Staff Biographical Page: James MacDonald

Briefly

Jim MacDonald is chief of the Agricultural Structure and Productivity branch. The branch is responsible for developing data and research that: measures and explains productivity growth in agriculture; assesses the causes and effects of the changing structure and organization of U.S. farms; examines changes in business relationships between farms and their suppliers and buyers, and how those changes affect farm performance and government programs.

Background

Prior to assuming his present position in 2001, Jim was senior economist in the Food Economics Division at ERS, where his research covered such topics as consolidation in meatpacking, competition and pricing in USDA commodity procurement programs, the measurement of food price indexes, and the effects of railroad deregulation on agriculture. Jim has also taught at Hamilton College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Education

Jim received a Ph.D in economics from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also received an M.A. from SUNY Buffalo and a B.S. from Siena College.

Professional Affiliations

Jim is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Agricultural Economics Association, and the Industrial Organization Society.

Publications

ERS publications by this author

Selected Recent Articles in Journals

"How Firms Construct Price Increases: Responses to Minimum Wage Increases" (with Daniel Aaronson). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 88 (May 2006): 292-307.

"Technology, Labor Wars, and Producer Dynamics: Explaining Consolidation in Beefpacking" (with Michael Ollinger). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 87 (November 2005): 1020-1033.

"Tracing the Effects of Agricultural Commodity Prices on Food Costs" (with Catherine Morrison Paul). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 85 (August 2003): 633-646.

"Competition and Prices in USDA Commodity Procurement" (with Charles Handy and Gerald Plato). Southern Economic Journal 69 (July 2002): 128-43.

Selected Recent Book Chapters

"Structural Change in U.S. Agriculture" (with Robert Hoppe and David Banker), in Policy Reform and Adjustment in the Agricultural Sectors of Developed Countries. David Blandford and Berkeley Hill, eds. London: CABI Publishing. June, 2006.

"Beef and Pork Packing Industries" in special issue devoted to Economics of Red Meat and Dairy Industries, in The Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice, Stephen R. Koontz and John Vassalo, eds. Philadelphia: Elsevier Science. July, 2003.

Bulletins and Reports

Americas Diverse Family Farms: 2007 Edition (with Robert A. Hoppe, David Banker, Erik O'Donoghue, and Penni Korb). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Economic Information Bulletin No. 26. June 2007.

Growing Farm Size and the Distribution of Farm Payments (with Robert Hoppe and David Banker). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Economic Brief No. 6. March, 2006

Did the Mandatory Requirement Aid the Market? Impact of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act (with Janet Perry, Ken Nelson, William Hahn, Carlos Arnade, and Gerald Plato). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Electronic Outlook Report LDP-M-135-1. September, 2005.

Contracts, Markets, and Prices: Organizing the Production and Use of Agricultural Commodities (with Janet Perry, Mary Ahearn, David Banker, William Chambers, Carolyn Dimitri, Nigel Key, Kenneth Nelson, and Leland Southard). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Agricultural Economics Report No. 837. November, 2004.