THE "NEW ECONOMY" AND EFFICIENCY IN FOOD MARKET SYSTEM: A COMPLEMENT OR A BATTLEGROUND BETWEEN ECONOMIC CLASSES?

Rapid developments in E-commerce can bring efficiency in the food market system by cutting transaction costs. However, it can also bring a battleground between developed and developing countries and also within developed countries because the New Economy emphasizes knowledge-based labor practices and low-skilled workers of trading nations compete for a shrinking need for their services. An Input-Output model is used to examine the effects on high-skilled and low-skilled worker demand, particularly in food and agriculture. The food and agricultural industries are significant employers of low-skilled labor. Food and agricultural trade has reduced low-skilled labor demand in the United States.Food and Agricultural Trade, Demand for High-skilled and low-skilled Labor, Input-Output Analysis, Marketing,

TRADE, TECHNOLOGY AND LABOR PRODUCTIVITY EFFECTS ON THE DEMAND FOR SKILLED AND UNSKILLED WORKERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR RURAL AREAS

An I/O model of U.S. is used to examine the effects of trade and domestic consumption on the separate and interactive effects of trade, technology, and labor productivity on the demand for skilled and unskilled workers for 1972, 1987, and 1993. The results suggest that trade has not been the major contributor to changes in demand for skilled vs. unskilled labor during the period examined, counter to the continuing debate on theory and on evidence supporting the trade- widening wage gap linkage. We found the ratio of high skilled to low-skilled workers was higher for exports than imports and has risen over time, suggesting that U. S. has moved toward more skilled-labor intensive exports. The effect of trade on rural workers is to reinforce structural trends already working to the disadvantage of rural workers.Structural Analysis, International Trade Impacts, Skilled-Unskilled Wage Gap, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital,

Labor-Force Heterogeneity as a Source of Agglomeration Economies in an Empirical Analysis of County-Level Determinants of Food Plant Entry

Results of this study show that a heterogeneous labor force serves to attract new food manufacturing investment. We conduct analysis for SIC 20, Food and Kindred Product Manufacturing, and disaggregate analysis on all nine three-digit SIC food industries. Heterogeneity variables are a significant factor in nearly all specifications. We also examine which factors create the greatest increases in the expected number of new establishments. Areas with a high degree of labor heterogeneity are found to have large advantages. Labor heterogeneity is among the most important factors attracting food manufacturing to urban areas over rural areas.agglomeration externalities, business location determinants, food manufacturing, labor heterogeneity, rural development, Labor and Human Capital,

Labor-Force Heterogeneity as a Source of Agglomeration Economies in an Empirical Analysis of County-Level Determinants of Food Plant Entry

Results of this study show that a heterogeneous labor force serves to attract new food manufacturing investment. We conduct analysis for SIC 20, Food and Kindred Product Manufacturing, and disaggregate analysis on all nine three-digit SIC food industries. Heterogeneity variables are a significant factor in nearly all specifications. We also examine which factors create the greatest increases in the expected number of new establishments. Areas with a high degree of labor heterogeneity are found to have large advantages. Labor heterogeneity is among the most important factors attracting food manufacturing to urban areas over rural areas.agglomeration externalities, business location determinants, food manufacturing, labor heterogeneity, rural development

IS LEONTIEF'S PARADOX APPLICABLE TO U.S. AGRICULTURAL TRADE?

The labor and capital intensities of U.S. agricultural trade during 1973, 1974, and 1976 are examined through an input-output model. The empirical results indicate that U.S. agricultural exports tend to be more capital intensive while agricultural imports are more labor intensive, a result counter to Leontief's paradox.International Relations/Trade,

SECTORAL EFFECTS OF A WORLD OIL PRICE SHOCK: ECONOMYWIDE LINKAGES TO THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

The effects of a world oil price shock on U.S. agriculture are analyzed in an economywide environment. We use an input-output model to analyze the direct and indirect cost linkages between energy and other sectors of the economy. Then, to allow sectoral output adjustment and the effects on the U.S. current account, we use the U.S. Department of Agricultural/Economic Research Service Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the sectoral effects under three different macro adjustment scenarios. The effects on agriculture are not limited to the direct and indirect energy costs and government support programs for agricultural also matter.Agricultural Finance, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Changing Consumer Food Prices: A User's Guide to ERS Analyses

USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) uses different economic models to estimate the impact of higher input prices on consumer food prices. The present study compares three ERS models. In the first two models, neither consumers nor food producers respond to market prices. We refer to these two models as short-run models. In the third model, both consumers and food producers respond to changing prices, and we refer to this model as a long-run model. Given published parameter estimates, we simulate the impact of a higher energy price on consumer food prices, and our empirical findings are consistent with our understanding of market responses. In the short run, we find that the full effect of an increase in the price of energy is fully (or nearly fully) passed on to consumers, because neither food producers nor consumers can immediately respond to changing prices. In the long run, however, the price response of food producers and consumers serves to mitigate the increase in consumer food prices.price-spread model, input-output model, variable-proportions model, food prices, energy prices, input prices, Demand and Price Analysis,

Labor-Force Heterogeneity as a Source of Agglomeration Economies in an Empirical Analysis of County-Level Determinants of Food Plant Entry

Results of this study show that a heterogeneous labor force serves to attract new food manufacturing investment. We conduct analysis for SIC 20, Food and Kindred Product Manufacturing, and disaggregate analysis on all nine three-digit SIC food industries. Heterogeneity variables are a significant factor in nearly all specifications. We also examine which factors create the greatest increases in the expected number of new establishments. Areas with a high degree of labor heterogeneity are found to have large advantages. Labor heterogeneity is among the most important factors attracting food manufacturing to urban areas over rural areas

Labor-Force Heterogeneity as a Source of Agglomeration Economies in an Empirical Analysis of County-Level Determinants of Food Plant Entry

Results of this study show that a heterogeneous labor force serves to attract new food manufacturing investment. We conduct analysis for SIC 20, Food and Kindred Product Manufacturing, and disaggregate analysis on all nine three-digit SIC food industries. Heterogeneity variables are a significant factor in nearly all specifications. We also examine which factors create the greatest increases in the expected number of new establishments. Areas with a high degree of labor heterogeneity are found to have large advantages. Labor heterogeneity is among the most important factors attracting food manufacturing to urban areas over rural areas