ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

THE ROLE OF NON-PARAMETRIC APPROACH IN ADJUSTING PRODUCTIVITY MEASURES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

This paper addresses the role of non-parametric analysis in adjusting agricultural productivity measures for environmental impacts. The modified Tornquist-Theil index computed using shadow prices derived from the programming procedures is compared and contrasted with a non-parametric hyperbolic graph productivity index for the case of Nebraska agriculture.Nonparametric, Shadow price, Productivity, Environmental Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis,

NON-PARAMETRIC ENVIRONMENTAL ADJUSTED PRODUCTIVITY (EAP) MEASURES: NEBRASKA AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Traditional Total factor productivity [TFP] misrepresents the true change in agricultural productivity because environmental bads jointly produced with desirable outputs are unaccounted. Nonparametric measures incorporating environmental bads support the hypothesis that prior [after] to 1980's the traditional TFP overstate [understate] production growths, reflecting peak use of chemicals.Environmental Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis,

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND WELFARE IN AN ECONOMY WITH DISTORTIONS

Traditional measures of the benefits of technological change use producer prices. Consumer-oriented measures are more appropriate but they require knowledge of price impacts. They may diverge in the presence of distortions. This paper shows that in general equilibrium they are interrelated differing by the price effect of the technological change.Demand and Price Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

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,

Have Price Policies Damaged LDC Agricultural Productivity?

This paper examines agricultural policies in 18 developing countries over the period 1961-1985. We measure productivity with both a nonparametric Malmquist index and a production function, confirming previous findings of declining agricultural productivity, but with sufficident inconsistencies as to raise concern about the adequacy of the methods. We nontehless find considerable support for the hypothesis that unfavorable price policies have damaged agricultural performance in these countries.Agricultural productivity, developing countries, price policies

Environmentally Adjusted Agricultural Productivity in the Great Plains

This study adjusts 1960-1996 agricultural productivity gains in a panel of Great Plains states to account for the discharge of pesticide and nitrogen effluents into the environment. The agricultural-environmental technology is approximated with translog distance functions that allow us to contrast traditional versus environmentally adjusted productivity gains. Findings indicate technical change has been increasingly biased toward environmentally friendly production. While the environmental adjustment reduced overall productivity gains during the sample period, in recent years adjusted productivity outpaced the traditional measure, reflecting the pro-environment bias in technical change.agricultural productivity, distance function, environmental externalities, nitrogen, pesticides, technical change bias, Environmental Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis,

INTERVENTIONS AND PRODUCTION SECTOR WASTE IN LDC AGRICULTURE

Recent studies have revealed that less developed countries (LDCs) have been taxing their agricultural sectors at rates of 40-50%. This study uses quantity-based general equilibrium measures of deadweight loss to evaluate the cost of these distortions in 18 of these countries. The Allais-Debreu loss measures indicate that from 7-16% of either output or of the agricultural resource base has been wasted due to the associated misallocation of agricultural inputs across these countries.Production Economics,

Dynamic pricing of Genetically Modified Crop Traits

The issue considered here is the retail pricing of patented crop traits such as Roundup Ready herbicide resistance or Bt insect resistance. Our concern is not with the price of the seeds in which the traits are embodied, but rather with the implicit or explicit price for the traits themselves. Intellectual property rights are now available for traits, and while monopoly pricing of them has received some limited consideration in theeconomics literature1, no one has yet examined the possible implications of the durability of these traits as a factor in determining such monopolists' pricing behavior.Coase, dynamic monopoly, traits.

Diminished Corn Production and Ethanol Policy - Should the RFS be Waived?

The short corn crop and soaring prices due to the drought have brought forth appeals to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use its discretionary power to waive the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) for 2012, 2013, or both. This, it is reasoned, would reduce ethanol production, therefore reduce corn consumption by the ethanol industry and reduce corn prices. The desirability of these objectives aside, there are some pitfalls in the reasoning, which will be reviewed here. To provide perspective, this is another expression of the concern about using food for fuel, this time when grain supplies are limited by drought. It is true that grain shortfalls and price spikes in recent years have surely been exacerbated by the mandated use of corn for ethanol. It is also true that in the long-run we may have difficulty feeding the world\u27s population, even if no grain is used for fuel. But the issue at hand is one of the short-run, whether less food should be used for fuel in this drought year. The impact of eliminating the RFS for just a year or so is quite different than the impact of eliminating it permanently