Given the role electricity and natural gas sectors play in the North American economy,an understanding of how markets for these commodities interact is important. Thisdissertation independently characterizes the price dynamics of major electricity andnatural gas spot markets in North America by...

The dynamics of the U.S. and Canada natural gas spot markets are evolving throughderegulation policies and technological advances. Economic theory suggests that thesemarkets will be integrated. The key question is the extent of integration among themarkets. This thesis characterizes the degree...

An international wheat trade model incorporating climate variability is used to simulate different scenarios when wheat producers in the USA, Canada, and Australia adopt El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-based climate forecasts for use in production decisions. Adoption timing and rates are...

The economics of information is a broad field covering all aspects of information including decision making. We briefly describe 4 methods used to model the decision-making process. This is not an exhaustive list of the methods used to value information, nor are differences between the methods...

Machinery investments represent a substantial portion of agribusiness firms’ costs. Because of high machinery costs, variable profit margins, and increasing competition, agribusiness managers continually seek methods to maintain profitability and manage risk. One relatively new method is...

Economic aspects of household recycling behavior and attitudes in City of Bryan are examined to improve solid waste management policies in the city. Using survey data collected by mail and personal interviews, residents’ attitudes towards solid waste management are analyzed, in general, and...

Previous climate information studies have used static models to estimate the benefits of using seasonal forecasts. Technology adoption studies, on the other hand, have used dynamic models but have examined the benefits of adoption ex post. The objective of this study is to examine ex ante the...

In this thesis we study characterize the dynamic relationships among two electricityprice variables (residential and commercial) and six regional economic variables in orderto examine each individual variable??s role in regional economic activity. We also answerthe question ??Do electricity...

A recent outbreak of bird flu or avian influenza (AI), an especially highly pathogenicstrain (HPAI) of H5N1, started in Hong Kong in January 2003 and caused 159 humandeaths in Asia, Africa and Europe through early 2007. In addition, this outbreak resultedin millions of slaughtered birds and...

The paper considers univariate and multivariate models to forecast monthly conflict events in the Sudan over the out-of-sample period 2009 – 2012. The models used to generate these forecasts were based on a specification from a machine learning algorithm fit to 2000 – 2008 monthly data. The...