This paper examines the technical efficiency (TE) of a sample of farms in North-Central Kansas practicing conventional and no-till practices. A stochastic frontier production model with technical inefficiency effects is used to obtain individual farm TE values and to explain sources of technical...

This paper computes Malmquist agricultural productivity indexes for 125 countries over the period 1961-2001. These are decomposed into efficiency change (i.e., pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency changes) and technical change (i.e., input bias and magnitude components). Results show...

An alternative unconstrained expected-utility maximization model of farm debt is developed using the location-scale parameter condition that incorporates the empirically validated hypotheses of decreasing absolute and constant relative risk aversion. Simulation-optimization results based on the...

This study compares parametric and semiparametric smoothing techniques to estimate the environmental Kuznet curve. The ad hoc functional form where income is related either as a square or a cubic function to environmental quality is relaxed in search of a better nonlinear fit to the...

Little research has been conducted on evaluating out-of-sample forecasts of limited dependent variables. This study describes the large and small sample properties of two forecast evaluation techniques for limited dependent variables: receiver-operator curves and out-of-sample-log-likelihood...

The majority of pig farms in North Carolina use a lagoon-sprayfield system to manage manure. Although economical, the lagoon-sprayfield system is sensitive to weather conditions. This study examines the cost of manure management under extreme weather and scrutinizes National Resource...

The objectives of this study are to examine consumer preferences among various marketing channels including direct marketing in Oklahoma, and to analyze the impact of various demographic variables on purchasing choice. Specifically, this research focuses on the links between demographic factors...

Replaced with revised version of paper 02/09/04.

Using monthly data, we find evidence of both short- and long-run asymmetry of price transmission from peanut to peanut butter prices. This suggests that the asymmetry is more likely a result of imperfect competition than of competitive profit maximizing inventory management. Effects of producer...

Because of policy interest in the size distribution of farms, there is an interest in understanding the causes of changing farm sizes. This paper addresses an overlooked issue in the literature on the determinants of farm size, namely, the empirical specification of farm size. We examine 5...