AN ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF A MULTI-AREA RECREATION SYSTEM

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Should We Invest in Biofuels?

The real advantage of receiving a Southern Agricultural Economics Association Lifetime Achievement award is the ability to make this presentation and have it published without having to deal with editors and referees. This provides a certain license of freedom to abstract outside the box without being constrained by your peers. So in this vein, consider the following myths and predictions concerning biofuels. These myths are generally consistent with the Grunwald’s (2009) seven myths about alternative energy.Alternative energy, Biofuels, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

REFLECTIONS ON RELEVANCE OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS RESEARCH: DISCUSSION

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

PEST INFORMATION MARKETS AND INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

Crop Production/Industries,

CHARACTERISTICS OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS UNDERGRADUATE ADVISING IN THE WESTERN REGION

The quality of faculty advising has been a source of concern among students and faculty. As an initial attempt at addressing these concerns this paper summarizes the results of a faculty advising study in undergraduate agricultural economics programs. Various advising program characteristics among western schools are discussed and contrasted to schools in other regions. Interregional and interdepartmental variation was found in advisor resource allocation, advising program implementation, rewards and priorities, and evaluations of advising quality. Despite larger enrollments, smaller advising budgets, less support and lower rewards for advising, schools in the West reported advising quality comparable if not superior to that in other regions.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON OF EFFICIENCY OF FIRMS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Stochastic frontier analysis is used to determine the relative efficiency of firms in the food industry in industrialized countries. Using panel data analysis, the firm-specific factors, firm-size, the corporate tax rate and number of years of operation and country-specific effects as potential sources of efficiency are investigated. Relevant implications are discussed.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON OF EFFICIENCY OF FIRMS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Stochastic frontier analysis is used to determine the relative efficiency of firms in the food industry in industrialized countries. Using panel data analysis, the firm-specific factors, firm size, the corporate tax rate and number of years of operation and country-specific effects as potential sources of efficiency are investigated. Relevant implications are discussed.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Productivity Analysis,

Considering Macroeconomic Indicators in the Food versus Fuel Issues

In this study, a Structural Vector Autoregression model (SVAR) is employed to decompose how supply/demand structural shocks affect food and fuel prices within fuel and corn markets. Results indicate that the relative importance of each structural shock in explaining the variation of corn prices is different. Our findings support the hypothesis that corn prices increase as a response to those positive demand shocks in the short run, while in the long run, global competitive agricultural commodities markets as well as positive supply shocks respond to commodity price shocks, restoring prices to its long-run trends. In conclusion, fundamental market forces of demand and supply as well as real economic aggregated demand shocks were the main contributors of the 2007-2008 food price spike.Food, fuel, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,