PRICE-CONDITIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Economics theorists for years have considered the possibility that the direction of technical change is altered by changes in relative prices. Prices also have been identified as one of the determinants of technical change through innovation. This article extends the theory of the firm to cover situations in which the firm’s' technology set is conditional on expected prices. The basic idea is to distinguish between “"market prices,"” or the prices that guide the firm’s choices subject to the technology that is in place, and “"normal prices,"” the prices conditioning the choice of technology. A “"generalized”" price effect is obtained that included the traditional price effect as well as the technical change effect of price changes, and an example is presented.Demand and Price Analysis,

Public Inputs and Productivty in the Agricultural Sector: A Dynamic Dual Approach

This paper introduces a dynamic model of productivity measurement based on recent endogenous growth theories. The model presented in this study is based on dynamic duality theory and incorporate public goods (public capital and R&D) as external factors to the firms. It also rationalizes the provision of public inputs by a benevolent social planner that internalizes the effects of them. Moreover, the Le Chatelier principle is extended for this dynamic duality modelin which the public factors are quasi-fixed for the firm and all firm-specific inputs can be adjusted in the long run. Therefore, increasing returns to scale over all inputs can still be tested at the long-run equilibrium perceived by the firm. Additionally, this model permits deriving testable hypotheses related to the two conditions of endogenous growth theory mentioned above. The model is tested with data for the U.S. agricultural sector.endogenous growth, dynamic productivity, public goods, duality, U.S. agriculture

Agriculture and Economic Growth: Theory and Measurement

The main theme of Mundlak’s Agriculture and Economic Growth is the importance of studying agriculture in the context of the whole economy rather than in isolation. Within this general equilibrium context..

Public Inputs and Endogenous Growth in the Agricultural Sector: a Dynamic Dual Approach

This paper examines growth in the U.S. agricultural sector under the conditions hypothesized by endogenous growth theory. Public capital and R&D are explicitly considered to capture the effects of public inputs in a model based on dynamic duality theory. Results support some necessary conditions for this hypothesis to be true.International Development,

Political Market for Agricultural Protection

Why do poor countries tax agriculture more than other sectors, whereas rich countries subsidize farmers? Using the neoclassical economic theory of the political market for Distortionary policies, an explanation is sought by examining changes to factors affecting the supply and demand curves in that political market. The aggregate effect of these changes is a shift in both the demand curves and the supply curve to the right as industrialization proceeds

PUBLIC CAPITAL, R&D, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND ENDOGENOUS GROWTH

The paper examines growth in the U.S. agricultural sector under the conditions hypothesized by endogenous growth theory. Public capital and R&D in agriculture are explicitly considered to capture the effect of public inputs. Results support some of the necessary conditions for this hypothesis to be true.Agricultural and Food Policy, Public Economics,

Prices and Productivity in Agriculture

Developing countries often tax agriculture heavily, a practice that might affect the productivity as well as the quantity of resources allocated to agriculture. A variable-coefficient cross-country agricultural production function is estimated, with past price expectations among the determinants of the production coefficients. Productivity\u27s responsiveness to the expectations implies that, had these developing economies eliminated price interventions, agricultural productivity would have increased by and average of 25 percent

A Nonparametric Frontier Measure of Marketing Efficiency: An Illustration with Corn Ethanol Plants.

This article extends nonparametric measures of efficiency to accommodate the concept of marketing efficiency, which measures changes in net revenues brought about by firms’ use of marketing channels other than spot markets. The measure is appropriate for firms operating under atomistic competition with imperfect information. The proposed measure displays two important features: (a) it uses the alternative of a spot price-based counterfactual to distinguish marketing from allocative efficiency, and (b) it allows for the fact that firms operate in different spot markets and have access to diverse sets of prices. We illustrate this approach with a unique dataset from ethanol plants in the U.S. Corn Belt. [EconLit citations: C61, D2, L2]

DYNAMIC PRICING OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROP TRAITS

This paper considers the time path of prices for crop traits such as herbicide resistance, specifically whether they conform to Coase's conjecture that monopoly prices can't be sustained on durables. While property rights determine whether such traits are durables, prices for RR soybeans and Bt corn are consistent with Coase.Crop Production/Industries,