Real livestock prices and farm-wholesale marketing margins have steadily declined over the past 20 years. Studies examining the causes of these declines have generally failed to account directly for technological change in livestock production and red meat slaughtering. We estimate reduced-form...

In May 2003, a beef cow in the Province of Alberta tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease). In December of 2003, a dairy cow in the state of Washington also tested positive for BSE. These discoveries disrupted cattle and beef trade in North America and major...