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Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

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Articles 151 - 180 of 196

Full-Text Articles in Agricultural and Resource Economics

Information Pooling And Collusion: Implications For The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act, Kenneth Njoroge Jan 2003

Information Pooling And Collusion: Implications For The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act, Kenneth Njoroge

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper develops a conceptual model that analyzes the impact of increasing market transparency under the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 on the incentives for collusion in the U.S. meatpacking industry. More than likely, meatpackers will have asymmetric priors regarding the distribution of livestock prices. Moreover, they lack the incentives to voluntarily reveal their real priors. Thus, the enforcer of the Act faces a problem of asymmetric information regarding the informativeness of publicly disclosed market reports relative to that of packers’ priors. Analytical results predict that divergent priors of Bayesian packers can be updated by more informative market reports, …

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A Game Theory Approach To Deciding Who Will Supply Instream Flow Water, Ray Supalla, Bettina Klaus, Osei Yeboah, Randall Bruins Aug 2002

A Game Theory Approach To Deciding Who Will Supply Instream Flow Water, Ray Supalla, Bettina Klaus, Osei Yeboah, Randall Bruins

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The resource management problem for the Middle Platte ecosystem is the insufficient water available to meet both instream ecological demands and out-of-stream economic needs. This problem of multiple interest groups competing for a limited resource is compounded by sharp disagreement in the scientific community over endangered species’ needs for instream flows. In this study, game theory was used to address one dimension of this resource management problem. A sequential auction with repeated bidding was used to determine how much instream flow water each of three states – Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming – will provide and at what price. The results …

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Agriculture And Economic Growth: Theory And Measurement, Lilyan E. Fulginiti May 2002

Agriculture And Economic Growth: Theory And Measurement, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The main theme of Mundlak’s Agriculture and Economic Growth is the importance of studying agriculture in the context of the whole economy rather than in isolation. Within this general equilibrium context...

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Direct And Indirect Shadow Price And Cost Estimates Of Nitrogen Pollution Abatement, Saleem Shaik, Glenn A. Helmers, Michael R. Langemeier Apr 2002

Direct And Indirect Shadow Price And Cost Estimates Of Nitrogen Pollution Abatement, Saleem Shaik, Glenn A. Helmers, Michael R. Langemeier

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The implication of treating environmental pollution as an undesirable output (weak disposability) as well as a normal input (strong disposability) on the direct and indirect shadow price and cost estimates of nitrogen pollution abatement is analyzed using Nebraska agriculture sector data. The shadow price of nitrogen pollution abatement treated as an undesirable output represents the reduced revenue from reducing nitrogen pollution. In contrast, the shadow price of nitrogen pollution abatement treated as an input reflects the increased cost of reducing nitrogen pollution. For the 1936-97 period, the estimated shadow price and cost of nitrogen pollution abatement for Nebraska ranges from …

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Dynamic Pricing Of Genetically Modified Crop Traits, Richard K. Perrin, Lilyan E. Fulginiti Jun 2001

Dynamic Pricing Of Genetically Modified Crop Traits, Richard K. Perrin, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The issue considered here is the retail pricing of patented crop traits such as Roundup Ready herbicide resistance or Bt insect resistance. Our concern is not with the price of the seeds in which the traits are embodied, but rather with the implicit or explicit price for the traits themselves. Intellectual property rights are now available for traits, and while monopoly pricing of them has received some limited consideration in the economics literature1, no one has yet examined the possible implications of the durability of these traits as a factor in determining such monopolists' pricing behavior.

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Technical Change And Welfare In An Open Economy With Distortions, Richard K. Perrin, Lilyan E. Fulginiti May 2001

Technical Change And Welfare In An Open Economy With Distortions, Richard K. Perrin, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

'Iraditional measures of technological change, such as the rate of technical change, are based on producer-oriented prices. Here, we employ a general equilibrium analysis of an open economy to examine how the consumer welfare gain from a technological change, measured as Hicksian equivalent variation, is related to the rate of technical change, the biases of the technological change, and tax distortions in the economy. An analytical solution shows these relationships in a readily computable framework, and demonstrates that the rate of technical change will equal the rate of welfare change in only very unrealistic cases.

