The Louisiana dairy production region (LDPR) is located in southeast Louisiana and includes five parishes (Tangipahoa, Washington, Livingston, St. Helena, and St. Tammany). It is home to approximately 90% of the states dairy industry and is a major contributor to nonpoint source pollution (NPS) in the areas watershed through nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment effluents. While point source (PS) effluents are easily identified and subject to federal and state regulations, NPS mitigation efforts must address uncertainties such as location of the NPS as well as stochastic parameters such as rainfall and its effect on nutrient and sediment flow. This dissertation presents three strategies to mitigate the effects of the NPS pollution. The first strategy is to identify dairy specific Best Management Practices (BMPs) that best mitigate NPS at the lowest cost. Using geographical information system (GIS) software to simulate nutrient (Nitrogen and Phosphorus) runoff and sediment flow, a suite of seven BMPs are identified that lead to high N reduction with a minimal cost solution. The second strategy uses point source PS/NPS trading to achieve mitigation. A section of the LDPR is identified containing approximately 162 dairy farmers, six point sources, and two weather stations. Using a trading ratio to capture uncertainty inherent with NPS pollution, trading ratios are identified for a range of values for both BMP efficacy and reliability of NPS variance estimates. The less assurance the researcher has in the validity of these parameters, the higher the trading ratio and the more effluent credits the PS will be required to purchase for the NPS in lieu of further PS abatement. The final strategy uses the Hazard model to identify entry and exit BMP adoption characteristics of dairy farmers. The effectiveness of NPS mitigation was found to increase if a BMP is adopted for a longer duration. Research concludes that higher level of education of the farmer and the longer that the dairy farmer has been in operation, the longer the adoption of the BMP.

In the past several decades, the international rice market has undergone major changes experiencing a strong expansion in traded volumes and in the volatility of rice prices. International rice prices are, furthermore, expected to remain at relatively high levels because of higher fertilizer and fuel prices, especially as stocks held by those exporters still allow unrestrained sales. With this instability in the world rice market, we need to consider the structure, conduct, and performance (S-C-P) of the world rice market. The main objective of this dissertation will be to examine the world rice market based on S-C-P methods. This dissertation consists of three essays relating to the structure, conduct, and performance of the world rice market. The first essay is entitled Structure and Conduct of the World Rice Market. This chapter analyzes the working of the world rice market within the confines of the structure-conduct-performance framework and uses annual data from 1970 to 2007. The second essay is entitled The Relationships of Trade, Economic Growth, and Market Power: The Case of Rice Exporting Countries. This essay aims to analyze the relationship between rice exports and how this relationship affects economic growth in the top four rice exporting countries as well as the effects market power has on economic growth using annual data from 1994 to 2007. The third essay will be entitled An Empirical Estimation of the Import Demand Model and Welfare Effects: The Case of Rice Importing Countries. This section estimates an import demand function and analyzes the welfare effects for the world rice market using annual data from 1994 to 2007. Results show that market power exists in the international rice market based on static calculation and hypothesis test, the international rice trade and economic growth for major rice exporting countries (which is a bi-directional relationship), and reductions of consumer surplus all combine to have a crucial effect on major rice importing countries due to the recent trends in export rice prices.

Some of the literature about foreign direct investment (FDI) analyzes the location of FDI. It tries to identify the factors that affect FDI flows. On the association between remittances and growth, this is still an open discussion. This journal style dissertation is an attempt to investigate about the associations between remittances and FDI and growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The first paper investigates the effect of remittances on U.S. FDI outflows to LAC. It uses data on 14 LAC countries for the period 1983-2003. The results show that market size is one of the main determinants of FDI, which is in line with the market size hypothesis, and that remittances have a positive and significant effect on U.S. FDI, but only if the host country has a minimum threshold of per capita GDP. Thus, remittances reinforce the effect of the market size in these economies. The second paper analyzes the effect of remittances on FDI inflows to LAC. It uses data on 14 LAC countries during the period 1983-2003. The results show that market size is one of the main determinants of FDI; this is in line with the market size hypothesis. Remittances have a positive effect on FDI inflows but it depends upon the host country having a minimum threshold of per capita GDP. Hence, remittances strengthen the market size effect in these countries. The third paper evaluates the impact of remittances on growth through human capital in LAC. It uses panel data analysis for a sample of 14 LAC countries during the period 1975-2000. The results indicate that the level of human capital has a positive and significant effect on growth. Remittances have a positive impact on growth, but the realization of it holds only when the remittance receiving country has a minimum threshold of human capital stock.

