CFAES Give Today
AEDE

Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

CFAES

Current Research

 

Image result for Current research

 

Climate Policy and Trade

►Current research focuses on the interaction between climate policy and trade policy, with specific attention being paid to the use of border tax adjustments.  Recent papers on this are:

I.M. Sheldon and S. McCorriston, "Climate Policy and Border Measures: The Case of the US Aluminum Industry," May 2014.

I.M. Sheldon and S. McCorriston, "Carbon Taxes and Border Tax Adjustments: Might Industrial Organization Matter?" February 2012.

I.M. Sheldon and S. McCorriston, “Climate Policy, Carbon Leakage and Competitiveness: How Might Border Tax Adjustments Help?” Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 2011.

I.M. Sheldon, “Competitiveness, Carbon Leakage, and Border Tax Adjustments: Might Imperfect Competition Matter?” Invited Seminar, Economic Research Service, USDA, Washington DC, March 2011.

Innovation and Market Structure

►A project close to completion relates to where "bounds" analysis from industrial organization theory is used to analyze how market structure in the life-sciences sector is determined endogenously by the R&D expenditure process. Papers/presentations based on this research are:

B. Anderson and I.M. Sheldon, "R&D Concentration under Endogenous Fixed Costs: Evidence from the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry", Working Paper, October 2013.

B. Anderson and I.M. Sheldon, “Endogenous R&D Investment and Market Structure: A Case Study of the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry,”  Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 2012.

B. Anderson and I.M. Sheldon, “Endogenous R&D Investment and Market Structure: A Case Study of the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry,” Working Paper, April 2012.

B. Anderson, "Essays on Market Structure and Technological Innovation", PhD Dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, August 2011.

B. Anderson and I.M. Sheldon, “Endogenous R&D Investment and Market Structure: A Case Study of the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry,” 9th Annual International Industrial Organization Conference, Boston, Connecticut, April 2011. (presentation)

B. Anderson and I.M. Sheldon, "Extending Sutton's "Bounds: A Model of Endogenous Market Structure, Innovation, and Licensing," Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings, Atlanta, Georgia, November 21-23, 2010 (presentation)

B. Anderson and I.M. Sheldon, "A Model of Endogenous Market Structure, Innovation, and Licensing in Agricultural Biootechnology," Poster Presentation, AAEA Annual Meetings, Denver, Colorado, July 25-27, 2010 (presentation)

B. Anderson and I.M. Sheldon,"Innovation, Licensing, and Market Structure in Agricultural Biotechnology," Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings, San Antonio, Texas, November 21-23, 2009 (presentation)

I.M. Sheldon and B. Anderson, "Biotechnology and Competing in Capabilities," CSREES/NRI Project Directors Workshop, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 25, 2009

I.M. Sheldon, "The Biotechnology Sector: 'Bounds' to Market Structure", Selected Paper, AAEA Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, July 27-29, 2008

Voluntary Standards and Trade

►Research is being conducted on the motives for firms to adopt voluntary standards such as the ISO 14001 environmental management standard, and what impact that choice has on international trade.  In addition, using a data set for Chinese firms, empirical analysis has been conducted showing that adoption of the ISO 14001 standard improved the environmental performance of Chinese firms. Papers/presentations based on this research are:

W. McGuire and I.M. Sheldon, “Voluntary Standards and International Trade: A Heterogeneous Firms Approach,” , Working Paper, October 2012

W. McGuire and I.M. Sheldon, “Voluntary Standards and International Trade: A Heterogeneous Firms Approach,” Paper prepared for presentation at AAEA Meetings, Seattle, Washington, August 2012.

W. McGuire, "The Role of ISO 14001 in China's Environmental Crisis," Working Paper, August 2012

W. McGuire, "Essays on Voluntary Standards in International Trade", PhD Dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, July 2012.

W.McGuire, "Can Private Standards Solve China's Environmental Crisis?", Presentation at AEA Meetings, Denver, Colorado, January 2011.

Seed Exports and Intellectual Property Rights

►Research is being conducted on the impact of intellectual property rights protection on US seed exports. Papers/presentations based on this research are:

M. Zhou and I.M. Sheldon,  "The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Seed Technology Transfer through Trade - Evidence from U.S. Field Crop Seed Exports", Working Paper, May 2013.

M. Zhou, "Essays on Innovation and International Technology Diffusion: An Empirical Investigation", PhD Dissertation, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, August 2013. 

M. Zhou and I.M. Sheldon, "The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Seed Technology Transfer through Trade - Evidence from U.S. Field Crop Seed Exports", Presentation at AAEA Annual Meetings, Washington DC, August 2013.

M. Zhou and I.M. Sheldon, "The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Seed Technology Transfer through Trade - Evidence from U.S. Field Crop Seed Exports", Presentation at IATRC Symposium, "Productivity and Its Impact on Trade", Seville, Spain, June 2013.

M. Zhou and I.M. Sheldon, "The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Seed Technology Transfer through Trade - Evidence from U.S. Field Crop Seed Exports", Presentation at Economic Researh Service, USDA, March 2013.

Trade Reform and Tariff Escalation

►Research has recently been completed on the effects of trade liberalization when there is tariff escalation. In particular, the issue of simultaneous reductions in tariffs at different points in a vertically-related market where each sector is oligopolistic has been examined. This research has been partially sponsored by the Food System Research Group at the University of Wisconsin.  The results of this research can be found in:

S. McCorriston and I.M. Sheldon, "Tariff (De)-Escalation with Successive Oligopoly" Review of Development Economics, November 2011.

Exchange Rate Uncertainty

►Other recently completed research concerns the relationship between exchange rate uncertainty and US bilateral trade in fresh fruit. Using an empirical gravity model for a sample of 26 countries over the period 1976-1999, and panel econometric methods, the results of this research indicate that bilateral trade in fresh fruits is negatively affected by medium term exchange rate uncertainty. This research has also been extended to US trade in fresh vegetables, with evidence indicating US exports are affected by exchange rate uncertainty. The results of this research can be found in:

I. M. Sheldon, S. K. Mishra, D. Pick and S. Thompson, "Exchange Rate Uncertainty and US Bilateral Fresh Fruit and Fresh Vegetable Trade: An Application of the Gravity Model"Applied Economics 45(15) 2013