Agriculture

Findings from University of Alabama Provide New Insights into Agricultural Economics

  2012 MAY 10 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "This paper explores the behavior of real commodity prices over a 50-year period," researchers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama report.

  "Attention is given to how the shifting means for various commodity prices have changed with a special emphasis on behavior since the mid 2000s. To identify structural changes in commodity prices, we estimate shifting-mean autoregressions by using: the Bai and Perron (1998) procedure for determining structural breaks; low frequency Fourier functions; and a procedure that specifies shifts to be smooth logistic functions of time," wrote W. Enders and colleagues, University of Alabama.

  The researchers concluded: "We find that the pattern in the timing of shifts is suggestive of the causal factors underlying the recent boom."

  Enders and colleagues published their study in American Journal of Agricultural Economics (Sharp Breaks or Smooth Shifts? an Investigation of the Evolution of Primary Commodity Prices American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2012;94(3):659-673).

  For additional information, contact W. Enders, University of Alabama, Dept. of Econ Finance & Legal Studies, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, United States.

  Publisher contact information for the American Journal of Agricultural Economics is: Oxford Univ Press Inc, Journals Dept, 2001 Evans Rd, Cary, NC 27513, USA.

  Keywords: City:Tuscaloosa, State:Alabama, Country:United States, Region:North and Central America

  This article was prepared by VerticalNews Agriculture editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2012, VerticalNews Agriculture via VerticalNews.com.