Ag Bankers -- Today and Tomorrow

A survey of 401 Iowa bank executives was conducted in October 2008. We received 106 valid responses. The survey requested information on expected loan growth and staffing levels for agricultural credit professionals over the next decade. In addition respondents reported the desired training and experience and expected compensation of new hires. Bank executives expect agricultural loans to grow over the next decade but at a slower rate than total loans. A gain in agricultural loan officer employment is expected net of retirements. Bank executives reported that soft skills such as problem solving ability and communication were more important for new agricultural loan officers than formal training in agriculture or business. Expected compensation levels and growth for new hires tend to lag those in competing industries.agricultural loan officer; employment; compensation; training; survey

Selling a Piece of the Farm Credit System

Agricultural Finance,

Financial Troubleshooting

This publication describes a simple framework that farmers, lenders, or extension specialists can use to identify the type of financial problem a farm business is experiencing, clarify the underlying causes, and list a number of management responses that could contribute to its resolution.

Firm Entry, Firm Exit, And Urban-Biased Growth

We introduce a taxonomy that classifies industries using three criteria: net growth in the number of firms; the interrelationship between firm entry and firm exit; and the degree of urban-bias in industry growth. We show that in 9 of 15 two-digit NAICS industries investigated, there is evidence of urban bias consistent with a comparative advantage to starting a business in urban markets. The urban advantage is due primarily to faster firm entry rates. Urban and rural firms have similar firm exit rates, consistent with a presumption that there are equal expected profit rates conditional on entry across markets. Urban areas grow faster because they induce faster firm entry and not because urban firms are more likely to succeed.Entry – Exit Pattern; Taxonomy; Urban-Bias; Expansion; Churning; Entrepreneurship; Economic Development

Firm Entry and Exit in Iowa, 1992 - 2004

This paper uses the pattern of firm entry and exit to develop a classification system for industries. The classifications include urban-rural bias; long-term growth; and firm survival patterns. The first captures the fact that sector-specific economic growth may be favored in urban areas for some industries and may benefit from low population density for others. Some industries have experienced long-term expansion in firm numbers while others have experienced a decline. Finally, some industries are characterized by high rates of both entry and exit while others have low rates of both. A taxonomy classifying industries according to those three criteria is developed in this paper. The taxonomy is applied to the Iowa subset of the National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) database over the period from 1992 to 2004. County level entry and exit rates are shown to be positively correlated across nearly all 2 digit NAICS code industries. Industry growth is found to be biased against rural areas. Not all of the industries experienced expansion or have a positive net entry rate. Entry of new firms replaces old incumbent firms in each industry but to different degrees. Understanding firm entry - exit pattern can help design customized policies of fostering expansion of specific industries in Iowa according to their location bias, industry growth patterns and development dynamics.Taxonomy; Expansion; Churning; Entrepreneurship; Economic Development; entry-exit pattern; location bias

Stopping Start-Ups: How The Business Cycle Affects Entrepreneurship

This study analyzes whether economic conditions at the time of labor market entry affect entrepreneurship, using difference in business start-ups between cohorts of college students graduating in boom or bust economic conditions. Those graduating during an economic bust tend to delay their business start-ups relative to boom period graduates by about two years. Our results are consistent with additional findings that higher unemployment rates at time of graduation significantly delay the first business start-up across all college graduation cohorts over the 1982-2004 period. The adverse effect of a bust is temporary, delaying but not preventing self-employment over the life-cycle.Entrepreneurship; boom; bust; occupatiopnal choice; survivor analysis; business cycle; cohort

After They Graduate: An Overview of the Iowa State University Alumni Survey

This report provides a descriptive overview of the Iowa State University Alumni Survey. In late 2007, 25,000 Iowa State University alumni who received bachelor's degree between 1982 and 2006 were surveyed to obtain information on their career paths, employment status, further education, entrepreneurial activities, community engagement and current income. The on-line and written survey resulted in approximately 5,500 valid returns.human capital; career path; bachelor's degree recipients; land-grant university; Entrepreneurship; personal income; community engagement.