The pressures for reform within the World Trade Organization have led to the European Union (EU) reforming its sugar policy with a price cut phased from 2006 and scheduled to end in 2009. The reform will have an impact on the sugar protocol African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries that have a preferential market access to the European Union with a protected price. This study investigates the effect of EU sugar policy reform has on these ACP sugar countries. First, it examines how the protocol countries sugar supply and demand determinants. While the determinants of supply in some countries performed as expected, others did not show sign of an improvement due to the sugar protocol. On the demand side we found that in some countries price does not affect the decision of the consumer. Second it explores the protocol countries transfer benefits before and after the reform. Before the reform, the countries were enjoying substantial transfer benefits. After the reform, there are some countries that will no longer be able to make profits by selling to the European Union. Finally, we develop a quota market analysis to examine negotiated transfer quota outcomes between ACP countries. We allow for the countries that can no longer make a profit to sell their quota rights to the countries that can still make a profit. We assumed equal bargaining powers and unequal bargaining powers. In the equal bargaining power case, total profit is equally divided between seller and buyer. In the unequal bargaining power case, we consider two scenarios. The first scenario where the world sugar price is not affected by EU sugar policy reform revealed that the sellers would have greater bargaining power and a larger share of the profit. The second scenario where the world sugar price is increased by thirty percent revealed that the buyer would exercise superior bargaining power relative to the seller and would have a larger share of the profit. Buyers can expand their production and sellers can use the revenues to diversify away from sugar.

Conventional drainage systems and poorly drained soils tend to increase row crop agriculture nutrient and sediment effluent loads. Best management practices help reduce row crop production environmental pollution. This dissertation looked at nutrient and tillage management practices that could help farmers address future total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the Cabin-Teele sub-watershed, within the lower Mississippi River Basin. The dissertation had two objectives. The first objective was to examine the economic and environmental impact of tillage and nutrient management practices in reducing agricultural pollutants to meet TMDL requirements. Relative cost effectiveness of different tillage and nutrient management practices were analyzed as part of this objective. The second objective was to evaluate and compare social net economic benefits of achieving specific sediment and nutrient criteria reductions; nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment reductions individually, and concurrently (reducing all three simultaneously) given a set of agronomic practices in the watershed. Results showed reduced tillage system were preferred to either conventional tillage or conservation tillage in Cabin-Teele because of their higher net revenue per acre. Additionally, the intermittent occurrence of hardpan soils (due to heavy rainfalls) in this watershed required disking every four to five years to help maintain yields. Simulated results showed that nitrogen fertilizer management, and conservation tillage, were cost-effective in helping reduce nutrient effluent runoff. Changes in tillage management helped producers reduce sediment loading in the watershed. In the scenario with nutrients and sediment reduced simultaneously, the most binding cropland pollutant was phosphorus.

ABSTRACT This study determines the impact of U.S. government policies on U.S. ethanol market and its consequences for the U.S. corn, sugar, and HFCS markets. Using corn as the primary input in ethanol and HFCS production in the United States, along with the substitutability between sugar and HFCS, has linked the U.S. ethanol market to the U.S. HFCS, sugar, and corn markets. To address the problem, two sets of data, quarterly and annual data, were collected and a simultaneous econometric model was constructed. Estimated results show that the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act will increase the domestic corn price and ethanol and HFCS production costs. Increases in HFCS production costs decrease the comparative advantage of HFCS over sugar and will encourage HFCS users to replace HFCS with sugar. HFCS will lose its comparative advantage over domestic raw sugar after 2009. Without government policies that mandate consumption levels for ethanol, depending on gasoline and corn prices, maximum corn-based ethanol production would be between 1.5 and 19.6 billion gallons per year in year 2015. In the case of having mandatory ethanol consumption, there will be a minimum quantity of ethanol consumption and production, equal to 15 billion gallons per year in 2015. Depending on the relative levels of corn and gasoline prices, annual corn-based ethanol production will be between 15 and 19.6 billion gallons in 2015. With regards to the profitability of sugar-based ethanol production, the U.S. sugar support program plays a critical role. Using raw sugar, at world sugar price levels, for producing ethanol, sugar can compete with corn when corn prices reach $5.49 per bushel, when the ethanol production level approaches 9.3 billion gallons annually. With the sugar support program in force, raw and refined sugar cannot compete with corn in the near future. Removal of the sugar import quota decreases sugar production and price while sugar imports and consumption increase. This allows sugar to be considered as a viable feedstock for the production of ethanol. Using sugar for ethanol production reduces the amount of corn needed for ethanol production, suppresses the corn price, and stabilizes the corn market.

