Marketing systems using non-transferable or imperfectly transferable quotas induce shifts in supply as well as shifts along supply functions. There are social costs associated with these shifts which are additional to those normally recognised in the literature. To reduce the size of the shifts...

Hen quotas were virtually freely transferable within Victoria when they were first introduced in 1975. The 1980's have witnessed a series of changes to regulations over quota transfers. Initially these changes were components of a plan to phase out quotas but that is no longer on the policy...

The literature on measuring the size and distribution of returns to research has paid increasing attention of late to questions that require a multimarket framework. These questions include the distribution of benefits among stages of a multistage process or among factors of production (i.e. the...

This paper explores the hypothesis that livestock market reporters tend to err towards the middle of the actual range when estimating carcass weight and fat depth. Trial data for pigs support the hypothesis and indicate that reporters' estimates may be significantly biased in some extreme weight...

A common observation is that measures of productivity growth are pro-cyclical, meaning they are higher (or grow faster) on average during periods of economic expansion than during periods of economic contraction. This study focuses on measurement errors related to capital inputs as an...

Food safety shocks can threaten the health of consumers, create havoc within an industry and result in severe losses to producers. Governments often attempt to enhance food safety by mandating standards and inspection of food products to supplement the voluntary efforts by private firms. This...

Over the past 50 years and longer, the supply of food commodities has grown faster than the effective market demand, in spite of increasing population and per capita incomes. Consequently, the real (deflated) prices of food commodities have steadily trended down. The past increases in...

This article provides an overview of mandated commodity programs in California, and summarizes and interprets existing evidence on their economic impacts. The analysis draws upon the recent book edited by the authors: The Economics of Commodity Promotion Programs: Lessons from California. New...

Pest-management technologies have had to adapt to address evolving pesticide resistance problems and changes in regulations driven by environmental and human health concerns. Integrated pest management, founded in the University of California, is an important example. Using California as a case...