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Valuing Farmland Conservation Easements, Steven B. Mitchell, Bruce B. Johnson Jan 2001

Valuing Farmland Conservation Easements, Steven B. Mitchell, Bruce B. Johnson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

According to USDA estimates, more than 2 million acres of farmland are developed for urban and other nonagricultural uses each year. Nearly 30 percent of this acreage is considered prime farmland—farmland that has the soil quality, growing season, and moisture supply needed to sustain high yields when managed according to acceptable farming methods. Much of the farmland being lost lies in two of the nation’s major agricultural states, California and Florida, which account for much of the nation’s fruit and vegetable production. However, the land conversion process is occurring in every state to some degree. In Nebraska, thousands of acres …

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Slotting Allowances And Price–Cost Margins: A Note, Azzeddine Azzam Jan 2001

Slotting Allowances And Price–Cost Margins: A Note, Azzeddine Azzam

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

It has become common practice for retail grocers to charge grocery manufacturers a slotting allowance for placing products on the retail shelf. Manufacturers view the allowance as anti-competitive. Retailers view it as compensation for the risks associated with stocking new products. The largely theoretical literature on the subject is consistent with both views. This article proposes an empirical model to test the effect of slotting allowances on performance, and discusses if and how the model can be tied to the qualitative predictions of existing theoretical literature.

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Separating The Impacts Of Crop Diversification And Rotations On Risk, Glenn A. Helmers, Charles F. Yamoah, Gary E. Varvel Jan 2001

Separating The Impacts Of Crop Diversification And Rotations On Risk, Glenn A. Helmers, Charles F. Yamoah, Gary E. Varvel

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

It has been commonly accepted that crop rotations reduce risk compared with monoculture systems. Quantifying this phenomenon requires that effects of yield stability on risk (positive or negative) arising from rotating crops be separated from other risk elements. Using an ARS–University of Nebraska series of yields for corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] grown over a 14-yr period, both in rotation and in monoculture, the impact of crop rotation on risk was isolated and estimated. Risk was defined as the failure to meet an annual per-hectare net return target. A corn–soybean rotation had significantly …

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The Design Of Supranational Organizations For The Provision Of International Public Goods: Global Environmental Protection, E. Wesley F. Peterson Dec 2000

The Design Of Supranational Organizations For The Provision Of International Public Goods: Global Environmental Protection, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

An international environmental organization would need to be loosely structured initially with a focus on a narrow range of environmental issues. It also would need to emphasize consensus and limit the scope of its interventions to avoid defections by important participants. The benefits of such an organization include the potential for achieving more nearly optimal levels of environmental protection, cost savings from reduction of duplication and managerial economies of scale, and the strengthening of environmental interests in negotiations on the coordination of the environmental regime with other international regimes such as those focusing on trade or development.

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Flexible Cash Leasing Of Cropland, Roger A. Selley, Bruce B. Johnson, H. Douglas Jose, John D. Cole Jan 2000

Flexible Cash Leasing Of Cropland, Roger A. Selley, Bruce B. Johnson, H. Douglas Jose, John D. Cole

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

• Reasons For Flexible Cash Leases
• Advantages of Flexible Cash Leasing
• Disadvantages of Flexible Cash Leasing
• Incorporating Flexibility in a Cash Lease Arrangement
• Flexing Mechanisms
• Table I. Example of Cash Rent Flexed on Revenue
• Modifying Calculated Rents
• Separate Flex Mechanism for Price and Yield
• Table II. A Historical Distribution of Yields and Proposed Flexing Rules
• Table III. Evaluating Rental Alternatives using Historical Yield and Prices
• Setting Prices and Yields
• Summary

Agreeing on a cash rent can be a challenging task. Typically there is considerable uncertainty about what prices and …

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Estimation Of Demand For Wheat By Classes For The United States And The European Union, Samarendu Mohanty, E. Wesley F. Peterson Oct 1999

