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Technical Barriers to Interstate Trade: Noxious Weed Regulations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Munisamy Gopinath
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
He Min
Affiliation:
PayPal, Austin, TX, and a former graduate assistant, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Steven Buccola
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Abstract

We focus on regulations controlling the spread of noxious weeds, especially the trade effects of regulatory differences across U.S. states. We specify a gravity model for each state's seed, nursery product, and commodity trade with each other state. Within the gravity model, we examine the role of cross-state regulatory congruence arising from ecological and agronomic characteristics and interest-group lobbying. A spatial-autoregressive Tobit model is estimated with a modified expectation-maximization algorithm. Results show that weed regulatory congruence positively affects interstate trade. By fostering cross-state regulatory differences, consumer and commodity-producer lobbying reduce the value of interstate trade by about two percent per annum.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2010

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