Food Systems

Much economic interest in this area has had to do with consumer demand. Many in AFRE at MSU have interests in the area. It is not a current area of interest for the ERS chair occupant, although the chair occupant has worked with others in the area.

  • Roosen, Jutta, D.A. Hennessy, John A. Fox, and A. Alan Schreiber. “An Experimental Analysis of Willingness to Pay for Pesticide-Free and Cosmetically Impaired Apples.” Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 23(December, 1998):367-384. Link

Noting that increasing linkages between on-farm production and downstream activities has been a prominent feature of change in agricultural production in recent decades, ERS chair's activities are more focused on how such demands affect production agriculture, how other forces such as technological innovation and regulations affect product attributes, and how production can be organized to better secure food safety and quality. Papers that emphasize food chain organization to meet downstream education include:

  • Hennessy, D.A. “Information Asymmetry as a Reason for Food Industry Vertical Integration.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 78(November 1996):1034-1043. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A., Jutta Roosen, and John A. Miranowski. “Leadership and the Provision of Safe Food.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 83(November, 2001):862-874. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A., Jutta Roosen, and Helen H. Jensen. “Systemic Failure in the Provision of Safe Food.” Food Policy, 28(February, 2003):77-96. Link

Papers that address regulatory issues include:

  • Fox, John A., and D.A. Hennessy. “Cost-Effective Hazard Control in Food Handling.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 81(May, 1999):359-372. Link
  • Roosen, Jutta, and D.A. Hennessy. “Capturing Experts’ Uncertainty in Welfare Analysis: An Application to Organophosphate Use Regulation in U.S. Apple Production.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 83(February, 2001):166-184. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A. “Slaughterhouse Rules: Animal Uniformity and Regulating for Food Safety in Meat Packing.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 87(August, 2005):600-609. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A., and GianCarlo Moschini. “Regulatory Actions Under Adjustment Costs and the Resolution of Scientific Uncertainty.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88(May, 2006):308-323. Link
  • Dong, Fengxia, D.A. Hennessy, and H.H. Jensen. “Factors Determining Milk Quality, and Implications for Production Structure Under SCC Standard Modification.” Highlighted article of the month Journal of Dairy Science, 95(November, 2012):6421-6435. Link

Incentives coming back from the retail sector have been addressed in most of the papers above, and also in:

  • Hennessy, D.A., and Stephen Devadoss. “Quality Premiums and the Competitive Firm's Production Decision.” Southern Economic Journal, 62(July 1995):107-115. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A. “Microeconomics of Agricultural Grading: Impacts on the Marketing Channel.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 77(November 1995):980-989. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A. “Input Decisions and Price-Quality Schedules.” Southern Economic Journal, 66(July, 1999):168-177. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A. “The Economics of Purifying and Blending.” Southern Economic Journal, 63(July 1996):223-232. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A., and Thomas I. Wahl. “Discount Schedules and Grower Incentives in Grain Marketing.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 79(August 1997):888-901. Link
  • Saak, Alexander E., and D.A. Hennessy. “Planting Decisions and Uncertain Consumer Acceptance of Genetically Modified Crop Varieties.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 84(May, 2002):308-319. Link

Technological opportunities and their implications for food quality attributes have been considered in:

  • Hennessy, D.A., John A. Miranowski, and Bruce A. Babcock. “Genetic Information in Agricultural Productivity and Product Development.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 86(February, 2004):73-87. Link
  • Miao, Ruiqing, and D.A. Hennessy. “Optimal Protein Segregation Strategies for Wheat Growers.” Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 63(3, 2015):309-331. Link

The economics of antibiotics use in animal agriculture are a current area of ERS Chair activity. An important paper relevant to this theme can be found here. Antibiotics use in crop agriculture was considered in:

  • Roosen, Jutta, and D.A. Hennessy. “An Equilibrium Analysis of Antibiotic Use and Replanting Decisions in Apple Production.” Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 26(December, 2001):539-553. Link

Relations between contractual linkages in food production and outcomes are the matter in:

  • Hennessy, D.A., and John D. Lawrence. “Contractual Relations, Control, and Quality in the Hog Sector.” Review of Agricultural Economics, 21(Spring/Summer, 1999):52-67. Link
  • Hennessy, D.A. “Property Rights, Productivity, and the Nature of Noncontractible Actions in a Franchise.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 52(December, 2003):443-468. Link

A broad interest paper is:

  • Hennessy, D.A., and Fengxia Dong. “The Political Economy of Food Safety in Asia, and Implications for the United States.” Harvard Asia Pacific Review, 11(Spring 2010):16-19. Link