Scale Economies and Inefficiency of U.S. Dairy Farms

This study employs data drawn from the 2000 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-sponsored farmers' survey. The article estimates returns to scale relationships across dairy farms of different sizes and across different regions, incorporating variables hypothesized to influence farm performance. Results point to significant scale economies in U.S. dairy farms and underscore the importance of taking account of inefficiency when estimating scale economies. Contrary to previous research, the preferred cost function specification does not show a region of decreasing returns to scale. This finding helps explain why the average size of dairy farms has been increasing.     

木材加工企业规模结构及经济性研究

认识木材加工企业的规模以及效率问题,对产业政策制定有重要的指导意义。以2004年山东省经济普查数据为基础,运用统计分析、比较分析等手段,对山东木材加工工业的规模结构、影响因素以及规模经济性展开了讨论。认为:木材加工业企业规模受技术进步、资源和市场以及政策影响;在当前条件下,木材加工业具有企业规模小、集中度低的特征,产业发展更倾向于通过外部规模经济途径实现。     

Size and Productivity in the U.S. Milling and Baking Industries

From the late 1950s through mid-1990s, productivity growth in U.S. grain milling and feed manufacturing has been consistently strong and positive. In grain milling, approximately 15% of the growth is due to size economies. Technical change has been capital-using, increasingly material-saving, and, in recent years, decreasingly labor-saving or increasingly labor-using. The quality of capital has risen relative to that of labor and materials. In all but the baking industry, capital intensification and incentives for plant size growth remain unabated.     

Market and Cost Structure in the U.S. Beef Packing Industry: A Plant-Level Analysis

A resurgence of consolidation in the U.S. meat packing industry in the past few decades has stimulated academic and policy debate. Issues raised include the role of cost economies in driving these patterns, and the effects on the agricultural sector (cattle producers) from market power. Here, plant level cost and revenue data for U.S. beef packing plants are used to estimate a cost-based model incorporating cattle- and output-market pricing behavior. The robust results indicate little market power exploitation in either the cattle input or beef output markets, and that any apparent evidence is counteracted by cost efficiencies such as utilization and scope economies.     

土地托管、规模经营与生产技术效率 ——来自山东省小麦种植户的证据

研究目的：基于山东省小麦种植户调查数据，以田间管理环节为例，探究土地托管通过规模经营对技术效率产生的影响，为更好地发挥出土地托管在推进粮食产业高质量发展中的重要作用提供参考。研究方法：得分倾向匹配模型与IV-Tobit模型等。研究结果：（1）土地托管通过形成适度服务规模对技术效率产生影响：田间管理托管服务规模与技术效率之间呈现“倒U型”关系，当服务规模在2～<13.33 hm2时，相比于农户自主经营具有提升技术效率的优势；使技术效率最大化的田间管理服务适度规模为7.5 hm2；托管中采纳绿色高效技术能够整体向上提升技术效率水平。（2）土地托管也会通过与农户土地规模相作用对技术效率产生影响：通过适度服务规模对技术效率的直接提升效用偏向于土地规模较大的农户；通过土地流入对技术效率的间接提升效用在较小规模农户中更为显著。研究结论：（1）发展土地托管应强调服务主体的适度服务规模，着力推进土地连片化；（2）运用绿色高效技术和机械有助于提升服务主体田间托管作业质量；（3）注重适度服务规模与适度土地规模之间的良性互动，在推进农业服务规模化的过程中也要满足小农户土地流转的需求。     

Nonlinear Dynamics and Structural Change in the U.S. Hog–Corn Cycle: A Time-Varying STAR Approach

The linearity of the U.S. hog–corn cycle has been questioned by Chavas and Holt (1991) . Even so, attempts have not been made to model the potential nonlinear dynamics in the hog–corn cycle by using regime-switching models. One popular alternative is Teräsvirta's smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) model, which assumes regime switching is endogenous and potentially smooth. In this article, we examine monthly data for the U.S. hog–corn cycle, 1910–2004. A member of the STAR family, the time-varying STAR, is fitted to the data and its properties examined. We find evidence of nonlinearity, regime-dependent behavior, and time-varying parameter change.     

Issues Affecting the U.S. Poultry Industry and International Poultry Trade

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine issues and concerns that may affect the future direction of the U.S. poultry industry and international poultry trade. Given the economic contribution of the poultry industry, it is important to have some understanding about the future direction of the industry, both at the national and international levels. To generate the information required, this study surveyed the top poultry producers in the country as well as specialists and experts in the industry. Although both the producers and specialists believe that the industry has a bright future, they also think that the rapid production growth experienced by the poultry industry in the past two decades cannot be sustained. Growth restrictions in the industry will come from a variety of sources such as environmental waste management, food safety, labor shortages, animal welfare, and increased foreign competition.     

