Non-controllable and non-commercial resources in agricultural production models /
This dissertation considers resources which affect or are
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1996.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=739653691&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | This dissertation considers resources which affect or are affected by agricultural production processes, but which are not usually included in agricultural economic models. The second chapter considers the impact of rainfall on the mean and variability of yield, and the implications of these effects for agricultural household decisions. Using household-level data, the empirical study employs production function estimates to determine household risk preference characteristics under nonlinear mean-variance utility. The results indicate that rainfall accounts for a considerable portion of risk otherwise attributed to household inputs. When risk and production parameters are estimated jointly, the model supports decreasing absolute and increasing relative risk aversion. The results also suggest potential returns to low-cost forms of irrigation to mitigate growing season rainfall shortages. The third chapter utilizes the same household data set to explore a method for jointly estimating production function and distribution parameters for beta-distributed yields. Using agricultural household input and yield data from the Indian semi-arid tropics, parameters for the conditional beta distribution for crop yields are estimated. Results indicate a peaked, positively- skewed density function. The proposed method requires fewer coefficient estimates and has a higher explanatory power than approaches previously suggested. Predicted yield distributions for various farm sizes suggest that mean yields are inversely related to size and labor households have considerably lower mean yield and higher variance than farm households. The fourth chapter addresses the problem of interactions between commercially harvested and non- commercial resources, focusing on issues of long term resource management. Survival of a non-harvested resource may depend upon stocks of a commecially harvested resource, but play no economic role in determining optimal harvests. This chapter exan-tines the two-resource system in an optimal control framework, and introduces the concept of minimum viable population. By including in the system a penalty based on the non-harvested resource stock, that resource becomes integral to the equilibrium steady state harvest. Time paths to the steady state may have instantaneous, short- , and long-term phases with different directions of movement, suggesting caution in implementing policy based on short term trends. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Agricultural Economics". |
| Physical Description: | x, 132 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references: pages 101-105. |