On Semantic Word Cloud Representation

We study the problem of computing semantic-preserving word clouds in which semantically related words are close to each other. While several heuristic approaches have been described in the literature, we formalize the underlying geometric algorithm problem: Word Rectangle Adjacency Contact (WRAC). In this model each word is associated with rectangle with fixed dimensions, and the goal is to represent semantically related words by ensuring that the two corresponding rectangles touch. We design and analyze efficient polynomial-time algorithms for some variants of the WRAC problem, show that several general variants are NP-hard, and describe a number of approximation algorithms. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate that our theoretically-sound algorithms outperform the early heuristics

Price and Cost Impacts of Concentration in Food Manufacturing Revisited

This study estimates the elasticities of wholesale food prices, cost efficiency, and market power with respect to industrial concentration in 35 food processing industries, modifying the model of Lopez, Azzam, and Lirón-España (2002). In contrast to the results of their earlier analysis, findings of this study indicate that further increases in concentration would result in significant processing cost savings (and Lerner index increases) in nearly all industries and that output prices would decline in nearly 50% of the industries, although significantly so in only 20% of them. As industrial concentration rises, price declines occur in industries with low levels of concentration while price increases occur in highly concentrated industries.cost efficiency, food prices, food processing, industrial concentration, market power, Marketing, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis,

LABOR STRIKES AND THE PRICE OF LETTUCE

This paper examines the economic impact of the 1979 labor strike against lettuce producer-shippers in the Imperial Valley of California. The theory presented suggests that formidable problems are encountered by agricultural labor unions in obtaining higher wages for farm workers. During the 1979 strike, ironically the returns to many of the lettuce producers in the Imperial Valley increased substantially.Demand and Price Analysis, Labor and Human Capital,

FLORIDA TOMATO MARKET ORDER RESTRICTIONS - AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR EFFECTS AND IMPLEMENTATION

Crop Production/Industries,

DEGREE OF COMPETITION IN THE U.S. PEANUT BUTTER INDUSTRY: A DYNAMIC ERROR CORRECTION APPROACH

Reforms in the U.S. peanut program entail a reduction in support price of peanuts. The degree to which price reduction is passed on to final consumers of peanut butter is directly related to the degree of competition in the peanut butter market. To assess the impact of changes in the peanut program on final consumers, it is necessary to know the degree of competition in the peanut butter industry. A dynamic error correction model (ECM) developed by Steen and Salvanes is estimated using nonlinear-three-stage-least-squares procedure to measure the degree of competition. Results indicate that the market is characterized by perfect competition in the short-run. The hypothesis of perfect competition is rejected in the long-run, although the long-run solution is close to a perfectly competitive behavior. This result has important implications for the peanut butter industry. Reductions in the support price of peanut may not be fully passed on to peanut butter consumer, but the consumers' welfare gain will certainly be much higher than what it would have been if the market was collusive in structure.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

Biases in calculating dumping Margins: The case of cyclical products

A dumping investigation involves comparing export prices with a “normal value” loosely defined as the price in the exporter’s domestic market observed in the course of normal trade. However, domestic sales with prices below production costs are excluded from the computation of a normal value; thus increasing the probability products with cyclical prices will get caught with positive dumping margins although there are no intentions to dump. The objective of the paper is to illustrate how price cycles impact the magnitude of estimated dumping margins. The empirical analysis focuses on Canadian hog exports to the U.S. and U.S. potato exports to Canada. The period and amplitude of each price cycles are estimated. The analysis starts with the assumption that export and domestic prices are equal so no true dumping occurs. Margins are then calculated based on rules that exclude below cost sales. The resulting average dumping margins for Canadian hogs and U.S. potato exports are respectively 11.5 and 5.9 percent. Biases in dumping margins depend on the nature of the cycle, the period of investigations, and the estimate of the cost of production.Anti-dumping; frequency estimation; price cycles; hog/pork trade disputes; potato antidumping case

The Degree and Sources of Oligopsony Power: An Application to the Haitian Coffee Market

Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

A STATISTICAL MODEL OF THE PRIMARY AND DERIVED MARKET LEVELS IN THE U.S. BEEF INDUSTRY

An annual dynamic model of the primary and derived levels of the U.S. beef industry was estimated by rational distributed lags. Geometric rational lags at the retail level were instrumental in establishing prices in the dressed meat trade and the slaughter and feeder levels. Polynomial rational lags characterized primary inventory supply, which, along with cattle and corn prices, determined the production of fed and nonfed beef. The results suggest that the short- and long-term market behavior in the beef industry is better understood when higher and lower order market interactions are taken into account.Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,