economics

SwineCast 0533

• Kansas State economist Ted Schroeder discusses a recent research release of the nation's wholesale voluntary pork price reporting system and whether improvements could be made.

SwineCast 0526

• Iowa State's Dr. Dermotte Hayes provided an excellent economic overview of the potential of the Chinese market for North American producers with an interesting, though perhaps not politically feasible, perspective on why China should stop building their domestic swine industry.

SwineCast 0523

• Conversation with Dr. Steve Meyers of Paragon Economics looking at positive returns being offered in the futures markets and his thoughts on lenders perspective of the industry today.

SwineCast 0504

• Economist Steve Meyer shares his thoughts on the Sioux City plant closing and potential for profits in this excerpt from his full video presentation to Iowa Pork Congress attendees available here.

SwineCast 0495

• Special Pork Board conference reviewing aspects of the December Hogs and Pigs report with additional comments market outlook and production issues

SwineCast 0482

• Informa Economics VP Dave Ryman hooks up with Bruce Cochrane for a good discussion of current economic issues across North America and his view of the timing for the eventual industry turning point.

SwineCast 0450 Show Notes:

• Iowa Governor joins with industry executives to ask government to step up with another pork purchase for food programs.  Audio from press conference.

SwineCast 0436 Show Notes:

• AgStar's Mark Greenwood joins us for a look at the short-lived Producer Retirement Program and a need to look at the industry in a new light

SwineCast 0433 Show Notes:

• Dr. Luther Tweeten, Ohio State University Professor Emeritus in Agricultural Economics, analyzes the economic ramifications of animal rights policy, The Economics of Animal Welfare Regulations Proposed for Ohio, The Ohio Ag Manager, June, 2009.

     We usually think about demand in the two dimensional way that we are restricted to visualizing it in with a graph.  That is, the amount demanded is a function of price.  In actuality there are several other factors which determine demand that are embedded in those graphs but not visualized.  For instance, we know that the level of income influences demand as does the availability and price of substitutes and something called tastes and preferences.  For instance, if you hate carrots, lowering the price is not likely to induce more quantity demanded, though we might show the demand curve for carrots for a group (like people in the U.S.) as a function of the price.