Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are used to estimate a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) system of input demand functions for U.S. agriculture. Our demand functions have flexible forms and allow for nonrandom technical inefficiency. Concavity constraints are imposed at individual data...

Systems of equations comprising cost functions and first‐order derivative equations are often used to estimate characteristics of production technologies. Unfortunately, many estimated systems violate the regularity conditions implied by economic theory. Sampling theory methods can be used to...

Profitability change can be decomposed into the product of a total factor productivity (TFP) index and an index measuring changes in relative prices. Many TFP indexes can be further decomposed into measures of technical change, technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change and mix...

Profitability change can be decomposed into the product of a total factor productivity (TFP) index and an index measuring changes in relative prices. Many TFP indexes can be further decomposed into measures of technical change, technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change and mix...

Recent theoretical advances in total factor productivity (TFP) measurement mean that TFP indexes can now be exhaustively decomposed into unambiguous measures of technical change and efficiency change. To date, all applications of this new methodology have involved decomposing indexes that have...

This paper reports on an expanded and revised version of the spatial equilibrium model of the Australian dairy industry developed by MacAulay (1997). In the expanded version there is demand for five manufactured products. The transformation from bulk milk to final product is modelled by...

Rainfall during the germination, growing and flowering periods is a major determinant of wheat yield. The degree of uncertainty attached to a wheat-yield prediction depends on whether the prediction is made before or after the rainfall in each period has been realised. Bayesian predictive...

A problem with the use of flexible functional forms is that the estimated functions frequently violate the regularity conditions (eg, monotonicity, concavity) implied by economic theory. Sampling theory methods exist for imposing curvature conditions at all non-negative prices, but such methods...

Economic theory often provides information on the variables to be included in economic relationships (e.g., demands are functions of prices) and sometimes provides information on the signs and magnitudes of first- and second-order derivatives (e.g., homogeneity and concavity information)....