Results from the analyses indicate that repealing the 7 percent grocery tax would produce modest gains in grocery sales but major increases in the purchases of other goods and services. Revenues from the sale of additional groceries would be exempt from taxes, thus producing only employment and...

Two competing hypotheses on market structure and performance of firms are the traditional structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm and the efficiency structure hypothesis. This paper reveals the profits made by firms in the trucking industry were because of greater efficiencies than their...

A Human Development Index (HDI) was developed to analyze the impact of the rural empowerment zone program on counties in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Results of the analysis indicate that minimal development has taken place in these counties. This outcome is attributable to several institutional...

A SEM model is presented to simulate the effects of a Free Trade agreement. As expected results show an increase in social welfare in trading regions involved resulting from the FTA implementation. An analysis of the potential effects on rural poor and policy implications for rural development...

Economic developers and government officials must understand the importance of agriculture and incorporate it into a comprehensive economic development plan for rural areas. Agriculture adds ambience to the local area making it attractive for farm-related tourism development.

Econometric models were developed to estimate factors that influence strategic changes and evaluate the impacts that strategic changes will have on the subsequent performance of agricultural commodity trucking firms. Results reveal that GDP and change in firm size will have positive impacts on...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the issue of efficiency in the U.S. motor carrier industry using DEA and SFA. While both methods used the same variables, the resulting efficiency scores were significantly different. This leads to the question of which method is a better measure of...

Using an econometric model the economic impact of the September 11, 2001(9/11) terrorists' attacks on the U.S. homeland on the trucking transportation sector in the United States is examined. Also, the econometric model was modified to show how this event may have inflicted economic damage on...

A multiple regression was performed on 37 years of data to determine the impact of raising the tobacco tax on cigarettes by $.24 per pack on cigarette sales in Mississippi. The t-statistic for the slope was significant at the .05 critical alpha level, t(29) =1.69 and p=.05. Thus, we conclude...

This study evaluates the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the agribusiness industry and related sectors in Mississippi. Input-output analysis was used to determine the economic impact of these disasters on the Mississippi agribusiness sector and related sectors in the state's economy.