Content:

Spring Agricultural Economics Workshops

Workshop Information
Date Time Location Speaker Title Abstract
04/09/2012 3:40 PM - 5:00 PM 1131 SSH Building

Jeff Racine

McMaster University

 Nonparametric Instrumental Derivatives
04/20/2012 1:10 PM - 2:30 PM Main Conference Room, 2102 SSH Building

Colin Carter

University of California, Davis

 Accidental GMO Contamination of the U.S. Rice Supply and Economic Impacts TBA
04/27/2012 1:10 PM - 2:30 PM Main Conference Room, 2102 SSH Building

Joanna Parks

University of California, Davis

 The Marginal External Cost of Obesity in the United States. Over the past five decades in the United States both total medical expenditures and the proportion of medical expenditures financed with public funds have increased significantly. A substantial increase in the prevalence of obesity has contributed to this growth. In this study we measure the external cost of obesity, in the form of publicly funded health-care expenditures, and how this cost changes when the distribution of obesity in the population changes. We use a continuous measure of obesity, BMI, rather than discrete weight categories to represent the distribution of obesity and changes in it. We predict that a 1-unit increase in BMI for every adult in the United States would increase annual public medical expenditures by $32.6 billion. This estimated excess public cost equates to an average marginal cost of $147 per year per adult for a one unit change in BMI for each adult in the United States population. Separately, we estimate that if every U.S. adult who is now obese (BMI > 30) had a BMI of 25 instead, annual public medical expenditures would decline by $126 billion (in constant 2008$), or 12.5% of annual public medical expenditures in 2008. Assuming a socially optimal BMI of no more than 25, we estimate that the prevalence of obesity in 2008 resulted in a deadweight loss of $152.0 billion in 2008.
05/11/2012 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM Main Conference Room, 2102 SSH Building

Thomas W. Hertel

Purdue University

 Response of corn markets to climate volatility and alternative energy futures Recent price spikes have raised concern that climate change could increase food insecurity by reducing grain yields in the coming decades. However, commodity price volatility is also influenced by other factors, which may either exacerbate or buffer the effects of climate change. Here we show that US corn price volatility exhibits higher sensitivity to near-term climate change than to energy policy influences or agricultureenergy market integration, and that the presence of a biofuels mandate enhances the sensitivity to climate change by more than 50%. The climate change impact is driven primarily by intensification of severe hot conditions in the primary corn-growing region of the US, which causes US corn price volatility to increase sharply in response to global warming projected over the next three decades. Closer integration of agriculture and energy markets moderates the effects of climate change, unless the biofuels mandate becomes binding, in which case corn price volatility is instead exacerbated. However, in spite of the substantial impact on US corn price volatility, we find relatively small impact on food prices. Our findings highlight the critical importance of interactions between energy policies, energy-agriculture linkages, and climate change.
05/21/2012 2:10 PM - 3:30 PM Main Conference Room, 2102 SSH Building

Richard Hornbeck

Harvard University

 Local Economic Spillovers from the Agricultural Sector: Evidence from Tapping the Ogallala Aquifer