Author
Hagerman, Amy D.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has caused turbulence in international beef markets over the last 40 years and resulted in severe economic consequences for countries with identified BSE cases. Brazil’s latest atypical BSE cases occurred in 2021 and 2023, and China banned Brazilian beef imports in each case. This study employs a computable general equilibrium model to assess the economy-wide impacts of BSE in Brazil due to negative domestic and international market reactions. Decreased beef exports lead to welfare losses for Brazil, while Brazil’s most important competitors in the international market for beef benefit from trade diversion.
The stocker industry plays numerous critical roles in the cattle industry and is the most flexible—yet complicated—segment of the beef supply chain. Stocker producers’ calf-purchasing decisions have historically been diverse and difficult to characterize. This study uses data from a unique survey to analyze factors affecting stocker producers’ calf-purchasing decisions. Latent class analysis is used to classify stocker producers into subgroups based on cattle-purchasing preferences. Results indicate that stocker producers can be divided into four distinct latent classes according to calf-purchasing preferences.
Export restrictions often exacerbate the direct production losses and control costs from infectious animal disease outbreaks by reducing the pool of consumers of animal products. However, the uncertain timing and the varying extent of the trade restrictions make it challenging to measure these indirect costs of disease outbreaks. We examine two outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (2004 and 2014–2015) that saw few broiler chickens lost but significant trade disruptions from embargoes. We evaluate the timing and estimate the magnitude of the economic shocks from these embargoes, finding brief but considerable trade declines and distinct economic responses to each outbreak.