The supply of poultry meat is being augmented by hundreds of millions of pounds annually at little economic cost and no increase in the output of chickens or turkeys. The food-processing innovation responsible for boosting the utilization efficiency of our scarce food protein resources is mechanical deboning, a technique that separates the remaining meat from bones destined to be rendered into inedible products. The potential gains to society from further widespread adoption of this technology could be enormous. Therefore, it is important to have a clear understanding of the factors that affect the market supply response to this technology, as well as the impact of additional regulations governing its use.

In order to estimate demand elasticities of source differentiated beef in South Korea, this study used the quantity of an endogenous demand system derived through maximizing the economic welfare of market participants including local beef consumers and local and foreign beef suppliers. The demand system is then weighted with respect to quality adjustment parameters to identify the effects of quality differences in source differentiated beef on market demand. As implied by the high relative price of locally produced “Hanwoo” beef, substitutability between local and imported beef is shown to be very weak and the own price elasticity of South Korean beef is shown to be inelastic. Related to quality differences between source differentiated beef, South Korean beef consumers show a preference for Australian beef relative to U.S. and Canadian beef, perhaps due to BSE concerns.

This paper traces the economic impact of the costs of foodborne illness on the U.S. economy using a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) framework. Previous estimates of the costs of seven foodborne pathogens are disaggregated by type, and distributed across the population using data from the National Health Interview Survey. Initial income losses resulting from premature death cause a decrease in economic activity. Medical costs, in contrast, result in economic growth, though this growth does not outweigh the total costs of premature death. A SAM accounting of how the costs of illness are diffused through the economy provides useful information for policy makers.

Do cost considerations justify the current structure of production of extension services in which one or more providers exists in virtually all of the contiguous U.S. states? Provision of extension services has sizable cost implications for the host institutions. Yet, to our knowledge, there has been virtually no analysis of the impact of extension on higher education costs. Using academic year 1995–1996 data, we estimate a multiproduct cost function for 1,445 public institutions of higher education in the United States, including 65 that provide extension services. We find evidence of significant economies of scale with respect to the provision of extension services but no evidence of significant economies of scope between the provision of extension and the production of research, undergraduate education, or graduate education.

The Stollsteimer plant location model is a normative tool appropriate for deterrmning least-cost number, size and location of a subindustry's marketing facilities. Several modification and extensions of the basic model have increased its value to the applied economist. Ladd and Halvorson developed a procedure to determine sensitivity of the optimal solution to variation in model parameters, i.e., the researcher may resolve how magnitude cost parameters are altered before the solution becomes non-optimal. The basic model's solution procedure prevented application where large numbers of potential plant sites were involved. A recent modification by Warrack and Fletcher effects a reduction in required computer time by approximating optimization, thus increasing size of plant location problems investigated. Polopolus extended the basic model to encompass multiple product plants and, in collaboration with Chern, modified the basic Stollsteimer model to permit substitution of a discontinuous, long-run plant cost function for the strategically assumed continuous linear form. Prior to the latter modification, the basic model accommodated only a long-run total plant cost function which was linear with a positive intercept.

For many years my interest in farm policy was focused on the substance of the issues we confronted. What were the alternative means by which the current questions could be answered? What were the consequences of the alternative solutions? But recently I have found myself focusing on a different set of questions. These questions have to do, not with the substance of the items that happen to be on the agenda, but with the makeup of the agenda itself. How did the present questions get on the agenda? Who is intent on keeping them there? What other questions are there, questions not on the agenda? Who wants to put them on? In short, are we asking the right questions? Many years of teaching have convinced me that it is very difficult to get the right answer if we ask the wrong questions.

Economic events since the 1972–73 crop year have generated much interest in cottonseed prices. Cotton producers, observing a doubling of wholesale prices of cottonseed oil and meal during the last three years, have wondered whether they are getting an equitable share of this increased income. They have largely stopped thinking of their cottonseed as merely a means of payment for ginning charges and have begun to regard it as a potential source of supplementary income.

The limited objective of this paper is to examine, by regions, the wholesale marketing margin for cottonseed during the crop years of 1958–1973 in order to (1) more clearly determine how the marketing margin has behaved and (2) discover differences, if any, among regional marketing margins.

Regression analysis with its many modifications and extensions plays a dominant role as an analytical tool in economic research. The linear regression model with random coefficients (hereafter RCR for random coefficient regression) provides a generalization of the classical linear regression model and permits a more realistic specification of the real world than does the classical model. As a consequence RCR will probably play an increasingly important role in econometric analysis of a wide class of problems-particularly as probabilistic micro-economic theory develops.

