This paper explores the economics of input decision by a firm facing production uncertainty. It relies on a state-contingent approach to production uncertainty. First, the paper develops a methodology to specify and estimate cost-minimizing input decisions under a state-contingent technology....

Replaced with revised version of paper 06/28/11.

Grain prices have risen sharply since 2005 and 2006 affecting livestock markets by increasing feed prices and leading to significant volatility shocks. The high price levels and magnitude of sustained high volatilities has raised concerns for many sectors of the economy, in particular those with...

Research on organizational and inter‐organizational trust has become an important field in management and marketing literature, as it is perceived as a pivotal aspect of business transactions. However, clarifications are still needed on the issue of whom we trust; is the person whom we are...

Usually, marketing communication efforts in the agrifood sector address the end consumers and concentrate on products that are processed and ready for consumption, thus quality efforts often concentrate on the final product. Moreover, there’s a widespread view that agricultural commodities...

Several global developments such as diminishing production resources, limits in the availability of water and the growing demand for bio-energy as well as sector-wide crises (e.g. BSE, swine fever, dioxin) have led to a changing attitude of society towards the conse-quences of the food...

This paper investigates the nonparametric analysis of technology under non-convexity. The analysis extends two approaches now commonly used in efficiency and productivity analysis: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) where convexity is imposed; and Free Disposal Hull (FDH) models. We argue that, while...

Copulas have become an important analytic tool for characterizing multivariate distributions and dependence. One is often interested in simulating data from copula estimates. The process can be analytically and computationally complex and usually involves steps that are unique to a given...