The objective of this analysis was to identify the production practices used by farmers to change seasonal production. Production practices included milk production per cow, proportion of cows milking, number of first lactation animals entering the herd, number of cows leaving the herd, number of days to first breeding, and calves born. Farms that participated in a seasonal pricing plan during 1993, 1994, and 1995 decreased production practice seasonality in response to price premiums, which caused a decrease in production seasonality compared to nonparticipating farms. Participating farms showed a preference for adjusting entering first lactation animals and number of calves born, but did make adjustments in other practices as well.

This study investigates reasons for adoption of best management practices (BMP), crawfish farmers' participation in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and economic impacts of BMP adoption using data from a 2008 survey of crawfish producers. Most-cited reasons for BMP adoption are farmers' perceptions of increases in profit and long-run productivity. Land tenancy, education, double-cropping or crop rotation, and proximity to a stream influence EQIP participation. Perceptions of economic profits depend on the practices used. Participation in EQIP negatively impacts farmers' perceptions of profitability from adopting BMPs. The results underscore the importance of economic incentives in promoting BMP adoption.

In this article, research on the application of science to policy issues is reviewed and applied to economic science. Economists who want their professionally credentialed economic research to have an impact on public policy are advised to consult with policy decision-makers in framing their research questions and throughout the research process, thus assuring that the resulting findings will be relevant. A minimal degree of bias in framing, conducting, and presenting research complements a high degree of relevance for the results, allowing economic research to make a difference.

This paper reports results from a contingent valuation based public good experiment conducted in the African nation of Botswana. In a sample of university students, we find evidence that stated willingness to contribute to a public good in a hypothetical setting is higher than actual contribution levels. However, results from regression analysis suggest that this is true only in the second round of the experiment, when participants making actual contributions have learned to significantly lower their contribution levels. As globalization expands markets, and economies such as Botswana's continue to modernize, there is a growing need to understand how hypothetical bias will influence the valuation of public goods.

The Truckee/Carson/Walker River watershed in northern Nevada is under an imminent threat of infestation by the New Zealand mud snail, an aquatic nuisance species with the potential to harm recreational fisheries. We combine a utility-theoretic system-demand model of recreational angling with a Bayesian econometric framework to provide estimates of trip and welfare losses under different types of regulatory control policies. We find that such losses can be substantial, warranting immediate investments in preemptive strategies via public outreach and awareness campaigns.

Virginia and other northeastern coastal states have adopted legislation in an effort to diminish the rate at which coastal wetlands are being “reclaimed” for development as residential, commercial, or industrial sites. In all these states, the arguments for public protection of natural wetlands were based upon a growing, but still incomplete, body of scientific evidence linking wetlands to any array of non-market ecological services such as waste assimilation and provision of fish and wildlife habitat.

Given the stable position in applied literature now held by static, duality models of choice, the focus of innovation has shifted to development of models of dynamic economic behavior. However, before jumping into this stream it is important to assess 1) the objectives and empirical relevance of study of such behavior, and 2) the characteristics of observed behavior which might help us resolve the specification of such models. The objective of empirical study of dynamic behavior seems clear. An accurate descriptive model is desired which could provide the basis for prediction and comparative analysis of behavior. The relevance of any such study is limited, as usual, by the accuracy and consistency with which the theory of behavior upon which the model is based simulates observed behavior. A prerequisite of relevance is an understanding of the elemental characteristics of observed dynamic behavior which might suggest the primitive elements of a theory of behavior and motivate model specification.

This paper analyzes the effect of labeling information on U.S. farmers' herbicide choices. Herbicide choices reported by U.S. soybean farmers are used to estimate farmer preferences for different herbicide attributes using a mixed logit model. Our results indicate that statements displayed on pesticide labels regarding risks to human health and the environment are important components in herbicide selection. We find that farmers are willing to pay an average of $27 per acre to avoid using an herbicide labeled with the word “Warning” and $38 per acre to avoid using an herbicide labeled with the word “Danger.”

Growing concern over resource use and protection of the environment has prompted greater demand for agricultural policy analysis at the local, regional, and national levels. Faced with declining surface-water quality, silting of reservoirs, and contaminated groundwater supplies, the public has demanded greater protection of the environment. With the call for more regulation of agriculture comes the need for policy analysis. What policy is best? Should a national standard apply, or do local conditions warrant local standards? Who will benefit, and who will lose, and by how much?

