Comparative advantage motivates large trade flows in feeder animals throughout the world. Trade creates externalities when animal diseases can spread beyond the purchasing farm. When growers can choose between open and closed production systems, Nash equilibrium will likely involve socially...

Monotonicity of the likelihood ratio for conditioned densities is a common technical assumption in economic models. But we have found no empirical tests for its plausibility. This paper develops such a test based on the theory of order-restricted inference, which is robust with respect to the...

Among the prominent recognized features of the industrialization of animal production over the past half century are growth in the stock of inflexible, or use-dedicated, capital as an input in production and growth in productivity. Less recognized is a trend toward aseasonal production. We...

Many deficiencies in the capacity of a food system to deliver safe products are systemic in nature. We suggest a taxonomy of four general ways in which a systemic failure might occur. One relates to the connectedness, or topology, of the system. Another arises from mistrust on the part of...

Milk production is seasonal in many European countries. While quantity seasonality poses capacity management problems for dairy processors, a European Union policy goal is to reduce price seasonality. After developing a model of endogenous seasonality, we study the effects of three E.U. policies...

Enterobacter sakazakii, a pathogen that can be found in powdered infant milk formula, can cause adverse health effects on infants. Using Vickrey auction, this study examines parents' willingness to pay (WTP) for a quality assurance label on powdered infant milk formula. The influence of...

In this paper customer loyalty will be examined with the help of budget ratios (budget shares). We address the question whether sociodemographic groups differ in their shopping behavior and their store loyalty. Loyalty is analyzed with regard to the ten largest food retail chains in Germany in...

Purpose – This paper inquires into the tendency of German food retailers to market organic products as private‐label (PL) products. Design/methodology/approach – After a review of the literature, results of a survey of retailers and processors, are presented. Findings – Interviewed...