Vertical Economies and the Structure of U.S. Hog Farms

Scale economies are often touted as the factor behind the trend in the structure of the U.S. hog industry toward fewer and larger hog farms. However, since hog production is multistage and farms either integrate or separate the stages, the appropriate measures are multistage economies. In theory, a smaller and, presumably, high‐cost operation, by the standards of single stage/output scale economies, may still be cost‐competitive if it enjoys multistage economies — that is if vertical scope economies more than offset stage‐specific scale diseconomies. Whether that holds in practice remains heretofore unexplored in the agricultural economics literature. Using a unique data set on hog farms in the U.S. Midwest, we estimate a multistage cost function and provide the first‐ever estimates of multistage economies, stage‐specific economies, and vertical scope economies in hog production. Les économies d'échelle sont souvent soupçonnées d'être le facteur qui influence la tendance observée dans la structure de l'industrie porcine aux États‐Unis, soit des porcheries moins nombreuses mais de plus grande taille. Cependant, comme la production porcine est une production à plusieurs stades et que les producteurs peuvent choisir d'intégrer ces stades ou d'exploiter un seul stade, les mesures appropriées sont les économies d'échelle liées aux stades multiples. En théorie, une petite porcherie, qui a probablement des coûts élevés selon les critères des économies d'échelle liées à un seul stade, peut tout de même être concurrentielle quant aux coûts si elle profite des économies d'échelle liées aux stades multiples, c'est‐à‐dire si les économies de gamme verticales font plus que compenser les déséconomies d'échelle liées à un seul stade. La vérification de cette théorie dans la pratique demeure, jusqu'ici, inexploitée dans la littérature agroéconomique. En utilisant un ensemble de données sur des porcheries situées dans le Midwest américain, nous avons estimé une fonction de coût lié aux stades multiples et nous présentons les premières estimations d'économies d'échelle liées aux stades multiples, d'économies d'échelle liées à un seul stade et d'économies de gamme verticales dans la production porcine.     

Mergers and Acquisitions and Productivity in the U.S. Meat Products Industries: Evidence from the Micro Data

This article investigates the motives for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the U.S. meat products industry from 1977 to 1992. Results show that acquired meat and poultry plants were very productive before mergers, and that all but the very largest meat slaughter and processing plants and all but the bottom 20% of the poultry slaughter and processing plants significantly improved their productivity growth in their postmerger periods. These results lead to the conclusion that synergies and related efficiencies are important motives for M&As.     

Technology, Labor Wars, and Producer Dynamics: Explaining Consolidation in Beefpacking

Beefpacking underwent a dramatic transformation in the 1970s and 1980s, as plants got much larger and industry concentration rose dramatically. We use individual Census Bureau plant records to analyze the sources of the transformation. We find that there were modest but extensive scale economies in packing plants, covering the full range of plant sizes, and that such economies became more important throughout the period of the study. As production shifted to larger plants, we estimate that the industry's aggregate processing costs fell by 35.3% by 2002, compared to what they would have been without consolidation.     

Technical and Organizational Change and Economies of Scale and Scope in Developing Countries

This article examines the impact of flexible automation (FA) and associated organizational techniques on scale and scope economies and optimal scale. It is based on an in-depth survey of 62 engineering firms in Brazil, India, Mexico, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela. The paper finds that the replacement of old, mainly conventional, machine tools and transfer lines by new computer-numerically-controlled machine tools and related FA has resulted in lower economical batch sizes and the manufacturing of growing variety, making it possible to reap economies of scope. Scale and scope economies at product level have, however, reinforced scale economies at plant level, resulting in higher levels of optimal output. The main factors accounting for such impact are the reduction in the number of operations required, the improved efficiency and accuracy of the new technologies and the much higher capital fixed costs vis-a ¤ -vis the technologies that were replaced. Higher plant scales could limit the potential for industrialization in developing countries.     

Environmental Regulation and the Spatial Structure of the U.S. Dairy Sector

Substantial public scrutiny about adverse environmental impacts of the dairy sector has resulted in increased environmental regulations. A behavioral model of location and production is developed to examine the impacts of environmental regulations, traditional location factors, and agglomeration economies on the spatial structure and geographical location of dairy production. The results show that counties in the states with more stringent environmental regulations tend to lose dairy inventories to those with less stringent policies. There are substantially meaningful spatial patterns of dairy production. Current dairy production levels are positively correlated while changes in production levels are negatively correlated across counties.     

