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The contingent valuation method for estimating the existence value of natural resources is examined for psychophysical robustness, statistical reliability, and economic sensibility. Extensions of standard models for willingness-to-pay, and suitable econometric techniques for analyzing these models, are developed. The analysis is applied to a series of experiments on the value of preserving wilderness areas in the western United States. The results call into question the reliability of the CV method for estimating existence values.

For nonexperimental data, asymmetric specifications of the role of damage control inputs impose restrictions of homotheticity or nonjointness on the underlying technology. A generalized symmetric form where damage control inputs affect factor diminution functions motivates use of symmetric specifications. Panel data and estimation methods are presented to produce robust estimates of damage control productivity that are free of heterogeneity bias. Estimates of the productivity of pesticides for French cereal farm production illustrate that fixed firm and time effects are important. Estimates indicate substantially smaller marginal productivity of pesticides than reported by past studies.

Concern for the potentially harmful side effects of agricultural chemical inputs, especially pesticides, highlights the need to accurately determine the economic levels of their use. We consider three model specification issues: interaction of direct production inputs with damage control inputs in damage abatement, justification for a priori exclusion of production inputs from the abatement function, and the motivations and consequences of alternative stochastic specifications. Empirical analysis using farm-level data shows that misspecification of the stochastic element in the production function can overestimate the marginal physical productivity of pesticides and grossly underestimate the responsiveness of demand to increases in pesticide prices.

The indirect action of damage control inputs means the marginal productivity of these inputs depends on their effectiveness in controlling the level and size of production loss caused by the damage agent. Increasing returns to damage control inputs can occur even when control and damage functions are concave. The result implies more attention needs to be paid to the functional form selection for damage and control functions in empirical work on pest control and other types of damage control inputs. In addition, the possibility of increasing returns may undermine the general use of taxes to reduce pesticide use.

As public agricultural extension organizations around the world examine the possibility of privatizing or commercializing part or all their services, several issues arise. In this paper I address the question of how to price the services provided. Using available data from Israel, a supply (marginal cost) function is estimated for the Israel Extension Service, and a demand function for extension services is estimated. The derived number of visits and the per visit price are calculated. Several general extension-related policy issues that may also be applicable to other countries are discussed.

Important characteristics of many agricultural markets are costly to transport raw products and relatively few processors, one or more of which is often a cooperative. This paper analyzes pricing behavior in these oligopsonistic, spatial markets and focuses specifically upon the conjecture that cooperatives may have a procompetitive effect on the behavior of rival non-co-op processors. The existence and magnitude of a procompetitive effect is shown to depend upon a number of structural and strategic factors including competitive relations among the non-co-op processors and a cooperative's membership and pricing policies.

Through the estimation of an indirect multi-product cost function, the economies of scope and scale in agricultural banking are estimated. A normalized quadratic cost function is estimated with curvature properties imposed.