One of the most important policy tools in developing countries for affecting economic growth and poverty reduction is expenditure policy. As governments decide how to allocate public spending, they need a clear understanding of how public investments translate into development outcomes. Using...

This study uses a new dataset based on the 2000 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, the most recent national survey of dairy producers in the United States. A shadow cost function is employed to decompose and analyze economic efficiency and scale economies. The study details the development...

This study examines how the spatial distribution of grocery stores affects food prices charged in neighborhoods with different median incomes. Studies have shown that low-income neighborhoods often have fewer grocery stores, smaller grocery stores and have higher prices for a standard market...

Vickrey auctions are commonly used to elicit willingness to pay for new food products. This paper shows that in a multi-period context, it can be optimal to bid higher than the expected consumption value for new experience goods to obtain information about the quality of the goods. The degree of...

Replaced with revised version of paper 11/28/06. Former title: The Expanded and Re-Parameterized Johnson System: A Most Crop-Yield Distribution Model

Replaced with revised version of paper 08/31/06.

The paper investigates the value of biodiversity as it relates to the productive value of services provided by an ecosystem. It analyzes how the value of an ecosystem can be "greater than the sum of its parts." First, it proposes a general measure of the value of biodiversity. Second, this...

Do milk marketing orders affect various demographic groups differently? To answer this question, we use supermarket scanner data to estimate an incomplete demand system for dairy products. Based on these estimates, we simulate substitution effects among dairy products and the welfare impacts of...

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/19/06.