with Jill J. McCluskey and Michael P. Brady
Abstract
Marketing orders are government-supported cartels designed to help farmers by allowing them to set production quotas and quality standards. Given that, it is surprising that a growing number have been voluntarily terminated in recent decades by their constituent farmers. To better understand why, we construct a novel data set on the timing of initiation and termination of marketing orders active between 1974 and 2019 and estimate duration models to examine the impact of specific factors on marketing orders' probability of survival. We find that the most significant factor affecting marketing order persistence is whether the order had a corresponding marketing agreement.
with Brent Norwood
Abstract
We investigated the relationship between test scores and discipline outcomes in Texas public schools when schools participated in the Universal Free Breakfast Program (UFB). Using a panel data set from two administrative sources in Texas, we examine the effects of UFB on violence, substance abuse, truancy, and other classroom incidences spanning school years 2011/2012 - 2016/2017. By utilizing fixed effects models, a staggered difference in differences model, and a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we find schools that offer UFB experience higher test scores and reduced conflict outcomes helping their students achieve better outcomes while also increasing their funding from lower truancy rates in high schools.
Revise and Resubmit at Education Economics
with Brent Norwood, Ahmed El Fatmaoui, and Bill Townsend
Abstract
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has made it possible to produce vast new quantities of oil and natural gas causing states such as Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma to dramatically increase their number of oil and natural gas wells. Using data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Zillow’s ZTRAX, we estimate the effect of hydraulically fractured oil and natural gas well sites on both urban and rural residential home prices between 2000
and 2018. Utilizing ArcGIS, we create varying buffer zone sizes around well sites to explore how average home prices change before and after a well opens and apply a ZIP code-level fixed effects model, a household-level fixed effects model, a repeat sales model, and a spatial
differences-in-differences (SDID) approach. Our results show that homes within 0.5 miles of a well have a 4.5% increase in selling price and homes between 0.5-1 mile of a well see a 2.5% increase in selling price compared to properties located more than 2 miles away from a well.
Revise and Resubmit at Regional Science
with Jill J. McCluskey and Michael P. Brady
Abstract
The number of agricultural marketing orders has declined over the last thirty years. Since marketing orders are essentially government-sanctioned cartels, these terminations are unexpected. In this paper, we use a novel dataset to empirically examine whether market or cultural factors better explain this trend. We find that farm growth and stronger economies of scale are associated with a decrease in the number of active marketing orders, while a higher level of family labor inputs were associated with an increase. Therefore, it appears that small family farms benefit from marketing orders, so continued increase in the size of the largest farms is likely to further reduce the prevalence of marketing orders.
with Jill J. McCluskey, Michael P. Brady, and Philip Watson
Abstract
Marketing orders have a variety of authorizations they can choose to better their profits, and one of the most controversial is supply control. In this paper, we set out to determine what would happen if that control were eliminated. Using a 13-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, we estimated general equilibrium effects when the California raisin marketing order lost their supply control. This elimination increased raisin production which, as expected, led to a decrease in price. Similar effects were found in the fruit sector as well. Output values were significantly higher for raisins, fruit, forestry, and mining; however, the remaining sectors observed a reduction in their sales. While the percentage changes were small, they were quite significant leading to overall economy losses between $138 million and $6.6 billion. At the same time, all households had increased utility with small shocks, but as the amount of the supply control increased, utility became negative for larger income levels. If a marketing order chooses to terminate or eliminate their supply control, their sales will increase, but it comes at the cost of the overall economy.