Browsing by Author "Ellerbrock, Michael J."
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- Applying cost benefit analysis to nutrition education programs : focus on the Virginia Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program : final reportLambur, Michael T.; Rajgopal, Radhika; Lewis, Edwin C.; Cox, Ruby H.; Ellerbrock, Michael J. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 1999)In attempts to make public programs more cost effective, it is critical to develop and apply new techniques to evaluate Extension programs. Indeed, one of the major challenges facing Extension evaluators is the need to provide concise, meaningful evaluation information to decision-makers. Nutrition education has been a base program of the Cooperative Extension System since its inception. While knowledge gain, and to a more limited extent the behavior changes of participants have been measured, good measures of the cost savings that accrue as a result of participation in these education programs are not available. Procedures that quantitatively compare a program's costs to its benefits are inherently popular and useful. Cost benefit and effectiveness analysis represent economic analysis procedures that can be useful in addressing this need.
- Applying Cost Benefit Analysis to Nutrition Education Programs: Focus on the Virginia Expanded Food and Nutrition Education ProgramLambur, Michael T.; Rajgopal, Radhika; Lewis, Edwin C.; Cox, Ruby H.; Ellerbrock, Michael J. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2009-05-01)This study presents the procedures and results of a cost-benefit analysis of Virginia EFNEP to measure the economic efficiency of the program for the federal sponsors.
- Assessing Economic Impacts of Ecotourism in the Virginia Roanoke River Basin: Metrics Program Development ServicesEllerbrock, Michael J. (Virginia Tech, 2014-11)The mission of the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification & Community Revitalization Commission (VTICRC) includes helping rural communities transition from a tobacco-based monoculture to a diversified economy. One strategy, given a beautiful and vibrant foundation of natural resources in South and Southwest Virginia, is promotion of ecotourism. The influx of outside dollars adds to the region's economic base. Committed to environmental conservation and education, the Roanoke River Basin Association (RRBA) initiates planning programs to develop facilities and coordinates marketing of outdoor recreation opportunities and special events throughout the large watershed. Two recent thrusts of the RRBA are its development of an interactive website and investment in capital projects that installed trailhead signs and built launch facilities along the Roanoke River. A unique and noteworthy accomplishment of the RRBA is its design and installation of handicapped accessible launch sites that enable Wounded Warriors and other physically-challenged citizens to easily access the water. The 2007 Virginia Outdoors Plan (Department of Conservation & Recreation, Rev. 2013) advocated regional partnerships among agencies and cooperative agreements among localities to leverage resources for developing and promoting ecotourism. Rural counties in Southern Virginia are encouraged to work with riparian landowners and entrepreneurial business establishments to enhance paddling operations along the Roanoke River Basin (RRB). Hence, the VTICRC and RRBA wish to ascertain the economic effectiveness of their combined efforts in the “Upper Reach” mid-basin of the RRB. The Upper Reach Blueways Master Plan focuses specifically on six Virginia counties: Campbell, Charlotte, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Pittsylvania (Upper Reach 2011). In response to their Call for Proposals, Virginia Tech's (VT) Center for Economic Education in the Department of Agricultural Applied Economics of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences submitted a competitive research proposal to conduct an economic impact assessment of ecotourism in Virginia’s Upper Reach of the Roanoke River Basin during 2013-14. VT was awarded the study. This Report summarizes our findings.
- Common Ground: How Can Virginia Cooperative Extension Promote Civic Harmony in Our Polarized World?Ellerbrock, Michael J.; Gehrt, Karen R. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2014-03-17)The Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute (VNRLI) trains agents, community leaders, activists, educators, industry officials, and environmental professionals in group strategies and personal skills for pursuing consensus-based solutions to complex local problems.
- Comparisons of the Educational Outcomes from Distance Delivered versus Traditional Classroom Instruction in Principles of MicroeconomicsCrouse, Tricia Lynn (Virginia Tech, 2002-10-04)Recent advancements in the speed and availability of the Internet have catapulted distance education into the forefront of possible economic education alternatives. Distance learning courses are taught exclusively over the Internet. Economics distance courses provide alternatives for economics students to traditional classroom instruction, and also invite new students to the discipline who may not have otherwise enrolled. An increase in the number of distance courses in the economics field has sparked a debate over the ability of distance courses to provide equivalent educational outcomes as traditional in-class courses. This study evaluates educational outcomes from a traditional section and two distance sections of introductory agricultural microeconomics courses, Economics of the Food and Fiber System (AAEC 1005), taught at Virginia Tech. The study compares student learning, attitudes and interests in economics, and perceptions of instructor effectiveness between traditionally taught students and those taught through distance education. Average exam scores, and common exam questions given to students in both course types, are the measures of student learning used in this study. Attitudes and interest are measured by student survey, and perceptions of instructor effectiveness are measured by student course evaluations. A variety of statistical tests are conducted comparing distance and traditional students in order to determine the influence of delivery method on educational outcomes. Results indicate that traditional students generally obtain higher grades on tests, and have a higher opinion of course instruction than distance students, suggesting that distance education is not an equivalent educational alternative to traditional classroom instruction.
