Food expenditures and subsistence quantities of poverty status and non-poverty status US households are analysed within a Linear Expenditure System that postulates subsistence quantities to be linear combinations of demographic variables. Using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' 1992 Consumer...

As the 1998 U.S. hog market collapse unfolded, Thorn Apple Valley ceased hog slaughter operations at its Detroit, Michigan plant. We examine the impacts on Michigan live hog prices relative to Eastern Corn Belt hog prices. Results indicate that Michigan producers' relative price advantage...

Structural models used to measure market power, though widely employed, continue to be criticized. We compare alternative market power tests, including nonparametric and Solow residual-based (SRB) tests. We develop SRB methods that permit nested testing for both monopolistic and monopsonistic...

Using the 1987–88 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, twelve food commodity groups were analyzed according to household poverty status. Parameter estimates were used to obtain subsistence expenditures, own-price elasticities, expenditure elasticities, and income elasticities. Own-price...

Traditional market power analyses of the U.S. cigarette manufacturing industry consider monopoly power exertion by manufacturers in selling cigarettes to consumers. Market characteristics combined with government policy make it plausible that manufacturers exert monopsony market power in...

Cigarette manufacturers' monopsony power exertion in procuring domestic and imported tobacco is investigated using nonparametric methods. While it is often assumed that tobacco program rents are captured by growers, results indicate the opposite actually occurs. Cigarette manufacturers appear to...