The U.S. paper industry has become increasingly concentrated and therefore been suspected of imperfect competition. In this study, the new empirical industrial organization approach is employed to measure the degree of oligopoly and oligopsony power in the U.S. paper industry simultaneously. The...

Zoning decisions related to residential lot size and density affect residential land value. Effects of size on residential parcel value in Roanoke County, VA, are estimated with fixed effects hedonic models. Parcel size; elevation; soil permeability; proximity to urban areas, malls, and roads;...

Using state-level data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we investigate the effects of household food-away-from-home and food-at-home expenditures on overweight rates, obesity rates, and combined rates. Our random effects model estimates suggest that food-away-from-home...

The crop insurance program has grown significantly since passage of the 2002 Farm Bill. Total premiums more than doubled from $2.9 billion in 2002 to $6.6 billion in 2007. This growth in the crop insurance program is due to a combination of greater participation by growers at higher levels of...

The four papers presented at this invited session examine various ways that economic analysis can be used to examine issues of water conservation strategies and policies. Three of the four are focused on water issues in Texas, and one examines a private insurance contract scheme for irrigation...

In this study we apply a spatial conditional logit model to determine factors influencing land cover change in three contiguous counties in West Georgia between 1992 and 2001 using point (pixel) based observations of land characteristics. We found that accessibility to population and population...

Government farm support programs such as Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP) and Counter-Cyclical Payments (CCP) have payoff structures that effectively make them costless price insurance instruments. A combination of these payments with yield insurance may provide a viable alternative to revenue...

This study uses a bivariate probit model with partial observability to examine Louisiana beef producers’ awareness of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and how awareness translates to application to the program. Results indicate that awareness of and application to the...

Estimates of price and scale elasticities for U.S. consumed shrimp are derived using aggregate shrimp data differentiated by source country. Own-price elasticities for all countries had the expected negative signs, were statistically significant, and inelastic. The scale elasticities for all...

The United States and Mexico recently resolved a decade-old water dispute that required Mexico to repay the accumulated water debt within one year. A Coasian analysis estimates the social welfare gains attainable to each country under an alternative debt repayment scheme that allows repayment...