Most studies of a state’'s economic base count as “"basic”" only the “"traditional"” exports of goods, federal spending, and business investment. “"Nontraditional”" elements of the economic base (including exports of services, federal transfers to state/local...

In the spirit of Leamer'Â’s commitment to sensitivity analysis, we employ Farrell'Â’s nonparametric efficiency methodology and compare our results with those of Sexton, Wilson, and Wann. Testing the implicit assumption of technical efficiency in the methodology employed by Sexton, Wilson,...

One-step-ahead forecasts of quarterly beef, pork, and poultry production are examined and evaluated based on traditional criteria for optimality-efficiency and unbiasedness-as well as their performance versus a univariate time-series model. However, traditional regression methodology for...

This study simulates whether Kansas wheat, soybean, corn, and milo producers could have profitably used deferred futures plus historical basis cash price expectations for post-harvest unhedged and hedged grain storage decisions from 1985-97. The signaled storage decision is compared to a...

Mesoscale weather networks can provide improved weather information to agricultural producers. This technology can potentially improve production decisions, reduce irrigation and pesticide inputs, and reduce weather-related losses. Developing a mesoscale network to disseminate real-time...

Exclusive contracts (often called “"captive supplies”") between processors and farmers are in increasingly important feature of modern agriculture. We study an interesting empirical regulatory occurring in markets that feature both contract and spot exchange: the spot price is inversely...

Partial backward integration is prevalent in many agricultural and natural resource processing industries. A strategic rationale for partial backward integration is developed for a dominant firm with a competitive fringe purchasing from competitive input suppliers. A partially backward...

Distinctive new provisions of tractor lemon laws which create obligations and provide penalties for defective self-propelled agricultural equipment are contrasted with provisions of automobile lemon laws. Lemon-law obligations involve both producers'Â’ guarantees to provide consumers with a...

The increasing globalization of agricultural markets in recent decades appears to be changing the economics of the American production agriculture sector, reducing its economic importance and raising questions about its life cycle. This study contributes to the product life cycle literature by...

A multi-part test is proposed for the hypothesis that American production agriculture is shrinking. The results of the three tests presented here are consistent with a shrinking American agricultural sector that is on the verge of, but not yet in, the final decline stage of its "life cycle." The...