Perrin, Richard K.

January, 2023

An Expected Value of Sample Information (EVSI) Approach for Estimating the Payoff from a Variable Rate Technology

By: Queiroz, Pedro W. V.; Perrin, Richard K.; Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Bullock, David S.
This paper examines the expected payoff to variable rate technology for fertilizer application in terms of a Bayesian expectation of the value of sample information (EVSI). The optimal variable rate for each cell in a field is conditioned on a signal in the form of the electrical conductivity of soil at that cell. Using corn response to nitrogen data from ten on-farm field-level experiments, we calculate the expected payoff from variable rate technology versus a uniform rate applied to all cells to be about $1.81/acre.
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September, 2019

The Cost of Forest Preservation in the Brazilian Amazon: The “Arc of Deforestation”

By: Silva, Felipe de Figueiredo; Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Perrin, Richard K.
We estimate the trade-off between agricultural production and forest preservation for the municipalities in Brazil's agricultural frontier, the so-called 'arc of deforestation,' using census and deforestation data for 2006. We use a nonparametric directional output distance function that allows us to identify the gradients of the production possibility frontier, which are the trade-offs of interest. We found that, on average, $979 is forgone in annual livestock, timber, and grain revenues to conserve 1 hectare of forest. This translates, ceteris paribus, to an average present value of costs to permanently sequester CO2 of $16.36/t, higher than most previous estimates.
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August, 2004

Environmentally Adjusted Agricultural Productivity in the Great Plains

By: Rezek, Jon P.; Perrin, Richard K.
This study adjusts 1960-1996 agricultural productivity gains in a panel of Great Plains states to account for the discharge of pesticide and nitrogen effluents into the environment. The agricultural-environmental technology is approximated with translog distance functions that allow us to contrast traditional versus environmentally adjusted productivity gains. Findings indicate technical change has been increasingly biased toward environmentally friendly production. While the environmental adjustment reduced overall productivity gains during the sample period, in recent years adjusted productivity outpaced the traditional measure, reflecting the pro-environment bias in technical change.
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December, 1997

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE ON A COMPETITIVE INDUSTRY

By: Perrin, Richard K.
This study analytically evaluates the impact of technological change on output and input markets in a competitive industry of identical firms. Firm-level technology and technological change are represented parametrically as local approximations to unknown functional forms. The comparative statics analysis solved for changes in equilibrium market prices and quantities as functions of parameters that characterized technological change. The technology-induced shift-weighted induced change input prices. The model provides a consistent and systematic framework for evaluating the impact of technological change, either ex ante or ex post.
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December, 1994

INTERVENTIONS AND PRODUCTION SECTOR WASTE IN LDC AGRICULTURE

By: Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Perrin, Richard K.
Recent studies have revealed that less developed countries (LDCs) have been taxing their agricultural sectors at rates of 40-50%. This study uses quantity-based general equilibrium measures of deadweight loss to evaluate the cost of these distortions in 18 of these countries. The Allais-Debreu loss measures indicate that from 7-16% of either output or of the agricultural resource base has been wasted due to the associated misallocation of agricultural inputs across these countries.
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