The USDA's Food Stamp Program (FSP) is a major item in the department's budget. In effect from 1939 to 1943 and revived as a pilot program in 1961, FSP has grown until, in 1973, it provided nearly $4 billion in food stamps to an average of 12 million persons per month. About 55 percent of the $4 billion is federal subsidy. The program is continuing to expand as a result of a congressional mandate that FSP be in effect nationwide after June 30, 1974. Because of the FSP's growth, questions are now being asked about the program's impact on demand for food in the United States.

In its pre-World War II inception, FSP was developed as an alternative to direct distribution of commodities to relief families. Although the objective of improving food consumption among needy households was recognized, FSP was viewed primarily as a method for stimulating demand for farm products.

The behavior of agricultural commodity markets can arguably result in markedly asymmetric price cycles, that is, downward cycles of substantially different length and breadth than upward cycles. This study assesses whether asymmetric-cycle models can enhance the understanding of the dynamics and provide for a better forecasting of U.S. soybeans and Brazilian coffee prices. The forecasts from asymmetric cycle models are found to be substantially mode precise than those obtained from standard autoregressive models. The asymmetric cycle models also provide useful insights on the markedly different dynamics of the upward vs. the downward cycles exhibited by the prices of these two commodities.

Entomologists and other pest control specialists recognize that pest mobility creates difficulties when control is left to individual property owners. Control of mobile weeds, insects or contagious diseases has characteristics of a public good with high exclusion costs and near equal availability to all people in the affected area. If abatement benefits for areas to which the pest is spreading are not considered, there will be under production of abatement. Cooperatives, county abatement districts or state and federal agencies are often set up to administer area-wide abatement efforts. Economies of scale in pesticide treatments, coordination of efforts to limit spatial spread of the pest (quarantine activities) and scale economies in technology to reduce adverse side effects of pesticides are given as justifications for public or large-scale pest control programs.

With the industrialization that has been occurring in the agricultural sector, various agricultural commodity interests are increasingly recognizing the need for an organization for marketing. Once formed, commodity organizations commonly wish to develop markets for their product but likely lack the expertise to evaluate alternatives open to their organization for market development. In addition, no comprehensive statement of the market development concept has appeared in the literature. This situation lends impetus to the need for a definition and description of market development along with the alternatives which may exist for various marketing institutions.

Remarkable changes have occurred over the years in the domestic andinternational economic environment of the fruit and vegetable industry.These changes are partly driven by the North American Free Trade Agreement,nutrition policies, and development and enforcement of new food safetystandards. The articles in this invited session examined the effect of thesedrivers and their implication on the future competitiveness of the southernfruit and vegetable industry.

Stocker cattle operations are an important part of the nation's cattle industry. Many producers do not realize the profit potential in new technological advances, and some feed their cattle on uneconomic planes of nutrition. Stocker cattle producers can benefit from results of animal science and agronomic research if they are presented in a framework suited to use in decision-making. Analyses prepared by agricultural economists often ignore many of the factors determining gain because of lack of data and complexity of the relationships. Thus, a system for economic analysis that accounts for more factors and improves growth predictions would be highly useful. The purpose of this study is to develop and provide computerized analytical procedures to estimate physical and economic results of alternative stocker production systems.

As the farm-to-retail price spread continues to grow, some cattle producers are beginning to consider integrating into the retail sector. Such a venture would require large investments in capital with uncertain return. This study seeks to determine the potential success of a stand-alone retail outlet selling “all natural” beef in an affluent area of Jackson, MS. Using choice-based conjoint analysis, demand for the new retail outlet is modeled as a function of the beef price at the store, distance of the store from consumers' homes, distance of the store from consumers' typical grocery store, and price of beef at substitute grocery stores. Simulation results suggest the proposed outlet could be a profitable venture, depending upon location and beef price.

The economic distortions that have been caused by federal regulation of natural gas markets have been the subject of many recent studies (Committee for Economic Development [CED]; Brickhill; Hall; MacAvoy and Pindyck; and Means). The most recent policy debate concerns the relative merits of alternatives to the price deregulation schedule of the 1978 Natural Gas Policy Act (NGPA). The range of options runs from freezing natural gas prices at current levels to complete decontrol of natural gas prices by January 1, 1986. Producers of natural gas, pipelines, distribution utilities, and end users all suffer from some sort of economic distortion under the NGPA (CED, pp. 50-60).

Criticism of current agricultural programs is coming from within and outside agriculture. Secretary Bergland in recent “grassroots hearings” has called for new approaches in agricultural policy in which recipient benefits do not hinge on size of farming operation. Hjort suggests that despite widespread agreement on the objective of encouraging the family farm, “the cumulative effect of our farm programs may well have been to hasten the concentration of the farm sector….” (Hjort, p. 748). Producers of flue-cured tobacco voted overwhelmingly in December 1979 to continue a program but are upset about high quota rental prices. Outside agriculture, consumers are unhappy about the effects of farm programs on prices of milk, sugar, and other products. Students of the political process are concerned about the effects of the use of state power by small, politically powerful groups to secure economic gains.