Replaced with revised version of paper 07/19/11.

We apply a new Bayesian approach to multiple‐contract futures data. It allows the volatility of futures prices to depend upon physical inventories and the contract's time to delivery—and it allows those parametric effects to vary over time. We investigate price movements for lumber contracts...

We study the difference in the volatility dynamics of CBOT corn, soybeans, and oats futures prices across different delivery horizons via a smoothed Bayesian estimator. We find that futures price volatilities in these markets are affected by inventories, time to delivery, and the crop progress...

We explore how a landowner’s bid to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is influenced by his parcel’s designation as a Conservation Priority Area (CPA). A theoretical model of a landowner’s optimal bid is presented, and we demonstrate the ambiguity in a landowner’s optimal...

We analyze the determinants of daily futures price volatility in corn, soybeans, wheat, and oats markets from 1986 to 2007. Combining the information from simultaneously traded contracts, a generalized least squares method is implemented that allows us to clearly distinguish among...

This study examines issues that arise when modeling risk associated with fed cattle production. While research concerning crop yield and revenue risks are numerous, studies focusing on production risk in livestock are much less frequent. The first essay evaluates the relationship among four...

Government programs that restrict production and increase prices to particular groups of producers have a long history in the United States. The purpose of this research is to analyze the implications of such a program for peanuts in three independent essays. The first essay focuses on the...

This research extends the literature on the revealed preference analysis of macroeconomic aggregates in multiple ways. The relevance of recent methodological changes in data construction is our first topic, as Varian's (1982, 1983) nonparametric tests are run on U.S. consumption series built...

This dissertation studies the demand for imported and domestic demand models for meat and livestock. The first essay focuses on the separability between import and domestic meat demand and the performance of static versus dynamic models of consumer behavior. A new dynamic system of demand...