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What is included in the calculation of the size of a commodity market?

Abbreviated Question: 
What is included in the calculation of the size of a commodity market?
Answer: 

According to Motoyama, Sadaki, and Watanabe (2016), "on a global scale, the carcass production of Wagyu is quite limited, equivalent to about 2% of beef carcass production in the United States (11,698,479 t) and Brazil (9,675,000 t), 4% of that in China (6,408,200 t), 8% of that in Argentina (2,822,000 t), 10% of that in Australia (2,317,766 t) and 17% of that in France (1,400,400t)."

Is the Simon abundance index any good?

Abbreviated Question: 
Is the Simon abundance index any good?
Answer: 

Your observation about the lack of material on the Simon Abundance Index is a valid one. Perhaps its newness accounts for a general lack of peer-reviewed material on the subject.

Can leaf cleanup on behalf of the city be considered a negative externality when it's on a large scale?

Abbreviated Question: 
Can leaf cleanup on behalf of the city be considered a negative externality when it's on a large scale?
Answer: 

A negative externality often describes a situation where a power plant or a farmer's production led to pollution and lost ecosystem services. In this case, it might be tricky to argue that these leaves are a result of the city's "production" or "actions." It is a different matter if the city purposely sweeps the leaves off public streets into your gated communities. In many cities, it is the homeowner or homeowner association's responsibilities to collect and bag leaves, and the cities may pick up for free, or for a small Leaf Day fee in Portland from 2010 to 2018.

Is there a department or agency in Iowa that keeps records of previous years' CSRs?

Abbreviated Question: 
Is there a department or agency in Iowa that keeps records of previous years' CSRs?
Answer: 

Iowa has updated the soil productivity system from Corn Suitability Rating (CSR) to Corn Suitability Rating 2 (CSR2) in 2013, and the USDA NRCS Web Soil Survey tool allows you to compute the new CSR2 for your farm (Google ISU Extension Ag Decision Maker information file C2-87). However, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has historical records with CSR value for previous years.

Soybean Tariff

Abbreviated Question: 
Soybean Tariff
Answer: 

The policy-driven increase in the import price of U.S. soybeans into China generated a change in relative soybean prices across the globe, making U.S. soybeans relatively more expensive and soybeans of other origins, such as Brazil, relatively cheaper for the Chinese consumer. Exporting countries are ready to take over the market share lost by U.S. exporters with existing soybean inventories and bigger new crops. The U.S. government recently announced a set of measures tending to develop new markets for U.S. soybeans.

What explains crude oil price differentials?

Abbreviated Question: 
What explains crude oil price differentials?
Answer: 

Great question!  In general, we don’t need a monopsonistic setting to explain crude differentials between WCS and WTI.  In a competitive market, prices for the same product (oil, corn, etc.) can diverge in different markets for two reasons: (i) quality differences; and (ii) transactions cost.  Moving crude by rail is expensive.  A recent paper studying rail versus pipeline costs in North Dakota shows that rail costs averaged around $5/bbl to ship crude 1,000 miles.  Someone has to pay for these costs.  Crude oil is a global commodity – refiners can acquire crud

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