Genti Kostandini

The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on the U.S. Farming Sector

We examine the effects of local immigration enforcement efforts on U.S. agriculture in dozens of U.S. counties from 2002-2010 by using variations in the timing of adoption of 287(g) programs, which permit local police to enforce immigration law. Difference-in-differences models using microdata from the American Community Survey (2005-2010 waves) and county tabulations from the Census of Agriculture (1997, 2002, and 2007) yield robust evidence that county enforcement efforts have reduced immigrant presence in adopting jurisdictions. We also find evidence that wages of farm workers, patterns of farm labor use, output choices, and farm profitability may have been affected in a manner consistent with farm labor shortages.

The Potential Impact of Tobacco Biopharming: The Case of Human Serum Albumin

Biopharming stands to significantly expand the uses of many agricultural crops. This article examines the potential size and distribution of welfare gains from biopharming transgenic tobacco as a source of human serum albumin (HSA) using an economic surplus model under imperfect competition. The results suggest that HSA from transgenic tobacco will generate annual profits for the innovating firm of between

Do Rural Community Colleges Supply Unique Educational Benefits

25 million and

Viability of Organic Production in Rural Counties: County and State-Level Evidence from the United States

49 million. On the other hand, consumers are unlikely to benefit during the patent life of the product given the innovators market power.

The impact of post Labor Day school start mandates on summer travel Evidence from a quasiexperiment

Community colleges likely draw to college individuals who would otherwise not attend due to their low costs and open admission requirements. This is labeled as the democratization effect. They may also divert individuals away from 4-year to terminal 2-year college degrees (the diversion effect). This study estimates democratization and diversion effects separately for nonmetropolitan and metropolitan youth using nationally representative data and models that account for endogenous institution selection. We find the democratization effect to exceed the diversion effect of community colleges for both metro and nonmetro youth. The democratization-diversion ratio is slightly higher for urban youth.

Economic feasibility of mobile processing units for small-scale pasture poultry farmers

We investigate the determinants of organic farming in the United States. State-level data show that the organic farming sector has grown over the last decade, but growth has been very heterogeneous with few states accounting for most of the growth. Further analyses of county data reveal that favorable natural amenities, water for irrigation, and government payments have a positive effect on most measures of organic farming used here. Results further point out that organic farming operations are more popular among young farmers. Adjacency to metro areas is also an important determinant for the number of organic operations. Organic farming is more important for the agricultural sector of the areas that are somewhat remote but that does not appear to be the case for very remote rural areas.

Valuing intellectual property rights in an imperfectly competitive market: a biopharming application.

State mandates that specify the earliest date when public schools can start instruction have become the source of perennial debates and substantial legislative effort. The arguments of mandate proponents mostly hinge on the premise that a post Labor Day school start has a causal effect on family summer vacations. This study brings quasiexperimental evidence to this question using data from the American Time Use Survey. Difference in differences estimates show a substantial decline in late summer travel among families with children when school starts before Labor Day and a smaller effect over the whole summer. Falsification tests show that the effect is unique to families with children and absent in families without.

The Impact of Migration, Remittances and Public Transfers on Technology Adoption: The Case of Cereal Producers in Rural Kenya

The use of mobile processing units (MPUs) for pasture poultry is growing rapidly. This study compared the economic feasibility of MPUs to two processing alternatives, traditional stationary processing on-farm plants and off-farm processing facilities. Our study combined a survey of pasture poultry farmers in Georgia, Louisiana, and Arkansas with the published research. Our findings suggest that MPUs and traditional on-farm processing alternatives have a lower processing cost, but that they require a higher initial investment than the off-farm option. In addition, off-farm processing at the United States Department of Agriculture-inspected facility allows selling products for a higher price. We therefore expect, on average, a higher per-bird profit than with the other two options. However, the excess processing capacity of the MPU can make this option the most profitable.

Potential impact of investments in drought tolerant maize in Africa

Small research firms developing biotechnology applications often focus on establishing intellectual property rights (IPRs), which can then be sold to more established firms with existing market channels. This paper presents a method for valuing the IPRs for an innovation that lowers product production costs below those associated with the patented process of a monopolist. The application to Glucocerebrosidase enzyme from transgenic tobacco suggests an IPRs value of about

Rural and Urban High School Dropout Rates: Are They Different?.

1.75 billion. Despite the innovator’s market power, significant surplus gains also accrue to consumers. Further, U.S. antitrust laws that prohibit IPRs acquisition by the current monopolist increase consumer welfare by almost 50%.