Estimation Of Demand For Wheat By Classes For The United States And The European Union, Samarendu Mohanty, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study estimates demand for wheat differentiated by classes using a dynamic AIDS model for the United States and the European Union (EU). The results suggest that imported wheat is more price responsive than domestic wheat in the U.S. market but not in the EU market. This may suggest that the Canadian policy that reduces prices of Canadian wheat in the U.S. market or U.S. export subsidies that raise prices of U.S., wheat could be expected to give rise to substantial substitution of Canadian for U.S. wheat. It is also found that in the EU, complementary relationships exist between spring …

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Have Price Policies Damaged Ldc Agricultural Productivity?, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Oct 1999

Have Price Policies Damaged Ldc Agricultural Productivity?, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper examines price policies and agricultural productivity in 18 developing countries over the period 1961—1985. We measure productivity with both a nonparametric Malmquist index and a production function, confirming previous findings of declining agricultural productivity, but with sufficient inconsistencies as to raise concern about the adequacy of the methods. We nonetheless find considerable support for the hypothesis that unfavorable price policies have damaged agricultural productivity performance in these countries.
Beginning in the mid 1960s and continuing into the 1980s the "green revolution" swept across the agricultural sectors of many less developed countries (LDCs), a revolution consisting of new varieties …

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The Value Of Additional Central Flyway Wetlands: The Case Of Nebraska's Rainwater Basin Wetlands, P. Joan Poor Jan 1999

The Value Of Additional Central Flyway Wetlands: The Case Of Nebraska's Rainwater Basin Wetlands, P. Joan Poor

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Waterfowl habitat is a biological resource which is neither bought nor sold in the traditional market sense. Nebraska, which is situated near the center of the North American Central Flyway, contains unique wetland habitat. Recognizing this, resource managers working in Nebraska promote regulatory protection of such areas. This study found that Nebraskans positively value their state's Rainwater Basin wetland region in that they are willing to pay to have it maintained and expanded. In addition, this study demonstrates how this value was estimated and illustrates how such a value can assist in policy decisions regarding habitat acquisition programs.

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Book Review: Pigs, Profits, And Rural Communities, Edited By Kendall M. Thu And E. Paul Durrenberger, E. Wesley F. Peterson Jan 1999

Book Review: Pigs, Profits, And Rural Communities, Edited By Kendall M. Thu And E. Paul Durrenberger, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Early in their introductory comments, the editors of this book claim that they “are not political activists and that [they] neither promote nor defend industrial agriculture based on any political agenda” (p. 4). Industrial agriculture, as understood in this book, includes large corporations, vertically integrated firms, multinationals, and anything else that seems to differ from what might be thought of as a traditional family farm. The editors suggest that their goal is to provide objective assessments of one example of industrial agriculture, large-scale hog confinement operations. However, as the introduction progresses, strange things seem to happen to this perfectly sensible …

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Agricultural Productivity In Developing Countries, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Feb 1998

Agricultural Productivity In Developing Countries, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper examines changes in agricultural productivity in 18 developing countries over the period 1961-1985. We use a nonparametric, output-based Malmquist index and a parametric variable coeficients Cobb-Douglas production function to examine, whether our estimates confirm results from other studies that have indicated declining agricultural productivity in LDCs. The results confirm previous findings, indicating that at least half of these countries have experienced productivity declines in agriculture.

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Externalities From Roaming Livestock: Explaining The Demise Of The Open Range, Terence J. Centner, Ronald C. Griffin Jan 1998

Externalities From Roaming Livestock: Explaining The Demise Of The Open Range, Terence J. Centner, Ronald C. Griffin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Fence-in laws in most states require ranchers to pay for fences to keep their livestock from trespassing onto others' property. Some states, or jurisdictions within states, have a fence-out rule that requires ranchers' neighbors to pay for fences to keep livestock out. Both rules are Pareto optimal. Using a potential Pareto criterion, we show that a preference for fence-out in some areas may end as conditions change, such as increased nonranching land uses. Changed conditions may have legal consequences. Specific fence-out and fence cost-sharing provisions may be potentially Pareto inefficient and may be challenged for being unconstitutional under the due …

