The market for insuring insect damage is far from complete. This study introduces a new type of derivative instrument-insect derivatives-that provide growers a market-based means of transferring insect risk to speculators or others who may profit from higher insect populations. A risk-neutral...

Numerical simulation of several typical risk management strategies using pro forma financial statements from representative U.S. dairy cooperatives shows that combinations of forwards, swaps, and cash marketing strategies for output (cheese), along with various forward contracts offered to...

Though brand loyalty has been studied extensively in the marketing literature, the relationship between brand loyalty and equilibrium pricing strategies is not well understood. Designing sales pricing strategies involves two key decisions: the percentage reduction in price from the existing...

The objective of this research is to begin exploring the welfare effects of new food product introductions and to determine whether such effects vary depending on the income classification of the customer base to which the products are introduced. In other words, when new products are introduced...

The demand for organic fresh fruits and vegetable continues to grow at a rate far higher than the rest of the produce industry. The cost of meeting organic certification standards, however, has meant that supply has been slow to adjust. With limited supply, we hypothesize that organic suppliers...

The effect of advertising on market performance has been a long-standing debate. Advertising that increases the dispersion of consumers’ valuations for advertised goods raises the market power of firms, while advertising that decreases the dispersion of consumers’ valuations leads to...

Widespread obesity in the U.S. is a relatively recent phenomenon, reaching epidemic proportions only in the last 15 years. However, existing research shows that while calorie expenditure through physical activity has not changed appreciably since 1980, calorie consumption has risen dramatically....

Many public programs promote diets rich in fruits and vegetables based on evidence on the derived health benefits. Sill, produce consumption in the U.S. lags behind other nations, even its most culturally similar neighborCanada. This study uses a structural latent variable model to test the role...

Agricultural cooperatives tend to be riskier than investor-oriented firms, both in a business and financial sense. However, cooperative managers are often reluctant to actively manage risk. Although the risk management irrelevance proposition suggests that cooperative managers should be unable...

Native American obesity and the associated health conditions are generally thought to result in part from a genetic predisposition to overeating fats and carbohydrates, called the "thrifty gene." Although coined by nutritional scientists, this study maintains the origin of the thrifty gene lies...