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Full-Text Articles in Business

The Impact Of Economic Factors On Consumer Health, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson L. Lusk Nov 2012

The Impact Of Economic Factors On Consumer Health, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson L. Lusk

Christiane Schroeter

This study estimates the relationship between economic factors and consumer health. The results show that increasing prices of food away from home are associated with decreasing the probability of risk factors and health conditions, which emphasizes the need to differ between multiple food types in health demand analysis.


Determining The Impact Of Food Price And Income Changes On Obesity, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson Lusk, Wallace Tyner Nov 2012

Determining The Impact Of Food Price And Income Changes On Obesity, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson Lusk, Wallace Tyner

Christiane Schroeter

Despite the significant rise in obesity in the U.S., economic research on obesity is still in its infancy. This paper employs a microeconomic approach to investigate the effects of price and income changes on weight in an effort to determine how a high-calorie food tax, a low-calorie food subsidy, and/or income changes affect body weight. Although raising the price of high-calorie food will likely lead to decreased demand for such goods; it is not clear that such an outcome will actually reduce weight. The model developed in this paper identifies conditions under which price and income changes are mostly likely …


Childhood Obesity In The U.S.: How Effective Are School Prevention Programs?, Christiane Schroeter, R. I. Carreira Nov 2012

Childhood Obesity In The U.S.: How Effective Are School Prevention Programs?, Christiane Schroeter, R. I. Carreira

Christiane Schroeter

This study uses a logistic regression to analyze the 2004-2005 Arkansas Center for Health Improvement body mass index data from four school districts in Arkansas. We conclude that the probability of elementary school children being overweight or at risk of being overweight depends on economic factors, demographics, and food availability.


Do College Students Learn By Correcting Missed Exam Questions?, Christiane Schroeter, Steven V. Green, Erin Bess Nov 2012

Do College Students Learn By Correcting Missed Exam Questions?, Christiane Schroeter, Steven V. Green, Erin Bess

Christiane Schroeter

This study determines the learning benefit of correcting missed exam questions. The results show that in addition to exams being an assessment tool, they can also be used as a tool for student learning. The availability of this information will provide help considering design, development, and improvement of traditional assessment methods for student learning.


The Impact Of Health Information And Demographic Changes On Aggregate Meat Demand, Christiane Schroeter, Ken Foster Nov 2012

The Impact Of Health Information And Demographic Changes On Aggregate Meat Demand, Christiane Schroeter, Ken Foster

Christiane Schroeter

Over the past few decades, U.S. meat consumption patterns have changed. Figure 1 shows the U.S. per-capita meat consumption from 1970-1999. Consumers have increased their total meat consumption by 9.3% from 1970 to 1999, however, the composition of the meat consumption changed as well. While beef consumption has consistently decreased since 1985 - that of poultry and fish have increased. Per capita pork consumption has not changed on average from the 1970’s to the 1990’s.


It’S All About Produce: Flexing The Muscles Of Western U.S. Organic Spinach Consumption, Christiane Schroeter, Xiaowei Cai Nov 2012

It’S All About Produce: Flexing The Muscles Of Western U.S. Organic Spinach Consumption, Christiane Schroeter, Xiaowei Cai

Christiane Schroeter

Over the past few decades, consumers have become more concerned about health and nutrition, which is displayed by an increased demand for organic foods. Once considered a niche product, organic food has become more affordable for consumers through its availability in conventional supermarkets. In 2010, organic food and beverages showed a 7.7% increase in annual sales compared to 2009 sales, with the highest growth rate of 11.8 % in organic produce (Organic Trade Association (OTA), 2011).


The Economics Of Health And Vitamin Consumption, Christiane Schroeter, Sven Anders, Andrea Carlson Nov 2012

The Economics Of Health And Vitamin Consumption, Christiane Schroeter, Sven Anders, Andrea Carlson

Christiane Schroeter

We estimate the impact of vitamin supplement intake, lifestyle, health indicators, food culture, and demographics on diet quality outcomes as measured by the Healthy Eating Index–2005 (HEI). Our data consists of U.S. adults who participated in the 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Alternative instrumental variable estimators explicitly address issues of endogeneity and complex sample design. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that diet quality is strongly interrelated with food culture. We suggest that vitamin consumption serves as another marker for healthy eating. This finding emphasizes the need to employ economic modeling when developing public policy to reduce obesity.


Reforming China's State-Owned Farms: State Farms In Agrarian Transition, Qian Forrest Zhang Aug 2012

Reforming China's State-Owned Farms: State Farms In Agrarian Transition, Qian Forrest Zhang

Qian Forrest ZHANG

China’s 2000 strong state-owned farms are experiencing a dual transition in the country’s economic reforms: the market transition (from state-owned enterprises embedded in the redistributive system to independent enterprises in the new market economy) and agrarian transition (from small-scale, household-based agriculture to large-scale, capitalist forms of agriculture that rely on market exchanges of land, labor and products). This paper highlights the results of a comparative analysis of the state farms and rural farming households in the agrarian transition to address the theoretical debate about agrarian transition. Using field research data from state farms in HeilongJIANG Province and drawing extensively from …


Applying Experimental Economics To Obesity In The Family Household, Mariah D. Ehmke, Travis Warziniack, Christiane Schroeter, Kari Morgan Jul 2012

Applying Experimental Economics To Obesity In The Family Household, Mariah D. Ehmke, Travis Warziniack, Christiane Schroeter, Kari Morgan

Christiane Schroeter

The objective of this study is to identify experimental economic tools that can be employed to explain the role of economic behavior in overweight and obesity in the household. We identify three economic experiments that can be used to understand how parent-child economic relationships relate to obesity. Loss aversion experiments are discussed as a tool to understand challenges some individuals face in achieving a healthy diet. Finally, testbed experiments are introduced as a means to test and understand new policies and incentives for better health at the household level.


