Many investment decisions of agribusiness firms such as when to invest in an emerging market or whether to expand the capacity of the firm involve irreversible investment and uncertainty about demand, cost or competition. This paper uses an option-value model to examine the factors affecting an...

Few farmers utilize futures and options markets to price their crops despite significant educational efforts. This study seeks to analyze producer hedging behavior within the framework of the overall marketing behavior. Producer marketing behavior is modeled as a simultaneous choice between cash...

This study examined factors that affected the prices of corn and soybean meal and the impact of these prices on market demand and supply for U.S. broilers. An econometric model consisting of four structural equations and one identity was formulated and estimated using quarterly data from 1976 to...

Soybean production in the South has evolved over recent years from conventional soybean production systems (CSPS) in which soybeans are planted after May 1st to early soybean production systems (ESPS) in which soybeans are planted as early as mid-March. The shift was aided by the advent of...

A relative increase in demand for quality can have one of two potentially countervailing effects: it can cause substitution of one quality for another and/or it might expand overall demand by bringing new consumers into the market. This article investigates demand expansion and substitution...

Despite the significant rise in obesity in the U.S., economic research on obesity is still in its infancy. This paper employs a microeconomic approach to investigate the effects of price and income changes on weight in an effort to determine how a high-calorie food tax, a low-calorie food...

A wide array of food safety scares and breakdowns have led to loss of consumer confidence in the quality and safety of beef products. To counteract such concerns, firms and regulators have the ability to utilize brands or labels to signal quality. Utilizing a mail survey in France, Germany, and...

Accurately estimating consumer demand for new products is an arduous task made even more difficult by the fact that individuals tend to overstate the amount they are willing to pay for new goods when asked hypothetical questions. Despite their appeal in eliminating hypothetical bias, marketers...

This study explores two important issues in experimental economics: calibration and auction institution. Consumer willingness-to-pay bids for corn chips made with non-genetically modified ingredients are elicited from a 1st price and 2nd price auction. Results suggest that responses to scale...

Previous work in experimental economics reveals specific differences in economic behavior, especially reciprocity and free-riding behavior, across cultures. We expand the possible pallet of cross-cultural behavioral differences that may exist. We hypothesize that different kinds of strategic...