Andrew S. Reedy, Caleb P. Southwick

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Pico-Hydro Energy Project (PHEP) focuses on providing affordable electric power for off-grid communities in developing countries. The work that PHEP is doing involves the design, optimization, and experimental testing of small hydroelectric generators provided by our project partner Engineering Ministries International.

Nicaragua Block Press, John P. Mcgarry, Kathryn J. Rose, Derek A. Thrush, Jordan P. Criddle, Samuel Rivera, Robert Donley, Claudia Tolley

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

Friends In Action International (FIA), our project partner, is assisting the Rama people of Nicaragua in relocating from an overpopulated island to the mainland. Our team has developed a manual press for the Rama people to produce compressed earth blocks from local materials for construction of their homes. After testing an initial prototype of the press in Nicaragua it was determined that the press needed more durability. After testing two presses with welded chambers manufactured by E&E Metal Fab Inc., further modifications were required such as welding chamber skirts, adding a lid handle, and applying rust prevention coating. Once both …

Energy Monitoring And Management System, Nathan C. Feldgus, Zachary D. Schmidt, Bennett A. Andrews, Zach L. Gillen, Zachery D. Holsinger, Benjamin Weaver, David Williams

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Energy Monitoring and Management System facilitates access to electric power in regions with limited energy by increasing energy conservation and education. The solution consists of a meter which allocates a configurable daily energy limit per facility, and a display that provides practical information to the user including reporting how much energy they have used and how much they have left before their power is automatically cut off until the next day.

The current version of the system has successfully been installed in multiple facilities in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe, however software errors are preventing the system from meeting client …

Village Water Ozonation System, John M. Khamis, Benjamin K. Burlew, Timothy J. Malanga

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

Safe drinking water is something that all humans need. People around the globe face issues like limited access to water, water scarcity, and contamination of their water supply. Alleviating global water-related illnesses and deaths remains a prevailing challenge to overcome. With this in mind, the Village Water Ozonation System (VWOS) team works with communities to increase their access to safe drinking water. In the past few years, VWOS has had the privilege of walking alongside our partner communities in Mexico, Pakistan, and Nicaragua to develop sustainable drinking water solutions. Through collaborations with several Christian organizations such as Forward Edge International …

Remote Hand Pump Monitoring In Africa, Cory D. Brubaker, Amada H. Issis, Evan Freed, Daniel J. Labrie, Josiah J. Mccarthy

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

Millions of communities in developing countries rely on hand pumps installed by various non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Studies have shown that these pumps are often broken with significant delays before maintenance people arrive. During the last few years, the Intelligent Water Project (IWP), in cooperation with World Vision and AlignedWorks has successfully produced sensor units, installed on each water pump to provide state of operation information, which proves the feasibility of remote monitoring through a real-time web-based database. Currently, we are working to demonstrate reliability, improve accuracy, and prepare for production on a larger scale to expand the impact to more …

A Sustainable Mobility Solution For Persons Living With Disability In Burkina Faso, Helen R. Wiley, Brit Haseltine, Cory Hurst, Alexander D. Mantsevich, Katie Bunch, Faith N. Kerlen, Joey Sinsel, Matt Higgs, Rachel Delate

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Sustainable Mobility project of the Collaboratory empowers people living with a disability in rural West Africa to more fully participate in family and community life and makes possible the pursuit of educational and work opportunities. Our 3-wheeled off-road wheelchair has transformed the lives of dozens of clients through partnerships with the Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped in Mahadaga, Burkina Faso and the Center of Hope in Fada, Burkina Faso.

Now, to reach more people in new locations and with more partners, Sustainable Mobility is working to reduce manufacturing time and cost, author image-driven fabrication guides to enable …

3d Mapping With An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Johnny Greaser, Micah D. Lehman, Geoffrey D. Mcclary, Kyle E. Miller

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

Missionary aviation pilots often have to land their planes on remote airstrips that might be unsafe due to runway obstructions such as encroaching vegetation or large objects that were unknowingly placed on the runway. The Falcon Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) team is partnering with ITEC to develop an imaging system using a UAV to scan these airstrips to detect these obstructions. ITEC was founded by Steve Saint, the son of martyred missionary Nate Saint, to develop technologies to aid missionaries in their work. This video highlights the work of the Falcon UAV team and the basic terms and definitions for …

Sustainable Agriculture: Aquaponic Solutions, Landon R. Hacker, Jared Fonda, Noah T. Shreiner, Brandon M. Bickom, Micah Hess

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

The Sustainable Agriculture team is using a soil-free, closed-loop, agricultural technique called aquaponics to help lift communities out of malnutrition and poverty. Aquaponics techniques decrease the use of natural resources associated with growing crops. The Sustainable Agriculture team is partnering with Sheltering Wings, a non-profit based in Missouri who ministers with an orphanage and women's shelter in Yako, Burkina Faso and Transworld Radio, a Christian radio broadcasting station located in Benin. The team currently has a best practice prototype in operation. The system will be optimized to fit client needs. In order to meet those needs, the team has been …

Force Characterization And Manufacturing Of A Dynamic Unilateral Clubfoot Brace, Rebekah L. Forshey, William L. Feczko, Liam P. Lilienthal, Aaron Bashore, Brittney D. Fouse, Michelle Lo, Benjamin J. Mellott, Sam J. Rasinske, Leigha R. Southall, Jordan M. Witt

2020 Collaboratory/Engineering Symposium

Clubfoot is a musculoskeletal birth defect that is characterized by an inward twisting of an infant’s feet. The current method for correction involves several casts and a bilateral boots-and-bar maintenance brace. This method of maintenance requires 5 years of bracing and has issues with compliance, comfort, and social stigma. CURE International in Kijabe, Kenya is currently using the boots-and-bar brace but is interested in implementing a design that reduces these concerns. Mr. Jerald Cunningham, CPO, designed and is utilizing a unilateral clubfoot maintenance brace, the Cunningham Brace, which he expects will reduce treatment time to 2-3 years, lessen the social …