VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Marshall, J. Paxton"

Browsing by Author "Marshall, J. Paxton"

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1968 feed grain program for the Virginia grower
Marshall, J. Paxton; McMurtry, Gene (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Extension Division, 1968-02)
How to enroll and facts about the food grain program in Virginia in 1968
Alternative methodological approaches to natural resource policy analysis: an illustration of an institutional approach to land use policy analysis
Luzar, E. Jane (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1986)
Policy economists are increasingly called upon to participate in the institutional design of natural resource policies, predict interpret impacts of alternative the direction of future policy policies, and formulations. However, many of the forces influential in the current reformulation of these policies extend beyond the exchange oriented scope of the traditional mainstream methodological perspective of contemporary economics. In particular, the inability of mainstream economics to analytically incorporate concepts of institutional change, as well as the analytical limitations imposed by its predictive epistemological basis suggest the need for an alternative analytical framework for use in policy analysis. This study explores the potential contribution of an alternative, institutional approach to policy analysis. Certain properties of the institutional approach identified in this study, including its nonpredictive epistemological orientation, focus on institutions as the unit of observation, reliance on behavioral analysis, and ability to incorporate a wider array of disciplinary perspectives are evaluated with respect to their contribution to policy analysis. The primary analytical technique of institutional economics, development of a pattern model, is analyzed in some detail and compared with traditional mainstream analytics. An illustration of an institutional approach to policy analysis is developed to examine policy considerations raised by the farmland retention issue. A pattern model is constructed to provide the framework for the institutional analysis. Primary components of the model, the policy environment and the actors within that environment, structure the qualitative and quantitative analysis. The pattern model is designed to increase policy economists' understanding of issues fundamental to the development of natural resource policies, e.g., Why is a particular policy chosen from the menu of possible policy options?, What motivates individuals to participate in a policy?, What is the process underlying policy formulation?, and, What is the institutional evolution of a policy? The conclusions to the study are two-part: first, conclusions and policy recommendations are offered for the specific case of the farmland retention issue. Second, for the more general case of natural resource policy analysis, an evaluation of the potential analytical contributions of an institutional approach or a blend of approaches is offered.
An analysis of sources of growth in French agriculture 1960-1984
Bouchet, Frederic C. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1987)
Agricultural production in France has increased considerably since the late fifties, turning France into a net exporter in world markets. This has generated a heated policy debate between France and the United States, centering around different views of the sources of growth in French agricultural production between 1960 and 1984. To shed some light on this debate, these sources of growth were analyzed. A sectoral model of the French agricultural sector is developed. It is based on the assumption of profit maximization. Duality theory is used to derive short- and long-run output supply and input demand equations. All variables controlled by the decision-maker are endogenized. These include output supplies (cereals, other crop products, milk, other animal products), use of variable inputs (feeds, fertilizer-energy, hired labor), and optimal quantities of the quasi-fixed factors (family labor, capital). The data used in estimation comes from published sources, except for series concerning French agricultural research expenditures, preferential credit rates, and agricultural labor. These were collected from unpublished sources specifically for the study. In general, signs of estimated coefficients conform to theoretical expectations. Technological change is estimated to have played the major role in inducing production growth. Technology-led increases are attributed mostly to French research expenditures in the case of cereals, and, in the case of milk, both to French research expenditures and to transfers of technology. Credit policies have also played a role, being responsible for an estimated 8.6 and 10.4 percent of the growth in cereals and milk production. These results have important policy implications. First, if rapid technological gains have brought France into a situation of comparative advantage, we should expect to see French policy-makers shift toward a freer market stance in trade negotiations. Second, because of massive technology transfers and shrinking export markets, the problem of protection of national research is likely to become a part of trade policy debates. Third, even if international negotiations succeeded at reducing price supports, such steps could be quickly outweighed by continual outward shifts of the supply curves if efforts to develop agricultural technology are pursued.
