In this paper, we assess the potential for rehabilitation of comparative analysis under its new guise of benchmarking. After a brief description of comparative analysis, we discuss the deficiencies that surrounded its fall in reputation: neglect of economic principles, limited scope for action,...

The object of the present paper is to analyze the productivity of marketing cooperatives incorporating environmental inputs/outputs. In the European agricultural policy, expectations for attaining sustainable and competitive agriculture lie to a great extent on the cooperative sector’s ability...

Economic reform in the Central and Eastern European countries in the 1980s helped transform the structure and volume of agricultural production, consumption and trade, and resulted in significant agricultural productivity improvements. However, there are large differences among the transition...

This study investigates the optimal agricultural land use allocation and nitrogen application to arepresentative Japanese farm. The site-specific nature of numerous agri-environmental issues necessitates analysis ata disaggregated level in order to capture the underlying heterogeneity of...

The U.S. live hog production has undergone a significant structural change characterized by a trend toward larger operations. Experts argue that there is a cost advantage for larger farms due to industrialization and increased management intensity. One important element in production, mainly for...

This article tests the efficiency of the hog options market and assesses the impact of the 1996 contract redesign on efficiency. We find that the hog options market is efficient, but some options yielded excess returns during the live hogs period but not during the lean hogs period. Our findings...

This study investigated the efficiency and productivity change of a sample of food distribution units (MERCAs) in Spain over the 1.997-1.999 period, applying non-parametric frontier methodology in a sales efficiency framework. We specified a mean sales model composed of two blocks of variables,...

Market interactions between the common-property commercial fishery and (1) competitive aquaculturists and (2) a dominant-firm aquaculturist are modeled. It is found that the entry of a competitive aquaculturist increases natural fish stocks, reduces price, and increases total supply. If...

Cattle feeding enterprises operate amid variability originating in prices and production. Thisresearch explicitly models yield risks related to cattle feeding by relating the mean and varianceof yield performance factors to observable conditioning variables. The results demonstratethat pen...

The objective of this paper is to construct a framework for analyzing trade-offs between economic performance and environmental pressure at firm level. Based on a literature review, partially conflicting economic-environmental trade-off paradigms are structured and five necessary conditions for...