Impacts of energy development on the secondary business sector of development-impacted counties are examined in a survey of seven western counties. Problems experienced by businesses in attracting and retaining qualified employees and in expanding to take advantage of growing markets are...

We focus on determining the impacts of government programs on farms’ technical inefficiency levels. We use Kumbhakar’s stochastic frontier model that accounts for both production risks and risk preferences. Our theoretical framework shows that decoupled government transfers are likely to...

The socioeconomic characteristics of construction and operating work forces at energy related facilities in the Northern Great Plains were analyzed. A primary interest was to explain differences in local hire rates and settlement patterns on the basis of characteristics of the project and site...

This paper develops an endogenous growth model which links pollution to ineffective input-use, which can be reduced through conservation capital investment. It derives the conditions under which individual preferences for environmental quality and private investment in conservation capital can...

Sustainable agriculture is prescribed as a policy approach that maximizes economic benefits while maintaining environmental quality. It is argued that this approach is human capital-intensive and encourages new scientific developments. To attain sustainability, economic incentives for the...

Politicians dealing with the “"farm problem”" sometimes lament that output increases when prices go up and when prices go down. This article presents three possible theoretical explanations. In the first, farmers deplete soil (over-farm) when prices are low and imperfect capital markets...