Grain prices have risen sharply since 2005 and 2006 affecting livestock markets by increasingfeed prices and leading to significant volatility shocks. The high price levels and magnitude ofsustained high volatilities has raised concerns for many sectors of the economy, in particularthose with...

Although welfare reform began in 1996 at the national level, Iowa was one of the earliest states to obtain a waiver to initiate the Iowa Family Investment Program (FIP) in 1993. To gain a better understanding of welfare recidivism, we use Iowa administrative quarterly data between October1993...

This study examines the interaction between Food Stamp Program (FSP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program participation, provides a model of joint decisions made by households on FSP, TANF, and labor force participation, and explains why households choose different...

The objective of this study is to evaluate and model the risks of corn and soybean production. This study focuses on the risk of revenue variability that arises from changes in prices, yields shortfalls or both. There are several models for price and yield risk factors for corn and soybeans. For...

Favorable weather and the adoption of Genetically Modified (GM) cornhybrids are often argued to be factors that explain recent corn yield increasesand risk reduction in the U.S. Corn Belt. The focus of this analysisis to determine whether favorable weather is the main factor explainingincreased...

Economic statistics can be used to inform policy as it is being designed, avoid policy design mistakes, or implement government programs once they are established into law. Oftentimes, statistics are used for all three purposes. This paper considers the relationships between statistics and...

The government of Indonesia, like many governments in developing countries, has intervened in food markets to control an stabilize food prices. And recently, the government has had to reduce input and food subsidies due to an increasing fiscal deficit. The resulting food price increases have had...

Paper for presentation at the Northeastern Agricultural & Resource Economics Association’s Workshop on Economics and Child Nutrition Programs, AAEA & NAREA Joint Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 23, 2011.

Recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Asia, Europe, and Africa have caused severe impacts on the broiler sector through production losses, trade restrictions and negative shocks to demand. This study develops a multimarket econometric model that is the basis of...

The last three years have realized significant structural changes in the U.S. agricultural policy environment. These changes include nearly complete planting flexibility and the elimination of target-price-based income support for agricultural producers. Many have questioned the extent to which...