AmberWaves April 2004 > Gleanings > Recent Meetings

Annual Meeting of Regional Economists

In March 2004, ERS participated in the Southern Regional Social Science Association (SRSA) meetings in New Orleans, Louisiana. SRSA provides intellectual leadership in the study of social, economic, political, and behavioral phenomena that have a spatial dimension. ERS researchers presented findings on the economic impacts of public infrastructure projects on rural and urban communities; the impact of school quality on migration in rural areas; the effects of welfare caseload change on local labor markets; the effects of landscape, climate, and settlement on nonmetropolitan migration; and the economic and fiscal conditions in rural recreation counties. Robert Gibbs

Southern Agricultural Economics Association

In February 2004, ERS participated in the 36th annual meeting of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ERS presentations covered such diverse topics as determinants of farm size in the southeastern U.S., the pollution risk from manure and commercial fertilizer nutrients on livestock farms, domestic demand for imported lamb, and demand for U.S. feed by Egypt’s poultry sector. Keithly Jones

American Association for the Advancement of Science

In February 2004, ERS participated in the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Seattle, Washington. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publishes the journal Science. The annual meetings bring together scientists from around the world to discuss new discoveries and applications. The objective of this symposium was to examine the array of new policy options, including priority setting and pathogen performance standards, for establishing foodborne pathogen controls for domestic consumers and international trade. In addition to presenting work on the economics of pathogen performance standards, ERS researchers organized a symposium on the science and economics of food safety regulation and their impact on international trade and the control of foodborne pathogens. Elise Golan