A large body of empirical literature has investigated the linkages between exports and output. Nevertheless, empirical evidence remains inconclusive and the topic remains open to discussion. Additionally, a number of studies have examined the positive effects that export diversification may have on economic growth. Within the Latin America region, Costa Rica has been lauded for its long democratic tradition, relative economic stability, and for evolving from being a small economy heavily reliant on exports of coffee and bananas, to become the largest software exporter per capita in Latin America. This study examined the impact that the expansion and diversification of Costa Rican export supply had on economic growth. The first study provides a historical analysis of the export diversification experience in Costa Rica from the 1965 until the present. For that, a chronological assessment of the main policies and events leading to the transformation of Costa Rican export supply was presented. This paper concludes that Costa Rica was able to move its economy away from commodity dependence because of important amounts of foreign direct investment over the last two decades. Furthermore, export diversification in Costa Rica is characterized by weak linkages between multinational corporations, operating in the free trade zones, and the rest of the economy. The second paper tests the hypothesis of a long-run relationship between export diversification and economic growth in Costa Rica via externalities of learning-by-exporting and learning-by-doing. The period of analysis was from 1965 to 2006, and two types of statistical methodologies were used: the bounds test for cointegration within a distributed lag (ARDL) framework and a dynamic OLS (DOLS) model. Overall, results concluded that export diversification had no long-run effect on economic growth during the study period. The third paper tests the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis in Costa Rica using a modified version of the Wald test for three different models for the period of 1960 to 2007 and 1965 to 2006. The ELG hypothesis was confirmed only when imports were included in the estimation. Granger-causality was also found running from imports to exports likely due to large amounts of imported inputs for multinational firms.

The presence of mercury in the U.S. fish supply is a growing public health concern. At high levels, mercury can be harmful to humans and ecosystems, and represents a growing threat not only to public health, but also to the economic and ecological viability of many fisheries. This research examined the economic issues surrounding mercury contamination in fish, developed a population dynamics and bioeconomic model to investigate the problem, and compared a variety of management actions to reduce consumer exposure to contaminants. The dissertation begins with an overview of contamination issues in U.S. fisheries, including a review of the historical public health impacts and their related economic costs. Management strategies for dealing with contamination were discussed, along with an examination of the efficacy of these actions and their implied economic cost to the fishing industry. Given that mercury concentration is shown to increase with fish length, this study examines the implications of harvesting smaller (and less contaminated) fish. This was accomplished through the development and application of an age-structured bioeconomic model for king mackerel, a species experiencing particularly large concentrations of mercury contamination. First, a population dynamics model of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic king mackerel stocks was constructed and validated. Using the population dynamics model as a base, a comprehensive bioeconomic model was created through the incorporation of the economic characteristics of the fishery and mercury contamination relationships. Forward simulations were used to examine the plausibility of different management alternatives for the king mackerel stocks in the presence of mercury contamination. The simulations demonstrated the possibility of reducing the amount of mercury that reaches consumers by altering the age composition of the commercially marketed catch. Furthermore, the simulations illustrated that it may be possible for this to occur without seriously impacting the long-run stability of the stock. There are tradeoffs, however, in terms of the economic viability of the fishery. In the case of both the Atlantic and Gulf stocks, reductions in mercury came at the price of reduced fishery profits and losses in the aggregate net present value of the fishery over a 25 year time horizon.

Agricultural production can have result in environmental deterioration in cases where proper management practices have not been implemented. Louisiana, one of the tropical states, has a significant agricultural base with more than 1,600 farmers raising crawfish. Large volumes of waste water containing environmental pollutants result significant environmental problem in the state. Voluntary adoption of a number of best management practices (BMPs) that are considered to be environmentally and economically beneficial is encouraged in Louisiana. The major objectives of this study are to investigate farmer adoption of 18 selected Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) cost share eligible BMPs and the reasons for farmers adoption or non-adoption decisions. The study further analyzes the complementarity or substitutability of different BMPs. A mail survey to 770 Louisiana crawfish producers was conducted in Fall, 2008, based on Dillmans Total Design Method. The adjusted response rate was 15%. Probit, multinomial logit, and t-tests were conducted to analyze the results. The results of this study showed farmers land tenancy, education, age, income diversification, and risk-bearing characteristics significantly affecting their probability of adoption. The prerequisite assumption of independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA) of the multinomial logit model was successful for only two BMPs: Irrigation Land Leveling, and Irrigation Water Conveyance via Pipe; and the results in these two BMPs showed farm size, rotation with other crops, education, farmers risk averse and early adoption behavior significantly affecting adoption or non-adoption decisions. Some BMPs were also found to have complementary relationships with other BMPs.

Little literature exists that analyzes the historical risk and return associated with investing in the US agricultural sector. However, several observable trends have recently made investing in the US agricultural sector an area of interest among investors. Stock price indexes are a commonly used tool for summarizing the historical performance of a specific sector. A market-capitalization weighted stock price index is created to represent the largest US agribusiness firms since 1970, using the US Census Standard Industrial Classification system and the Economic Research Services definition of agribusiness. Geometric returns, standard deviation, Sharpe Ratio, and beta values are calculated for one, five, and ten-year holding periods. These performance measures are compared to that of the market as a whole using the Standard & Poors 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indexes as proxies. The results indicate that the historical returns associated with investing in the US agricultural sector were less than what could be expected by investing in a market index, however, the most recent data periods show the sector outperforming the market. Ex post, standard deviation measures indicate that the sector is less susceptible to price variability, while Sharpe Ratio measures show that it has enjoyed higher excess returns per unit of risk in recent years. The calculated beta values indicate that price movements in the sector, as summarized by the AG Index, lag behind general market movements.