THE ROLE OF HEALTH INFORMATION ON FRUITS AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION

A three-equation partially-recursive econometric model is specified linking consumer awareness, beliefs, attitude, and dietary behaviors. The results show that older, better educated and higher income households are more likely to meet five-a-day servings of fruits and vegetables than those who are poor and less educated.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

TESTING FOR A CHANGE IN CONSUMER TASTES FOR FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES: A STRUCTURAL LATENT VARIABLE APPROACH

This study uses a structural latent variable approach to examine whether the increased supply of health information has been successful in improving consumer tastes and preferences towards fruits and vegetables and if it has been successful in doing so, how this change in tastes is affecting the consumption of various produce commodities. The results show that consumers are responding to health messages by increasing consumption of some of the produce commodities but not all of them.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Tree Shade and Energy Savings: An Empirical Study

Trees cast shade on homes and buildings, lowering the inside temperatures and thus reducing demand for power to cool these buildings during hot times of the year. Drawing from a large sample of residences in Auburn, Alabama, we develop a statistical model that produces specific estimates of the electricity savings generated by shade-producing trees in a suburban environment. This empirical model links residential energy consumption to hedonic characteristics of the structures, characteristics and behaviors of the occupants, and the extent, density, and timing of shade cast on the structures. Our estimates suggest that if an additional 10 percent of the 125 million home owners in America started using tree shade to reduce electricity consumption an average of 10 kwh/day for 100 days per year, the annual amount of electricity conserved would be approximately 12,500 thousand megawatts. At the 2007 average residential price of electricity ($0.1065/kwh), this would save each household an estimated$106/year and $1.3 billion in the aggregate. Moreover, the electricity saved would represent approximately one-third of the electricity produced annually in the U.S. by wind power.Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Impacts of Population and Income Growth Rates on Threatened Mammals and Birds

Per capita income and human population levels in a country have direct influences on its environmental outcomes. Countries with same level of income may have different rate of income growth and vice versa, suggesting that the influence of the rate of income growth on environmental outcomes could be different than that of income level. Similarly, the rate of population growth might have different impact in addition to the impacts of sheer number of population. We explore this empirical question using country-level data on threatened species published by IUCN for the year 2007. Controlling for other factors, our model estimates the influences of the rate of population and income growth on threatened mammals and birds across 113 continental countries. The results suggest that, among other factors, the rate of population growth has significant influences on number of threatened mammals and birds.income, population, spatial models, spatial autocorrelation, endemic species, biodiversity, Environmental Economics and Policy, C21, Q57,

MARKET POWER AND ASYMMETRY IN FARM-RETAIL PRICE TRANSMISSION

A finite mixture model is used to examine whether price asymmetries exist in U.S. fresh strawberry markets. Two distinct pricing regimes are identified. Results show that price asymmetries exist only at 34 percent of the cases and market power has played an important role in generating such asymmetric price relationships.Marketing,