Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association最新文献

This article enriches the attribute-based choice literature in economics by providing compelling evidence that inducing perceptional financial scarcity and abundance affects consumer food choices. Our experiment shows that induced financial scarcity reduces the likelihood of purchasing high-quality low-calorie food items at a price premium. We also find that income is an important factor that moderates this effect. The low-income group demonstrates similar purchasing behaviors in the Scarcity and Abundance experimental conditions. However, the high-income group is more likely to respond to perceptional financial changes.

We use experiments, guided by theory, to examine how an exogenous decrease in the value of an agent's outside option (e.g., a proxy for a reduction in alternative contracting opportunities) affects relational contracting across two institutional environments. In the pure relational contracting environment, principals respond to a reduction in agents' outside option by restructuring contracts to offer fewer payment guarantees. This exposes agents to more counter-party risk and their actual profits fell well short of promised profits. This is mitigated when contracting institutions permit formal contracts to coexist with relational contracts. Extensive margin and intensive margin efficiency are mostly unaffected.

This study analyzes consumers' valuation for a natural coating that extends the shelf life of produce. Specifically, we examine the effect of providing information about the natural coating's ability to reduce food waste on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) using bananas and tomatoes as products of interest. We found higher WTP among participants provided with the information. Our study underscores the importance of cognitive and noncognitive factors in understanding the implications of food-waste related interventions. We also used Query Theory to explore participants' thought processes. The results indicate that those provided with the information generated more value-increasing thoughts than those not provided with the information.

We investigate the relationships of the often-publicized live cattle to box beef price spread and weekly and Saturday slaughter capacity utilization (CU). We find that an increase in the price spread in the previous period does positively impact national Saturday slaughter CU under a low price spread regime, but not in the identified middle and high regimes. Also, changes in weekly or Saturday slaughter CU does not impact the price spread except for the high regime. Our results do not support the notion that weekly, or Saturday slaughter CU is used by the beef packers to control the price spread.

We assess the economic welfare implications of developing and introducing a gene-edited banana with resistance against an emerging plant disease, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense Tropical race 4, on global banana production. Using a model incorporating disease dynamics and diffusion of a technological solution, we find that a 5-year delay in adoption results in discounted losses of $94 billion. Consumers always lose from delay, while the impact on producers depends on timing and severity of the disease. The results suggest that regulatory delay significantly decreases return on investment from research, and acceptance of a technological solution may depend on the distribution of benefits and costs across stakeholders.

We examine the impact of using combined text script and audio clip versus text script only to convey information on US low-skilled nonmigrant workers' willingness to accept agricultural field jobs amid COVID-19 pandemic. Using a discrete choice experiment, subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two information modalities. Respondents assigned to combined text script and audio clip were willing to accept more for several job attributes, especially when estimates were conditional on attribute attendance. Moreover, this information modality lowered the prevalence of attribute nonattendance. The findings have important implications for the design of information provision experiments.

The long-run effects of conflict on agricultural production depend crucially on how conflict affects farm investment. We use the Colombian peace agreement to estimate how the reduction of violent conflict affects farmer investment decisions. In areas where the armed group was initially present, the end of conflict led to a more than twofold increase in farm investment, as farmers moved production from annual to perennial crops. We find no evidence that investment came at the expense of short-term consumption, and was likely financed by debt. Our results suggest that decreased investment may be an important mechanism through which armed conflict inhibits agricultural development and points to a potentially large peace dividend.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, National School Lunch Program, and School Breakfast Program are complementary, serving different nutritional needs of low-income children. We analyze determinants of the number of nutrition assistance programs low-income households with children participate in given multiprogram eligibility. Results obtained using Survey of Income and Program Participation data indicate households with young children, in metro areas, and with a college-educated or married respondent participate in fewer programs given eligibility. Program factors that reduce participation stigma and transaction costs are further associated with increased take-up.

Pest prevention can play an important role in reducing pest pressure and pesticide use. Yet its adoption remains suboptimal. We develop a theoretical model to analyze the circumstances that favor or hinder the uptake of preventive measures against pests, and test the derived hypotheses using an empirical application of Swiss grapevine producers' decisions on preventive measures against Drosophila suzukii. We show that higher risk aversion hinders farmers' prevention efforts. Furthermore, lower general background risk, characterized by the use of crop insurance, decreases pest prevention. We discuss the implications for supporting policy goals of managing pest pressure and reducing pesticide use.

We use Niger as a case study to examine the relationship between irrigation and household food security controlling for the point of crop harvest sales. We use longitudinal household and agriculture data collected by the Living Standards Measurement Study. Using panel fixed effects, we find that irrigation was associated with a 10% decrease in food insecurity, a 9% increase in food consumption expenditure, and improved dietary diversity. Farmers using irrigation experienced higher cash incomes, sold a higher share of the harvest, and had higher crop revenues. Access to irrigation was also positively correlated with the consumption of nutritious food items such as fruits, vegetables, and meat products. Importantly, these effects were found for both farmers using irrigation that primarily sold their harvest locally to neighbors and village shops, as well as for farmers using irrigation who sold in bulk to regional or national traders. Results suggest that investing in irrigation can improve food security, even in areas with limited access to formal markets.