The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sale Prices

We examine the value of terroir, which refers to the special characteristics of a place that impart unique qualities to the wine produced. We do this by conducting a hedonic analysis of vineyard sales in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to ascertain whether site attributes, such as slope, aspect, elevation, and soil types, or designated appellations are more important determinants of price. We find that prices are strongly determined by sub-AVA appellation designations, but not by specific site attributes. These results indicate that the concept of terroir matters economically, although the reality of terroir--as proxied for by locational attributes--is not significant.

The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sale Prices

We examine the value of terroir, which refers to the special characteristics of a place that impart unique qualities to the wine produced. We do this by conducting a hedonic analysis of vineyard sales in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to ascertain whether site attributes, such as slope, aspect, elevation, and soil types, or designated appellations are more important determinants of price. We find that prices are strongly determined by sub-AVA appellation designations, but not by specific site attributes. These results indicate that the concept of terroir matters economically, although the reality of terroir –- as proxied for by locational attributes –- is not significant.swine, vineyard, hedonic price analysis

The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sale Prices

We examine the value of terroir, which refers to the special characteristics of a place that impart unique qualities to the wine produced. We do this by conducting a hedonic analysis of vineyard sales in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to ascertain whether site attributes, such as slope, aspect, elevation, and soil types, or designated appellations are more important determinants of price. We find that prices are strongly determined by sub-AVA appellation designations, but not by specific site attributes. These results indicate that the concept of terroir matters economically, although the reality of terroir – as proxied for by locational attributes – is not significantWine, Vineyard, Hedonic Price Analysis

Cooperation and Cheating

In this article, we extend the variable delivery claim framework (Cross, Buccola, and Thomann, 2006) to examine the option-to-cheat, that is, the option to shift production between contracts ex post. We use this framework to provide a solution to the age-old conflict between enforcement and the cooperative tradition of providing a "home" for member produce. We show that, in contrast to Nourse's competitive yardstick hypothesis, the value of the cooperative-provided option increases as market competition intensifies. When the option-to-cheat is fairly-priced, it is Pareto improving, increasing grower returns, lowering cooperative per-unit costs and reducing contract shortfalls for investor-owned rivals at no additional per-unit cost. Our valuation framework is consistent with replication-based equilibria and is free from parametric specification of individual preference or firm cost structure.Marketing,

Book Reviews

Book Review 1Book Title: Electron microscopy methods and protocolsBook Author: Editor M.A. Nasser HajibagheriMethods in molecular biology, Volume 117. Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey. 1999. ISBN 0-896-03640-5. Paperback, 283 pp.Book Review 2Book Title: Identifying British insects and arachnids: an annotated bibliography of key worksBook Author: Editor P.C. BarnardCambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1999. ISBN 0 521 63241 2. Hardback, 533pp

The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sales Prices

We examine the value of terroir, which refers to the special characteristics of a place that impart unique qualities to the wine produced. We do this by conducting a hedonic analysis of vineyard sales in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to ascertain whether site attributes, such as slope, aspect, elevation, and soil types, or designated appellations are more important determinants of price. We find that prices are strongly determined by sub-AVA appellation designations, but not by specific site attributes. These results indicate that the concept of terroir matters economically, although the reality of terroir – as proxied for by locational attributes – is not significant

New people: the younger informal settlements in central Durban

The report commissioned by the Department of Local Government and National Housing covers six survey areas, the first four of which are regarded as younger informal settlements closer to the city centre (Cato Manor, Kennedy Road, Briardene and Block AK). The remaining two are formal townships (Umlazi and Clermont) which have experienced informal housing areas within them. The report was completed by the Rural-Urban Studies Unit

The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sale Prices

We examine the value of terroir, which refers to the special characteristics of a place that impart unique qualities to the wine produced. We do this by conducting a hedonic analysis of vineyard sales in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to ascertain whether site attributes, such as slope, aspect, elevation, and soil types, or designated appellations are more important determinants of price. We find that prices are strongly determined by sub-AVA appellation designations, but not by specific site attributes. These results indicate that the concept of terroir matters economically, although the reality of terroir – as proxied for by locational attributes – is not significant.

Essays in incomplete agricultural markets

Agricultural revenues, the product of stochastic prices and yields, lead to markets which are incomplete, thereby entreating and complicating economic inquiry. The following three essays explore the incomplete nature of agricultural markets and consider the implications of incompleteness for a range of policy questions and economic tools. The first essay, "Cooperative Pricing Policy Under Stress: The Case of Tn Valley Growers," explores the incomplete contract markets that arise from unobservable yield processes. I formalize a common class of forward contracts, decompose them into a convex combination of yield derivatives, then derive the arbitrage-free forward price bounds. These bounds are used to show how the Board of Directors of a large agricultural cooperative, Tri Valley Growers, overstated earnings in order to liquidate financial equity. The second essay, "Adapting Cooperative Structure for the New Global Environment," follows up on the first by showing that the liquidating strategy Tn Valley's Board pursued was rational in terms of maximizing expected net present value of future cash flows, I derive a condition under which optimal equity retention is strictly greater for investor-owned than for cooperatively owned firms. Finally, I use ruin probabilities associated with the standard firstcrossing- time problem, together with numerical integration methods, to verify that this condition held under the market conditions in which Tn Valley and its investor-owned rivals operated. The third essay, "DEA and The Law of One Price," explores the effect of variable prices on technical efficiency estimation. Data commonly are furnished in value, rather than factor terms. This raises the question of how value-based DEA models coincide with factor-based models. A sufficient condition for the two models to coincide is that all firms face the same set of prices. In practice, however, prices commonly vary across firms. I show that, unless an unreasonable restriction holds, the two models do not coincide. I decompose the resulting estimation error into its technology and firm-related components. Using Farrell's original 1957 data set to illustrate, the resulting estimation error is found to be both systematic and one-sided