Using firm-level data from nine developing countries we demonstrate that (a) certaininstitutions like restrictive labour market regulations that are considered to be bad foreconomic growth might be beneficial for production efficiency, whereas (b) good businessenvironment which is considered to...

We present a dynamic model where the probability of outsourcing production is increasing inthe firm’s expectation of technological change. As the pace of innovations in productiontechnologies increases, the less time the firm has to amortize the sunk costs associated withpurchasing and...

Cointegration is tested between organic and conventional corn and soybean markets in severallocations throughout the U.S. using a unique data set. Organic prices are found to behave likejump processes rather than diffusions, and Monte Carlo methods are developed to computeappropriate critical...

A survey of organic grain and oilseed producers in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin wasconducted to collect information about their demographic characteristics, production and pricerisk management strategies, yields and losses, and crop insurance decisions. The data areanalyzed using a discrete...

There is a large body of evidence supporting the notion that a) those who grow up to be patient(forward-looking) do better in life compared to those who do not, and b) parents can inculcatethe virtue of delayed gratification in their children by taking the right sort of actions. We studya...

Competitive behaviors such as outbidding one’s rivals may be countered by therivals’ threat of mutually destructive objections. In an Arrow-Debreu model of productioneconomies with firms privatized by property rights, we model such hinderedcompetitive behaviors as a coalition’s attempt to...

Rapid growth in fuel ethanol production in the U.S. will create pressure on infrastructure both in the near term and the longer term. Currently the vast majority of fuel ethanol produced is grain based with corn based feedstocks dwarfing the quantity of all other grain feedstocks. In the future...

A 2007 survey of US pork producers indicated that nearly two-thirds of US hogs are produced by less than 200 firms marketing 50,000 or more hogs per year. We estimate that 27 operations marketing at least 500,000 hogs a year sold 43% of US hogs in 2006. The next 164 operations marketing between...

This paper provides an updated assessment of the changing demand for farm labor, including its components and relative use, as reflected in the capital-labor ratios for California and Florida, which are major coastal producers of fresh fruits and vegetables, and of Iowa and Texas, which are two...

In production economies, the extent to which non-equilibria are blocked dependson specific rules that allocate authority among shareholders, because a blocking coalition’sresources are affected by the firms it jointly owns with outsiders. Based on anotion of stochastic blocking, we extend...