Qingbin Wang

University of Vermont | UVM · Department of Community Development and Applied Economics

Environmental degradation threatens the long term resiliency of the US food and farming system. While USDA has provided conservation incentives for the adoption of best management practices (BMPs), only a small percentage of farms have participated in such conservation programs. This study uses conjoint analysis to examine Vermont farmers’ underlyi...

A movement toward relocalizing communities’ sources of food has been sparked in part by an urge to mitigate the adverse social, economic, and health impacts associated with a globalized food system. One example of an approach designed to mitigate these effects is the development of, and consumer participation in, alternative food systems (AFS). Fac...

While many small American dairy farms are struggling to stay in business due to fluctuating milk prices and rising production costs, value-added products such as cheese may help to boost revenue and diversify production practices. This study assesses consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for selected cheese attributes (farmstead, artisa...

While anaerobic digester systems (ADS) have been increasingly adopted by large dairy farms to generate marketable energy products, like electricity, from animal manure, there is a growing need for assessing the feasibility of regional ADS for multiple farms that are not large enough to capitalize their own ADS. Using geographical information system...

Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of the "Made in China, Made with the World" advertisement broadcast on the US television station CNN in 2009 and derives recommendations for China's further efforts in promoting the image of products made in China (PMC). Design/methodology/approach ‐ Through a survey based on the S...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of direct government payments on agricultural production and exports in the USA. Design/methodology/approach Alternative regression models are estimated using the time‐series data of 1960 to 2010 from ERS/USDA to address the research questions. Findings Regression results suggest that cu...

This paper reviews the trends of China's home computer ownership and Internet use, analyzes the disparities in computer ownership, and examines the impacts of increasing computer and Internet use on e-commerce and trade, Internet addiction and public health, family and marriage relationships, and public policy and democracy. Analysis results sugges...

This paper first examines the development, trends, and regional disparities of China's automobile production and ownership, then presents a quantitative analysis of urban household ownership of cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and motorbikes (similar to European mopeds), and finally discusses the potential global impacts of China's emerging automobile...

While most studies on the digital divide in the United States focus on disparities in access to computers and the Internet, this study examines the digital divide in Internet information searching. With data from 476 Vermont households surveyed in 2009, a double-hurdle model is used to identify the factors that impact the likelihood and frequency o...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the growth and regional disparities of China's dairy market since 1980, examine urban consumer demand for three major dairy products (fluid milk, yogurt, and milk powder), analyze China's import patterns of major dairy products since 1995, and discuss China's potential roles in the world dairy market a...

This paper examines the changes in China's potato production, consumption and trade, presents an analysis of urban consumer demand for potatoes, sweet potatoes and starch products, and discusses the trends of China's potato market and potential global impacts. The time-series data suggest that Chinese consumers have significantly increased their av...

China's rapid economic growth and significant increase in divorce and remarriage rates since the early 1980s provide an excellent case for studying the divorce and remarriage patterns in economic transition. Following extremely low divorce and remarriage rates in the 1960s and 1970s, China's crude divorce rate increased from 0.33 in 1979 to 1.59 in...

Although organic food has rapidly emerged as an important food industry in the United States and many other countries, farmers and fruit growers need more information on consumer preferences and willingness to pay for locally grown organic food products to make better production and marketing decisions. This article presents the findings from a con...

While direct marketing of food products from farmers to consumers has received increased attention, based on potential contributions to sustainable agriculture, there is a lack of understanding about the significant variation in direct food sales across regions. This paper uses 2007 USDA Census of Agriculture data and regression analysis to identif...

Community entrepreneurship (CENT) is increasingly seen as an avenue for community members, entrepreneurs and policymakers to facilitate regional and local development. As such, there is a growing demand for CENT education programs, especially degree programs at colleges and universities, and, concomitantly, information and lessons from institutions...

A survey of Vermont small businesses with less than 20 employees was conducted to examine their retirement plan participation and needs for information. Results from 828 small business owners indicate that 42% of them did not participate in any retirement plan. For the 439 businesses with one to 19 employees, 75% of them did not offer any employer-...

This study examines the changes in China' s divorce patterns since 1950, identifies major factors responsible for the upsurge of divorces since the 1978 economic reform, and discusses the likely trend and socioeconomic implications. Results indicate that the number of divorces per 1,000 population increased steadily from 0.327 in 1979 to 0.954 in 1...

While local food is enjoying new interest in much of the country, data revealing the extent of local food production and consumption are typically lacking. This lack of data has made it difficult to set local food goals and assess progress toward such goals. This article describes two methods for quantifying local food consumption and presents esti...

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide an insight into the relative financial performance of organic dairy farming through the examination of three years of detailed farm financial records. Farm financial records were collected in person by trained enumerators from organic dairy operations in Maine and Vermont for the 2004–2006 production years...

A survey of Vermont agricultural and small business owners and managers was conducted to examine their retirement plans and needs for information. Results from 828 respondents indicate that 42% of them do not have any retirement plan and 45% of the surveyed businesses do not offer any retirement plan for their employees. Results also suggest that m...

While China has been the world’s largest potato producer since 1993 and accounted for more than 80% of the increase in global potato production from 1990 to 2002, few studies have analyzed the remarkable growth in China’s potato industry and its potential impacts on the global market. This paper reviews the development and growth of China’s potato...

China's international tourism industry has expanded rapidly since its market-oriented economic reform started in 1978. This paper examines the national trends of China's international tourism since 1982, and analyzes its impacts on regional disparities as well as economic development since 1995. While the trend analysis suggests that China's intern...

