A MULTI-COUNTRY ASSESSMENT OF CONSUMER ATTITUDES OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR NEW LABELING SYSTEM

This paper estimates the willingness to pay (WTP) for non-genetically modified (GM) vegetable oil and tofu in Korea by using contingent valuation (CV) method and compares this WTP with Japan, Norway, Taiwan and the U.S. It also recovers the distribution of WTP by using a bootstrapping approach to provide a better measure of consumer's WTP on non-GM foods. Especially, we pay attention to the different characteristics of vegetable oil and tofu; vegetable oil made from GM soybeans doesn't have genetically altered protein, but tofu made from GM soybean has genetically altered protein. For this reason, vegetable oil made from GM soybeans is excluded from mandatory GM labeling system in Korea. Therefore, in this paper, the potential differences between WTP for non-GM vegetable oil and non-GM tofu are also investigated in order to evaluate the questions regarding the relevance of the introduction of new labeling system in Korea.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF MARKET LIBERALIZATION ON PRICE DYNAMICS AND PRICE VOLATILITY

The paper investigates price dynamics under market liberalization, with a focus on the effects of lowering price floors. We analyze price dynamics by specifying and estimating a dynamic Tobit model under time-varying volatility, where the market price is censored by a government-set support price. The model is applied to the U.S. butter market over the last three decades. The econometric results show how the price support program affects both expected prices and the volatility of prices. It is found that the censoring effects of a price support program can be significant and large even if the price support is set relatively low.Demand and Price Analysis,

A DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF A PRICE SUPPORT PROGRAM ON PRICE DYNAMICS AND PRICE VOLATILITY

This study presents an econometric analysis of the effects of a government price support program on price dynamics and price volatility. Price support programs, a common feature of agricultural policy, provide a lower-bound censoring of the distribution of market prices. An econometric model of market prices is developed using a dynamic Tobit specification under time-varying volatility. The model is applied to the U.S. non-fat dry milk market. It is used to investigate the impact of market liberalization on price dynamics and price volatility in the presence of private and public stocks. The econometric results show how the price support program and stocks (both private and public) affect expected price volatility.Agricultural and Food Policy,

THE EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING ON MILK DEMAND ELASTICITIES AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN KOREAN MILK MARKETS

This paper examines the effectiveness of generic commodity promotion program based on checkoff funds by estimating the demand elasticities of advertisement. Focusing on a possible structural change in terms of advertisement strategies, we model econometrically the effects of generic advertising on milk demand in Korean milk. Econometric results show significant differences in the effects of advertising on milk demand depending on whether the market is mainly characterized by either brand or generic advertisement (the generic advertising regime versus the brand advertising regime). The demand elasticity of advertisement is estimated to be smaller in the brand advertising regime than the generic advertising regime. This suggests a positive impact of generic commodity promotion program in Korean milk market. In addition, we found evidence that milk imports play an important role in characterizing two different regimes: a structural shift occurs when the imported amount of milk is significant.Marketing,

The Effects of Crop Generic Resources and Biodiversity on Agricultural Production: An Empirical Study on Rice Farming

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/20/06.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Mobile Informed trading leveraging social sentiment

Past works exploring the relationship between social sentiment and stock markets have been of great interest to investors and scholars across multiple disciplines. In this study, we debate whether informed trading is practically connected with social media information even though uninformed trading is commonly linked with social sentiment. We measure the probability of informed trading and perform analysis of covariance on a data set classifying firm cohorts on two trading channels, traditional and mobile. The results show that the influence of positive sentiment on informed trading is statistically significant for well-known firm group on the mobile channel. However, negative sentiment and other factors do not affect the informed trading in the same setting. This implies that social media is likely to be a channel for mobile informed trading, which is different from previous research. This study offers new insights into the economic impact of social media on the informed trading

Online Music Ranking Service: Ranking Mechanism Based on Popularity and Slot Effect

This paper analyzes music charts of an online music distributor. In music charts, the digital music provider displays a daily ranking of 1st ~ 100th and a weekly ranking of 1st ~ 1,000th songs on its website. And the ranking of each song is assigned based on streaming volumes and download volumes. This paper studies how the online music distributor should set its ranking policy to maximize the value of online music ranking service. Compared to the current ranking mechanism which is being used by music sites and only considers streaming and download volumes, a new ranking mechanism is proposed in this paper. A key improvement of the new ranking mechanism is to reflect a more accurate preference pertinent to popularity, pricing policy and slot effect based on exponential decay model for online users. A ranking model is built to verify correlations between two service volumes and popularity, pricing policy, and slot effect. An empirical analysis is followed to illustrate some of the general features of online music charts and to validate the assumptions used in the new ranking model. The results from the empirical work show that the new ranking mechanism proposed will be more effective than the former one in several aspects

ARE THERE SYNERGIES OR TRADEOFFS BETWEEN ARTICLES AND PATENTS IN UNIVERSITY AG-BIOTECH RESEARCH

This paper examines the empirical evidence for synergies or tradeoffs associated with the rapid rise of ag-biotech patenting at Land Grant Universities by examining the question of whether journal articles and patents appear to be complementary or competing activities in agricultural biotechnology research. The results show many synergies and none of the expected tradeoffs between the basic research represented in journal articles and the commercial proprietary research represented in patents.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

A Dynamic Count Data Analysis of University Ag-Biotech Patents

This paper examines the factors that account for ag-biotech patenting success among universities using a dynamic count data model. It builds a theoretical and econometric model to capture the inherently dynamic and nonlinear process of technological innovation, wherein a feedback mechanism from previous success partially determines current patent counts. The econometric estimates reveal the importance to ag-biotech patent production of land grant infrastructure, quality faculty, state and institutional funding, patent-oriented technology transfer offices, as well as dynamic feedback effects.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Trends in University Ag-Biotech Patent Production

This work exploits information on U.S. patents to identify trends in university ag-biotech patenting and citation performance. It sets forth some key issues concerning patterns of university ag-biotech patenting and then provides an empirical analysis on the evolving trends. Land Grant Universities account for most U.S. agbiotech patents. The data show a path dependent innovation pattern, in which there also seems to be a culture of patenting that develops at certain universities. Evidence shows that ag-biotech patents are more cited than the average university patent. Inequalities across Land Grant Universities are also evident in the production of agbiotech patents, although perhaps not to a much greater degree than underlying inequalities in funding and research qualities. The paper closes by considering how the evidence offered might be used to advance the public discussion regarding trends in agricultural biotechnology research in the U.S.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,