1997 PRICING PERFORMANCE OF MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES FOR CORN AND SOYBEANS

The purpose of this research report is to present an evaluation of advisory service pricing performance in 1997 for corn and soybeans. Specifically, the average price received by a subscriber to an advisory service is calculated for corn and soybean crops harvested in 1997. The average net advisory price across all 23 corn programs is $2.32 per bushel. The net advisory prices for corn range from a minimum of$2.00 per bushel to a maximum of $2.74 per bushel. The average net advisory price across all 21 soybean programs is$6.40 per bushel. The net advisory prices for soybeans range from a minimum of $6.08 per bushel to a maximum of$6.99 per bushel.evaluation of advisory services, pricing performance, soybeans, C8, D4, D8, L1, M3, Q0, Z0, Marketing,

1995 PRICING PERFORMANCE OF MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES FOR CORN AND SOYBEANS

The purpose of this research report is to present an evaluation of advisory service pricing performance in 1995 for corn and soybeans. Specifically, the average price received by a subscriber to an advisory service is calculated for corn and soybean crops harvested in 1995. The average net advisory price across all 25 corn programs is $3.04 per bushel. The range of net advisory prices for corn is quite large, with a minimum of$2.34 per bushel and a maximum of $3.81 per bushel. The average net advisory price across all 25 soybean programs is$6.61 per bushel. As with corn, the range of net advisory prices for soybeans is substantial, with a minimum of $5.75 per bushel and a maximum of$7.92 per bushel.Agricultural Market Advisory Service (AgMAS) Project, D4, D7, D8, G1, G2, H4, H8, Q1, Z1, Marketing,

DEVELOPMENT OF A MARKET BENCHMARK PRICE FOR AGMAS PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS

The purpose of this research report is to identify the appropriate market benchmark price to use to evaluate the pricing performance of market advisory services that are included in the annual AgMAS pricing performance evaluations. Five desirable properties of market benchmark prices are identified. Three potential specifications of the market benchmark price are considered: the average price received by Illinois farmers, the harvest cash price, and the average cash price over a two-year crop marketing window. The average cash price meets all of the desired properties, except that it would not be easily implementable by producers. It can be shown, though, that the price realized via a more manageable strategy of "spreading" sales during the marketing window very closely approximates the average cash price. Therefore, it is determined that the average cash price meets all five selection criteria, and is the most appropriate market benchmark to be used in evaluating the pricing performance of market advisory services.advisory services, evaluating the pricing performance, market benchmark price, C8, C0, D4, D8, L1, M3, Q0, Z0, Marketing,

The Effects of Children's Time Use and Home and Neighborhood Quality on their Body Weight and Cognitive/Behavioral Development

We estimate a directional distance function to assess the impacts of multiple time-varying parent and child inputs on a cluster of jointly produced child outcomes for children aged 7 to 13 years. The directional distance function specification avoids several well-known empirical problems associated with analysis of household production data, namely, the need to aggregate inputs and outputs, assume separability among inputs and outputs, or estimate reduced form equations. Using a balanced panel of families from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Sample for 1996 to 2000, we assess the marginal contributions of home and neighborhood environmental quality and children's time allocations, on their math and reading performance, behavior problems, and body mass index. We also measure productivity growth, technical change, efficiency change, and technical efficiency for production of child outcomes. Our results indicate significant jointness among good and bad child outcomes. Significant improvements in children's good outcomes and reductions in bad outcomes are also associated with a better home and parent perceived neighborhood environment, Head Start participation, and increased family time spent together during meals. Children's productivity growth is found to be highest at age 8 years and diminishes thereafter.Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital,

1996 PRICING PERFORMANCE OF MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES FOR CORN AND SOYBEANS

The purpose of this research report is to present an evaluation of advisory service pricing performance in 1996 for corn and soybeans. Specifically, the average price received by a subscriber to an advisory service is calculated for corn and soybean crops harvested in 1996. The average net advisory price across all 26 corn programs is $2.63 per bushel. The range of net advisory prices for corn is quite large, with a minimum of$2.08 per bushel and a maximum of $3.12 per bushel. The average net advisory price across all 24 soybean programs is$7.27 per bushel. As with corn, the range of net advisory prices for soybeans is substantial, with a minimum of $6.80 per bushel and a maximum of$7.80 per bushel.Agricultural Market Advisory Services, G1, D8, D7, D4, G2, H4, H8, Q1, Z1, Marketing,

DO AGRICULTURAL MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES BEAT THE MARKET? EVIDENCE FROM THE CORN AND SOYBEAN MARKETS OVER 1995-1997

The purpose of this paper is to address two basic performance questions for market advisory services: 1) Do market advisory services, on average, outperform an appropriate market benchmark? and 2) Do market advisory services exhibit persistence in their performance from year-to-year? Data on corn and soybean net price received for advisory services, as reported by the AgMAS Project, are available for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 marketing years. Performance test results suggest that, on average, market advisory services exhibit a small ability to "beat the market" for the 1995 through 1997 corn and soybean crops. This conclusion is somewhat sensitive to the type of performance test and market benchmark considered. The predictability results provide little evidence that future advisory service pricing performance can be predicted from past performance. When services are grouped by performance quantile, some evidence of predictability is found for the poorest performing services, but not for top performing services.Marketing,

THE PRIVATE SECTOR APPROACH TO GRAIN MARKETING: THE CASE OF AGRICULTURAL MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pricing performance and behavior of market advisory services in corn and soybeans. Data on corn and soybean net price received for advisory services, as reported by the AgMAS Project, are available for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 marketing years. Performance test results suggest that, on average, market advisory services exhibit a small ability to "beat the market". This conclusion is somewhat sensitive to the type of performance test and market benchmark considered. The predictability results provide little evidence that future advisory service pricing performance can be predicted from past performance. Marketing profiles identify three marketing "styles": i) "scale-up" sales, ii) selective hedging and iii) "speculative" hedging. Advisory services tend to follow the same approach across crop years.Agribusiness,