The late 1990's is a period of substantive change in U.S. dairy policy with respect to import quotas, export subsidies, and classified pricing under state and federal milk marketing orders. An interregional model of the U.S. dairy sector is used to provide quantitative measures of the regional...

In this paper, we present an econometric analysis for the effects of a price floor on price dynamics and price volatility. A price floor (implemented as a part of government pricing policy) provides a censoring mechanism for price determination. We specify and estimate a dynamic Tobit model...

This study investigates the recent evolution of corn yield, with a special focus on the tradeoff between corn profitability and risk. The analysis relies on time-series data from Wisconsin experimental farms at the edge of the Corn Belt. An econometric model of corn yield, corn grain moisture,...

The paper investigates the linkages between technological change and production risk, with an application to corn. The effects of technology on risk exposure are characterized based on the properties of the risk premium. We define technological progress to be risk-increasing (risk-decreasing) if...

A firm model of production and hedging decisions is developed using a mean-variance preference function. Comparative static analysis of the model generates a number of testable hypotheses. For example, the influence of price risk, production risk and hedging cost on the optimal level of...

The paper investigates the value of biodiversity as it relates to the productive value of services provided by an ecosystem. It analyzes how the value of an ecosystem can be "greater than the sum of its parts." First, it proposes a general measure of the value of biodiversity. Second, this...

This study presents an econometric analysis of the effects of a government price support program on price dynamics and price volatility. Price support programs, a common feature of agricultural policy, provide a lower-bound censoring of the distribution of market prices. An econometric model of...

Canadian Special Milk Classes have been the focus of longstanding WTO disputes on whether they work as export subsidies. This paper models the Special Milk Classes and Commercial Export Milk (CEM) explicitly in the U.S. and Canadian dairy trade and finds their effects. The effects of trade...

In a period of market liberalization and multilateral trade negotiations, price discrimination for commodities with distinct markets provides additional policy options to support farm income. While both the USA and Canada have implemented price discrimination policies in their domestic dairy...