Commonwealth's land use : proceedings of a conference
Conference on the Commonwealth's Land Use (1975 : Charlottesville, Va.) (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Extension Division, 1977)
A compilation of fifteen papers presented before a Conference on the Commonwealth's Land Use, plus one additional paper. This Virginia-oriented publication contains papers concerning the developing state-level land-use decisionmaking process, the function of state and local government in land-use decisions, the federal land-use concerns, the alternatives for administering state land-use policy, the development of land-use policy in the Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court's decisions relating to land use, the impact of court decisions on growth management, the open-space regulations of some local governments, the land-use issues affecting development of low- and moderate income housing, the issues associated with interbasin water transfer, the status of areawide waste treatment control, and the American Law Institute's Model Land Development Code.
A computable general equilibrium analysis of regional impacts of macro-shocks in the 1980S
Kraybill, David S. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988)
The purpose of this study is assess the domestic regional impacts of changes in federal fiscal policies and the nation's trade deficit. An attempt is made to fill a gap in the literature of regional economics by providing an explanation of how economic changes at national and international levels are transmitted to regions, and by providing general-equilibrium estimates of the effects of these changes. The level of regional economic activity is assumed to be linked to the federal budget through federal purchases of goods and services, through intergovernmental transfers, and through net transfers to households. Domestic regions are linked to the balance of trade through shifts in exports and imports and through shifts in net income transfers from abroad. An interregional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is constructed and calibrated for Virginia and the rest of the United States (ROUS). Scenarios approximating federal fiscal policies and the trade deficit during the period 1981-85 are introduced, and the model is solved to obtain a new equilibrium. As a result of these shocks, it is concluded: (a) that the magnitude of sectoral effects differed in Virginia versus ROUS, (b) that in contrast to non-rural sectors, rural sectors in Virginia experienced slower growth in value added, (c) that investment in Virginia and in ROUS increased in response to the net inflow of savings from abroad, but the increase was mitigated by the rise in federal spending, and (d) that a tariff increase on the output of the apparel and textile industry would increase output in that industry in Virginia but would decrease it in other industries if the economy were fully employed.
Demand for selected classes of convenience food in the United States
Hull, David B. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1982)
The focus of this research was the problem of identifying the economic and demographic factors that determine household expenditure for convenience food in the United States. A major objective was to measure, for various classes of convenience food, the response of expenditures to changes in demand determinants so that food expenditure profiles can be simulated for households with different characteristics and constraints. Another major objective was to determine the effect of the meal preparer's value of time on household use of convenience food. The work of others on similar models of food demand has been extended to include analysis of the effects of the sex and employment status (market-orientation) of the meal preparer, the value of the meal preparer's time, household size, income and age-sex composition. Other factors in the models include region, race, urban setting and season. The functions were specified from a theoretical model developed from the theory of the household production function. Foods used by households as reported in the 1977-78 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey were divided into classes of nonconvenience, basic convenience, complex convenience and manufactured convenience food. Nonconvenience foods are raw, unprocessed foods or ingredient foods. Basic convenience foods are single ingredient foods with limited culinary expertise embodied, usually providing a type of preservation convenience. Complex convenience foods are multiple ingredients, highly prepared foods. Manufactured convenience foods include products which have no home prepared counterpart. For the three convenience classes, nonincome-earning female meal preparers all had positive elasticities of the value of time. Except for the basic convenience food model, the income-earning female meal preparers had positive value of time elasticities. The nonmarketoriented female meal preparers had negative elasticities of value of time in the nonconvenience class. The income elasticity for all food classes ranged from 0. 03in the nonconvenience food expenditure model to 0.08 in the complex convenience food model. The significance of statistical tests on the range of income elasticities verifies that the food categories investigated are neither inferior nor luxury goods, and that demand models for all food at home that ignore the effects of the value of time would overestimate the elasticity of expenditure with respect to income.
Land-use issues : proceedings of a conference
(Extension Division, Cooperative Extension Service, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1974)
A compilation of fifteen papers presented before a conference on land-use issues in Virginia, plus two additional papers. This Virginia-oriented publication discusses the in-place land-use legislation, the planning process, the approaches to land-use policy, the application of land-use controls, water and water quality policy, and the impact of citizen attitudes on land use. Special issues treated include standards for implementing comprehensive plans, alternatives to zoning, rural and urban conflicts, flood-plain management, impacts of new communities and methods of designating land for special purposes, such as agricultural and environmental districts.
