The potential effects of a uniform meat grading scheme on market performance are evaluated in terms of a change in the information state. A uniform grading system may reduce the per unit costs involved in the collection and transmission of information on the characteristics of, and the price...

A model and associated formulae are developed to estimate the size and distribution of benefits generated by different types of research for the Australian dairy industry. Particular attention is given to the influence of policy interventions on the estimates. The estimates of aggregate research...

Models are constructed to assess the welfare effects for producers, consumers and society of producers using forecast prices based on more accurate estimates of variables causing shifts in the demand for and supply of commodities. The basic model is a stochastic cobweb model in which producers'...

Alternative specifications of models of the supply response of Australian wheat growers and their economic implications are considered in terms of the existence and nature of production lags, and the choice between expected prices and expected gross returns as the preferred explanator of...

The Australian Meat Board (AMB) can influence the quantities sent to and the prices received for Australian beef and veal in the domestic and various export markets. Through its power to grant export licences and the conditions to be met in obtaining export licences the AMB can adopt the role of...

A model of the Australian orange growing industry to explain changes in plantings, removals, the number and age composition of trees and orange production is developed and estimated. Most of the variation in plantings is explained by the expected profitability of growing oranges, the current...

All farmers in one stratum of a wheat storage survey who failed to answer a mail questionnaire were personally interviewed. Answers obtained from the mail respondents and from non-respondents are compared to assess the extent of non-response bias. Five suggestions for planning "high return" mail...

It is postulated that some issues of economic policy in general, and of Australian agricultural policy in particular, may be analysed in the framework of an adaptive control model. Policy making is characterized as a rational, sequential decision-making process under conditions of imperfect...

The paper provides a review of the objectives of forecasts and of the techniques for generating forecasts in the context of agriculture. Forecasts provide information to facilitate decision making. The techniques are evaluated in terms of assumptions about the processes generating the forecast...

The time pattern of effects of inflation on prices received, prices paid, asset returns, and real incomes of different members of the agricultural sector is described. In the long run it is argued that inflation will have very small, if any, effects on relative prices or real incomes. For the...