Assessing post-harvest labor shortages, wages, and welfare

Agricultural and Food Economics

Table 1 Parameters and shocks

Parameter	Description	Value
η _pome	Price elasticity of the industry demand for pome	− 0.59^a
η _prunus	Price elasticity of the industry demand for prunus	− 1.11^a
κ _pome,prunus	Cross price elasticity of the industry demand for pome to prunus	0.12^a
κ _prunus,pome	Cross price elasticity of the industry demand for prunus to pome	0.02^a
e _pre-harvest	Supply elasticity for pre-harvest labor input	3.37^b
e _post-harvest	Supply elasticity for post-harvest labor input	0.73^c
σ	Elasticity of substitution between pre-harvest labor and post-harvest labor input	1.10^d
γ	Nonprice shift in demand for pome and prunus (demand shock)	5.4%^e
α _pre-harvest	Nonwage shift in supply for pre-harvest labor (labor shock)	− 7.0%^e
ξ _pome	Spoilage rate for pome under normal conditions	4.0%^f
ξ _prunus	Spoilage rate for prunus under normal conditions	6.0%^f

Sources: ^aHenneberry et al. (1999), ^bPerloff (1991), ^cDuffield (1990), ^dCard and Lemieux (2001), ^eBrady et al. (2016), and ^fUSDA NASS (various years)