Suchergebnisse

Concerns regarding management of animal disease and related perceptions about food safety have escalated substantially in recent years. Terrorist attacks of September 2001, discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a dairy cow in December 2003 in Washington, subsequent discoveries of BSEinfected animals in Texas in 2005 and Alabama in 2006, and recent worldwide outbreaks of highly contagious animal diseases (i.e., foot-and-mouth disease [FMD] and Avian influenza) have made apparent the need for animal traceability in U.S. livestock production and marketing. In addition, animal identification systems are rapidly developing throughout the world, effectively increasing international trading standards. One way to combat and more quickly arrest spread of contagious diseases is through animal ID. Capability to rapidly identify locations where an animal has been affects the ability to isolate, trace, and arrest spread of a disease. Animal ID systems are rapidly developing throughout the world and the U.S. is behind many other countries in this development. Efforts to develop animal ID systems in the U.S. were launched prior to the initial BSE discovery, but they gained considerable momentum afterwards. The National Animal Identification System is intended to identify specific animals in the U.S. and record their movement over their lifetime. The goal is to enable a 48-hour trace-back of the movements of any diseased or exposed animal. This will limit spread of animal diseases by enabling faster trace-back of infected animals; limit production losses due to disease presence; reduce the costs of government control, intervention, and eradication; and minimize potential international trade losses3. The purpose of this research is to determine the economic implications of increased improvements in animal ID systems in the event of an FMD outbreak in southwest Kansas. Specifically, a disease spread model is used to determine the probable spread of a hypothetical FMD outbreak. Results from the disease-spread model are integrated into an economic framework to determine economic impacts.

Abstract
Economists and marketers are often interested in estimating demand for new products and in valuing other non-market goods. Due to the increasing recognition that elicited valuations are sensitive to whether decisions are hypothetical, economists have begun to utilize incentive compatible mechanisms with real goods and real money. This paper investigates preferences expressed in two of the most popular elicitation formats: experimental auctions and discrete choice experiments. We compare the bidding behavior of consumers in four different incentive compatible auctions to the behavior of consumers who made non-hypothetical discrete choices between five goods. Despite the fact that the choice task and auction mechanisms are incentive compatible, we find that auction bids were significantly lower, as much as two times lower in many cases, than valuations implied from choices. We also find that auction data imply own-price elasticities of demand for higher quality products that are significantly more elastic than those implied from choice data. Nevertheless, for the five goods evaluated, individuals' preference orderings were consistent across value elicitation methods. These findings hold important implications for economists' view of preferences and may provide some insight into retailers' prevalent use of markets with posted-prices: individuals were more willing to part with their cash when making choices versus bids.

AbstractA rational expectations model is used to test spatial integration in regional slaughter steer markets. Market integration is examined using the concept of the law of one price across spatially separated markets. The approach and methodology used in this study overcomes three problems associated with standard approaches to testing market integration: simultaneity biases, an ignorance or misrepresentation of serial correlation, and a neglect of price expectations. Results indicate limited integration and suggest a shift in spatial price linkages between regional cattle markets between 1980 and 1987.

AbstractSeveral physical characteristics are important in pricing feeder pigs. This study identifies and estimates the discounts associated with various characteristics. Weight, lot size, health and lot uniformity were important physical traits affecting feeder pig price differentials. In addition, time of sale, changes in expected finished hog prices and fluctuations in expected feeder costs of finishing the pigs had significant impacts on feeder pig prices over time.

AbstractLivestock Mandatory Price reporting, enacted to increase market transparency, has been in place for more than 20 years. However, immense structural change in cattle and beef markets has challenged market information over that time. Large variation present in cattle transaction prices, especially those in the Formula purchases category, on any given day has made traditionally United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)‐reported weighted‐average prices less meaningful. Using nearly 6 years of The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 transactions data from USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS), we demonstrate use of hedonic modeling to facilitate price reporting. While the models show promise to provide useful information, they reveal substantial weaknesses associated with current transaction information collected by USDA from packers. We offer suggestions for improved data collection which would make hedonic modeling of transactions prices a more valuable tool to increase usefulness of reported market prices.