Kappes, Alex J., Neibergs, J. Shannon. Using Genetic Marker Selection to Reduce Asymmetric Information in the U.S. Beef Supply Chain. Working paper.
This paper develops a theoretical asymmetric information environment consistent with current U.S. beef chain production environments - information on calf health is not directly observable by feedlots when purchasing calf lots. I derive an analytical solution that supports feedlots offering a price premium for calves produced using genetic marker selection, which acts to reveal calf health type and reduce information asymmetry. I empirically test the analytical solution using representative production data from a U.S. feedlot through Monte Carlo cost simulations, and find that offering price premiums for genetic marker selection calves is supported. Insights from this paper advance livestock production theory with results being directly applicable to industry in terms of production planning and livestock health.
Kappes, Alex J., Marsh, Thomas L., Technical Efficiency of Food Intake Frequency on Childhood Stunting in Western Kenya. Under review at Food Policy.
This paper evaluates how efficiently children in malnourished areas use food to promote height growth and then evaluates marginal effects of household characteristics on growth. I use data envelopment analysis to estimate height growth efficiency from nutritional inputs and then specify a correlated heterogeneous fixed effects model to determine household characteristic impacts. Policy impacts are centered around the mitigation of stunting in order to promote health and prosperity.
Kappes, Alex J., Marsh, Thomas L., An Evaluation of Livestock Health Impacts on Production Inefficiency in Western Kenya. Working paper.
This paper develops a two-stage modeling approach to determine the impacts of livestock health on household agriculutral production in malnourished areas. I use stochastic frontier analysis methods in the first stage to estimate production inefficiency and then specify a normal approximation to a binomial-logistic model in a Bayesian environment in the second stage to evaluate livestock health impacts. Lastly, I construct a fully-efficient counterfactual production outcome and estimate household welfare loss due to livestock disease. Information from this paper guides the construction of policy focused on social welfare intervention in underveloped areas, while also advancing the topic of animal disease burden.
Kappes, Alex J., Neibergs, J. Shannon. Surveillance of Feedlot Bovine Respiratory Disease with Genetic Marker Selection Implications. Working paper.
This paper extends an epidemiological SEIR model to allow for partial vital dynamics and simulates a bovine respiratory disease (BRD) outbreak in a representative feedlot. The simulation takes place in a Bayesian environment by including a stochastic BRD reduced susceptibility parameter in the SEIR model in order to evaluate cost impacts (savings) of genetic marker selection cattle during BRD outbreaks.
Kappes, Alex J., Neibergs, J. Shannon. Wealth and Environmental Incentives for Anaerobic Digester Technology in Dairies . Under review at the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
This paper develops expected utility maximizing conditions for wealth derived from anaerobic digester production of biogas and crop nutrients using manure and waste inputs, subject to environmental and waste management constraints. I evaluate wealth maximizing conditions numerically by developing an anaerobic digester production model to provide information on optimal manure and waste inputs.
Kappes, Alex J. Expectation-Maximization Extension to Bayesian Regression Tree Treatment Effect Estimation. Working Paper.
This paper removes conditioning on observable treatment and control group designations by employing an EM step in the Bayesian regression tree MH-Gibbs step for MCMC posterior sampling.
Kappes, Alex J., Marsh, Thomas L. (2020) Livestock Health Effects on Cost of Nutrient Consumption in Western Kenya. Front. Vet. Sci. 7:547348. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.547348.
This paper evaluates the costs of protein, lipid, and carbohydrate macronutrient consumption by estimating macronutrient shadow prices, and then determines the marginal effects of livestock health on costs of nutrient consumption.
Kappes, Alex J., Neibergs, J. Shannon. (2020) Washington State Livestock Identification: Changes to Current Laws and the Future of Traceability. Washington Agribusiness Status and Outlook.
This paper details the implications of livestock traceability for managing and responding to livestock disease outbreaks, and also summarizes recent changes to livestock traceability laws in Washington State.
An Evaluation of Livestock Health Impacts on Production Inefficiency in Western Kenya. 2021 AAEA Annual Meeting. Austin, TX.
Washington State Livestock Identification: Changes to Current Laws and the Future of Traceability. 2020 WAEA/WEC Annual Meeting. Virtual conference due to Covid-19. Selected presentation.
Using Genetic Marker Selection to Reduce Asymmetric Information in the U.S. Beef Supply Chain. 2019 ISESSAH Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA. Selected presentation.
Technical Efficiency of Food Intake Frequency on Childhood Stunting in Western Kenya. 2019 AAEA Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA. Selected presentation.
Livestock Health Effects on Cost of Nutrient Consumption in Western Kenya. 2019 ISESSAH Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA. Poster.
Using Genetic Marker Selection to Reduce Asymmetric Information in the U.S. Beef Supply Chain. University of Idaho Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, April 2019. Seminar series.
An Evaluation of Alfalfa Price-Quality Relationships for Making Informed Production and Marketing Decisions. 2017 WAEA/WEC Annual Meeting. Lake Tahoe, NV. Selected presentation.
Instructor, EconS 523 Data Management and Processing, Fall 2021. School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University
Reproducible Research Techniques with R. Rmarkdown Instructor. Washington State University. March 2021.
Reproducible Research Techniques with R. Rmarkdown Instructor. Washington State University. November 2020.
Data Carpentry Intro to R and Starting with Data in R Instructor. Washington State University. October 2019.
Instructor, EconS 101 Fundamentals of Microeconomics. Summer 2019. School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
Software Carpentry Workshop Git Instructor. Washington State University. April 2019.