Impact of a Lock Failure on Commodity Transportation on the Mississippi or Illinois Waterway

This in-depth study for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce determines the economic impact of lock failures on the Illinois and Upper Mississippi Rivers.Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Livestock Production/Industries,

Impacts of Water Supply Changes on the Rice Market of Lao PDR: Stochastic Analysis of Supply and Demand Model

Laotian rice producers in upland areas experience highly fluctuating yields and production and producers in wet season rice areas in the southern region face high price risk. This paper examines the exposure to risk of producers in both regions facing changes in water supplies. A supply and demand model of rice in Laos, considering water supply changes, is developed and stochastic elements are added to the model to represent uncertainty in climatic variables. Furthermore, the risks associated with price and production fluctuation are evaluated by using the differences between market and certainty equivalent prices. The results show that the coefficient of variation of production is higher in upland rice than wet and dry season rice, i.e., 0.3226, and if the fluctuation of water supply increases 20%, the coefficient of variation of production will increase about 20% for all type of rice cultivation. In the case of expanding water supply fluctuations, potentially due to climatic change, the price risk of wet season rice will increase from 48.5 kip to 150.8 kip while that of upland and dry season rice will increase from 66.4 kip to 94.9 kip and 14.3 kip to 20.5 kip respectively. Examining provincial price risk of wet season rice, the differences between market and certainty equivalent prices are 56.3 kip and 33.9 kip in Champasack and Attapeu provinces. The regions or provinces which suffer highly fluctuating production and price risk may need to consider alternative water management and harvesting methods.water supply change, rice supply and demand model, stochastic model, Lao PDR, Q11, Q25, Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

EPA MANDATE WAIVERS CREATE NEW UNCERTAINTIES IN BIODIESEL MARKETS

Biodiesel, Biofuel Mandate, Waivers, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q11, Q16, Q42, Q48,

Mississippi River Research Conclusions Executive Summary

Briefing paper requested by Senator Bond detailing the conclusions from the Mississippi River research to date.Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Causes and Implications of the Food Price Surge

This paper analyzes the food price surge of 2005 to 2008 in order to better understand the factors causing higher and more volatile food prices during this period, to ascertain the relative importance and possible persistence of the different factors, and to suggest possible implications for future market behavior and policy reactions.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Implications of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard for State and National Ethanol Use

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

US BIOFUEL AND CLIMATE POLICIES DUEL OVER CELLULOSIC BIOMASS

Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Biofuels: Impact of Selected Farm Bill Provisions and other Biofuel Policy Options

Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Model of the US Ethanol Market

This report estimates the effects of public policy options and external conditions on ethanol and agricultural commodity markets, farm income and government costs.Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Making the market: How U.S. Policy influences near term agriculture and biofuel industry production and profitability under technology adoption

The beneficiaries of technology adoption in agriculture and biofuels markets in the United States are heavily influenced by domestic biofuel policies and market context. Biofuel mandates, one of the key pillars of domestic biofuel policies, may significantly alter the elasticity of demand for biofuels as well as the derived demand for maize used to produce a significant share of ethanol in the United States. Using a stochastic agriculture and biofuels model, we assess how the introduction of technology may affect the crops and biofuel markets under binding and non-binding biofuel mandates and discuss the implications for analysis of EU biofuel policies.biofuels, policy, technology adoption, mandates, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,