Arnade, Carlos Anthony

December, 2012

Acreage Response under Varying Risk Preferences

By: Arnade, Carlos Anthony; Cooper, Joseph C.
The assumption in standard expected utility model formulations that the coefficient of risk aversion is a constant is potentially unrealistic. This study takes the standard linear expected meanvariance problem and replaces the coefficient of risk aversion with a function of risk aversion, allowing risk to be depicted as a constraint that farmers face. Treating output prices as stochastic, the theoretical formulation measures the impact price variability itself has on risk preferences. Acreage response elasticities are also estimated as a function of prices and price variances using U.S. county-level data for corn, soybean, and wheat producers.
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April, 2011

How Much Do Consumers Benefit from New Brand Introductions? The Case of Potato Chips

By: Arnade, Carlos Anthony; Gopinath, Munisamy; Pick, Daniel H.
This study identifies consumer welfare from new brand introductions in the potato chip market. Price and variety effects of new brand introduction are measured by estimating a demand system underlying an expenditure function. Variety effects are positive in most cities, while price effects are generally negative when consumers exhibit some variety preference. Variety effects dominate price effects in most cities; an opposite effect observed in some cities may indicate high entry barriers or joint brand- and price-based marketing strategies. Results indicate that consumers and producers gain from product innovations, but substantial regional variation exists in the distributional effects of new brand introduction.
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July, 2002

ESTIMATING A PROFIT FUNCTION IN THE PRESENCE OF INEFFICIENCY: AN APPLICATION TO RUSSIAN AGRICULTURE

By: Arnade, Carlos Anthony; Trueblood, Michael A.
The relationship among cost functions, distance functions, and technical inefficiency are utilized to show how technical inefficiency scores can be incorporated into the specification of a profit function and a related system of output supply and input demands. A method also is introduced for incorporating allocative efficiency scores into the same system. The theoretical and empirical approach requires fewer assumptions than those made in many studies. An illustrative example is provided for Russian agriculture for 1194-95, a period when significant technical and allocative inefficiency was known to exist. The results demonstrate inefficiency limits the supply response to prices, thus leading to lower estimates of output response compare to a traditional supply model in which efficiency is assumed.
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July, 1998

CAPITAL ADJUSTMENT IN U.S. AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PROCESSING: A CROSS-SECTORAL MODEL

By: Arnade, Carlos Anthony; Gopinath, Munisamy
Significant differences exist in the rates of capital adjustment in the four major sectors of the U.S. economy: agriculture, food, manufacturing, and services. A multioutput adjustment cost model is specified to compute the rates of capital adjustment. This specification allows us to derive dynamic output supply and investment demand functions for the four sectors, which are then fitted to time-series data. Our estimates show that capital in agriculture and manufacturing is almost fixed and adjusts toward respective long-run equilibrium at a rate of about 2% per year. The food processing and services sectors are more flexible in that their capital stocks fully adjust in less than five years. Thus, the rate of adjustment of agricultural capital is lower than that of other sectors in the U.S. economy.
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