This study evaluates the economic competitiveness of a sample of Kansas farrow-to-finish operations by estimating relative firm efficiency using nonparametric mathematical programming techniques. Measures of technical, allocative, scale, economic, and overall efficiency are then related to farm characteristics to identify sources of efficiency. Results indicate that overall efficient farms produce a high quantity of pork per litter, produce a portion of their own feed grains, generate a large portion of their income from swine and other livestock enterprises, and have a lower debt-to-asset ratio.

The objectives of this study were (a) to determine the degree to which hard currency earnings constrained overall imports and coarse grain imports in command economies; (b) to measure the importance of import prices on grain imports and to trace the link of grain availability to meat production; and (c) to determine how economic and political reforms in the selected countries may have affected the hard currency constraint, the importance of import prices, and grain imports and meat production. The results indicate that import demand was constrained by earnings of hard currency, but was not responsive to world prices, and meat production was affected by total grain availability, including imports.

The quantity of paper recycled in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1985. International trade theory predicts that this will lead to reduced imports of paper, and a shift in domestic production toward waste paper intensive outputs (e.g., newsprint) and away from higher grade products such as printing/writing paper. Import demand elasticities with respect to input prices were estimated for newsprint, printing/writing, and all paper utilizing 20 years of monthly data. The empirical results confirm the predictions of theory, and illustrate a channel through which recycling may be more beneficial for U.S. industry than the domestic environment.