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Ldc Agriculture: Non-Parametric Malmquist Productivity Indexes, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Aug 1997

Ldc Agriculture: Non-Parametric Malmquist Productivity Indexes, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Agricultural productivity in 41 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries from 1960 to 1999 is examined by estimating a semi-nonparametric Fourier production frontier. Over the four decades the estimated rate of productivity change was 0.83% per year, although the average rate from 1985-99 was a strong 1.90% per year. Former UK colonies exhibited significantly higher productivity gains than others, while Liberia and countries that had been colonies of Portugal or Belgium exhibited net reductions in productivity. We measure a significant reduction in productivity during political conflicts and wars, and a significant increase in productivity among those countries with higher levels of political …

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Platte River Basin Study, Report To The Western Water Policy Review Advisory Committee, Leo Eisel, J. David Aiken Aug 1997

Platte River Basin Study, Report To The Western Water Policy Review Advisory Committee, Leo Eisel, J. David Aiken

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This 1997 report analyzes water use conflicts between water supply and endangered species within the Platte River Basin in Colorado and Nebraska. It is a background report for the 1998 report, Water in the West, the final report of the Western Water Policy Review Commission.

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Productivity Measurement In The Presence Of "Poorly Priced" Goods, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Dec 1996

Productivity Measurement In The Presence Of "Poorly Priced" Goods, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Young (1995) estimated Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea. He reported moderate growth rates for these four regions. This means that rapid growth of GDP in these four economies is due mainly to fast increase of inputs. Young (2000) also estimated the TFP growth rate of China to be 1.4% per year during the period of 1978 to 1998. Similar to his claim for the four 'Asian Tigers', he concluded that 'the productivity performance of the non-agricultural economy (of China) during the reform period is respectable, but not outstanding.' China's real GDP grew …

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Färe, Rolf, Shauna Grosskopf. Intertemporal Production Frontiers With Dynamic Dea. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996, 208 Pp., Lilyan E. Fulginiti Dec 1996

Färe, Rolf, Shauna Grosskopf. Intertemporal Production Frontiers With Dynamic Dea. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996, 208 Pp., Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This work is a natural succesor for Färe and Grosskopf's previous titles. It's main contribution is...

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Irrigation Management Practices In Nebraska, Ray Supalla, William Miller, Benedict Juliano Sep 1996

Irrigation Management Practices In Nebraska, Ray Supalla, William Miller, Benedict Juliano

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Farmers have adopted a variety of new irrigation practices and technologies in recent years. These practices generally have led to better yields per unit of applied water, reduced labor, improved profits, and have often produced positive environmental impacts. Environmental improvements result from irrigation practices which reduce runoff or deep percolation below the root zone, hence reducing surface and groundwater pollution from pesticides and fertilizer.

Recently, a mail survey was sent to 5,000 irrigators in Nebraska, resulting in 898 useable returns. This survey provided information on how irrigators decided when to irrigate and how they determined the amount of water applied. …

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The Change From Red To White Meat: The Role Of Technology, Lilyan E. Fulginiti Jul 1996

The Change From Red To White Meat: The Role Of Technology, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Since 1950, the composition of the U.S. meat diet has shifted markedly from red meats to poultry. For example, from 1970 to 1984, on a percapita basis, beef consumption has declined by 6.4 percent, while chicken and turkey consumptions have increased by 37.9, and 42.5 percent respectively (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1985). The numerous studies of this phenomenon from the demand side (Chavas, 1983; Braschler, 1983; Nyankori and Miller, 1982; Moschini and Meilke, 1984; Wohlgenant, 1985, Thurman, 1987; Chalfant and Alston, 1988) have failed to achieve a consensus as to whether a change in taste contributed to this shift. One …

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An Allais Measure Of Production Sector Waste Due To Quotas, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Nov 1995

An Allais Measure Of Production Sector Waste Due To Quotas, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

In this paper we adapt a partial equilibrium approach of Allais and Diewert to measure the efficiency loss in the producing sector due to quotas. The measure of waste is the additional profits available due to reallocation subject to constraints that the welfare of persons and firms outside the sector is unaffected. An example is presented using the tobacco quota program in the U.S.

