Daniel A. Lass,
Professor
Recent Publications |
Recent Activities | Curriculum Vitae
My research and teaching interests can be broadly classified as micro-econometrics. My research focus has been on farm family decisions, from production to off-farm employment. Much of my previous research focused on the farm families labor decisions. Recent work has considered productive and allocative efficiency for dairy and cranberries in Massachusetts and for Bulgarian dairy production. Currently, I am also analyzing the impacts of the Northeast Dairy Compact on retail milk prices and the costs of production for fluid milk in the northeast. In addition, my tenure as graduate program director prompted an investigation into the value of graduate education in the field of resource economics.
I am currently in the third and final year of a Northeast SARE funded project on the economics of Community Supported Agriculture. The project includes both research and outreach. Research is being conducted at UMass by myself and Joe Moffitt. Research has focused on the economics of CSA in the northeast. Surveys were conducted for 1995, 1996 and 1997. Data were gathered on CSA costs and returns and have been analyzed to assess the viability of CSA in the northeast. We are also considering CSA labor use and pest management strategies and efficiency of CSA in detail. The outreach components of the project have been led by Cathy Roth, UMass Extension, and Steve Gilman of Ruckytucks Farm in Stillwater, New York. Steve has the coordinated publication of the CSA Farm Network (Volumes I and II), the third volume will be published this year.
I am also interested in water quality in New England streams and rivers, as well as other selected states, and the implications for specific forms of outdoor recreation. I am developing this research in my spare time focusing more specifically on aquatic entomology, salmonid populations, their interdependence and the effects on an individual's utility (namely, mine).
Recent Publications
Li, Chunxiang and D. Lass. “Price Transmission and Asymmetry in the New England Fluid Milk Market.” (In preparation.)
Mammen, S., Bauer, J., and D. Lass. “Change in life satisfaction among rural low-income mothers: The influence of health, human, personal, and social capital.” (Under review: Applied Research in Quality of Life.)
Lass, D. A., B. Morzuch and Richard Rogers. “Teaching with Technology to Engage Students and Enhance Learning” (Under review: Journal of Economic Education.)
Timmons, Dave, Q. Wang and D. Lass. “Local Foods: Estimating Capacity?” Journal of Extension, 46(2008).
Mammen, S., Lass, D., and Seiling, S. “Labor force supply decisions of rural low-income mothers.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues. March 2009
Anderson, Lisa R., Freeborn, Beth A., Holmes, Jessica, Jeffreys, Mark, Lass, Daniel and Soper, John C, "Location, Location, Location! A Classroom Demonstration of the Hotelling Model" (December 2006). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=961889
Lass, D. A., N. Lavoie and T. R. Fetter. “Market Power in Direct Marketing of Fresh Produce: Community Supported Agriculture Farms” (Under review: Agri.and Res. Econ. Review.)
Lass, D. A. “Asymmetric Response of Retail Milk Prices in the Northeast Revisited.” Agribusiness: An International Journal, 21(2005): 493-508..
Cushman, Colin, Barry Field, Daniel Lass and Thomas Stevens. “External Costs from Increased Island Visitation: Results from the Southern Thai Islands.” Tourism Economics 10(2004): 207-219.
Sanneh, Njundu, L. Joe Moffitt, and Daniel Lass. “Stochastic Efficiency Analysis of Community Supported Agriculture Core Management Options.” J. of Ag. and Res. Economics, December 2001: 417-430.
Daniel A. Lass, Mawunyo Adanu and P. Geoffrey Allen. “The Impacts of the Northeast Dairy Compact on Retail Prices.” Agri. and Res. Econ. Review, April 2001: 83-92..
Cooley, Jack P. and D. Lass. “Consumer Benefits from Community Supported Agriculture Membership.” Review of Agricultural Economics. Vol. 20(1998):227-237.
Lass, Daniel, Pete St. Marie and Sven Anders. Assessing Potential Demand and Supply for Farm-to-School Programs in Massachusetts. Amherst: Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts. August 2006.
Daniel Lass, Ashely Bevis, Steven Stevenson, John Hendrickson and Kathy Ruhf. 2001 National CSA Farm Survey Results. Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. November 2003.
Daniel Lass, G. W. Stevenson, John Hendrickson, and Kathy Ruhf. CSA Across the Nation: Findings from the 1999 CSA Survey. Madison: Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, University of Wisconsin-Madison. October 2003.
Richard Rogers and Daniel Lass. Agricultural Marketing in Massachusetts: Agricultural Marketing Performance Initiative Survey Results. Department of Food and Agriculture, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. July 2001
David Holm, Daniel Lass, Richard Rogers, and David Damery. The Changing Landscape of Massachusetts Agriculture. Department of Food and Agriculture, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. September 2001.
David Damery, David Holm, Dan Lass, and Richard Rogers. Food Marketing and Lumber Processing in Massachusetts: 1958 to 1997. Department of Food and Agriculture, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. September 2001.
David Holm, Dan Lass, Richard Rogers and David Damery. Case Studies of Farm and Forestry Community-Based Programs. Department of Food and Agriculture, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. September 2001.
David Holm, Richard Rogers, and Daniel Lass. Food Self-Sufficiency in the New England States, 1975-1997. Department of Food and Agriculture, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2001.
David Holm, Daniel Lass, Richard Rogers and David Damery.
Agricultures Hold on the Commonwealth. Amherst, Massachusetts: Univ. of Massachusetts Donahue Institute. 2000.
Recent Activities
My teaching coincides with my research interests. I teach the first course in microeconomic theory in our graduate program. The course includes theory of the firm, the consumer, and single market equilibrium. A few topics that include both theory of the firm and consumer are also included; household production models and risk and uncertainty are two examples. At the undergraduate level, I teach introductory statistics and introductory econometrics, both spring courses. In econometrics, the application of econometric methods for decision-making and policy analysis is emphasized with primary emphasis on microeconomic models of the firm and consumer.
I am active in the Northeast Agricultural and Resource Economics Association serving on the Board of Directors and several other committees. I have provided research that has been used to determine agricultural land values in Massachusetts for taxation purposes and am currently a designee to the Farmland Valuation Advisory Commission.
