In this paper we consider the role of variety attributes in an agricultural household model of variety planting decisions. In an application to banana production in Uganda we derive a system of derived demands for a set of available banana varieties. Our empirical model uses a hudle/count data...

This paper summarizes research into the factors contributing to these low levels of adoption of improved maize varieties in Honduras. Empirical results indicate that transactions costs and production characteristics are important explanators of variety choice, consumption characteristics are...

These papers move beyond the questions of who adopts technologies to ask how preferences for characteristics (of maize in Mexico or cattle in Burkina Faso) affect adoption and how technical change differentially affects semi-subsistence farmers and how it affects productivity and yield...

The persistence and widening of the rural-urban earning gap represents a continuing empirical puzzle. Using county-level data, we estimate a fixed-effects empirical model of earnings response that differentiates the impacts of schooling, unemployment shocks and macroeconomic forces on per capita...

We develop a conceptual framework for quantifying fixed transactions costs facing semisubsistence households. Using household survey data from a sample of 324 Kenyan maize farmers, we generate estimates of household supply and demand schedules, as well as the price bands that they face. Our...

We estimate a model of net migration between Regional Councils for three age cohorts to test whether or not there are significant Maori/non-Maori differences. We find little evidence of a statistically significant link between worker mobility and labor market conditions. Only in the case of the...

A county-level labor market model is estimated for the thirteen Southern states. The model accounts for inter-county commuting, migration, and within-county adjustments to labor demand shocks. Econometric results indicate that most employment growth (60-70%) during the 1990s was accommodated by...

We estimate a local labor market model for North Carolina. The model accounts for inter-county commuting - in addition to within-county labor market adjustments - when a labor demand shock occurs. Econometric results indicate that migration accounted for no more than 20 to 30 percent of county...

This study uses a multi-market model of maize production to assesses the potential impact of "on-the-shelf" improved maize technologies on the welfare of rural and urban households in Kenya. We find that diffusion of technologies in favored areas is likely to have substantially greater positive...

We evaluate the impact of USDA’s low-cost broadband loan programs on the U.S. agricultural sector. The broadband loan programs increase access to high-speed internet in recipient communities, which can raise farm sales by increasing both farm output and prices received by producers. Further,...