Louisiana strawberry production has decreased over a period of years while national production has increased, leading to concern that Louisiana's strawberry industry might disappear. California, the leading producer state, has exploited its production advantages and marketing efficiency to...

The flow of nursery products through the different market channels has changed over the past decade. As mass-merchandisers market share increased, buyers of nursery product imposed conditions on nursery growers in terms of their business practices as well as the presentation of the product...

The federal government has recently approved legislation to develop revenue insurance products that are affordable and user-friendly for livestock producers. The features of the products will be the ultimate determinant of product acceptance among producers. The objective of the study was to...

The general objective of this research project was to study the consumption behavior of U.S. Hispanics for meat products. A comprehensive review of literature on the studies of U.S. Hispanic consumers was performed by means of a systematic survey; different sources of information useful in...

This study contributes to the literature on the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis by adopting a semiparametric approach under two levels of temporal aggregation to investigate the ELG hypothesis in the Philippines. To assess the impact of model specification on the ELG hypothesis, parametric...

This dissertation analyzed spatial agglomeration economies associated with the geographical distribution of the U.S. biotech industry. Three location issues associated with the biotech industry were addressed in the study. The first study utilized a Bayesian spatial tobit model and examined the...

This dissertation addresses three important price judgments: price fairness, price magnitude, and price expectation. Developed over three chapters, the main objective of this research is to determine underlying differences in these three price judgments. These differences are based on...

The general objective of this study was to provide updated estimates of value of the green industry in Louisiana. Data collection was conducted for the production sector (Nursery Growers and Sod Producers, and Landscape Design, Installation and Maintenance Services) and the Golf Industry. In...

This dissertation examines corporate use of derivative instruments and multi-period hedging methods. It studies the use of linear (e.g. futures) and nonlinear (e.g. options) derivatives in a sample of 382 U.S. non-financial firms (920 firm-year observations) between 1992 and 1996. It also...

In the past several decades, the international rice market has undergone major changes experiencing a strong expansion in traded volumes and in the volatility of rice prices. International rice prices are, furthermore, expected to remain at relatively high levels because of higher fertilizer and...