- Cost-benefit Analysis of the Virginia Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP)Rajgopal, Radhika Jr. (Virginia Tech, 1998-09-11)Each year approximately 7,500 low-income Virginia families are enrolled in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), administered through the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE). Chronic disease and health conditions cost society an estimated $250 billion each year in medical charges and lost productivity. It has been assumed that the numerous diet and food-related changes made by EFNEP participants will lead to a reduction in the risk of chronic disease among homemakers, and perhaps, other family members. Thus, the improved diets and behaviors resulting from EFNEP participation may result in substantial future savings in healthcare costs among participants. This study explores the possibility of potential economic benefits for the Virginia EFNEP participants. In 1996, the Virginia Cooperative Extension was awarded a grant from the Cooperative State, Research, Education, and Extension Service, United States Department of Agriculture (CSREES, USDA) to conduct a cost-benefit study of EFNEP in Virginia. Though computation of the cost-benefit ratio for the Virginia adult EFNEP includes both direct and indirect benefits, this study addressed only the assessment of the direct tangible benefits based on the savings from economic costs of avoided diseases. Existing EFNEP data for the 1996 fiscal year was used to identify optimal nutritional behaviors that can delay or prevent the onset of certain chronic diseases and health conditions. The economic costs of diseases were identified from scientific literature and translated as potential benefits. The administration costs of EFNEP were also compiled. The total direct tangible benefit for the diseases and conditions identified was estimated to be $17,770,722. Along with the indirect tangible benefits ($321,462), the total tangible benefits for the Virginia EFNEP was calculated to be $18,092,184. The direct tangible costs associated with the Virginia EFNEP in 1996 was $1,922,204. The benefit-cost ratio for the Virginia EFNEP for the 1996 fiscal year for the subset of the population practicing the optimal nutritional behaviors is calculated at $9.41/$1.00 (a $9.41 return for every $1 invested in EFNEP in Virginia). Also, a benefit of $2.45 to $1.00 was calculated when only 25% of those participants practicing optimal nutritional behaviors were assumed retain these behaviors through life. For a program of the magnitude of EFNEP, these results are very gratifying.
- An Ex Ante Analysis of the Effects of Transgenic Rice on Farm Households’ Nutritional Vulnerability in BangladeshLiang, Yan (Virginia Tech, 2006-05-15)Despite concerted efforts at agricultural development over many years, millions of people in developing countries still suffer from poverty and under-nutrition. New crop varieties, such as those released during the green revolution in Asia, increased farmers' income and reduced the level of under-nutrition. In recent years, while the speed of the development of conventional breeding technology has slowed, biotechnology has developed rapidly. In 2005, about 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries grew transgenic crops. Transgenic rice has not been commercially released on a large scale, but progress has been made in developing varieties with potential to increase yield and reduce input costs. In this context, this research aims to provide empirical evidence on the potential effects of introducing transgenic rice on farm households' income and nutritional well-being in Bangladesh, including the impacts on their current nutritional status and nutritional vulnerability over time. To this end, two econometric models are constructed and estimated. A farm household model is employed to project farm households' production and consumption responses to introducing improved rice varieties such as transgenic rice. The model estimates the profit effect of introducing transgenic rice. The influence of the profit effect on farmers' consumption decisions is then considered. Due to the ex ante nature of this research and data limitations, the effects of transgenic rice are assumed to be similar to that of previous high yielding varieties (HYVs), and the impact of transgenic rice on farm household profit is assumed to be similar to the effect of the percentage of rice area in HYVs and the yield effect of transgenic rice is the same as HYVs. On the production side, the supply of three outputs- rice, all other crops and animal products- and demand of labor and fertilizer were estimated. On the consumption side, both poor and non-poor households' demand for rice, wheat/other food, pulse, oil, vegetables/fruits, meat/egg/ milk, fish, and spices were estimated. Based on the parameter estimates, the calorie intake and protein intake elasticities with respect to introducing transgenic rice were computed. The results indicate that the total profit elasticity with respect to the percentage of rice area in HYVs is 0.08. The calorie elasticity with respect to the percentage of rice area in HYVs ranges from 0.062 in non-poor to 0.074 in poor households, and the protein elasticity ranges from 0.075 in non-poor to 0.084 in poor households. The results indicate that transgenic rice is likely to play a positive role in improving farm households' nutritional status in terms of total calorie/protein intake. The magnitude, however, is likely to be moderate, if only the profit effect is considered. A consumption forecasting model is used to examine farmers' nutritional vulnerability a probabilistic concept defined as having a high probability now of suffering a shortfall in the future. It is assumed that when exposed to risk, farmers' consumption decisions have already considered their risk coping strategies. The effect of transgenic rice is reflected by its impact on farm income. Farm households' calorie intake in the future (hunger season) was predicted by a multivariate regression function with the logarithmic daily per resident calorie intake as the dependent variable. The independent variables include variables that represent households' income, flood exposure, assets, and demographic composition. Farm households' nutritional vulnerability profiles, based on the estimation of ex ante mean and variance, indicate that vulnerability exists among surveyed rice farm households. The model also predicts that the income increase induced by introducing transgenic rice will reduce each individual household's probability of suffering a future consumption shortfall and subsequently will reduce its vulnerability. The overall vulnerability profile of farm households improves in Bangladesh.
- An Ex-Ante Economic Impact Assessment of Bt Eggplant in Bangladesh, the Philippines and IndiaMishra, Sanjiv (Virginia Tech, 2003-08-19)This study projects the economic impact of adoption of Bt eggplant in India, Bangladesh and Philippines. The welfare benefits from adoption of Bt eggplant are projected to be positive in all three countries. The welfare gains from adoption (discounted at 5 percent) are projected to be US $ 411 million for India, US $ 37 million for Bangladesh and US$ 28 million for the Philippines. Consumers gain about 57% of the welfare benefits, while the producers gain 43% of the total surplus. Simulation results indicate that India is in a position to make significant investments in the development and diffusion of the Bt eggplant technology, while the Philippines and Bangladesh are likely to benefit from the transfer and adoption of technology from India.The simulations assumed a low seed premium, which would help in increasing the rate of adoption of the technology by the farmers. The findings suggest that potential economic benefits from Bt eggplant are high and efforts should be continued to develop and integrate the Bt eggplant with other IPM practices for effective pest management.