This study is designed to analyze bank failures from the technical efficiency standpoint under a stochastic cost frontier framework and evaluate the reliability of the technical efficiency measure as a determinant of the financial health of banks and probability to succeed or fail at the height...

This study provides a different perspective in revisiting the racial and gender discrimination issue regarding FSA loans. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method, commonly used in wage discrimination analysis, is employed to determine whether there exist unwarranted differences between the loan...

Empirical evidence on the Farm Service Agency's credit evaluation and minority lending practices are presented using actual borrower data during aftermath of 1997 class action suit by Black farmers. Results indicate non-applicability of conventional credit assessment methods of private lenders,...

A binomial logistic framework is used to determine important linkages between the FSA's decision on each loan application and the applicants financial and demographic attributes. Using data on both rejected and accepted FSA loan applications, empirical results indicate loan approval decisions...

This research examined the relationship between food insecurity, the National School Lunch Program, and academic achievement in Georgia public schools. A multilevel Poisson regression model was used to examine these relationships. Findings confirm a strong inverse relationship between poverty,...

This paper analyses U.S. demand for fresh vegetable imports using a dynamic AIDS model. The commodities selected for the study include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and asparagus. The results shows that the demand for fresh vegetable imports is more elastic compared to the demand for domestic...

The high proportion of government payments in total crop farm income and the purchase of subsidized crop insurance have changed the income distribution of U.S. crop farmers. As a result, the risk management behaviors of U.S. crop farmers are affected by these programs in terms of the use of...

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/25/08.

A profit maximization model and an ARIMA model were developed to forecast water demand for broiler production. The forecasted numbers of broilers from structural and ARIMA model depart significantly from a USGS physical model. Analysis indicates 4% slippage in water demand forecasting related to...

Despite the decline of coffee prices during the 1990s, coffee production remains a main economic activity for producers in Southeastern Mexico. This paper analyzes the coffee production system for 24 municipios, or districts, in Veracruz, Mexico during a five-year cropping period (1997-2002). A...