Since the seminal work of Adam Smith, markets have been considered an efficienttool for co-ordinating the behaviour of economic agents. The basic characteristicof a market economy is that the complex system of interaction amongindividuals is not centrally coordinated. Under the assumption of...

Since the seminal work of Adam Smith, markets have been considered an efficient tool for co-ordinating the behaviour of economic agents. The basic characteristic of a market economy is that the complex system of interaction among individuals is not centrally coordinated. Under the assumption of...

The objective of this study is, based on the existing literature, to provide a general systematic characteristic of market structure models. We distinguish cost, production, profit, revenue functions, as well as the general identification approach as most plausible methods to measure the degree...

Seasonal variations of the price premium between bread and feed wheat indicate opportunities to profitably adjusting the grain marketing strategy of farmers that harvest (and store) both qualities. In this paper, we estimate the seasonal pattern of wheat price premiums on the German market by a...

Methyl Bromide in the United States is supplied by only four firms (two producers and two importers) who reap windfall profits from MB restrictions. Since 1992 we estimate that over $300 million in cumulative windfall profits have resulted from restrictions on Methyl Bromide and currently run...

In this paper, we show formally that cooperatives can possess an informational - and hence cost - advantage compared to For Profit Firms. This advantage is directly linked to the goal alignment between the cooperative and its members, and is influenced by the extent of income redistribution...

Over the last 20 years the cheese manufacturing sector has become the most important market for U.S. farm milk. Using a plant-level dataset encompassing the 1972-1997 period we examine the production characteristics of this industry. Using the results obtained from our cost function we estimate...

Using U.S. apparel catalogue data, we estimate hedonic price functions to identify market valuation of environmental attributes of apparel goods. We identify a significant and robust premium for the organic fibers embodied in the apparel goods. We find an additional organic premium for baby...

An optimization model is used to evaluate the economics of various components of a large agribusiness. The benefits of using interger programming are contrasted to traditional linear programming analysis in conjunction with outside-the-model budgeting analysis.

Market structure is tested in 47 subsectors of the US food industry between 1958-1994. All industries exert market power in at least some of the sample years. Deadweight loss estimates resulting from noncompetitive behavior ranging from over $5 billion in soft drinks to under $1 million in the...