This study quantifies the effects of student behavior, teacher attributes, and course characteristics on class attendance and performance. Several notable factors that influence attendance and grades are motivation, prior grade point average (GPA), self-financing by students, hours worked on jobs, quality of teaching, and nature of class lectures. This study provides strong empirical evidence of the positive influence of class attendance on student performance. Copyright 1996, Oxford University Press.

This work develops an econometric model that links credit access with agricultural profitability and investment. Using data collected from rural Tunisia, this work provides direct estimates of credit access and its effects. Econometric estimates are run for agricultural investment and profitability as a function of credit access. The investigation of credit access and its effect suggests that the presence of credit market constraints does impinge significantly on farm profitability, but not on investments.

Multiattribute rankings of seventy‐two alternative midwestern cropping systems involving corn, soybeans, and alfalfa hay are analyzed from profitability and environmental quality perspectives. Environmental consequences are simulated using EPIC and GLEAMS, and profitability is based on budget analysis. Results are analyzed using an algorithm based on multiattribute decision theory. A corn‐soybean rotation using low input levels and minimum tillage on high‐productivity soil, and continuous corn using low input levels and minimum tillage on low‐productivity soil are in the preferred set regardless of whether profits or preserving the environment is the first priority for the decision maker.

No abstract

No abstract

The United States claims that the undervaluation of Chinese currency, the Yuan, causes U.S. exports to China to decrease and imports from China to increase. Furthermore, because the Yuan is undervalued only against the dollar, U.S. competitors have an advantage in exporting to China and China has an advantage over its competitors in exporting to the United States. This study develops a theoretical model to analyze the effect of the Yuan undervaluation on prices, supply, demand, and trade in the United States, China, and their competitors. This study applies a cointegration/error-correction model to empirically quantify the short-run and long-run effects of the devaluation of the Yuan on important agricultural commodities traded between the United States, China, and their competitors. These commodities include Chinese imports of milk, soybeans, and cotton from the United States and U.S. imports of beans, fruit juice, and fruit from China. The results show that Yuan devaluation causes Chinese imports of U.S. milk, soybeans, and cotton to decline and U.S. imports of beans, fruit juice, and fruit from China to increase in the short run and in the long run.JEL classifications: C32, F14, Q17

Output from two process simulation models (EPIC and GLEAMS) was combined with a farm level linear programming model to assess the economic and environmental implications of selected eastern Corn Belt farming systems. The farm level economic results suggest that an alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.)‐based cropping system is generally less profitable than a corn‐soybean ( Zea mays L.‐Glycine max L. [Merr.]) rotation produced under farm program prices or recent average market price conditions. Net returns are projected to decline by approximately 38% if alfalfa is included in an eastern Corn Belt cropping system. The adoption of a corn‐alfalfa cropping system could reduce annual soil erosion and the quantity of nitrates in surface water runoff relative to a conventional corn‐soybean rotation. The corn‐alfalfa system, however, leads to an increase in atrazine and alachlor runoff in surface water and an increase in nitrate percolation. A more environmentally desirable outcome may be attained by continuing farm programs that reduce acreage planted to corn. Yet to maintain farm income and encourage voluntary farmer participation, taxpayer costs may be unacceptably high. Thus, there are significant trade‐offs among environmental goals, federal budget reduction efforts, and income and employment in farming and agribusiness. Research Question Proponents of alternative agriculture suggest that certain sustainable cropping systems can reduce soil erosion and water pollution without adversely affecting farmers ’ incomes. This research evaluated the farm level environmental and economic impacts of cropping systems in the eastern Corn Belt, which include alfalfa in rotation with other conventional row crops. Literature Summary Most economic studies of alternative crop production systems have focused on the costs of adoption but have generally ignored the environmental impacts. Studies that have considered environmental impacts have typically focused on a single factor, for example soil loss or sedimentation. Study Description Two 500 acre farms were modelled: one on a Drummer silty clay loam, a high productivity soil commonly found in northwestern Indiana and eastern Illinois; and the second on a Clermont silt loam, a low productivity soil found in southern Indiana and Ohio. Three cases were analyzed: (i) a government program case with a 10% corn set‐aside, (ii) a market price scenario based on observed market prices for the crops, and (iii) a policy option requiring one‐fourth of the farm to produce alfalfa. Input use amounts can be found in Table . A farm‐level linear programming model was used for the economic analysis. The objective function of the model maximized gross revenue minus variable costs subject to constraints which included land, labor, and machinery resource requirements and availability during critical crop production periods. Two process simulation models were used to analyze the environmental impacts of the different cropping systems. The first of these was the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC). The s...

No abstract