Food firms can improve their profits by focusing on one or a few specialized activities because of efficiency gains and/or market power benefits. This study documents that profits increase with increasing concentration for firms in food industries whose top-4-concentration ratio is greater than 38%.

A micro-analytic approach based on an integration of elements from Agency and Transactions-cost theories, was followed to develop a theoretical framework for characterizing vertical coordination decisions at the firm level. Vertical coordination modes were defined as all possible arrangements...

This study investigates the reaction of the frozen pork bellies futures market to the release of inventory information. Knight-Ridder releases their analysts' forecasts of the USDA estimate two days prior to the estimate provided by the USDA. A rational expectations model is developed to study...