Three Essays on Applied Economics: Analysis of Agricultural Land Regulations and Ghana’s Cocoa Market

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how state-level farmland ownership regulations and market institutions shape agricultural asset valuation, market structure, and producer welfare. The first chapter evaluates non-resident acquisitions in U.S. agricultural real estate, revealing that foreign buyers pay a statistically significant price premium relative to comparable domestic acquisitions. The second chapter examines anti-corporate farming statutes, demonstrating that, for Iowa, such statutory restrictions achieve one of their intended purposes of limiting upward adjustment in farmland prices. The third chapter reveals Ghana’s domestic cocoa procurement market as a structural oligopsony, showing that under a state-administered fixed-pricing regime, buyer concentration is still prevalent; from the national to the district level. Together, these essays provide empirical evidence informing ongoing legislative debates on foreign land ownership in the United States and the structural evolution of global commodity markets.