Whereas considerable effort has been expended in prior research in discussing the appropriateness of alternative measures of income in expenditure studies, this paper looks in depth at the impact of incorporating a broad range of demographic variables in the expenditure analysis. Food expenditures away from home are used to analyze the additional gains in explanatory power and the impact of demographic variables on income elasticities. Considerable divergence of results is found under the alternative measures of income.

The hedonic pricing technique was used to measure that component of house price attributable to proximity to a city park, using data on sale prices and characteristics of houses in Worcester, MA. Aggregation of these residual values over all houses in the neighborhood of a park provided an estimate of the value of the park, to which was added an estimate of recreation benefits from extrazonal users. The policy question of park system development or contraction was addressed by comparing these benefits with operating costs to gain a net measure of parkland value.

The shift-share approach is used to examine changes in the competitive position nationally of tourism in the Northeast, using lodging receipts as an index of tourism. The Northeast share of national lodging receipts, which declined from 1972 to 1977, was heavily influenced by a lack of substantive growth in New England and the Middle Atlantic regions. This parallels population trends, but does not necessarily reflect a dismal future for tourism in the Northeast.

This paper summarizes some results of a Sea Grant-funded economic input-output study of marine-related activity in the Southern New England Marine Region. Data were obtained from 390 personal interviews; in addition, a wealth of secondary data was used. Type I and Type II income and employment multipliers were estimated for each of the nineteen marine-related industries included in the model. The results provide a basis to assist analysts concerned with assessing the impacts on regional income and employment of marine-related policies or developments proposed for the Region.

Data from a 1979 New York survey were analyzed to develop a systematic multivariate typology of small farmers (i.e., operators of small farm businesses) which would be useful in designing and targeting public programs. Farm business size, operator's age, and off-farm employment were the most important dimensions of variation. A typology was constructed by successive dichotomization of low and moderate sales volume farms; operators 49 years of age and under, and 50 and over; and families with and without off-farm income. Means for economic and social indicators were computed for each of the resulting eight categories. Low sales volume farm families with relatively old operators and without off-farm employment were found to experience very low total family incomes. Suggestions are made regarding how public extension and research programs may be developed and targeted with specific categories of the most needy small farmers in mind.

Economic and environmental analyses of manure handling systems have implications for programs to regulate agricultural nonpoint sources of water pollution and programs to subsidize manure handling practices. Previous economic analyses in the literature are discussed. Manure systems are evaluated in a consistent framework to determine construction and operating costs. The effect of soil type on nutrient conservation is examined for two hypothetical farms. Dissolved phosphorous runoff is estimated for the farms varying storage capacity and soil type. Costs of phosphorus reduction by handling system, housing type and soil type are examined. Conclusions for cost-sharing policy are drawn.

This paper summarizes selected findings of a study of faculty advisors and advising programs in departments of agricultural and resource economics. Undergraduate advising program characteristics in the Northeast are contrasted with those in other regions. Interdepartmental advising loads, advising budgets and allocation of advising resources are measured. Differences were found in advisor selection, training, support, coordination, rewards and evaluations. Advising programs were generally strong in advisor accessability and weak in career follow-ups. Advising faculty members in the Northeast generally earned lower salaries and taught more terms during the year than nonadvising faculty members. Continued program documentation, support and rewards are recommended.

In the April, 1981, issue of this Journal, Prindle and Livezey (PL) address the very important question of how a dairy farm manager should attempt to adjust production in response to expected seasonal production patterns of the dairy cow, monthly milk prices and variable milk production costs. The authors construct a representative farm linear programming model to address this important question.

Rural governments in the Northeast purchased credit ratinqs for a high percentage of their general obligation bonds sold in 1977. This paper examines the effect credit ratings had on the interest cost of GO bonds sold by nonmetro governments in the Northeast. The results suggest that the decision to purchase a rating may be a costly error under certain circumstances.

A contemporary exploration of the concept of “private sector delivery of public services” is necessitated by the fiscal “facts of life” prevalent in most local jurisdictions today. Documentation of the mounting costs of local government is readily available. All informed projections suggest that because of inflation and increased labor costs, this spiralina increase will not level off in the near future.

User charges were the second most important source of local government own source revenue in 1977. Local governments in 1977 collected $19 billion in user charges, such as admission fees. This represented 16 percent of total revenue from own sources. The biggest revenue producer at the local level, the property tax, accounted for half of all locally raised revenue.

There are nearly one million Holstein hull calves born in the Northeast each year. This is a sizeable resource that should be evaluated for fed beef production to determine if it is a potentially viable alternative enterprise for Northeast farms. Previous research at Cornell has presented several beef production systems that would be practical in the Northeast (Knoblauch et al., Woodell). An additional system would be the rearing of the steer calves with the replacement heifers on dairy farms. Many dairymen have expressed a desire to expand their operation without increasing the milking herd, because of labor, management, facilities limitation or personal desires. Raising the Holstein steer calves produced on dairy farms is an alternative for expanding the farm operation and a means of marketing surplus forages. The purpose of this paper is to outline feeding and management strategies for raising the steers with the replacement heifers and marketing them either as feeder cattle or fed beef. The objectives are to use home-grown forages for as much of the feeding period as possible, maintain efficient growth and produce a quality feeder or slaughter weight steer.

On most Northeastern dairy farms bull calves are considered a superfluous output and are sent to auction markets as soon as possible after they are born. The excess supply situation in the United States dairy industry combined with other obstacles to dairy herd expansion has resulted in dairy producers seeking expansion options other than increased dairy herd size. Several alternatives for expanding the dairy farm business that utilize bull calves as a resource are possible. Dairy beef systems that are most complementary to the ongoing dairy business should be particularly attractive.

Raising livestock has always been a difficult and arduous occupation. The financial risks are substantial and the long-term returns in many instances are merely adequate, at best. When the cattle are raised in fringe producing areas, such as much of the Northeast, the complexities are magnified. Producers must use additional managerial expertise to offset partially their cost disadvantage compared to feeders operating in more grain-rich areas.

In 1979 it was estimated that the total number of cattle and calves on farms in the six New England states was 717,000 head. To place this in perspective, this number corresponds to one-fourth the number of head on Illinois farms in that year. Put another way, the New England cattle inventory is 0.6 percent of the national herd. Beef cow numbers in New England totaled 42,000 head in 1979 or 0.1 percent of the national beef cow herd. As nearly everyone knows, the dairy industry is responsible for the bulk of the cattle industry in the region. The number of beef type heifers and steers over 500 pounds (a rough indicator of marketings) for the region was 24,000 head in 1979. Cattle slaughter in New England plants (including cull dairy animals) totaled 161,500 head in 1978 or 0.4 percent of the national slaughter figure (Agricultural Statistics, 1979).