A long-standing puzzle in labor economics has been the positive relationship between wages and firm size. Even after controlling for worker's observed characteristics such as education, work experience, gender, and geographic location, a significant firm size wage effect averaging 15 percent...

Pork production has been evolving from relatively small, family-run operations toward large-scale operations with several employees. This study uses a national survey of pork producers and their employees to answer several questions about the structure of wages and benefits in this rapidly...

Since the 1980s, China has been undertaking a transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy through decentralisation, giving local states more decision-making power and providing incentives to apply entrepreneurial policies. This policy has been successful in terms of economic...

We study business organization and coordination of specialty-market hog production using a comparative analysis of two Iowa pork niche-marketing firms. We describe and analyze each firm's management of five key organizational challenges: planning and logistics, quality assurance, process...

The EPA has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops to prolong the efficacy of Bt. Growers have no economic incentive to plant the required refuge because refuge crops are on average less productive and more risky. This paper evaluates refuge insurance—insurance thatpays indemnities...

The EPA has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops to prolong the efficacy of Bt. Growers have no economic incentive to plant the required refuge because refuge crops are on average less productive and more risky. This paper evaluates refuge insurance--insurance that pays indemnities...

This dissertation addresses three important business and policy related issues regarding financial theories and their application in different markets. Chapter one extends option-pricing theory to value alternative asset-securitization structures. By decomposing each structure into fixed income...

I design an input-output model to investigate the energy supply chain of coal-coke-steel in China. To study the demand, supply, and energy-intensity issues for coal and coke from a macroeconomic perspective, I apply the model to test two hypotheses: (1) coal and coke intensities in individual...

The debate on the impact of modern logistics on industrial location choice and property markets focuses on (1) whether modern inventory control and supply- chain configuration consolidate manufacturing and distribution locations and (2) whether modern logistics have reduced the demand for...

Past empirical literature provides strong evidence that competitionincreases when new firms enter a market. However, rarely have economistsbeen able to examine how competition changes with the threat of entry.This paper uses the evolution of the zip code level market structure offacilities-based...