Purpose – Pricing densities implied from options on live cattle futures show a persistent and negative skew. The purpose is to examine whether the skew can be explained, in part, by peso-type problems. Design/methodology/approach –Two announcements of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)...

Evidence of distortions is found in commodity options premiums around informational events. Option Greeks are used to uncover the nature of these distortions in terms of underlying factors. Both changes in underlying futures prices and implied volatility are mispriced.

Using an event study, we examine the impact of recalls for E. Coli O157:H7 on wholesale and farm-level beef prices. Prices for boneless beef, a high-volume product primarily used for processing into ground beef, react negatively to recalls, suggesting incentives exist for packing firms to adopt...

Simulations are conducted to assess the inferential accuracy of statistical event study approaches using daily futures returns. Methods examined include constant mean return models and several regression models—OLS, GARCH(1,1), and a GARCH(1,1) model having an error term with a Student's t...

LL601 is a genetically modified rice variety and unapproved for commercial use. Its presence was found in commercial shipments of U.S. rice in 2006. This article explores its impact on prices and volume marketed for both the United States and Thailand, the major export competitor. The results...

Meat and poultry recalls, while voluntary, are carried out under governmental oversight. If firms have financial incentives to avoid being implicated in a recall situation, governmental involvement in recalls may cause firms to internalize social costs when making investment decisions concerning...

This study investigates whether peers are a contributing factor in childhood body-weight outcomes. Using an instrumental variables method on exogenously assigned peers, we find that the weight of peers within the same grade and school significantly impacts body mass index (BMI) z-score of an...

We utilize a panel data set from 2007 to 2009 on the state of Arkansas to identify and determine the effect of food deserts on school district obesity rates. We define food deserts as low-income areas with limited food access. Using both classical panel data models and spatial error models, we...