Perceived characteristics of thin markets are described and approaches to furthering their study are suggested. Design features of a laboratory thin market, patterned after a typical livestock marketing situation, are described. Price bias and variation from a “thick” private negotiation market with 22 traders is compared to that from a “thin” auction market with 8 traders. No systematic price bias was found in any of the markets. Price variation was actually lower in the thin auction market.

This study examines the various factors affecting household expenditures on fresh and processed fruit and vegetables in the U.S. using the 1992 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Empirical results suggest that higher income, better educated, larger, and older households spend more on fresh and processed fruit and vegetables than do other households. Seasonal and regional variations are also evident.

Models are developed to measure the effect of socioeconomic factors on the probability of consuming fish and shellfish in both the away from home and at home markets. Factors that significantly affect the likelihood of eating fish and shellfish at home include: urbanization, region, race, ethnicity, age, diet status and income. On the other hand, region, employment, diet status, household size, age and income significantly affect the likelihood of eating fish and shellfish away from home.

NAFTA and GATT will dramatically alter regulations protecting U.S. peanut markets and will allow foreign producers considerable access to domestic market. Traditionally, the political economy surrounding peanut policy has been favorable to domestic producers. Rising peanut butter imports, decreasing domestic demand, and possibly the inadvertent effects of domestic policy, ironically implemented to protect domestic producers, have contributed to significant increases in Treasury costs. These increased Treasury costs have dramatically changed the political climate surrounding the peanut program. In this light, the effects of GATT appear manageable; NAFTA may ultimately require major policy reform. Possible alternatives are presented.

The national four-firm concentration ratio in the lamb slaughtering and processing industry increased from 55 percent in 1980 to 70 percent in 1992. The effect of increasing lamb packer concentration on lamb marketing margins is examined. A relative price spread (RPS) model for farm-to-wholesale and wholesale-to-retail marketing margins was estimated using three-stage least squares (3SLS). The 3SLS results indicate that increased lamb packer concentration has had relatively small, positive effects on lamb marketing margins.

This study demonstrates how contingent valuation techniques can be used in a cost-benefit analysis of a food safety policy issue. The analysis focuses on banning a specific postharvest pesticide used in fresh grapefruit packinghouses. Benefits of the ban are measured using consumers' aggregated willingness to pay (WTP) for safer grapefruit. A national contingent valuation survey used the payment card method to obtain WTP data. Costs of the ban stem predominantly from increased postharvest losses and were estimated using a model of the market for Florida grapefruit. Results indicate that benefits of the ban outweigh costs.

This research examines the success of stabilization policies to control hyperinflation in Bolivia. Money demand functions for the hyperinflation and stabilization periods were econometrically estimated and statistically tested. We conclude that the demand for money in Bolivia changed after stabilization policies were implemented, indicating that the new government's objectives were met. Stabilization policies resulted in real economic growth for Bolivia's economy, including its agricultural sector, where agricultural export shares increased tenfold as stabilization policies corrected overvalued exchange rates.

Search theory is used to present a theoretically defensible model to examine the effectiveness of use value assessment (UVA) in preserving farmland. The model is empirically tractable and supports the findings of past research. The analysis considers the impact of farm income, uncertainty, and the distribution of the offer price on the effectiveness of UVA in preserving farmland and shows, through the effect on the reservation price, that for a given distribution of the offer price, property-tax rate, and the difference between market-value and use-value of land, the preservation of agricultural land only takes place within a relevant range.

This study provides an empirical investigation of how consumers rate meat attributes. Results show an importance order for 12 selected meat attributes and reveal some relationships between the importance ratings and consumer's demographic or socioeconomic characteristics. The findings suggest that (1) the meat marketing strategy should focus on freshness, taste, and appearance; (2) nutritional attributes have become important factors in the meat purchasing decision of female, educated, and married consumers; (3) older, married, low-income, or non-white consumers still remain price conscious; and (4) USDA label has become an important symbol of meat quality and safety to older, female, Baptist, and high-income consumers.

