Theses and Dissertations
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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Author "Bellows, Laura, committee member"
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Item Open Access Analyzing the U.S. dairy and nondairy milk markets: three essays on consumer demand, product separability, labeling, and welfare(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Ghazaryan, Armen, author; Bonanno, Alessandro, advisor; Thilmany, Dawn McFadden, committee member; Costanigro, Marco, committee member; Bellows, Laura, committee memberThis dissertation is comprised of three main chapters, presenting empirical analyses of different aspects of the U.S. dairy and nondairy milk markets. In Chapter 2, two different empirical analyses are performed: 1) tests for weak separability in an Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) milk demand system that includes dairy and nondairy milks; 2) tests of aggregability of dairy and nondairy milk products in the context of demand analysis by implementing an empirical test based on the Generalized Composite Commodity Theorem (GCCT). We use a revealed-preference approach and point-of-sale weekly scanner data of dairy and nondairy milk products' sales from 2012 to 2017. To our knowledge, this is the first study to implement weak separability tests for the linear-approximate EASI model. The goal of Chapter 3 is to estimate how much consumers value the "milk" label on nondairy milks, and, as a result, how much producers of nondairy milks may be seeking to capitalize on consumers' preference through the use of dairy terminology. The analysis performed in Chapter 3 uses one year of monthly point-of-sale scanner data from 2013 to analyze the demand for dairy and nondairy milks using a random coefficients logit model. Additionally, we estimate the welfare implications of the presence of the "milk" label on nondairy milks for consumers as well as dairy and nondairy milk producers. In Chapter 4, we first use the concept of diversion ratios to assess whether strategic price changes by nondairy milk producers can constitute a threat for dairy milk producers (in terms of market shares) and vice versa. Then, we assess how changes in the market definition of nondairy milks may affect the milk market.Item Open Access Revisiting the "hot potatoes" of agri-supply chains: exploring interactions and tradeoffs in Colorado potato markets and farm-to-school procurement(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Love, Erin, author; Thilmany McFadden, Dawn, advisor; Bellows, Laura, committee member; Countryman, Amanda, committee member; Jablonski, Becca, committee memberAgricultural and food systems generate externalities, some of which have been linked to achieving economic development goals in rural areas. Historically, agriculture has occupied an important role in rural development policy. But not all agricultural and food supply chains have the same economic linkages and impacts on their communities. We hypothesize that certain types of agricultural and food systems structures and processes are better suited to achieving the goal of local economic development, depending on the location and nature of the market activity. The literature suggests that there is a tradeoff between efficiency and positive externalities in agri-supply chains, which we call the "Efficiency-Externality Tradeoff." We analyze the Efficiency-Externality Tradeoff in two essays. First, we conduct a time-series econometric analysis of Colorado and national potato supply chains. Second, we develop an optimization model of school food procurement, with emphasis on supply chain route. We find that Colorado farmers face asymmetric price influence when participating in national commodity potato markets, implying they have low bargaining power and high downside risk with regards to prices. We also find that in the absence of policy mechanisms, school districts are unlikely to participate in local food procurement, which previous work has documented has a positive impact on local economies. We frame farmer bargaining power and local economic development as potential positive externalities of local and regional supply chains, and since the latter are sometimes less efficient, exploring the tradeoffs between the "costs and benefits" is of interest. Our results indicate that mainstream supply chains, which tend to be more efficient and cost effective, may offer fewer positive externalities, and the effectiveness of policy levers to incentivize positive choices varies. This finding has implications for economic development policies, particularly those targeted at strengthening economic activity in agriculturally dependent areas.Item Open Access Three essays on weather shocks, nutrition and forests(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Mulungu, Kelvin, author; Manning, Dale, advisor; Seidl, Andrew, advisor; Costanigro, Marco, committee member; Bellows, Laura, committee memberClimate-related shocks, such as droughts and floods, can have particularly harmful effects for poor rural households in developing countries. In this dissertation, I determine how forests affect a household's ability to cope with shocks, estimate how agricultural input use changes after shocks, and explore a novel explanation for high rates of undernutrition within food-producing households. In the first essay, using data from Malawi, I find that households allocate labor away from agriculture to forests in the event of a weather shock and that access to forests offsets the negative effect of weather shocks on nutrition and food security. In the second essay, I use nationally representative data on smallholder households in Zambia and find that, after a weather shock, households are less likely to use a risky input and more likely to use a less risky input because they become more risk-averse. Access to credit can mitigate the negative impact of a shock on the likelihood of using fertilizer. In the last essay, I use household production and demographic data from a household survey that I conducted in Zambia to measure nutrition deficits created by insufficient food production or food sales that, if consumed at home, would have contributed to household nutrition. I find that nutrient deficits, from either insufficient production or selling output, are detrimental to nutrition and food security. High lean season food prices reduce the quantity of market-bought foods demanded and undermine the ability of households to use income from crop sales to purchase food. In summary, rural households respond to shocks in various ways. Both natural resource access and improved credit markets can offset the negative impacts from a shock while increasing food production and nutrition outcomes.