Babatunde O. Abidoye

U.S. Consumers’ Valuation of Quality Attributes in Beef Products

A sample of U.S. consumers were surveyed in a choice based experiment in the Fall of 2005 and Spring 2006 to elicit consumers’ preferences for quality attributes in beef products. Based on the resulting data, a random coefficients logit model is estimated, and consumers’ willingness to pay for these quality attributes in beef products is obtained. The results indicate that consumers have strong valuation for traceability, grass-fed, and U.S. origin attributes in a standard rib-eye steak and are willing to pay a premium for these attributes.

Controlling for Observed and Unobserved Site Characteristics in RUM Models of Recreation Demand

Random Utility Maximization (RUM) models of recreation demand are typically plagued by limited information on environmental and other attributes characterizing the available sites in the choice set. To the extent that these unobserved site attributes are correlated with the observed characteristics and/or the key travel cost variable, the resulting parameter estimates and subsequent welfare calculations are likely to be biased. In this paper we develop a Bayesian approach to estimating a RUM model that incorporates a full set of alternative specific constants, insulating the key travel cost parameter from the influence of the unobserved site attributes. In contrast to estimation procedures recently outlined in Murdock (2006), the posterior simulator we propose (combining data augmentation and Gibbs sampling techniques) can be used in the more general mixed logit framework in which some parameters of the conditional utility function are random. Following a series of generated data experiments to illustrate the performance of the simulator, we apply the estimation procedures to data from the Iowa Lakes Project. In contrast to an earlier study using the same data (Egan \textit{et al.} \cite{eganetal}), we find that, with the addition of a full set of alternative specific constants, water quality attributes no longer appear to influence the choice of where to recreate.

The effect of financial development on poverty and inequality in African countries

Understanding the factors that are important in determining poverty and inequality is one of the steps in the fight to eradicate poverty in the world. In this paper we examine the effect of financial development on poverty and inequality in African countries. The empirical results indicate that financial development has not had a significant effect on poverty and inequality in African countries. Our results confirm the deficiencies in African financial systems and highlight the fact that more efforts need to be done to improve access of poor households and small and medium enterprises to financial services.

Health-Related Quality of Life and Its Contributory Factors in Allergic Rhinitis Patients in Nigeria

OBJECTIVES To determine the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in allergic rhinitis patients as well as identify contributory factors to patients well-being. METHODS Cross-sectional study by multistage sampling. Four-month study duration (October 2013 to January 2014). The setting of the study was Kwara State, Nigeria, which has 16 local government areas with 3 senatorial districts, total land mass of 36,825km(2) with a population of 2,591,555. 132 consenting adults; 66 of them have allergic rhinitis (AR) using Score for Allergic Rhinitis (SFAR) instrument and 66 were age- and gender-matched controls (χ(2)=0, d.f.=1, P=1 and χ(2)=1.24, d.f.=2, P=0.54, respectively). Information on HRQoL was obtained using the 14-parameter mini-rhinoconjunctivitis quality of life questionnaire (mini-RQLQ). Socio-demographic variables possibly contributory to patients well-being were obtained. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare means. RESULTS The overall Total Symptom Score (TSS) was 3.37±0.9, while male and female allergic patients and control TSS were 3.61±1.0; 3.16±0.8, and 0.98±0.2; 0.95±0.2, respectively. Effects of gender, marital status, senatorial districts, residential area and duration of symptoms had significant impact on the quality of life. The highest correlation with TSS and components of mini-RQOL questionnaire existed between nasal problems and other symptoms (r=0.866; 0.868). CONCLUSION AR had appreciable impact on HRQoL of the participants. Gender, number of dependents, marital status, senatorial districts, residential area and duration of symptoms were major identifiable contributory factors to the patients well-being.

Adoption of genetically modified crops in South Africa: Effects on wholesale maize prices

ABSTRACT The ability of genetically modified (GM) crops to increase yields and reduce use of pesticides is well established. Based on food security needs and the central role of agriculture, Africa may stand to benefit from green biotechnology given the low agricultural productivity and the looming food crises in most urban areas. However, the adoption of GM crops in Africa has been slow and limited to a handful of countries. The primary objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of GM maize adoption in South Africa by looking at wholesale spot prices. We apply a threshold autoregressive model to time series data on the price of maize and GM adoption rates in South Africa to address the following questions: (1) Does the adoption of GM maize excite the growth rate of price of maize in South Africa; (2) Does the error variance of the maize price growth rate exhibit regime-switching behaviour to impact the volatility? The results show evidence that the adoption of GM maize influences the dynamics of the maize price growth rate in South Africa. Further, there is strong evidence that the error variance exhibits regime-switching behaviour with the posterior mean for the error variance in the first regime about twice as large as that of the second regime.

Public disclosure for carbon abatement: African decision-makers in a PROPER public good experiment

A linear public good experiment adopted from Holt and Laury [1997. Classroom games: Voluntary provision of a public good. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(4), 209–215.] has been employed to investigate strategic behaviour in pollution abatement among African climate decision-makers. The experiment consisted of three groups, of which groups 2 and 3 received one and two treatments, respectively. The first treatment entailed publicly disclosing the pollution of each member of a group by placing a corresponding colour-coded card in front of each subject, while the second involved the withdrawal of the public disclosure. Group 2 received the first treatment; Group 3 received both the first and second treatments in succession. We found that the untreated group (baseline) polluted more than the two treated groups, and there was no statistically significant difference between the pollution abatement of the two treated groups. These results suggest that public disclosure potentially drives pollution abatement and that its eventual withdrawal does not obliterate abatement behaviour. We did not observe conditional cooperation but average pollution declined over time. Furthermore, individuals who thought it was unfair for Africa to reduce emissions polluted more. We also found that pollution levels differ significantly between males and females.