The current obesity crisis in the United States is generating numerous alternative policy options for combating the problem. One alternative that has been widely proposed is an excise or sales tax on sugar-sweetened non-alcoholic beverages. This literature started out within a very simple...

A framework for estimating cost effectiveness of the youth Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), one of the largest nutrition education programs in the US, is developed. Using costs and effects data from 15 program counties in Virginia for the school year 2011/2012, the cost...

The current obesity crisis in the United States is generating numerous alternative policy options for combating the problem. One alternative that has been widely proposed is an excise or sales tax on sugar-sweetened non-alcoholic beverages. This literature started out within a very simple...

Soybean producers participate in a checkoff program to support research and market development activities. Checkoff funds are used for both yield-enhancing and cost-reducing production research. Using USDA cost-of-production data and a regional modeling framework with greater model pretest...

Because so much agricultural policy analysis utilizes estimates of supply and demand elasticities, it is crucial to obtain the most reliable estimates possible. Where reliability cannot be adequately assessed, the sensitivity of elasticities to equally plausible a priori specifications should at...

This article examines factors driving technical change, technical efficiency, and scale and mix efficiency – all components of total factor productivity – in U.S. agriculture. We use economic theory and previous literature to identify explanatory variables affecting each component and...