Premium
Socioeconomic Behavior of Cattle Ranchers, with Implications for Rural Community Development in the West
Author(s) -
Smith Arthur H.,
Martin William E.
Publication year - 1972
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 - 10.2307/1238704
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , fundamentalism , argument (complex analysis) , socioeconomic status , production (economics) , economics , rural development , agricultural economics , arid , natural resource economics , geography , agriculture , political science , microeconomics , sociology , ecology , law , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , population , demography , archaeology , politics , biology
This paper extends the argument that cattle ranching and ranchers can be better understood by viewing the ranch resource as generating both production and consumption outputs. It was found that nonmonetary outputs of ranch ownership are the most significant factors in explaining high sale prices of Arizona ranches. Land fundamentalism, rural fundamentalism, and conspicuous consumption/speculative attitudes are the most important of these consumption outputs. The analysis suggests that small town viability and growth in the arid Southwest, and possibly in the West as a whole, may be more likely to occur if rural development policies are not predicated on the economic impact of surrounding ranches.