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Valuing Pre‐Commercial Genetic Resources: A Maximum Entropy Approach
Author(s) -
Zohrabian Armineh,
Traxler Greg,
Caudill Steven,
Smale Melinda
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8276.00131
Subject(s) - germplasm , accession , agriculture , marginal value , econometrics , principle of maximum entropy , upper and lower bounds , economics , value (mathematics) , entropy (arrow of time) , genetic resources , statistics , agricultural economics , mathematics , agricultural science , environmental science , microeconomics , microbiology and biotechnology , agronomy , ecology , biology , international trade , mathematical analysis , physics , european union , quantum mechanics
Genetic improvement has been a major contributor to agricultural productivity in the United States, but many questions about the economics of crop breeding, such as the value of pre‐commercial germplasm, remain unanswered. This study estimates the marginal value of poorly characterized materials contained in the U.S. national germplasm system. Within the search theoretic framework, we apply a maximum entropy method to estimate the probability and the expected level of improvement in pest susceptibility relative to its best previously observed level. The results indicate that the lower‐bound estimate of benefit is significantly higher than the upper‐bound cost of conserving an accession.