Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Willingness To Pay For Country-Of-Origin Labeled, Traceable, And Bse-Tested Beef, Kar Ho Lim

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

While previous studies have investigated country-of-origin effect from various angles, it remained unexplored the extent to which Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) affects U.S. beef imports from specific countries. Using choice-experiment data, willingness to pay (WTP) for Australian, Canadian beef in addition to other enhancement attributes were estimated with a Mixed Logit Model and a Latent Class Model. The results revealed unobserved taste heterogeneity and important differences in the WTP between the imported and domestic steak. The Latent Class Model estimated the range of discount needed for consumers to switch from U.S. to Canadian steak was a range from $1.09 …

Water Quality Trading Markets For The Kentucky River Basin: A Point Source Profile, Ronald Childress Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This study assessed the feasibility and suitability of a Water Quality Trading (WQT) program within the Kentucky River Basin (KRB). The study’s focal point was based on five success factors of a WQT program: environmental suitability, geospatial orientation, participant availability, regulatory incentive, and economic incentive. The study utilized these five success factors, geographical characteristics, and Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR) to assess the feasibility of a WQT program.

The assessment divided the KRB into five eight digit Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUC), North, Middle, and South Fork, Middle Basin, and Lower Basin, to determine regional impacts caused by the nutrient PSs. Individual …

Male Farmers Coping With Loss Of Spouse: Impacts On Farming Operation And Family Life, Daniel O. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Losing a spouse is as devastating an experience anyone will ever deal with in his or her life. Research, however, shows that men have a harder and longer time coping with the loss of a spouse than women. When the widower’s profession is farming, there are no resources to specifically help that individual with their loss. The purpose of this research was to gain insight into the lives of widowed farmers with particular focus on transitions in their farming operation and their family life. Through their stories, we learn what is happening before the loss of the female spouse on …

Factors Affecting Feeder Cattle Prices In The Southeast, Kenneth H. Burdine

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Traditional factors known to affect feeder cattle prices, such as corn prices, have been questioned recently given the volatile nature of agricultural markets and some recent research findings. This work utilizes two very current and unique datasets to examine feeder cattle pricing relationships from Kentucky internet auctions and Certified Preconditioned for Health (CPH) sales. In addition to examining traditional pricing factors, factors that affect feeder cattle basis were also examined. Basis questions are of great interest in the southeast as transportation costs to major cattle feeding areas have been impacted by rising fuel prices and increased market volatility. Finally, price …

World Production And Trade Of Pistachios: The Role Of The U.S. And Factors Affecting The Export Demand Of U.S. Pistachios, Zijuan Zheng

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of the US in the worldwide production and trade of pistachios, identify and estimate the major factors affecting export demand for US pistachios in 21 major markets, accounting for 78 percent of total US pistachio exports. The study estimated the impacts of US pistachio own price, cross price, importing markets’ GDP, real exchange rates and effect of food safety shocks. A panel data analysis was conducted using data from 1989 to 2009. A Houseman test indicated that the random effects estimator was the chosen estimator. Elasticity analysis indicated that …

Factors Affecting Rural Kentucky Patients Hospital Choice And Bypass Behavior, Xiao He

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This study examines the underutilization of rural hospitals in Kentucky. The authors study hospital and patient characteristics to determine why and how rural patients bypass local rural hospitals and how they make their decision in the hospital choice. A Health Care Service Survey conducted in rural Kentucky and hospital data drew from American Hospital Directory are used. A binary probit model and a conditional logit model are applied. The results suggest that the hospital quality, prior experiences and the satisfaction of the local hospital, along with patients’ value of hospital size, reputation and patients’ insurance coverage influence rural patients’ hospital …

Participation In Agricultural Governmental Cost Share Programs In The Kentucky River Watershed, Pedro Miguel Fernandes Da Costa

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to review existing literature of factors that influence farmers’ decision to participate in conservation programs. This study is also intended to collect county data and information on conservation programs and participation in the Kentucky River watershed region, which can be analyzed and used to draw differences in characteristics of the region that would suggest willingness to participate in a trading scheme for improvements in water quality.

The results suggest that more participation in a trading scheme from some counties than others should be expected. Counties with more farms and larger farms will probably have …

Agricultural Intersectoral Linkages And Their Contribution To Economic Development, Vijayaratnam Subramaniam

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The transition from communism to capitalism at the end of the last century was one of the most significant events in the world economy since industrialization. During the latter part of the 1980s, people the Central and Eastern European countries and former Soviet Republics opted for a change from highly distorted command economic system to a market driven economic system. Privatization and liberalization policies led to major changes in the commodity mix and volume of agricultural production, consumption and trade. However, the changes and the impacts varied among countries as they followed different transition strategies.

This study investigated the impact …

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 …

International Trade And Industrial Geography, Fabien Tondel

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the impact of international trade on the geographic location of manufacturing activities and on regional productivity growth patterns within countries. This study develops models of trade with monopolistic competition in the context of a two-region country. It also provides empirical estimates of the e ect of tari policy on the distribution of industrial activities and on productivity growth di erentials across Colombia's regions.

The rst essay investigates the consequences of trade liberalization for the distribution of manufacturing activities between large and small cities. It presents an extension of the Melitz (2003) model of trade with monopolistic competition …

Regulation Of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: An Application Of Economic Theory To Firm Decision Making And Applications For Public Policy, Benjamin Gramig

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The livestock industry in the United States has experienced significant concentration and vertical integration in recent years. This change has resulted in greater observed levels of pollution attributed to concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) and society has attempted to use regulation to remedy these problems. Despite regulation at the federal and local level no documented improvement in water quality has been observed to date. This thesis is concerned with the response of profit-maximizing economic agents to the form of environmental regulation adopted at the federal level. A theoretical model of firm profit is proposed and analyzed using comparative statics to …

Simulating The Water Requirements And Economic Feasibility Of Corn In The Midwest, Wendi L. Palmer, B. J. Barfield, M. E. Bitzer, C. T. Haan

KWRRI Research Reports

An evaluation of the economics of supplemental irrigation when using a surface water supply must be site specific in order to account for variations in soil moisture holding capacity, watershed area supplying the runoff, climatic conditions, and proposed irrigation management procedures.

With the use of farm specific simulation models to determine grain yields, availability of irrigation water, and economic expenditures involved in irrigation, an economic evaluation of supplemental irrigation can be performed, In the model presented in this report, the Duncan SIMAIZ model is used to predict grain yields using long-term daily weather information. SIMAIZ also determines irrigation water demand …

Factors Influencing Rural Water Purchase, Charles R. Rosenstiel

KWRRI Research Reports

The following report is an analysis of factors which influence domestic water purchase among residents of a rural Kentucky county who must purchase hauled water, The results of the analysis are compared with previous studies of factors which influence domestic water use by urban dewllers participating in a piped water distribution system.

The results of the analysis of rural water purchase corroborates the findings from the studies of urban water use, showing that the amount of water purchased by a household is influenced by the socio-economic status of that household and by the price paid for water. As socio-economic status …