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Obligations And Penalties Under Lemon Laws: Automobiles Versus Tractors, Terence J. Centner, Michael E. Wetzstein Jan 1995

Obligations And Penalties Under Lemon Laws: Automobiles Versus Tractors, Terence J. Centner, Michael E. Wetzstein

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Distinctive new provisions of tractor lemon laws which create obligations and provide penalties for defective self-propelled agricultural equipment are contrasted with provisions of automobile lemon laws. Lemon-law obligations involve both producers' guarantees to provide consumers with a serviceable vehicle and producers' promises to remedy defects. Due to fewer manufacturer obligations under the tractor lemon laws as opposed to automobile lemon laws, tractors may be expected to have more defects than automobiles. Yet the tractor lemon laws contain fewer penalties in the form of restitution remedies. The inconsistences of these obligations and penalties suggest tractor laws may be inefficient.

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Almost Ideal Area Yield Crop Insurance Contracts, Vincent H. Smith, Hayley H. Chouinard, Alan E. Baquet Apr 1994

Almost Ideal Area Yield Crop Insurance Contracts, Vincent H. Smith, Hayley H. Chouinard, Alan E. Baquet

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Using yield data for a sample of 123 dryland wheat producers in Montana, the effects of three area yield contracts, including the contract currently offered by the United States Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and two individual yield contracts on individual farm yield variability, are examined. The results indicate that while the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation area yield contract provides all farmers in the sample with some protection against yield variability, a simpler, actuarially equivalent “almost ideal” area yield contract provides substantially larger reductions in yield variability. However, actuarially equivalent individual yield contracts provide levels of protection against yield variability similar …

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Interventions And Production Sector Waste In Ldc Agriculture, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Apr 1994

Interventions And Production Sector Waste In Ldc Agriculture, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Recent studies have revealed that less developed countries (LDCs) have been taxing their agricultural sectors at rates of 40-50%. This study uses quantity-based general equilibrium measures of deadweight loss to evaluate the cost of these distortions in 18 of these countries. The Allais-Debreu loss measures indicate that from 7–16% of either output or of the agricultural resource base has been wasted due to the associated misallocation of agricultural inputs across these countries. Agriculture is heavily taxed in less developed countries (LDCs), with combined direct and indirect tax rates of 40 to 50% being common. These levels of intervention surely have …

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Price-Conditional Technology, Lilyan E. Fulginiti Jan 1994

Price-Conditional Technology, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Economics theorists for years have considered the possibility that the direction of technical change is altered by changes in relative prices. Prices also have been identified as one of the determinants of technical change through innovation, This article extends the theory of the firm to cover situations in which the firms technology set is conditional on expected prices. The basic idea is to distinguish between "market prices," or the prices that guide the firm's choices subject to the technology that is in place, and "normal prices," the prices conditioning the choice of technology. A “generalized" price effect is obtained that …

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Measures Of Waste Due To Quotas, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Aug 1993

Measures Of Waste Due To Quotas, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper addresses the issue of measuring waste due to the imposition of a production quota. our objective is to elaborate two alternative general equilibrium concepts of the welfare loss due to the imposition of a production quota, and to illustrate their use by considering costs of the U.S. tobacco program.

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Prices And Productivity In Agriculture, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin Aug 1993

Prices And Productivity In Agriculture, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Developing countries often tax agriculture heavily, a practice that might affect the productivity as well as the quantity of resources allocated to agriculture. A variable-coefficient cross-country agricultural production function is estimated, with past price expectations among the determinants of the production coefficients. Productivity’s responsiveness to those expectations implies that had these developing economies eliminated price interventions, agricultural productivity would have increased on average by about a fourth.

In agriculture, as any other sector, output prices affect the amount of resources allocated to aggregate production. According to a review by Binswanger (1989) these movements along the supply function reflect an elasticity …

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