Economic Factors And Body Weight: An Empirical Analysis, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson L. Lusk Jul 2012

Economic Factors And Body Weight: An Empirical Analysis, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson L. Lusk

Christiane Schroeter

With this study, we investigate the effects of changes in economic factors on body weight by constructing a utility theoretic model. The model is empirically estimated by combining data on individuals’ body weight, demographic and physical activity information, and state level measures pertaining to the prices of food away from home, food at home, and wages. By combining these data sources, we aim to estimate directly the weight effects of price and income changes. The empirical analysis suggests that decreasing the price of food at home could decrease body weight, a finding which has important public policy implications.


Obesity Economics For The Western United States, Mariah D. Ehmke, Tina Willson, Christiane Schroeter, Ann Marie Hart, Roger Coupal Jul 2012

Obesity Economics For The Western United States, Mariah D. Ehmke, Tina Willson, Christiane Schroeter, Ann Marie Hart, Roger Coupal

Christiane Schroeter

The estimated obesity-related health care costs across the Western region in 2008 were $16.2 billion (this is an inflation-adjusted estimate based on the work of Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, and Wang (2004)). 25 The Western populations, the percentage of obese adults in each state, and the estimated annual obesity-related expenditures by state are summarized in Table 1. The cost estimates include only direct health care expenditures related to obesity. The actual cost of obesity is much higher and includes not only obesity-related illness and disease, but also indirect costs resulting from missed work days and lower worker productivity as well as valued …


Factors That Influence Prices For Cool-Climate Wines: A Hedonic Analysis Of The Market For Riesling, Christiane Schroeter, Jennifer L. Ritchie, Bradley J. Rickard Jul 2012

Factors That Influence Prices For Cool-Climate Wines: A Hedonic Analysis Of The Market For Riesling, Christiane Schroeter, Jennifer L. Ritchie, Bradley J. Rickard

Christiane Schroeter

The price of wine represents various characteristics that differentiate each bottle, assuming that the majority of consumers use price as a signal of quality. The objective of this study is to analyze the drivers of Riesling prices, since this varietal continues to gain popularity and can be grown in all climates, including cool-climate regions. We expand the use of quality ratings by including interaction terms to express wine-quality and price-quality relationships. The results suggest that higher price premiums are associated with wines that earned high expert rating scores, and this emphasizes the importance of market-perceived quality signals.


Behavioral Economics: A New Heavyweight In Washington?, Sean B. Cash, Christiane Schroeter Mar 2012

Behavioral Economics: A New Heavyweight In Washington?, Sean B. Cash, Christiane Schroeter

Christiane Schroeter

No abstract provided.


The Political Economy Of Contract Farming In China’S Agrarian Transition, Qian Forrest Zhang Feb 2012

The Political Economy Of Contract Farming In China’S Agrarian Transition, Qian Forrest Zhang

Qian Forrest ZHANG

How does rural China’s political economy determine the motivations and constraints that drive small farmers and agribusiness companies into contract farming and shape its practice and impact? This paper identifies three distinctive features of contract farming in China—varied impact on rural inequality, unstable contractual relations, and lack of competitiveness with other alternatives—and proposes tentative explanations with three features in rural China’s political economy: strong collective institutions, active state support for agriculture, and strong domestic markets. The recent turn in China’s agrarian transition toward vertical integration of agriculture with industries is, however, undermining these conditions and may move China toward more …


The Rise Of Agrarian Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness And Collective Land Rights, Qian Forrest Zhang, John Andrew Donaldson Feb 2012

The Rise Of Agrarian Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness And Collective Land Rights, Qian Forrest Zhang, John Andrew Donaldson

Qian Forrest ZHANG

The article discusses the agricultural transformation taking place in the rural areas of China. Details about the Chinese laws regarding rural reform and the effect they have had on rural Chinese farmers and families are included. The authors examine the expansion of agrarian capitalism in China and describe the rise of agribusiness in rural Chinese areas. The practices of Chinese agribusinesses and the Chinese land rights laws are explored. The relationships between individual farmers and agribusinesses is also examined.


The Transformation Of Urban Vegetable Retail In China: Wet Markets, Supermarkets, And Informal Markets In Shanghai, Qian Forrest Zhang, Zi Pan Feb 2012

The Transformation Of Urban Vegetable Retail In China: Wet Markets, Supermarkets, And Informal Markets In Shanghai, Qian Forrest Zhang, Zi Pan

Qian Forrest ZHANG

The state-monopolised system of vegetable retail in socialist urban China has transformed into a market-based system run by profit-driven actors. Publicly owned wet markets not only declined in number after the state relegated its construction to market forces, but were also thoroughly privatised, becoming venues of capital accumulation for the market operators now controlling these properties. Self-employed migrant families replaced salaried state employees in the labour force. Governments’ increased control over urban public space reduced the room for informal markets, exacerbating the scarcity of vegetable retail space. Fragmentation in the production and wholesale systems restricted modern supermarkets’ ability to establish …