A SYMMETRIC APPROACH TO CANADIAN MEAT DEMAND ESTIMATION

Variability in published meat demand elasticity estimates for Canada motivates examining the importance of dynamics and endogeneity of right-hand-side variables. Wickens and Breusch suggest a re-parameterization of dynamics which allows estimating the long-run parameters directly and maintains linearity. A symmetric approach, employing both ordinary and inverse demand systems, to endogeneity of right-hand-side variables is used. Endogeneity of both prices and quantities is examined. Results show both dynamics and endogeneity are important in quarterly Canadian meat demand.Demand and Price Analysis,

THE INVERSE LEWBEL DEMAND SYSTEM

A new model of consumer preferences is introduced. It is appropriate for modeling perishable commodities which are produced with a lag, where it is reasonable to assume the market-level quantities are fixed by previously made production decisions. The inverse Lewbel system, as it is called, is a flexible nonlinear system of share equations, which nests two other inverse demand systems, the direct translog and the inverse AIDS. Thus, the inverse Lewbel may be employed to test whether these more restrictive preference structures are appropriate. In an application to quarterly U.S. meat consumption, the more restrictive structures are rejected.Consumer/Household Economics,

The SCUBA Local Universe Galaxy Survey

The SCUBA local universe galaxy survey is the first systematic survey of the local universe at submillimetre wavelengths. We have observed ~200 galaxies from the IRAS bright galaxy catalogue and the CfA optical redshift survey. The IRAS sample showed that our estimate of the luminosity function was potentially biased if a cold population of galaxies existed which would not have appeared in the IRAS BGS but would have been detected in a SCUBA blind survey. Here we present preliminary results from the optically selected sample which suggest that this is indeed the case.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figs, proceedings from Euro-conference on galaxy evolution held in La Reunion, 200

TESTING SEPARABILITY OF JAPANESE DEMAND FOR MEAT AND FISH WITHIN DIFFERENTIAL DEMAND SYSTEMS

The separability of meat products from fish products is investigated to gain a better understanding of Japanese consumer choices in protein demand. Rather than view fish as a single homogeneous commodity, fish and seafood are categorized into several groups of products. Separability is investigated using a demand system approach in which a generalized system of demand equations is specified and used, first to identify if any of the alternative demand structures nested within the general system are appropriate for these data, and then, conditional on those results, to test separability of meats from fish products following Moschini, Moro, and Green. Results indicate that meats and fish were separable prior to 1990; however, when examined over the entire 1981-95 study period, they are not.Demand and Price Analysis,

Demand Elasticities for Fresh Fruit at the Retail Level

The obesity epidemic in the US and elsewhere has re-doubled efforts to understand determinants of the quality of consumers' diets. Part of the discussion has centered on the potential of "fat taxes" and/or the subsidization of the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables to coax consumers to better diets. Whether this discussion has merit or not, fundamental to the debate are the demand elasticities of the commodities involved. This study employs weekly data from several retail stores on fruit prices and sales to estimate elasticities of individual fruits. Estimates show consumers are more responsive to price than has been found previously.Consumer/Household Economics,

THE EFFECT OF FOOD STAMPS ON SPENDING FOR GROCERY PRODUCTS

We constructed demographic profiles of each market area by aggregating circa-1990 county US census data. We constructed a measure for market level food stamp benefits using 1990 county-level food stamp benefit data supplied by the USDA. This is the key explanatory variable in regressions in which sales of many specific foods and food aggregates are regressed on food stamp benefits and a large number of demographics, including a measure of poverty. The percent of grocery sales accounted for by food stamps ranged from less than two in the Boston area to more than ten in Shreveport. The primary interest is to evaluate the extent to which differences in food stamp usage across market areas alters the relative sales of grocery products. Because food stamps are a food-specific increase in income, we might expect a shift into more desirable, income-elastic grocery categories, perhaps more nutritious ones. We examine major food categories and find effects in the expected direction, in some cases significant. Focusing on nutrition, we examine sales of particular cereal brands, for which we have detailed sales and nutrition content data. No strong impacts are found. The second interest is the food buying habits of low income buyers in general and food stamp users in particular. It is commonly felt that low income households are necessarily more adroit food shoppers and will tend to buy more economical versions of their choices. However, there is little evidence of this. Indeed, it has been repeatedly found that low income buyers are less likely to substitute private labels goods for their branded counterparts. We study the role of food stamp and poverty in differences across markets on private label share of 71 grocery categories. A recent study by Gundersen and Oliveira might suggest that food stamp users are more likely to watch the food budget than are low income nonusers, suggesting different effects. Essentially this is what is found, for the ceteris paribus impact of poverty is to reduce sales of private label products, but if anything those using food stamps tend to buy them.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Upper limits on K-band polarization in three high-redshift radio galaxies: LBDS 53W091, 3C 441 and MRC 0156-252

