PRODUCTION STRUCTURE AND TRENDS IN THE U.S. MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES

The U.S. meat products industries have experienced increasing consolidation. It has been speculated that this has resulted from cost economies, perhaps associated with technical change or trade factors. It has also been asserted that increased concentration in these industries may be allowing the exploitation of market power in the input (livestock) and output (meat product) industries. These issues are addressed for the four digit SIC meat and poultry industries. Findings show that the beef and pork products industries tend to have similar structures, which differ from the poultry industries. None of the industries, however appear to have exhibited excessive market power, particularly when scale economies (diseconomies), and resulting reductions (increases) in marginal cost from output expansion, are taken into account. Also, technical change and trade (especially export market) trend impacts seem overall to have contributed to cost efficiency.Production Economics,

Cost Economies and Market Power in U.S. Beef Packing

Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries,

THOUGHTS ON PRODUCTIVITY, EFFICIENCY AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION MEASUREMENT FOR FISHERIES

Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

AUTOMATION OR OPENNESS?: TECHNOLOGY AND TRADE IMPACTS ON COSTS AND LABOR COMPOSITION IN THE FOOD SYSTEM

Productivity, technology, production costs, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

TECHNOLOGIES AND LOCALIZED TECHNICAL CHANGE

Heterogenous Technologies, Transformation Function, Localized Technical Change, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q12, O33, C35,

Distinguishing Different Industry Technologies and Localized Technical Change

This contribution is based on the notion that different technologies are present in an industry. These different technologies result in differential “drivers” of economic performance depending on the kind of technology used by the individual firm. In a first step different technologies are empirically distinguished. Subsequently, the associated production patterns are approximated and the respective change over time is estimated. A latent class modelling approach is used to distinguish different technologies for a representative sample of E.U. dairy producers as an industry exhibiting significant structural changes and differences in production systems in the past decades. The production technology is modelled and evaluated by using the flexible functional form of a transformation function and measures of first- and second-order elasticities. We find that overall (average) measures do not well reflect individual firms’ production patterns if the technology of an industry is heterogeneous. If there is more than one type of production frontier embodied in the data, it should be recognized that different firms may exhibit very different output or input intensities and changes associated with different production systems. In particular, in the context of localized technical change, firms with different technologies can be expected to show different technical change patterns, both in terms of overall magnitudes and associated relative output and input mix changes. Assuming a homogenous technology would result in inefficient policy recommendations leading to suboptimal industry outcomes.Heterogenous Technologies, Transformation Function, Localized Technical Change, Production Economics, Q12, O33, C35,

Firm Performance and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Transition Economies

Firm Performance and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Transition Economies Mahmut Yasar, University of Texas at Arlington, and Catherine J. Morrison Paul, University of California, Davis* Abstract We evaluate the performance of foreign-owned versus domestic firms, and the spillover effects of industry foreign share for five transition economies, namely Poland, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic. We find higher productivity, capital intensity, export and import shares, employment, and wages for firms with foreign ownership. Further, we find that industry presence of foreign affiliates of multinational firms leads to performance improvements for domestic firms that is, spillovers from foreign firms benefit domestic firms in these transition economies.Eastern Europe and Central Asia

TRACING THE EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY PRICES ON FOOD PROCESSING COSTS

Although food processing sector production is inherently linked to the availability and prices of agricultural materials (MA), this link appears to be weakening due to adaptations in input costs, technology, and food consumption patterns. This study assesses the roles of these changes on food processors costs and output prices, with a focus on the demand for primary agricultural commodities. Our analysis of the 4-digit U.S. food processing industries for 1972-1992 is based on a cost-function framework, augmented by a profit maximization specification of output pricing, and a virtual price representation for agricultural materials and capital. We find that falling virtual prices of MA and input substitution have provided a stimulus for MA demand. However, scale effects have been MA-saving relative to intermediate food products, and disembodied technical change has strongly contributed to declining primary agricultural materials demand relative to most other inputs.Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Organization,

SPATIAL AND SUPPLY/DEMAND AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES: AN EVALUATION OF STATE-AND-INDUSTRY-LINKAGES IN THE U.S. FOOD SYSTEM

In this paper we postulate, measure, and evaluate the importance of cost-impacts from spatial and industrial spillovers for analysis of economic performance. To accomplish this, we incorporate measures of "activity levels" of related states and industries in a cost function model, and estimate their associated thick market and agglomeration effects in terms of shadow values and elasticities. We focus on the food processing sector, the proximity of own-industry activity in neighboring states, and the supply- and demand- side "drivers", associated with urbanization and localization economies (represented by the GSP and agricultural intensity in the own and neighboring states). We find significant cost-savings benefits to a states food processing sector of being close to other food manufacturing centers (high levels of food processing activity in neighboring states). We also find it beneficial to be in a state with high purchasing power (demand), and to have neighboring states that are agriculture-based (supply). However, it also seems costly to actually be located in a heavily agricultural or rural state, possibly due to diseconomies from "thin markets" associated with infrastructure support and labor markets.Productivity Analysis,

Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Performance

We describe some perspectives on corporate social responsibility (CSR), in order to provide a context for considering the strategic motivations and implications of CSR. Based on this framework, which is based on characterizing optimal firm decision making and underlies most existing work on CSR, we propose an agenda for further theoretical and empirical research on CSR. We then summarize and relate the articles in this special issue to the proposed agenda.