Dynamic, recursive simulation models for the national livestock-feed sector have been designed by agricultural economists for the specific purpose of making long-run projections and evaluating alternative agriculture policies (Reynolds et al.; Yanagida and Conway). While these models are useful for describing the workings of the national grain and livestock sectors, they are incomplete for policy evaluation purposes at a subnational or state level (Knapp et al.; Maki et al.). In these situations, unless state or regional production and marketing patterns are represented as a constant percentage of the national model solution values, the impact of changes in a state's crop or livestock production relative to other states and alternative policy decisions cannot be considered (Ratajczak). Consequently, a state model must be able to reflect the impact of national and international policies and events to be effective and functional (Colyer and Irwin).

If we could get a nickel for every time the demise of the property tax has been predicted in this century, we probably could invest the proceeds and use the interest to finance a program of property tax reform. In a sense, this subject is old.

In another sense, however, there is something very new about discussing alternative ways of raising money for local governments. In August 1971, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in the now well-known case of Serrano v. Priest; in March 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a similar ruling by a lower court in Texas. The Court ruled that the present system of financing local schools in California, which relies heavily on the property tax, unconstitutionally “conditions the full entitlement to such interest on wealth, classifies its recipients on the basis of their collective affluence and makes the quality of a child's education depend upon the resources of his school district and ultimately upon the pocketbook of his parents.” Since that time, more than 50 similar suits have been filed in some 31 states, and the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing an appeal from Texas in a case similar to Serrano.

This paper analyzes output changes in the U.S. agricultural economy from 1972 to 1977 using a 477-sector input-output framework. The empirical model is based on benchmark input-output data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis for 1972 and 1977. Output changes were decomposed into components attributable to technical change, domestic final demand change, export demand change and import substitution. A major advantage of the decomposition is its ability to identify the output change in a given sector due to general equilibrium effects in all sectors.

A dual cost function approach is developed as an alternative to time series and simplistic approaches for estimating farmers' expected operating rates of return on assets. A translog restricted cost function is estimated using data provided by 152 North Carolina dairy farmers over the period 1976 through 1986. The predicted costs from the fitted restricted cost function are used to construct estimates of farmers' expected operating rates of return on assets. The estimates from this structural approach explain more of the variation in observed rates than do time series estimates or sample mean observed rates.

Concern has been expressed by many people, from producers to consumers, regarding the adequacy and accuracy of reported wholesale carcass beef prices and their use in pricing slaughter cattle and beef. The controversy has generated numerous government investigations and lawsuits beginning at least as early as the mid-1960s (General Accounting Office, 1977, 1978; National Commission on Food Marketing). Despite the decade and a half of criticisms about cattle and beef pricing and price reporting, and the importance of the carcass beef market to the cattle and beef subsector, agricultural economists have devoted surprisingly few resources to analyzing carcass beef market performance.

This article provides additional empirical evidence concerning the choice of the mule as the dominant draft animal in southern agricultural production in the latter 19th and early 20th century. While the mule was uniquely suited to the crops and climate of the region, two divergent arguments have been presented as to why the mule was the dominant draft animal in southern agricultural production. This research reevaluates these arguments and provides evidence that it was, in fact, the characteristics of this hybrid that made it the preferred draft animal for the South.

Let me start out by thanking you for giving me this opportunity to share a few thoughts with you on the European Community's (EC) agricultural policy—and on some recent important developments affecting farm trade. I am especially grateful to you because the opportunity comes at a time when consideration of farm policy and farm trade is more than ever on people's minds.

This study analyses the effects of specific agricultural and exchange rate policies on tobacco production in the Dominican Republic. Direct protection resulting from output and input subsidies and taxes was positive on average from 1966 to 1988, but total protection was negative when exchange rate policies are considered. Tobacco policies were quite volatile and resulted in increasing production in the 1970s but decreasing production in the 1980s. Overall, tobacco production was 4.8 percent less than it would have been had there been no policy interventions. Several reasons are provided for the policies.

The paper by Long, Infanger and Danielson [5] (hereafter referred to as LID) does a good job of presenting conventional rationale for an approach to land use planning. Survey results presented in the LID paper clearly identify the topics currently concentrated upon in land use research and educational programs. Identification of the specific nature of current educational programs in land use is a necessary first step in assessing the effectiveness of these programs. The primary objective of this paper is not to further review current research and extension activities but to take a fresh look at issues involved in land use planning, and point out areas where both rationale and approach of conventional research and extension land use efforts should be subjected to further scrutiny. Comments are not restricted to the LID paper only, but relate also to described land use research and educational programs.

Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding factors that influence public service expenditures in rural communities. Much public service research has been focused on the question of whether economies of population size exist for public service delivery systems, and, if so, what are the optimum size delivery systems. Of particular concern to communities is the impact of economic growth on provision of public services. Community leaders need to know how to plan for provision of these services when facing changing economic conditions. They must be able to evaluate whether or not economic growth, especially rural industrialization, should be followed as a strategy for enhancing both quality and quantity of these services.

The U.S. grapefruit industry is dependent on continual growth in fresh sales in both domestic and foreign markets. From 1969 to 1975 slightly more than 40 percent of each season's output went to fresh use. Much of the future growth in fresh use is expected to come from new and larger export markets. Both political and economic trade problems continue to occur as greater emphasis is placed on the export markets for fresh grapefruit. Threats of Japanese embargoes and restrictions on containers and fumigants present continual problems with the development of the Japanese export market. The ultimate result of these export restrictions is reallocation of supplies among markets.

Carriker, Infanger, and Shabman and Stephenson have provided a set of papers related to the current debate over environmental regulatory reform. Each paper stands alone as a distinct and valuable contribution to the literature on this subject. Yet as a set they complement one another and form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Carriker, in his comprehensive overview of federal environmental policy in the U.S., painstakingly describes the origins, evolution, and impacts of nine major pieces of environmental legislation, and thus sets the stage for discussion of current issues and professional perspectives in the other two papers. Carriker's paper is well documented and should also serve as a good primer for students taking natural resource and environmental economics courses or contemplating graduate research in this area.

A structural probit model is estimated to determine the change in the probability of selecting a milk handler. Cooperatives are thought to have lower prices and higher deductions than independent milk handlers and these factors reduce the probability that a farmer will select a cooperative by 0.39 and 0.32. Cooperatives are thought to have better services and an assured market and payment than independent milk handlers and these factors increase the probability that a farmer will select a cooperative by 0.20 and 0.26. This indicates that many cooperative members value monetary characteristics over non-monetary characteristics.

This discussion is a review and critique of the three papers in the 2012Southern Agricultural Economics Association invited paper session titledCauses of Agricultural and Food Price Inflation and Volatility.

In a revised definition of the Davis-Goldberg concept of agribusiness, Sonka and Hudson suggest that the food and agribusiness sector might be thought of as a sequence of interrelated subsectors made up of: (1) genetics and seedstock firms, (2) input suppliers, (3) agricultural producers, (4) merchandisers or first handlers, (5) processors, (6) retailers, and (7) consumers. In applying this ubiquitous definition to global data, Goldberg (1991a) estimates that the food and agribusiness system is the largest economic sector in the world economy representing 50 percent of the global labor force, 50 percent of global assets, and 50 percent of global consumer expenditures.

The migration of labor is an important mechanism through which an efficient spatial allocation of resources is achieved and maintained. Many studies were designed to determine the efficacy of the market as an allocator of labor between various regions of the economy. However, most of these have concentrated on the allocation mechanism between major metropolitan labor markets or major sub-regions in the general economy. This study was designed to ascertain the effectiveness of labor allocation between rural and metro regions and between different rural regions in the three-state area of Missouri, Kansas and Illinois.

Despite high employment rates and starting salaries for qualified graduates of agribusiness, agricultural, and applied economics (AAAE) programs, several AAAE departments have experienced years of low enrollment. This study offers insight into how AAAE programs can more effectively market themselves and recruit undergraduate students through analysis of a nationwide survey of college and department personnel and a statewide survey of high school students. Findings reveal important differences between students’ preferred information and message sources and those currently used. Gaps in understanding of AAAE across administrative units are also identified. Specific program awareness, marketing, and student recruitment recommendations are offered.

This article investigates the extent to which national brand and private label (store brand) prices behave differently as food price inflation changes. Empirical tests using a range of indices support the hypotheses that rising commodity and fuel prices lead to relatively larger surges in private label prices. When food prices are rising or high, the average price difference between national brands and private labels shrinks. The findings have implications for understanding the welfare effects of private labels. Moreover, they suggest that food price inflation is stronger for low-income households as food prices rise.

Several studies have estimated plant nutrient demand functions for nitrogen, phosphate, and potash. All included own-price effects but excluded prices of jointly applied nutrients. In this study, nutrient demand functions, which include prices of all three nutrients, are estimated for Tennessee by seemingly unrelated regression. Results suggest that cross-price eflfects are important in determining plant nutrient demand, at least in the case of Tennessee, and that multicollinearity need not be a hindrance in all cases to including cross-price eflfects in plant nutrient demand models.