We present the results of K-band imaging polarimetry of three radio galaxies, including the very red and apparently old z=1.55 galaxy 53W091. We find weak evidence for polarization in components of 3C 441 and in the south-east companion of 53W091, but no evidence of significant polarization in 53W091 itself. We also find strong evidence that MRC 0156-252 is unpolarised. We present upper limits for the K-band polarization of all three sources. For 53W091, the lack of significant K-band polarization provides further confidence that its red R-K colour can be attributed to a mature stellar population, consistent with the detailed analyses of its ultraviolet spectral-energy distribution which indicate a minimum age of 2-3.5 Gyr.Comment: 7 pages, 3 postscript figures. In press at MNRA

Candidate High Redshift and Primeval Galaxies in Hubble Deep Field South

We present the results of colour selection of candidate high redshift galaxies in Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S) using the Lyman dropout scheme. The HDF-S data we discuss were taken in a number of different filters extending from the near--UV (F300W) to the infrared (F222M) in two different fields. This allows us to select candidates with redshifts from z~3 to z~12. We find 15 candidate z~3 objects (F300W dropouts), 1 candidate z~4 object (F450W dropout) and 16 candidate z$\sim$5 objects (F606W dropouts) in the ~ 4.7 arcmin^2 WFPC-2 field, 4 candidate z~6 (optical dropouts) and 1 candidate z~8 (F110W dropout) in the 0.84 arcmin^2 NICMOS-3 field. No F160W dropouts are found (z~12). We compare our selection technique with existing data for HDF-North and discuss alternative interpretations of the objects. We conclude that there are a number of lower redshift interlopers in the selections, including one previously identified object (Treu et al. 1998), and reject those objects most likely to be foreground contaminants. Even after this we conclude that the F606W dropout list is likely to still contain substantial foreground contamination. The lack of candidate very high redshift UV-luminous galaxies supports earlier conclusions by Lanzetta et al. (1998). We discuss the morphologies and luminosity functions of the high redshift objects, and their cosmological implications.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

A new method to measure evolution of the galaxy luminosity function

We present a new efficient technique for measuring evolution of the galaxy luminosity function. The method reconstructs the evolution over the luminosity-redshift plane using any combination of three input dataset types: 1) number counts, 2) galaxy redshifts, 3) integrated background flux measurements. The evolution is reconstructed in adaptively sized regions of the plane according to the input data as determined by a Bayesian formalism. We demonstrate the performance of the method using a range of different synthetic input datasets. We also make predictions of the accuracy with which forthcoming surveys conducted with SCUBA2 and the Herschel Space Satellite will be able to measure evolution of the sub-millimetre luminosity function using the method.Comment: MNRAS in press. 14 pages, 7 figures

An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Success of Food and Agribusiness E-Commerce Firms

E-commerce's value creation in agricultural and food markets will only occur to the extent that e-commerce firms exist throughout the supply chain. The problem is that e-commerce firms throughout the agricultural and food supply chain have faced a serious challenge in staying in business. Many have been forced to exit the market, and only a few have survived to develop into functional web-based businesses. The objective of this research study is to identify characteristics that are associated with successful e-commerce firms throughout the agricultural and food supply chain. Relevant e-commerce and agricultural e-commerce literature suggests several characteristics that influence the success for agricultural and food e-commerce firms. A limited-dependent variable technique, logistic regression, is used to relate websites' characteristics to their probability of survival.e-commerce, food chains, survival probability, logistical regression, Agribusiness,