Cheikhna O. Dedah

An Analysis of US Oyster Demand and the Influence of Labeling Requirements

Abstract In response to concerns about the morbidity rate associated with the consumption of raw Gulf of Mexico oysters, California initiated a program in March 1991 that required anyone selling raw Gulf oysters to notify potential consumers that the “consumption of raw oysters can cause serious illness and death among people with liver disease, chronic illness, or weakened immune systems.” This labeling requirement, followed shortly thereafter by similar requirements in other states, received extensive media coverage. The primary objective of this study was to consider, within the context of a complete demand system, the impact of mandatory warning labels and associated media attention on the demand for the product subject to regulation and media attention (i.e., Gulf product) as well as substitute products. Results indicate that warning labels lowered the demand for oysters originating from the Gulf and Chesapeake and increased demand for oysters originating from the Pacific and foreign sources. Results also indicate that the own-price flexibilities from all sources are inelastic and, with few exceptions, all products are gross substitutes for one another. JEL Classification Code: Q18, Q58

The Role of Bounties and Human Behavior on Louisiana Nutria Harvests

In response to nutria-linked degradation of much of its coastal wetlands, Louisiana established the Coastwide Nutria Control Program (CNCP) in January 2002. CNCP instituted, among other things, an ‘‘economic incentive payment’’ of

Decomposing Agricultural Profitability Using DuPont Expansion and Theil’s Information Approach

4.00 per delivered nutria tail from registered participants in the program. To examine whether this bounty has had an impact on nutria harvest and whether alternative bounty levels can, in general, generate additional harvesting activities, we developed a bioeconomic supply model that relates Louisiana’s annual nutria harvests to a suite of economic and environmental factors. Results suggested that the annual nutria harvest is responsive to both the price received per animal and costs. Results also suggested that the nutria harvest has increased as a result of the bounty, but that the initial bounty of

Farmland Values, Government Payments, and the Overall Risk to U.S. Agriculture: A Structural Equation-Latent Variable Model

4.00 per tail may be insufficient to achieve the state’s goal of harvesting 400,000 animals per year but that a bounty equal to

An Inverse Almost Ideal Demand System for Oysters in the United States: An Empirical Investigation of the Impacts of Mandatory Labels

5.00 per tail would likely achieve the stated goal.