Browsing by Author "Tanellari, Eftila"

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    The Economic Impact of Investment in the Food Processing Industry in US Rural Counties: The Case of Scott County, Virginia
    Tanellari, Eftila (Virginia Tech, 2005-02-24)
    This thesis examines the economic impact of two alternative canning plant sizes in Scott County, Virginia. The impacts of a community cannery as well as a commercial cannery are analyzed with respect to changes in output, employment, and income. Several uses for the commercial cannery are considered, such as specialization in different product categories. In both cases, an input-output model is used to evaluate the effects of the operation of the cannery in the county. The results indicate that the impact of the commercial cannery is significantly larger than the community cannery. Specialization of the commercial cannery in the Canned Specialties sector has the largest impact with respect to industry output and labor income while specialization in the Sausages and Other Prepared Meats sector has the largest impact with respect to employment.
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    Essays on the Economics of Drinking Water Quality and Infrastructure
    Tanellari, Eftila (Virginia Tech, 2011-04-29)
    This dissertation consists of three essays that examine consumer behavior with respect to drinking water quality issues. The first essay uses contingent valuation method to explore consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical material in home drinking water infrastructure that will remain leak free. Willingness to pay is investigated using both dichotomous choice and dichotomous choice with follow-up formats using a national telephone survey of consumers. Our results indicate that consumers' concerns about future system failures and income positively affect their WTP for an improved material while satisfaction with the water quality, education and the bid amount asked negatively affect their WTP for an improved material. There are no significant differences in the determinants of WTP between respondents who have experienced problems with home water infrastructure and respondents who have not. Furthermore, the estimated mean WTP does not change significantly between the dichotomous choice questioning format and the dichotomous choice with follow-up format The second essay investigates the determinants of consumers' willingness to accept improvement programs for three drinking water issues: water quality, pinhole leaks in home plumbing infrastructure and aging public infrastructure. The research is based on a mail survey of consumers in Northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C. The analysis focuses on the relationship between information, risk perceptions and willingness to pay. Results indicate that the choice to support any of the programs is negatively affected by the cost of the proposed improvement. Consumers' risk perceptions, the external information provided in the survey and whether they read the annual report from their water utility affect their choices for investment in improvement programs. The third essay examines the effect of risk perceptions about tap water, general risk aversion and consumers' characteristics on their decision to avert drinking water risks and related expenditures. Results are based on the same survey data from the second study. The risk aversion measure is elicited using the sequence of questions employed in the National Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Results indicate that consumers' risk perceptions affect both the decision to avert and the amount spent on averting activities. However, we do not find a significant impact of risk aversion on averting behavior. In addition we find that respondents were more likely to use water treatments if they were unsatisfied with their tap water or had problems or concerns with water odor and particles.