MARKET ISSUES PERTAINING TO POVERTY REDUCTION IN LATIN AMERICA

The extent to which Latin America can pull itself out of persistent poverty in the foreseeable future depends, in an important manner, on how successful the region will be in achieving sustainable growth in its rural economies. A good strategy for sustainable growth in rural Latin America is to make sure that the market works for the poor. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it is to lay out some of the issues important to the successful functioning of the key markets in rural Latin America, including labor market, financial market, land market, and agricultural factor and product markets. Second, it is to present policy suggestions regarding how to ensure that the market works for the rural poor. While governments should continue their refrains of not intervening directly with the market and distorting price signals, they can play a very positive role in facilitating market reforms and in ensuring that the rural poor indeed emerge as winners.Food Security and Poverty,

Estimating Threshold Effects of Generic Fluid Milk and Cheese Advertising

Replaced with revised version of paper 08/01/06.Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

Estimating Threshold Effects of Generic Fluid Milk and Cheese Advertising

Marketing,

MODELING PRICE IMPACTS OF BACKWARD VERTICAL INTEGRATION IN THE US PORK INDUSTRY

The U.S. pork sector is evolving from an industry of small, independent firms vertically linked by spot markets to one of substantially larger firms vertically connected through contractual agreements and integration. Potential benefits to this tighter vertical arrangement include lower consumer pork prices, although the true nature of this benefit is still under debate. At the same time, there is concern of market foreclosure because highly vertically integrated industry may prevent independent hog producers from having access to open markets in which to sell their output. The objective of this paper is to develop an econometric model to estimate the extent of backward integration by pork processing firms into the upstream hog production stage, taking into account the oligopsonistic nature of the processors, and to simulate the effect of vertical integration on consumer and producer prices and welfare.backward vertical integration, oligopsony, pork, Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries,

DISENTANGLING THE EFFECTS OF GENERIC ADVERTISEMENT FROM HEALTH INFORMATION WITHIN A MEAT DEMAND SYSTEM

This paper examines the effect of generic pork promotion within a meat demand system framework. Special focus has been placed on the separation of demand effect of advertising from that of health-related information on product attributes.Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing,

Estimating Structural Changes in the Vertical Price Relationships in U.S. Beef and Pork Markets

This paper examines structural breaks in the vertical price relationships in U.S. beef/cattle and pork/hog sectors using monthly data of the past 40 years. A major methodological issue addressed is how to estimate price relationships when data contain intermittent structural breaks with unknown break dates. The adopted procedures endogenously search for structural break dates while explicitly accounting for this search in statistical inferences. Four breaks for the beef/cattle price relationship and three breaks for the pork/hog price relationship are identified. The estimation results further confirm the importance of allowing for structural breaks in the analysis of vertical price relationships.farm cattle and hog prices, long-run price relationship, retail beef and pork prices, structural breaks of unknown timing, structural changes, vertical price relationship, Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries,

The effects of New Cooperative Medicine Scheme coverage on health outcomes and health care in rural China

health insurance, rural population, China, Health Economics and Policy,

THE IMPACT OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES ON U.S. MEAT EXPORTS

This paper examines the impact of domestic and foreign macroeconomic variables on U.S. meat exports, including beef, pork, turkey, and chicken, in the context of an open economy. The results show that foreign macroeconomic variables exert more significant and persistent effects on U.S. meat exports than domestic macroeconomic variables. The implication is that the U.S. can increase its meat exports more effectively by expending efforts on international macroeconomic policy coordination rather than on domestic sectoral policy. The results also suggest that macroeconomic models of the agricultural sector should include foreign variables and should not be limited only to domestic ones.International Relations/Trade,

Technical Efficiency in Bangladesh Rice Production: Are There Threshold Effects in Farm Size?

Replaced with revised version of poster 07/21/10.Data Envelopment Analysis, Threshold Estimation, technical efficiency, total factor productivity, rice, farm size, Bangladesh, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Productivity Analysis,

VERTICAL INTEGRATION INCENTIVES IN MEAT PRODUCT MARKETS

Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries,