AN EVALUATION OF MARKET ORDER GRADE CHANGES USING COVARIANCE ANALYSIS

Industrial Organization,

AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES AND SUBSTRUCTURES IN ARMENIA

The Armenian land privatization program is unique among former Soviet Republics in regard to the speed and completeness of its implementation. Armenia is the smallest of the Republics, with a population of 3.7 million, and was left highly dependent on outside sources for energy and raw materials for industries, and grain for its people and livestock. Privatization, began in 1991, was largely completed by 1993. The greatly increased number of individual owners created a need for major restructuring of the industries supplying agriculture and marketing its outputs. Problems in the substructures from technical supplies to storage and marketing are described. Recommendations are for the adoption of policies in the substructural spheres of agriculture that will contribute to the future development of agriculture in Armenia. These policies include improved contractual relations, cooperatives, niche marketing, and restructuring of various service corporations.Agribusiness,

An Analysis of a Special Cheese Promotion Program: Houston, Texas

Report for American Dairy Association of AMPICheese, Promotion, Houston, Texas, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

Tracking the Household Income of SSDI and SSI Applicants

Using panel data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation linked to Social Security Administration disability determination records we trace the pattern of household income and the sources of that income from 38 months prior to 39 months following application for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI). We find that the average applicant’s labor earnings declines dramatically beginning six month before application but the average applicant’s household income drops much less dramatically both in the months just before or just after application and over the next three years, and does so even for those denied benefits. However, we also found substantial heterogeneity in household income outcomes in both the SSDI and SSI applicant population. Our quantile regressions suggest that higher income households experience greater percentage declines in their post-application income. Such results are consistent with the lower replacement rate for higher earners established in the SSDI program and the low absolute level of protection provided to all SSI applicants regardless of income prior to application.

Disability Benefits as Social Insurance: Tradeoffs Between Screening Stringency and Benefit Generosity in Optimal Program Design

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) system is designed to provide income security to workers in the event that health problems prevent them from working. In order to qualify for benefits, applicants must pass a medical screening that is intended to verify that the individual is truly incapable of work. Past research has shown, however, that the screening procedures used do not function without error. If screening were error-free, it has can be demonstrated that it is socially optimal to distinguish the disabled non-worker from the non-disabled, providing benefits to the disabled. In this paper we first demonstrate that if the errors in the medical screening are too large, it will not be optimal to distinguish the disabled from the non-disabled. Then, we use data on the actual quality of screening to determine first, if segmenting the non-working population is desirable, and second whether the current SSDI system relies too heavily on screening than is justified. Our preliminary conclusion is that while screening is good enough to justify some distinction in benefits, it may not be good enough to justify the size of the benefit offered.

Market Response to Two Alternative Packages for U.S. No. 2 Grapefruit

Packages, U.S. No. 2 Grapefruits, Grapefruit, Alternatives, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

The “Little House” That Can

Thanks to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, I have recently been given the wonderful opportunity to direct a project that brings together both regional and specialized accreditors to reflect on some of the challenges to American higher education as they busy themselves with revising their standards and processes. It seems to me that we have some grounds for being optimistic about the “little house,” as we’re calling undergraduate colleges, but there will be two or three intermediate steps in reaching that conclusion. The first challenge, I think I’ve learned, is to be very clear about the difference between earning a degree and getting credentialed in something or other. The major difference between these two, as very well explained by Judith Eaton at CHEA, is general education. So, secondly, degree programs will be more what they ought to be and thus perhaps more successful the more they emphasize general education and a major together, rather than the major alone. That will require (third step) a highly integrated approach to student outcomes, curriculum design, and faculty responsibility. Finally, there will result a deeper and wider appreciation for those institutions that can do this best. And I think— to mix the metaphors shamelessly—that undergraduate colleges definitely have a leg up on this approach to higher education

The “Little House” That Can

Thanks to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, I have recently been given the wonderful opportunity to direct a project that brings together both regional and specialized accreditors to reflect on some of the challenges to American higher education as they busy themselves with revising their standards and processes. It seems to me that we have some grounds for being optimistic about the “little house,” as we’re calling undergraduate colleges, but there will be two or three intermediate steps in reaching that conclusion. The first challenge, I think I’ve learned, is to be very clear about the difference between earning a degree and getting credentialed in something or other. The major difference between these two, as very well explained by Judith Eaton at CHEA, is general education. So, secondly, degree programs will be more what they ought to be and thus perhaps more successful the more they emphasize general education and a major together, rather than the major alone. That will require (third step) a highly integrated approach to student outcomes, curriculum design, and faculty responsibility. Finally, there will result a deeper and wider appreciation for those institutions that can do this best. And I think— to mix the metaphors shamelessly—that undergraduate colleges definitely have a leg up on this approach to higher education

A New Algorithm for Computing the Square Root of a Matrix

There are several different methods for computing a square root of a matrix. Previous research has been focused on Newton\u27s method and improving its speed and stability by application of Schur decomposition called Schur-Newton. In this thesis, we propose a new method for finding a square root of a matrix called the exponential method. The exponential method is an iterative method based on the matrix equation (X - I)^(2) = C, for C an n x n matrix, that finds an inverse matrix at the final step as opposed to every step like Newton\u27s method. We set up the matrix equation to form a 2n x 2n companion block matrix and then select the initial matrix C as a seed. With the seed, we run the power method for a given number of iterations to obtain a 2n x n matrix whose top block multiplied by the inverse of the bottom block is C^(1/2) + I. We will use techniques in linear algebra to prove that the exponential method converges to a specific square root of a matrix when it converges while numerical analysis techniques will show the rate of convergence. We will compare the outcomes of the exponential method versus Schur-Newton, and discuss further research and modifications to improve its versatility