This study illustrates the differences in empirical results due to data measurements and estimating procedures when applying the single index market model in agriculture. Gross and net return betas along with systematic and unsystematic risk proportions are estimated and found to be different. The stochastic coefficients model is used to show the difference in beta-risk estimates compared with the traditional fixed coefficients OLS procedure. A third estimating technique, weighted least squares/Prais Winsten method, is also proposed.

A regression discontinuity approach is used to measure the impact of public-goods creating programs in a declining inner city neighborhood of Worcester Massachusetts. Using GIS data, we develop a hedonic model of residential sales, using a parcel-level GIS tax assessment and land use database linked to property sales data for the years 1988 through 2007, to test the effect of the creation of a new high-performing public school, as well as other locational amenities and disamenities on neighborhood housing prices, by comparing properties adjacent to either side of the school catchment area boundary.

An equilibrium displacement model of the U.S. meat markets is used to measure the potential impacts of promotion investment, differentiating meats by types and by supply source, taking into account the U.S. participation in global meat markets, and considering imperfect competition in the meat industry. The increase in U.S. producer welfare resulting from a 10 percent increase in promotion ranges from -$1.29 million to $2.60 million for U.S. beef producers and from -$0.96 million to $1.67 million for U.S. pork producers, depending primarily on the advertising elasticity used.

Before the 1970s, the U.S. economy was so large relative to the rest of the world that few American economists worried about the international sector and its relation to the U.S. economy. That view has changed dramatically in the past two decades. Total U.S. trade has increased from only $83 billion in 1970 to $866 billion in 1990, averaging a 12.4% increase each year. Exports accounted for less than 4% of U.S. gross national product (GNP) in the 1950s and 1960s, but now exports account for about 6% of U.S. GNP. These changes have radical implications for U.S. firms and government policies. The U.S. can no longer disregard economic occurrences in the rest of the world.

This paper examines agricultural use-value legislation in light of statewide reassessment in New York. Historically, farm real estate has been underassessed relative to other classes of property. Thus, statewide reassessment at full value would significantly increase farmland property taxes. These increases could be more than offset by widespread application of use-value assessment. In 1979, the tax reductions, when compared with full-value assessment, would be about $8 per acre. The tax bases of some rural communities may be reduced significantly by use-value assessment.

This paper presents a model of the farm labor allocation decision based on risk and return characteristics of different activities. It is shown that off-farm employment can play an important role in the diversification of farm family income, implying that portfolio models of risk and return to farm activities should take into account the possibility of off-farm employment. A model of the labor allocation decision based on the risk and return characteristics of each activity is developed and tested using a state level cross section of the United States over the post-war period, and performs well in explaining variation in reliance on off-farm income.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires concentrated animal feeding operations to develop and implement a comprehensive nutrient management plan. Changes in manure management to meet nutrient application standards will generally increase production costs. Some of these costs can be offset by savings from replacing commercial fertilizer with manure nutrients, and through financial assistance programs such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). A manure application cost model was used to examine the costs to confined dairy farms of meeting nutrient application standards, and the ability of fertilizer offsets and EQIP to reduce these costs.

Assuming asymmetric information over farmer profits and zero transaction costs, prior literature has suggested that when regulating nonpoint source water pollution, a tax on management practices (inputs) can implement full-information allocations and is superior to a tax on estimated runoff. Using mechanism design theory under asymmetric information, this paper shows that under the same assumptions, management practice taxes and taxes on estimated runoff are equally efficient.

We utilize a Generalized Exact Affine Stone Index system to evaluate the structure of residential water demand that recognizes demand interrelationship between residential and bottled water in the United States, allowing for precommitted consumption. Further, we address expenditure and price endogeneity by accounting for the supply side of the price determination mechanism. A significant substitutability relationship between residential and bottled water is found, while substantial precommitments are established in both residential and bottled water consumption. Residential demand becomes price-elastic once the precommitted level is reached. Finally, ignoring substitutability, precommitments, or endogeneity distorts the demand structure, resulting in erroneous policy implications.

Systematic supervision procedures have been proposed to improve contingent valuation surveying, particularly in developing countries. Surprisingly, the CV literature does not say much about the potential effects of supervision even though there is evidence of interviewer effects and social desirability issues that can bias results. This paper investigates the effects of interview supervision on the valuation of public services, using split-sample treatments to include a test of scope of a nested good and to assess the effect of interview supervision on reported WTP. Results suggest that supervisors can be used to improve quality with no effect on WTP estimates.