Mixed demand systems have been virtually ignored in empirical work solely because derivation of these systems requires closed forms for both direct and indirect utility functions. This article proposes the alternative of using a conditional cost function to generate empirical mixed demand...

We study the difference in the volatility dynamics of CBOT corn, soybeans, and oats futures prices across different delivery horizons via a smoothed Bayesian estimator. We find that futures price volatilities in these markets are affected by inventories, time to delivery, and the crop progress...

We analyze the determinants of daily futures price volatility in corn, soybeans, wheat, and oats markets from 1986 to 2007. Combining the information from simultaneously traded contracts, we implement a generalized least squares method that allows us to clearly distinguish among time-to-delivery...

Awarding a grand prize to the player who wins most often in a series of contests links the contests together and makes incentives in the current contest depend upon past performance. A lucky player who wins early faces relatively stronger incentives to exert effort because of his early success....

Tile drainage was first demonstrated in the United States in 1835 as a method to adapt agriculture to excessive water in soils. Subsequently, innovations in coordinated drainage enterprises, engineering, and tile manufacture led to drainage over large portions of the U.S. Midwest and Southeast....

We apply a new Bayesian approach to multiple-contract futures data. It allows the volatility of futures prices to depend upon physical inventories and the contract's time to delivery - and it allows those parametric effects to vary over time. We find a time-varying negative relationship between...

This paper analyzes the effects of waterway transportation costs on the spatial distribution of corn prices at U.S. grain markets. Interregional trade theory predicts that in a competitive market price differences between markets are explained by transportation cost. The precise role played by...

This book is a study of the ways in which U.S. agriculture policies contribute to or help to ameliorate the adverse effects of farming on the environment.