Detailed data from 3,500 urban Chinese households are used to estimate demand elasticities and the impacts of regional and demographic variables for 17 food products through a two-stage budgeting procedure with complete demand systems. Results suggest that China's food consumption patterns will continue to shift from grains to high value food produ...

While conventional farming systems face serious problems of sustainability, organic agriculture is seen as a more environmentally friendly system as it favours renewable resources, recycles nutrients, uses the environment’s own systems for controlling pests and diseases, sustains ecosystems, protects soils, and reduces pollution. At the same time o...

China's Tourism industry, especially international tourism, has expanded rapidly since its market-oriented economic reform started in 1978. There has been limited information regarding the trends and regional disparities. This paper examines the national trends of China's international tourism since 1982 and analyzes the changes in regional dispari...

The paper examines the changes in income inequality and welfare in urban China from 1981 to 1999. While the Lorenz curves estimated using Kakwani's (1980) interpolation method indicate that the level of income inequality in urban China has increased significantly since 1981, welfare comparisons based on generalized Lorenz curves suggest that the ri...

The Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (Compact), the first regional dairy compact in the U.S., has been the focus of a great deal of attention and speculation during the past several years. The Compact was authorized under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform act of 1996 and was enacted into law by each of the six New England states, Con...

This paper examines the impacts of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (Compact) on the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program using an autoregressive-moving average (ARMA) model and data from Boston and Hartford. While the results for Boston indicate that the difference between the net fluid milk price paid by WIC program and the forecasted...

While China’'s economic reform has brought about significant economic growth, there is a considerable debate about the impact of such market-oriented reform on income and welfare distributions. This paper examines the changes in income and welfare distributions in urban China from 1981 to 1998 and discusses implications for China’'s food cons...

While many states such as Vermont have adopted the Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs to protect farmland, few studies have examined how the prices of such development rights are determined and whether the prices are close to the market value. Using data from the state of Vermont, this study first examines the effects of development rest...

This article incorporates a political decision process into an urban land use model to predict the likely location of a public good. It fills an important gap in the literature by modeling the endogenous location of open space. The article compares open space decisions made under a majority rules voting scheme with welfare-improving criterion and f...

This article examines major factors of China's hemp production and export and derives implications for the global market and the ongoing debate in the United States. Although China's declining hemp production is mainly due to the low relative purchase price, its lack of response to changes in the world market is a result of the extremely low price...

A new measure of 'voraciousness' in leisure activities is introduced as an indicator of the pace of leisure, facili-tating a theoretical linkage between the literature on time pressure, busyness and harriedness in late modernity, and the literature on cultural consumption. On the methodological side it is shown that time use diaries can pro-vide at...

The increasing number of females in poverty is one of numerous socio-economic problems in rural areas and the need is great for information on strategies to reduce such problems. This study examines why rural females started businesses, how they define business success, and what from their family background and what resources helped them start and...

This paper examines Chinese consumer preference for major animal products and assesses the potential impacts of a reduction in China's import tariff on its pork and poultry demand and net import. Our analysis suggests that China's demand for animal products will continue to grow as income increases. Using a trade model, results of our scenario anal...

The labelling of dairy products containing milk from rBST-treated cows has rapidly emerged as an important issue in the US due to the controversy between state and federal legislation and between consumer and industrial groups. This paper evaluates consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for rBST-free milk using data collected from a consumer survey. Est...

China has emerged as a large beer producer and barley importer but few empirical studies have been reported. This study estimates demand elasticities for alcoholic beverages and tea, using China's urban household survey data, and investigates major sources of the rapid growth in China's beer consumption and barley imports. Results of an empirical d...

The rapid growth in China's per hectare chemical fertilizer application, from less than 10 kg in 1960 to 331 kg in 1993, has contributed significantly to the growth in grain production, but has also caused many environment problems such as groundwater pollution. With one-fifth of the world's population but only 7% of the earth's arable land, China...

A non-nested test is used to examine the relative explanatory power of the AIDS and translog demand system. Empirical results based on Chinese urban household data suggest that these two demand systems are not significantly different in explanatory power and elasticity estimates.

Impact of cholesterol information and demographic variables on egg consumption is examined using data from a consumer survey conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Estimation results of a double-hurdle model suggest that information and health concerns about cholesterol represented by three variables are significant factor...

Previous studies suggest that the diffusion of cholesterol information is a major reason for the continuing decline in US per capita egg consumption. This study examines the effects of cholesterol information and demographic variables on egg consumption by applying a non-normal and heteroscedastic double-hurdle model and using data from the 1989-91...

The rapid changes in China's economy and data availability have led to the need for a quantitative assessment of its food and nutrient situation. This paper first reports estimates of China's average per capita daily energy, protein and fat availability through yearly food balance sheets for the period 1950–1991. Then policy impacts on the nutrient...

This paper reviews the crop-paulownia (Paulownia elongata) system in China. We focus on the system's characteristics and the impact of government policies on its development. When paulownia is intercropped with winter wheat, their different growth periods and root distributions result in more efficient use of water and other limited resources. In a...

Atrazine is the most widely used herbicide for corn and sorghum and the most commonly encountered in surface water and groundwater. In addition to water quality problems, atrazine poses hazards through atmospheric transport, food residues, and exposure of applicators and wildlife. It atrazine use is restricted, substitute herbicides will come into...

Using primary data of 3,327 Chinese farmers and their villages collected through a survey in 2010, this study identifies the factors that affect farmers’ decision to raise hogs and the factors that determine the hog farmers’ production scale and discusses the likely future of small-scale hog production and its potential impacts on China’s pork mark...