A Human Development Index (HDI) was developed to analyze the impact of the rural empowerment zone program on counties in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Results of the analysis indicate that minimal development has taken place in these counties. This outcome is attributable to several institutional...

Results from the analyses indicate that repealing the 7 percent grocery tax would produce modest gains in grocery sales but major increases in the purchases of other goods and services. Revenues from the sale of additional groceries would be exempt from taxes, thus producing only employment and...

Two competing hypotheses on market structure and performance of firms are the traditional structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm and the efficiency structure hypothesis. This paper reveals the profits made by firms in the trucking industry were because of greater efficiencies than their...

Using an econometric model the economic impact of the September 11, 2001(9/11) terrorists' attacks on the U.S. homeland on the trucking transportation sector in the United States is examined. Also, the econometric model was modified to show how this event may have inflicted economic damage on...

This study evaluates the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the agribusiness industry and related sectors in Mississippi. Input-output analysis was used to determine the economic impact of these disasters on the Mississippi agribusiness sector and related sectors in the state's economy.

In this paper, the impact of entry and exit of firms on the overall efficiency of the industry is examined in the efficiency framework, using agribusiness-trucking firms for the period 1994-2003. Specifically, industry efficiency is compared with and without firms that enter and exit using panel...

Gravity models were developed to estimate the potential bilateral exports of cocoa under trade liberalization by the sixteen major cocoa producing countries to the US using panel data from 1989 to 2003. The results indicate that differences between resource endowment, relative size of economies,...

This study evaluates the consequences of financial variables on the efficiency of Class I railroads in the United States for the period 1996-2006. A panel stochastic frontier analysis is used to simultaneously estimate the stochastic frontier model and financial ratio model with output and...

Dynamic shift-share analysis reveals that national growth effects were positive while industrial mix, competitive, and allocation effects were negative. Results also show the time(technology) variable were significantly and positively related to the competitive effects for coal, chemical...

The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of internal and external variables on the net profit margins of Class I railroads for the period 1996-2009. Parameter coefficients show that market concentration had a significant and negative impact on the net profit margins of the carriers.