In this paper we develop an autoregressive spatial simultaneous equations model to investigate the county-level determinants of small business growth and median household income in Appalachia during the period 1990-2000. Our GS2SLS and GS3SLS estimation results indicate significant spatial...

Off-farm employment has been an integral part of the emerging structure of production agriculture in the South. Government farm program payments, farm structure, and strong non-farm economy have important impact on labor allocation, farm and non-farm labor, decision of farm operators. The...

Specialty crop farmers have expressed concern about labor shortages and cost increases which may arise with immigration reform. The large-scale mechanization of the Florida sugarcane harvest during the 1970s/80s serves as an historical example of how technologies evolved due to changes in local...

Immigration reform may significantly impact the specialty crops sector since more than half of the workforce is foreign-born and undocumented. Based on data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey, the trends pertaining to workers' legal status, employment and wage rates in the U.S. and...

Employment shifts in the Leisure and Hospitality sector along the Gulf coast following Hurricane Katrina were explored using spatial shift-share analysis. Using a spatial weights matrix that incorporated relative employment, and distance measures relative to the track of the storm we calculated...

As health information technology becomes more prevalent for most healthcare facilities, hospitals across the nation are choosing between performing this service in-house and outsourcing to a technology firm in the health industry. This paper examines factors affecting the information technology...

Replaced with revised version of paper 01/27/06.

This study aims at examining the relationship between macroeconomic and policy variables and food stamp program participation in West Virginia. Static and dynamic econometric models are employed. Results indicate that macroeconomic conditions significantly explain food stamp program...

Protected undeveloped areas are an important tool for land conservation in developing nations. Efficient land allocation decisions and resource management requires knowledge of non-market benefits. Using travel cost and contingent valuation data from on-site interviews and secondary data on...

The primary objective of this study is to asses the impact of agricultural foreign aid on agricultural output in developing countries. In order to examine this effect, we will employ a cross-section time-series econometric model where we employ annual data from 1974 through 2005 for 112...