Benefit function transfer means transferring the benefit function estimated in a particular site to other sites for which a policy is under review. The main purpose of this study is to answer the question whether a benefit function in the case of amenity effects of Water Environment Improvement Projects is transferable to other sites. This study contributes to cost and time saving in research projects for measuring the effect of public works.
　First, I examine whether the benefit functions that have only individual attributes as the arguments are transferable under some conditions. Second, by using all observations I estimate the entire benefit function that includes not only individual attributes, but also regional attributes and the characteristics of nonmarket goods as the arguments. And third, I compare the benefit functions that have only individual attributes as the arguments with the entire benefit function and conclude that the former is more desirable for evaluating the project.

　In perfectly competitive markets, an enterprise manager must adjust any input level to equate the marginal product value with price to maximize his profit. Nevertheless, this equilibrium may not always be realized in the real world. Elucidating the factors causing the disequilibrium is one of the important research fields of economics, namely the problem of allocative efficiency of input applications.
　The objective of this paper is to explicate the factors affecting the allocative efficiency of chemical fertilizers in rice production in China with the assumption that farmers aim to maximize their income. The reasons why chemical fertilizers have been chosen lie in the facts that the price data of chemical fertilizers are available and that chemical fertilizers are the most easily divisible inputs to realize their allocative efficiency.
　The main results are as follows. (1) The use of chemical fertilizers has been found to be allocative inefficient and the use level is less than the income maximizing level. (2) When the head of the household makes the decision about the use of chemical fertilizers and does this work himself, his education affects the allocative efficiency of chemical fertilizers positively, and the allocative efficiency of the households with the heads having been educated at least 4 years is significantly higher than that of the heads having been educated less than 3 years. (3) The farmer's age (experience) also has a significant effect, but there is a turning point at the age of about 37. Before the turning point, the allocative efficiency of chemical fertilizers rises as the head grows up. However, it begins to decrease as the head of household becomes older after the turning point. (4) The cadre occupation in the countryside affects the allocative efficiency of chemical fertilizers of the households with at least one member being cadre of the village statistically negatively.

　The 10,187 records from calf and carcass markets on Japanese Black steers and heifers marketed from feedlot farms contracted with a cooperative farm enterprise from April 1995 to June 1998 were used to investigate the factors concerning calf and carcass prices and their relationship. The results obtained are as follows:
　(1) The calf unit prices (yen/kg) were low in May to July and high in November and December for both sexes. The carcass unit prices (yen/kg carcass) recorded the two highest price peaks in January-February and June-July.
　(2) The sire effect on the calf unit price differed by sex and the effect of steers was greater than that of heifers. The farm effect was significant for calf and carcass unit prices. As market days advanced, the carcass unit prices for heifers became lower, but the carcass unit prices for both sexes became higher.
　(3) The correlation between calf and carcass unit prices for expected progeny differences (or BLUP) of sires was approximately 0.5, indicating sires that would lead to large profit and loss.
　(4) The estimate of heritability for the calf unit price was approximately 0.9, indicating that 90% of the variation of the calf unit price was caused by heritable factors. The estimate of heritability for carcass unit price was less than 0.3. The results indicated that although the calf price depended on the pedigree of calves and that the good pedigreed calves tended to be sold at high prices in calf markets, these calves did not always produce high-priced carcasses.

　The aim of this paper is to evaluate the externality of rural recreation in Miyama Cho by an individual travel cost method. Classically, a log-linear travel cost model has been used. But since the dependent variable of an individual travel cost model is count data, Poisson regression is proper. To select a model of log-linear and Poisson regression, the travel cost models are tested by a bootstrap P test, which is a kind of non-nested test. The result is that Poisson regression is selected. I evaluated the money metric externality of recreation in Miyama Cho. By the bootstrap method, which is nonparametric, the 90% confidential interval of externality is from 4.3 billion yen to 6.5 billion yen.
　The travel cost method needs several assumptions. One assumption is that recreationists do not have utility in moving to a site. This assumption is not realistic, but it has not been challenged. This paper then describes that congestion in moving to a site is represented by congestion times. The 90% confidential interval of externality of green tourism in Miyama Cho by the travel cost model, which includes congestion in moving to a site, is from 5.7 billion yen to 11.0 billion yen. Compared with the improved travel cost model, the standard travel cost model is underestimated by 1.4 billion yen to 4.5 billion yen.

　This study presented the DEA model as an applicable method by which the milch cow culling selection is successfully done with data of the NYUKEN record (Dairy Herd Performance Record). The feature characteristics of the model: 1) instead of a traditional single economic factor, multifactors expressing cow features can be taken into account in a DEA culling model; 2) objectively evaluated varying weight―coefficients depending on the feature factors of each cow are used as a base for culling criteria.
　The model is demonstrated with field data of a dairy farm to verify the usefulness. The culling cow selection based on an estimated comprehensive score (D-efficiency score) with the DEA method had a much greater advantage than that of the traditional methods. As a consequence, the study proved that the DEA method is promising.