Since 2005, surging U.S. ethanol production has helped reshape the rural economy. Ethanol production has increased nonfarm activity in many rural communities. Moreover, increased ethanol production contributed to rising crop prices, increased net returns, and a jump in cropland values both...

Ethanol is vital to achieving greater American energy independence. It is today's only viable and available fuel that can be substituted for gasoline. Unlike oil, ethanol is renewable-it will never run out. As science moves from making ethanol from corn to producing it from corn cobs and other...

For many years, U.S. policy initiatives and incentives have favored the production of ethanol from corn. The goals have been to increase corn prices and farmer income, enhance rural employment through encouragement of value-added businesses, increase energy security, and produce additives and/or...

This article reviews changes in markets, technologies, and policies that affect corn ethanol profit-ability and industry expansion. Historically, the corn ethanol industry was stimulated by high petro-fuel prices, successful corn and processing technology improvements, and government incentives,...

Existing research shows an inverse relationship between urban density and the degree of income inequality within metropolitan areas; this information suggests that as urban areas spread out, they become increasingly segregated by income. This paper examines this hypothesis using data covering...

Hernández-Murillo and Owyang (2006) showed that accounting for spatial correlations in regional data can improve forecasts of national employment. This paper considers whether the predictive advantage of disaggregate models remains when forecasting subnational data. The authors conduct horse...

In January 2007, an ordinance took effect in Columbia, Missouri, banning smoking in all bars, restaurants, and workplaces. This paper analyzes data for sales tax collections at eating and drinking establishments from January 2001 through December 2007, including the first twelve months of the...

In standard economic theory, labor supply decisions depend on the complete set of prices: wages and the prices of relevant consumption goods. Nonetheless, most theoretical and empirical work in labor supply studies ignores prices other than wages. We address the question of whether the common...