The structure of land ownership in Iowa is rapidly changing. More than half of the state's land is rented. The average age of land owners has increased over time. This study examines the differences in adoption of conservation practices between absentee owners and owner operators. Specifically, this study investigates hitherto unexplored differences between absentee owners and owner operators found in previous studies (e.g., absentee owners, sole ownership, proximity of habitation to farm and reasons for owning land) regarding decisions to conserve land.

This study's 2006 survey data were analyzed using the non-parametric method (tau-b) and a parametric regression framework (logistic regressions). The results suggested that all conservation practices were not considered to be equal by landowners. Being an owner operator or absentee owner impacted the decision to use certain types of conservation practices. Absentee owners tend to adopt the structural (expensive) conservation practices more than owner operators, whereas both types of owners equally adopt inexpensive conservation practices. Being an absentee owner or owner operator does not impact the probability of having land enrolled in a government conservation program. Age, education, place of residence, owned agricultural land and reasons for owning land seem to affect the adoption of each practice individually. However, knowledge about the cost-share program does have a positive impact on adoption, regardless of the type of conservation practices.

Ultimately, there is a need for more investigation to increase our knowledge of absentee owners, the reasons land owners choose to be absentee owners and their motivations to conserve land. This study found that landowners rarely used the internet for management information regarding their land. Similarly a very low percentage of landowners said the internet was their preferred way to receive such information. Reasons why the internet was not more widely used should be explored. Finally, policy makers should consider absentee owners as being strategically different from owner operators when creating conservation policies.

Random Utility Maximization (RUM) models of recreation demand are typically plagued by limited information on environmental and other attributes characterizing the available sites in the choice set. To the extent that these unobserved site attributes are correlated with the observed characteristics and/or the key travel cost variable, the resulting parameter estimates and subsequent welfare calculations are likely to be biased. In this paper we develop a Bayesian approach to estimating a RUM model that incorporates a full set of alternative specific constants, insulating the key travel cost parameter from the influence of the unobserved site attributes. In contrast to estimation procedures recently outlined in Murdock (2006), the posterior simulator we propose (combining data augmentation and Gibbs sampling techniques) can be used in the more general mixed logit framework in which some parameters of the conditional utility function are random. Following a series of generated data experiments to illustrate the performance of the simulator, we apply the estimation procedures to data from the Iowa Lakes Project. In contrast to an earlier study using the same data (Egan et al. [7]), we find that, with the addition of a full set of alternative specific constants, water quality attributes no longer appear to influence the choice of where to recreate.

Two optimal monetary growth models are analyzed. In the first (Model C), the rate of time preference is assumed constant; and in the other (Model V) the rate of time preference is endogenous;In Model C, the constancy of the rate of time preference is found to drive the long-run super-neutrality of money in the model. Changes in (theta), the growth rate of money supply, have no long-run effects on the real sector. The long-run capital-labor ratio is such that its marginal product is the sum of the rate of time preference, the growth rate of the population, and the rate of capital depreciation. A change in (theta) does not affect these parameters, leaving the long-run capital-labor ratio unchanged;In Model V, changes in (theta) are not neutral in the long-run. The endogeneity of the rate of time preference allows changes in (theta) to affect the optimality condition for the long-run capital-labor ratio. An increase in (theta) increases the long-run (steady state) values of the capital-labor ratio and consumption;In both models, the increase in (theta) increases the long-run inflation rate, reducing the real rate of return on holding real money balances; this induces agents to hold less money at the new steady state. In Model C, the reduction in holdings of money is all that happens in the long-run. However, in Model V the rate of time preference provides a link between the monetary and real sectors of the economy; agents are induced, through adjustments in the rate of time preference, to shift from the asset with the relatively lower real rate of return (money) to that with the relatively higher real rate of return (capital);Also, in both models the increase in (theta) lowers the long-run achievable utility level. However, the reduction in utility is smaller in Model V. Stability analysis shows that both models display saddle point behavior.

This paper employs a stochastic frontier model to examine profit inefficiency of rice farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana using farm-level survey data. The efficiency index, based on a half-normal distribution of the stochastic error term is related to farm and household characteristics. The empirical results show that farmers' human capitalrepresented by the level of schooling contributes positively to production efficiency, suggesting that investment in farmers' education improves their allocative performance. Access to credit and greater specialization in rice production, are found to be positively related to production efficiency. A farmer's participation in nonfarm employment and being older, however, reduce production efficiency. Farmers located in areas with better facilities like extension services and agricultural input delivery systems also tend to exhibit greaterproduction efficiency

This study examined the effects of nutrition on the growth rate of country economies over time. Previous studies on this topic have resulted in debates among researchers over how significant nutritional effects are on individual country economies. For this study, data were collected for four decades (1960s, 1970, 1980s, and 1990s) for 43 low- and middle-income countries. The data were analyzed to determine the effect of nutrition, represented by dietary energy supply (DES), on the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) per worker and on labor productivity. The research utilized ordinary least squares, instrumental variables, and random effects regressions in the context of the Solow growth rate model. The research revealed that nutrition did, indeed, have an effect on the economies, but the impact was not very significant for GDP growth rate per worker and labor productivity. The t statistic for the nutrition variable did not support the contribution of DES to growth rate GDP per worker. On the contrary, other variables such as capital per worker and literacy rate showed stronger impacts that did the DES variable.

Increasing agricultural productivity and employment in sub-Saharan African countries has received widespread attention in the literature on economic development and poverty alleviation. Agricultural growth, however, is linked to farm profits. Over the past few years, considerable research has examined agricultural efficiency in the region.1 This issue has gained attention in the light of structural adjustment programs—involving market liberalization, fiscal austerity, and currency devaluation— that are currently being implemented in many sub-Saharan African countries and global trade liberalization being pursued under the World Trade Organization.

The question of appropriate factor proportions and concern for the low absorption of labor in LDC manufacturing have made these issues important areas for research and policy in the developing countries. This is especially so in Malaysia since unemployment increased from a rate of 3 percent in 1970 to 8.7 percent in 1987, despite large investments within this period;In this study, econometric analysis of capital-labor substitutability is conducted for the Malaysian manufacturing sector for the period 1963-1984. Estimates of the elasticity of substitution are computed using the Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production function approach, the translog cost approach and the CES-translog cost approach. Comparisons of alternative estimates of the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor are also made;The statistical analysis shows that most of the Malaysian industries at the 5-digit industrial classification level exhibit relatively low elasticities of substitution between capital and labor. This provides a clearer understanding of the relatively low labor absorption in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. Other factors which may be responsible for the choice of inappropriate factor proportions including biases in government policy as well as private decisions by firms are also discussed.