Proceedings of a conference on land use and the Chesapeake Bay
(Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1985)
The inflow of land-based pollutants has decreased productivity of the Chesapeake Bay. Better land-use management practices can improve the service-providing capacity of the bay. Specific approaches to management of pollutant sources are discussed. Solutions to some institutional, ethical, and legislative issues are presented for action on both the individual and collective level in a series of 15 papers.
Property rights and the investment behavior of U.S. Agricultural Cooperatives
Condon, Andrew Michael (Virginia Tech, 1990-10-15)
Current economic theory describing the behavior and performance of agricultural cooperatives is not capable of addressing many of the crucial issues facing these institutions in today’s environment of declining government involvement in price and income support of U.S. agriculture. This dissertation seeks to incorporate those factors which uniquely define a cooperative as different from other forms of organizing business activity into a model of cooperative investment behavior. In this study, the set of property rights governing ownership and control of cooperatives is identified and formally built into a neoclassical model of firm investment. The property rights approach is used to establish the core of a theory of cooperatives. This theory is used to construct a set of hypotheses about cooperative behavior, particularly with respect to investment behavior and the relative competitive position of cooperatives and competing forms of business organization. The approach lends insight into the economic incentives for forming cooperatives and the reasons why cooperative corporation ownership and control structures are unique from those observed in investor owned corporations. The resulting analysis indicates four key issues impacting the cooperative institution’s ability to compete with investor owned firms in the agribusiness sector of the economy. These issues are (1) the decision control problem, (2) the common property problem, (3) the investment portfolio problem, and (4) the residual horizon problem. These conditions, if active, will act so as to restrain cooperatives from investing at the same rate and scope as investor owned firms. Policy makers interested in promoting the role of cooperatives as an organizational form to assist and protect the interests of entrepreneurs such as farmers and at the same time provide an orderly and efficient flow of goods and services to consumers, need to understand the precise conditions of competitive environment, economic sector type, and investment requirements in which cooperatives will be able to fulfill these dual roles and those in which they cannot. Empirical research into these areas will require both case study and traditional quantitative approaches which permit in depth analysis of the hypotheses generated by this study which seek to explain and predict cooperative business organization behavior.
Protecting and preserving rural land uses : issues, problems, institutions, proceedings of a conference
(Extension Division, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1982-09)
A Conference on Protecting and Preserving Rural Land Use in Virginia produced twelve papers, ten devoted to land-use policy and two to water policy. For the proceedings, the papers are presented in four subsets: land-use issues, case studies and methods, and water policy. The available supply of cropland, the impact of an expanding metropolis on an urbanfringe locality, and the way changes in culture impact land are discussed as issues. The case studies examine the transferable development rights program of Calvert County, Maryland; the development rights purchase program of Suffolk County, New York; and the development of differential taxation and tax-relief programs by states. Among the methods examined are zoning, transferable development rights, purchases of development rights, and timing and placement of utilities. The problems of changing water law from the Riparian Rights Doctrine to an alternative system and of implementing areawide water quality programs are discussed.
The Smithfield Review, vol. 4 - A Letter to the Editor
Marshall, J. Paxton (Montgomery County Branch Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 2000)
A letter to the editor.
