This dissertation is comprised of three essays that investigate consumer behavior and health outcomes. The first essay uses experimental economic techniques to explore consumersâ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for nutritionally differentiated grass-fed beef. Our findings suggest that...

Imports of fresh fruits and vegetables to the United States have grown by more than 350 percent since 1989. Factors such as rising consumer incomes, the desire for greater variety and availability of fresh produce throughout the year, and a reduction in trade barriers through multi-lateral and...

This dissertation extends the Grossman-Helpman models of endogenous trade policy formation to incorporate local and global production and consumption externalities, and to allow governments to choose domestic production or consumption policies together with trade interventions. The models...

The unequal distribution of gains from technology between favorable and unfavorable rice environments in Asia can widen if future transgenic rice varieties cannot be adopted in less favored regions. This study investigates the potential economic impacts of three transgenic rice technologies:...

The dissertation examines advancements in the methods and techniques used in the field of econometrics. These advancements include: (i) a re-examination of the underlying statistical foundations of statistical models with binary dependent variables. (ii) using feed-forward backpropagation...

The agricultural negotiations in the World Trade Organizationâs (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (DDA) are calling for a specific Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for developing countries that will protect agricultural producers from import surges or price declines, and could potentially add...