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National, Regional, and State-Level Estimates of Returns to Scale in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Ranju Baral ,
George C. Davis  and
Wen You
Ranju Baral
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
George C. Davis
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, and Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
Wen You
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
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Extract

The effectiveness of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in achieving its goals at the national, regional, and state level is unknown. Using US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data from all states and territories for the years 2000-2006, the impact of program and participant characteristics and returns to scale on the three outcome indicators used by the USDA are estimated. Program and participant characteristics do not seem to be as important as the amount of money spent on the program. Generally speaking, there are constant and increasing returns to scale for two of the three federal outcome indices for most states but not all.

Keywords

EFNEPevaluationprogram effectivenessreturns to scale112118138
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , May 2013 , pp. 203 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2013

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