Testing for Oligopoly and Oligopsony Power

This paper extends the conjectural approach in industrial organization to the analysis of imperfections in output and factor markets simultaneously. Starting from the specification of a production function, the econometric analysis is based on the formulation and estimation of a simultaneous equation model consisting of a production function, first order conditions associated with factor employment, and two conjectural elasticities to parametrize the industry's oligopoly and oligopsony equilibria. As an example, we provide an application to the U.S. meat packing industry. Our results suggest that the industry excercised market power in both the output (meat) market and the factor (live animals) market.Industrial Organization,

IDENTIFYING IMPLICIT COLLUSION UNDER DECLINING OUTPUT DEMAND

The "trigger price" oligopoly model is used to develop a test for oligopolistic as well as oligopsonistic conduct by observing how an industry responds to unexpected declines in output demand. The hypothesis that U.S. beef packers maintain cooperative pricing strategies is rejected.Demand and Price Analysis,

Management Practices and Financial Performance of Agricultural Cooperatives: A Partial Adjustment Model

This paper uses the Nerlovian partial adjustment model to test the hypothesis that the rate of a cooperative's adjustment to a desired financial position is partially determined by its management practices. The results indicate that management practices that are board responsibilities are not contributing to the speed of adjustment in reaching the desired financial performance, which is the responsibility of the board of directors. But management, when independently pursuing management's responsibility or when working with that board on shared responsibility, does contribute to the speed of adjustment toward the desired financial goal.Agribusiness,

A CAUTIONARY NOTE ON POLYNOMIAL DISTRIBUTED LAG FORMULATIONS OF SUPPLY RESPONSE

This paper uses the Pagano-Hartley procedure to estimate the lag length and polynomial degree for the case of a quarterly hog supply equation. The results show that the nicely humped shapes which materialize when using the Almon lag may be caused by the failure in accounting for autocorrelation in determining lag length and polynominal degree.Livestock Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Environmental Regulations and the Structure of U.S. Hog Farms

The U.S hog production industry has been continually subjected to rapid structural changes since the early 1990s. The industry's move towards more concentrated large hog farms and geographical concentration of such farms, have triggered public concerns over the dangers such big animal feeding operations are likely to pose to the waters of the country. This study investigates the implications of state-level environmental regulations on the structure of hog farms. The results of this study suggest that environmental regulations will result in one of three possible scenarios: (1) a more competitive industry in which small hog operations are not adversely affected which will allow more small operations to enter rather than exit the industry; (2) a more concentrated hog production industry in which large operations survive while small operations exit the industry; (3) no change in the structure of the industry where both sizes of operations are not significantly affected by environmental stringency.Perfect competition, U.S. hog production industry, Environmental regulations, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

AGRICULTURAL PRICE SPREADS AND MARKET PERFORMANCE

Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing,

Market Power and/or Efficiency: An Application to U.S. Food Processing

This article separates oligopoly-power and cost-efficiency effects of changes in industrial concentration and assesses their impact on output prices in 32 food-processing industries. Empirical results indicate that although concentration induces cost efficiency in one-third of the industries, oligopoly-power effects either dominate cost efficiency or reinforce inefficiency, resulting in higher output prices in most industries. The article also provides fresh econometric estimates of oligopoly power and economies of size for the industries in question.industrial concentration, economies of scale, industrial organization, oligopoly power, food processing, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Productivity Analysis, L00, L11, L13, L66,

Circular and near-circular polarization states of evanescent monochromatic light fields in total internal reflection

Conditions for the production of near-circular polarization states of the evanescent field present in the rarer medium in total internal reflection of incident monochromatic p-polarized light at a dielectric-dielectric planar interface are determined. Such conditions are satisfied if high-index (\u3e3.2) transparent prism materials (e.g., GaP and Ge) are used at angles of incidence well above the critical angle but sufficiently below grazing incidence. Furthermore, elliptical polarization of incident light with nonzero p and s components can be tailored to cause circular polarization of the resultant tangential electric field in the plane of the interface or circular polarization of the transverse electric field in a plane normal to the direction of propagation of the evanescent wave. Such polarization control of the evanescent field is significant, e.g., in the fluorescent excitation of molecules adsorbed at solid-liquid and solid-gas interfaces by total internal reflection

Circular and near-circular polarization states of evanescent monochromatic light fields in total internal reflection

Conditions for the production of near-circular polarization states of the evanescent field present in the rarer medium in total internal reflection of incident monochromatic p-polarized light at a dielectric-dielectric planar interface are determined. Such conditions are satisfied if high-index (\u3e3.2) transparent prism materials (e.g., GaP and Ge) are used at angles of incidence well above the critical angle but sufficiently below grazing incidence. Furthermore, elliptical polarization of incident light with nonzero p and s components can be tailored to cause circular polarization of the resultant tangential electric field in the plane of the interface or circular polarization of the transverse electric field in a plane normal to the direction of propagation of the evanescent wave. Such polarization control of the evanescent field is significant, e.g., in the fluorescent excitation of molecules adsorbed at solid-liquid and solid-gas interfaces by total internal reflection