This paper examines trends in the socioeconomic well-being in rural counties where Black residents represent one third or more of the population. These racially diverse rural counties (RDRCs) are located exclusively in the rural South and generally have low levels of economic well-being. On a...

This draft has been removed at the request of the author. Published as: Elton Mykerezi and Bradford Mills, The Impact of Food Stamp Program Participation on Household Food Insecurity, Am. J. Agr. Econ. (2010) 92(5): 1379-1391

The relationship between food assistance and inter-annual family poverty dynamics is examined using data from the 1995-2003 Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We generate expenditure-based poverty measures to examine the determinants of transient and chronic poverty, with particular focus on the...

This file was removed by the authors 04/20/09. See a heavily revised version of this paper at: http://purl.umn.edu/49095

Poverty measurement with data whose reference period is one year masks family exposure to poverty that only lasts for part of the year. We use quarterly expenditure data and decomposable severity of poverty indexes to quantify consumption-based intra-annual poverty, determine its causes and its...

Community colleges likely draw to college individuals who would otherwise not attend due to their low costs and open admission requirements. This is labeled as the democratization effect. They may also divert individuals away from 4-year to terminal 2-year college degrees (the diversion effect)....

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/23/09.

We investigate the determinants of organic farming in the United States. State-level data show that the organic farming sector has grown over the last decade, but growth has been very heterogeneous with few states accounting for most of the growth. Further analyses of county data reveal that...

This study examines the impact that participation in the Food Stamp Program has on household food insecurity using data from the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics. Two strategies are used to identify the causal effect of the program. First, endogenous treatment effect models are estimated using...