基于格网尺度的南昌市土地利用变化及生态系统服务价值时空相关性分析

研究目的：基于格网尺度,探究南昌市土地利用变化对生态系统服务价值的影响及其空间格局的动态演化,为生态文明背景下的国土空间治理提供依据。研究方法：多样性指数、生态价值评估模型、空间自相关方法。研究结果：（1）近10年南昌市建设用地增加最多,耕地数量减少最大;建设用地呈“一江两岸双中心分布”;耕地主要集中在南昌市北部鄱阳湖平原以及境内河湖平原上;各种地类在快速城市化时期演变较为复杂。（2）在1km×1km格网尺度下, ESV总值先增加后减少,整体从353.91亿元降至351.79亿元,表明南昌市生态环境进一步优化潜力巨大;其中水资源供给占南昌市生态系统服务价值的28.26%。（3）在空间上,各地类ESV表现为正相关性和聚集分布,ESV较低值区范围最广;总体表现为高高、低低集聚,局部呈现高低、低高集聚,自然资源禀赋与人类活动是其主要驱动因素。研究结论：在国土空间规划管控中应当强调生态溢出价值的“集中连片式”保护模式,“组团式”生态治理模式,“廊道式”集约化开发利用模式。     

Technological Change and Welfare in an Open Economy with Distortions

Traditional measures of technological change, such as the rate of technical change, are based on producer-oriented prices. Here, we employ a general equilibrium analysis of an open economy to examine how the consumer welfare gain from a technological change, measured as Hicksian equivalent variation, is related to the rate of technical change, the biases of the technological change, and tax distortions in the economy. An analytical solution shows these relationships in a readily computable framework, and demonstrates that the rate of technical change will equal the rate of welfare change in only very unrealistic cases.     

美国农业经济学科变迁及对中国的启示

本文对美国农业经济学科不同发展阶段进行了总结,描述了美国农业经济学科如何从传统农业经济学逐渐拓展到资源与环境经济学、农村社区管理和AgribusinesS的过程,美国农业产业变迁、就业市场变动和产业外部环境变化是导致美国农业经济学科变迁的根本原因。最后,结合当前中国农业经济学科的现状,提出了相关学科发展的建议。     

Country of Origin Labeling and Structural Change in U.S. Imports of Canadian Cattle and Beef

Mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) has become a thorny issue in U.S.–Canada bilateral trade relations. We undertake an ex post investigation of the impact of the law on U.S. imports of Canadian beef, feeder, and fed cattle. Using a partial equilibrium framework, we derive U.S. import demand equations for Canadian cattle and beef, and employ the Bai and Perron (1998, 2003) procedure for detecting multiple structural breaks with break points being endogenously determined. We find evidence that COOL may have caused significant structural change in U.S. imports of Canadian feeder and fed cattle. L’étiquetage du pays d'origine obligatoire est devenu un sujet épineux des relations commerciales entre le Canada et les États‐Unis. Dans la présente étude, nous effectuons une analyse ex post des répercussions de la Loi sur les importations américaines de viande de b?uf, de bovins d'engraissement et de bovins finis. À l'aide d'un modèle d’équilibre partiel, nous avons dérivé des équations de demande d'importation de bovins et de viande de b?uf de la part des États‐Unis et nous avons utilisé les tests de Bai et Perron (1998, 2003) pour déceler les ruptures structurelles multiples, dont les points de rupture ont été déterminés de façon endogène. Les résultats de notre étude montrent que l’étiquetage du pays d'origine peut avoir causé un changement structurel considérable sur les importations de bovins d'engraissement et de bovins finis.     

The Cost Effectiveness of the U.S. Export Enhancement Program Bonus Allocation Mechanism

The U.S. Export Enhancement Program is evaluated from the perspective of the cost effectiveness of its bonus allocation mechanism. The current mechanism resembles a discriminatory-price, common-value auction. However, auction theory suggests that a discriminatory auction may not be optimal in this setting for several reasons. This article evaluates the current format relative to an alternative, uniform-price auction. Estimation results reveal evidence of strategic bidder behavior under the current format and simulations suggest that adopting a uniform-price auction format for bonus allocation may yield considerable savings to the Treasury by eliminating incentives to pad bids and increasing participation in the auction.     

Output and input bias effects of U.S. direct payments

This study examines the national effect of U.S. direct payments on the extent and direction of biased technical change on U.S. agriculture. We also assess the economic significance of the estimated bias effects for economic policy modeling endeavors involving a reduction of domestic support payments. A two outputs (livestock and crops) and four inputs (labor, capital, land, and material) translog cost function was estimated from national time series (1948–2011) data. Results indicate that payments do not induce output‐biased technical change. We do find evidence of Hicksian bias that is land using and material input saving attributable to support payments. Global computable general equilibrium simulations suggest that price and output effects of discontinuing direct payments are 1/4 to 1/3 the size once the bias effects are incorporated.