Changes in productivity are usually associated With technology At the firm level, this is a natural way to think about productivity. However, in aggregate analysis, measures of productivity can change even when technology does not The measures change when the proportions of farms in stable...

Self-appraisal--serious self-appraisal--is often recommended, rarely practiced. But the following article is a serious effort to set down and appraise the process or methods by which the Bureau of Agricultural Economics does develop its appraisal of the general economic situation which plays so...

Realized net income of farm operators reached a postwar high of 16.8 billion dollars in .1947 and declined to a postwar low of 12.4 billion dollars in 1950. These estimates are for calendar years. On a quarterly basis, in terms of seasonally adjusted annual rates, the postwar high was 17.9...

This article reviews economic and accounting bases for costs-of-production (COP) calculations It finds that the problems of circularity of arguments, potential cost� price spirals, and escalating land values are Inherent m all full COP methods of setting support prices Inflation, Income tax...

Four strategies for farm growth are analyzed and compared on the basis of ownership, equity, and productive capacity achieved, and on the basis of resistance to adversity. The primary tool of analysis was a model utilizing a stochastic simulator interfaced with both ex ante and ex post linear...

A method for taking uncertainty into account when formulating aggregate agricultural policies is applied to the feed grain program. The impact of alternative feed grain programs on net farm income, Government payments, and feed grain production in the Southeastern Coastal Plains is shown. A...

Net farm income has shown a generally downward trend since the postwar highs of 1947 and 1948. Even with allowance for nonfarm sources of income and for declining numbers of farms, average farm family income has lagged behind the steadily rising levels of nonfarm family incomes. But the farmer...

The Markov process was first applied in economics to problems of relative structure, as for example in the analysis of income and wage distributions. The extension of such distributions over time was an initial step in projection. The analysis in this paper takes a further step by developing a...

A generally accepted theory of firm behavior is incorporated into an abstract computerized simulation model capable of handling many different environments and organizations. This model provides a means of studying management problems using the simulation approach by providing, in most...

Costs of seven methods of handling beef by retail firms are explored, considering number and size of stores per firm and distance from the packer. The least costly method is centralized cutting into retail cuts by retail firms. Larger store size reduced per unit costs significantly for all...