The three essays of this thesis research model selection and estimation issues in financial econometrics. Special attention is given to comparing various approaches used previously in the literature and attempting to compare their out-of-sample performance. Chapter two explores the value of...

This study examines the effect of increasing environmentalregulation on hog production in the U.S. domestic market and on thecompetitiveness of U.S. pork in the international market. Agriculturalpollution from animal feeding operations (AFOs) is becoming a majorenvironmental consideration in the...