SUPPLY RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SOUTH - WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Industrial Organization,

DISCUSSION OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

RECENT DUALITY CONTRIBUTIONS IN PRODUCTION ECONOMICS

This article is a limited assessment of the agricultural production economics literature since 1982 that resulted from dual modeling approaches. Contributions have removed several perceived obstacles to dual modeling, such as testing curvature, identifying the technology when prices are collinear, and examining dynamics of production. Some contributions have also removed obstacles to primal modeling. Dual methods have been used in risk applications only recently and still appear less convenient than primal methods. Convenience may become the primary criterion for selecting primal or dual methods.Production Economics,

DERIVED DEMAND FOR IRRIGATION WATER: THE CALIFORNIA AQUEDUCT

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Washington Biofuel Feedstock Crop Supply Analysis

Biofuels, as alternative transportation fuels, are now being used globally. Taking advantage of in-state feedstock supply is an efficient way to stimulate in-state biofuel industries and the local economy. This paper uses several models to estimate supply equations for major biofuel feedstock crops in Washington. We estimate expected utility maximization models, expected profit maximization models, and several pragmatic models. We examine the comparative statics results of the models, and use the results to draw important implications for Washington policy makers and for farmers who are considering production of biofuel feedstocks.biofuel feedstock, output uncertainty, price uncertainty, profit maximization, supply

ALLOCATABLE FIXED INPUTS AND JOINTNESS IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION: MORE IMPLICATIONS

The presence of allocatable fixed inputs may cause truly joint technologies to appear nonjoint in the short run as well as truly nonjoint technologies to appear joint. This paper demonstrates theoretically why this can happen and then documents that it actually occurs in a significant way in aggregate U.S. agricultural production. A simple testing procedure is used that requires no data on inputs allocations. The important finding is that failure to reject true (apparent) nonjointness does not justify modeling short-run (long-run) supply independent of alternative output prices.Agribusiness,

Indirect Utility Maximization under Risk: A Heterogeneous Panel Application

The curvature properties of the indirect utility function imply a set of refutable implications in the form of comparative static results and symmetric relations for the competitive firm operating under uncertainty. These hypotheses, first derived and empirically tested under output price uncertainty by Saha and Shumway (1998), are extended in this article to the more general case of both price and quantity uncertainty and result in an important theoretical finding. Using recently developed techniques for testing unit root and cointegration in heterogeneous panels, we develop a model of U.S. agricultural production based on the time series properties of a panel of state-level data and contrast test implications with those resulting from a traditional model that presumes stationarity in all variables. Although differing in specific outcomes, the empirical tests of the refutable hypotheses render the same conclusions for both models: we fail to reject most refutable hypotheses under output price and output quantity risk, symmetry conditions implied by a twice-continuously-differentiable indirect utility function are rejected, two restrictive risk preference hypotheses are also rejected, and, at individual observations, data are generally consistent with most (but not all) of the hypotheses implied by individual states acting as though they were expected utility-maximizing firms.Risk and Uncertainty,

Induced Innovation and Marginal Cost of New Technology

The hypothesis of induced innovation has been empirically tested in many ways, using a wide variety of data and test periods for many industries in many countries. However, each test has maintained the hypothesis that the relative marginal cost of developing and implementing technologies that save one input is the same as for any other input. Lacking data on development and implementation costs of input-saving technologies, we develop and use a nonparametric procedure to estimate relative differences required for technical change in U.S. agriculture to be consistent with the induced innovation hypothesis.induced innovation, marginal cost, nonparametric

Induced Innovation in the Agricultural Sector: Evidence From a State Panel

This paper uses recently developed panel cointegration techniques and error correction modeling to test the hypothesis of induced innovation in a state-level panel of U.S. agricultural production. These methods provide greatly improved power compared to conventional approaches. A 5-step testing procedure is used to test the induced innovation hypothesis based on a 2-stage CES production function with aggregate output and four input categories. For both pairs of inputs, the test fails to support the hypothesis of induced innovation at one or more of the critical steps.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Testing aggregation consistency across geography and commodities

Consistent aggregation of production data across commodities and Western USA states was tested using Lewbel's generalised composite commodity theorem. The applicability of the generalised composite commodity theorem for testing consistent geographic aggregation was demonstrated and applied to two groups of states. Consistent commodity aggregation was tested in each state for two output groups and three input groups and in one state for a larger number of groups. Most tests for commodity aggregation supported consistent aggregation of inputs but not outputs. Consistent geographic aggregation was supported for each output and input category across Pacific Northwest states but only for inputs across all Western states.Farm Management,