In this paper we study the productivity-survival link in the U.S. poultry processing industry using the longitudinal data constructed from five Censuses of Manufactures between 1987 and 2007. First, we study the effects of physical productivity and demand-specific factors on plant survival and...

The paper analyses the risk minimizing dual hedge in price and yield futures in the presence of price and yield risks. The results show that a risk minimizing farmer can reduce its variance of revenue by hedging in both markets rather than just using the price futures. The empirical results for...

In this article we use structural econometrics to formally test whether the use of the alternative marketing arrangements (AMAs) by pork packers is the source of their market power on the spot (cash) market for live hogs. We specify the pork packers' conjectures of the change in the industry...

In this article we propose and solve a game-theoretic model of a rank-order tournament with private information. Using the contract settlement data from a poultry company, we estimate a fully structural model of a symmetric Nash equilibrium of this game. We show that growers' equilibrium effort...

We examine the relationship between a tree price and a tree age (height) using a Hotelling-Faustmann model of optimal plantation management, which accounts for the possibility of replanting and biological growth. The model's predictions are tested using the data on Christmas tree prices in North...