Supply response and the land conversion process in the rural-urban fringe
Bertelsen, Michael K. (Virginia Tech, 1978-07-05)
The objective of this research was to investigate the nature of landowner supply-response behavior as it related to the land conversion process in the rural-urban fringe. Emphasis was placed on the derivation of the farmer's dynamic supply-response curve of agricultural land for urban uses since the nature of this curve has important implications for land-use policy alternatives in fringe areas. It was argued that the aggregate land market approach to land use policy analysis in the rural-urban fringe is generally inappropriate for practical and theoretical reasons. Consequently, a disaggregated micro model based on the proprietary land unit was developed to explain the land conversion process. The theoretical model is composed of three cost and two demand components. The interaction of these components results in a dynamic supply-response curve of agricultural land for urban uses which is discontinuous over a wide range for many classes of landowners. The theoretical model was tested through discriminant analyses of data collected from a study area where there exists heavy urban demand for agricultural land. The data included information on landowners over time, physical characteristics of the tracts of land, transfer information and· various demand variables. Results of the empirical analyses provided support for the hypotheses incorporated into the theoretical model. Specifically, empirical evidence was found to support the hypotheses that (1) individual farmers' supply response curves are discontinuous over a wide range, (2) farmers' fixed capital investment is a primary cause of the discontinuity, (3) farmers with less fixed capital investment will generally have more elastic supply-response curves which are discontinous over a smaller range, and (4) speculators' supply-response curves will generally be highly elastic and continuous. Various implications of the theoretical model for land-use policy analysis and land-use patterns in the rural-urban fringe are discussed. Particular attention was given to an analysis of Virginia's use-value assessment program based on the theoretical model. It was found that such a program will not "save" agriculture in fringe areas but will raise land price and subsidize speculative activities. Such a program might be more successful in achieving its stated goals if it were implemented in areas on the outlying edge of the rural-urban fringe.
A theoretical model for education production and an empirical test of the relative importance of school and nonschool inputs
McNamara, Kevin T. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1986)
The importance of public education in rural development has received increasing attention by local and state policy makers as competition for new industry has intensified throughout rural America. Uncertainty about the relationships of public and private inputs to education output, however, presents problems to state and local officials and parents interested in improving the quality and quantity of the public education system. This research examines the education process in a production function framework to identify the relationships of education inputs to education output. A theoretical model that combines public l and household decision making into an education production process is used as the basis for the empirical model that is developed. The estimated model includes input measures for school, family, volunteer and student inputs to education production and is estimated with cross·sectional data for Virginia counties. The expenditure measure used in the model is specified as a polynomial lag. The model also is specified as a joint-product production process. The results of the analysis provide evidence of the importance of expenditures in education production and indicate that the impact of changes in expenditures occurs over time. The number of and educational levels of teachers also is associated with education output. Household and student inputs also are associated with education output. Volunteer input measures are not statistically significant in the estimated equations, a reflection of the difficulty of specifying and measuring specific volunteer inputs into the education production process. The empirical results do not support a joint production hypothesis between outputs as measured by achievement test scores and the school continuation rate.
The Virginia Assembly on Policy for Elementary and Secondary Education in Virginia : issues for the Commonwealth : final statement, keynote address, and background papers
(Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1984-06)
A collection of papers from the meeting held at Wintergreen, Virginia, from June 28-30, 1984.
Virginia Assembly on the Future Development of the Commonwealth : sustaining, managing, and generating growth ; keynote addresses, background papers, and final report
(Virginia Assembly, 1993-11)
This 116-page volume includes the seven papers prepared as background information for the 75 distinguished Virginians who participated in the Virginia Assembly on the Future Development of the Commonwealth: Sustaining, Managing, and Generating Growth held on December 3, 1992. This volume also includes the Final Statement containing the findings and recommendations that the participants agreed by at least a 75 percent consensus to bring to the attention of their elected officials and fellow citizens. The six areas of their focus and the number of recommendations in each follow: land settlement patterns and environmental degradation, 11; strategic planning, 13; competent workforce, 6; disparities, 5; public attitudes, 7; and consensus on a vision for the future, 3. Although independently authored, the seven papers complement each other and contain information about changes that can be expected as residents of Virginia seek a more coherent life style and government seeks to reduce both private and public costs. Each author's name and his or her affiliation follows: Juliann Tenney, then-executive director, Southern Growth Policies Board; James A. Bacon, editor, Virginia Business; Kenneth T. Jackson, Jacques Barzun Professor of History and Social Sciences at Columbia University of the City of New York; Anthony Downs, senior fellow, The Brookings Institution; William H. Harris, professor, School of Architecture, University of Virginia; Charles A. Planck, owner/operator, Wheatland Vegetable Farms, Leesburg, Virginia; and George Andrew Kegley Jr., member, Board of Supervisors of Wythe County, Virginia.

Browsing by Author "Marshall, J. Paxton"

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