Semester of Graduation
Spring 2021
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
The alligator industry in Louisiana has not had a study in thirty years that has measured its economic contribution. The industry has changed structurally over that period, and it produces more alligator skins but is concentrated in a smaller number of producers. With current threats to the industry through potential bans on alligator sales in states like California, the importance of these studies for the industry are more important now than ever. This study measures the economic contribution of American alligator across the supply chain of the state of Louisiana through four different modeling improvement strategies. These consist of using IMPLAN's conventional input-output model, re-assessing IMPLAN's production functions, performing an Analysis-by-Parts approach, and estimating Regional Purchase Coefficients derived from local spending patterns. The results discovered that alligator farming in Louisiana had generated a direct economic contribution of $80,201,270 based on a Low Revenue approach for class sizes for alligator skins. When analyzing the High Revenue approach, a direct contribution of $100,189,697 was identified. Additionally, the highest expense categories identified, on a per hatchling basis, included Hatchlings ($33.73), Feed ($26.27), and Labor Costs ($25.18). Additionally, it was found that when using the Analysis-by-Parts – Survey RPCs strategy, the total economic contributions ranged from $217 million to $272 million to the Louisiana economy. As a result, this generated an Output Multiplier of 2.71. Finally, by comparing the modeling improvement strategies, it was revealed that having additional information about the distribution of spending increases the Baseline Multiplier size by 26%. However, by combining a more accurate distribution of spending and the location of that spending, there is an increase from the Baseline Multiplier strategy of 53%. From the alligator industry's point of view, an additional $75.4 million in Output Effects were measured by including the local spending pattern.
Recommended Citation
Rosales Chiessa, Ilich Fernan, "Implementing Four Modeling Improvement Strategies to Measure the Economic Contribution of the Alligator Farming Industry in Louisiana" (2021). LSU Master's Theses. 5318.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/5318
Committee Chair
Fannin, Matthew J.
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.5318