Impacts of alternative specifications for heteroscedastic error structures are examined by estimating various production functions for corn in Central Texas. Production- and profit-maximizing levels of inputs and the shape of the profit equation obtained from models not corrected for heteroscedasticity differed from those obtained from models corrected for heteroscedasticity. Using the profit-maximizing input levels for each production function gave essentially the same estimated yield and profit, regardless of the specification for heteroscedasticity employed. Differences of up to one-quarter to one-third are noted, however, in the amount of profit-maximizing levels of inputs used, depending on the heteroscedasticity correction.

Efficient allocation of water requires knowledge of water's value in both consumptive and nonconsumptive uses. This study estimates the marginal value of water in lake recreational and aesthetic (RA) use. An hedonic price equation (employing the Box-Cox functional form) indicates lake front location, distance to lake, and scenic view are significant RA characteristics of housing. Water front properties command a premium price for the private access they offer. Beyond the water front, the marginal RA price falls rapidly with increasing distance, becoming asymptotic to some minimum. Twenty-two percent of housing price is found to be attributable to the RA component.

This study measures the impacts of use of nutrition information and household socioeconomic characteristics on market participation and amount purchased of whole-fat and low-fat milks in the South. Data are from the 1987-88 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. The results showed that use of nutrition information had little effect on purchase levels, but did affect market participation. Results suggest promotion of milk purchases on the basis of nutritional benefits through health professionals and product packaging are useful tools for the dairy industry to attract market participation.

Data from a 1992 Georgia Farm Practices survey are used to examine the structure of farmers' perceptions of ground water pollution and their support of regulations to protect ground water. Estimates of the influence of farm and farmer characteristics on pollution perceptions and support for pollution control were computed using a multiple-indicator model. Results show that the willingness to change farm practices to protect ground water is positively related to how an operator perceives the seriousness of the pollution problem. Regulatory policies that negatively affect farmers' income are likely to be opposed by farmers.

The paper tests two alternative specifications for the opportunity cost of time in travel cost models. The standard travel cost survey design is enriched to include a contingent valuation type question about peoples' willingness to accept compensation to forgo a precisely defined recreational experience. It is hypothesized that individually revealed value of time more appropriately reflects the opportunity costs of time associated with a particular aspect of recreation than the wage rate which measures the trade-off between work and leisure generally. The results seem to indicate a better overall fit for the models with the elicited value of individual consumer's time than for the models with the more traditional hourly earnings (wage rates). The importance of the correct measurement of the opportunity cost time is illustrated by showing that estimated consumer surpluses based on two different value of time measurements differ significantly.

Previous studies of historical risk have used either nominal or real data to calculate risk measures for agricultural prices and income. However, the effects of using nominal and real data have not been evaluated. This study utilizes theoretical variance approximation relationships to examine variances from detrended real and nominal time series. The relationships between variances are derived for quarterly U.S. farm milk prices for 1960-72, 1973-80, and 1981-90. Contrary to common intuitive arguments, results indicate that variances of real time series can be larger than variances of nominal series. While definitive conclusions are not possible, several reasons for using nominal data in risk analysis are given.

Recent legislative initiatives call for studies to evaluate costs associated with cleaning U.S. grains to meet more stringent standards. This paper reports on a study which developed a mixed-integer programming model of the U.S. sorghum sector to (1) determine the least-cost geographic location for new cleaning investment at the country, terminal and port elevator stages of the marketing system and (2) measure additional system marketing costs associated with implementing the proposed standards. Results show the least-cost cleaning location to be at country and terminal elevators in excess supply regions. Implementing the proposed standard would increase system costs about 2 percent.

This study investigates the determinants of crawfish consumption in South Louisiana using a generalized limited dependent variable model that accounts for both participation and consumption decisions. Income, Catholic, white, and household size increase the likelihood of crawfish consumption but not the conditional level of consumption. Education and employment status are among the other household characteristics that determine the conditional level of consumption.

This experiment demonstrates principles of decision-making in dynamic oligopolies, especially the difficulties in forming and maintaining cartels. As an illustration of firm behavior under imperfect competition, the game distinguishes between procedurally rational choices and substantively rational decisions in the context of collusive, Cournot, and competitive equilibria. The paper discusses results from an actual classroom exercise and suggests some additional variations in institutional details. Instructions for students and a spreadsheet program for producing payoff tables are provided in the appendices.