Since the mid-1990s, cattle production in the United States has taken a downward trend. Although the U.S. is still the biggest producer of cattle in the world, the implications of such trend on domestic and global food security cannot be ignored. This study examines this trend of cattle production in detail within the period 1997-2019, with the sole purpose of determining the factors responsible for this trend and what should be done to reverse same. The study takes a look at various variables over the time-frame which could be said to represent the factors of production -land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship and establish the relationship between them. It also includes a novel variable to the mix -degree change in temperature during the year to accommodate for the effects of global warming as an environmental factor. A simple regression model is then estimated to capture the factors that might have contributed to the variation in total cattle produced in the U.S. Findings reveal that land use, employees in agriculture and credit advances to cattle farmers are all low in the U.S., contributing to the plummeting output of cattle production. The analysis does point out that making more land and employees available will increase the production of cattle in the United States. However, higher credit flows might not guarantee improved cattle production. The study, therefore, concludes that the U.S. authorities should consider increased land use and labor supply for agricultural purposes as the means of consolidating the gains of large-scale cattle production in the U.S. The study does not consider other variables which include a shift in consumer taste or the availability or lack of water due to drought on the farm. This is a limitation of the study and makes for areas of further research. These findings will be of immense benefit to policy makers, legislators, farmers and even land use planners to be able to put in action plans that will help enhance food security especially regarding beef production, thereby ensuring the United States' place as the premier cattle producer in the world.

One of the creative innovations of the twenty-first century is the electric vehicle (EV). Unlike mainstream internal combustion cars, EVs do not rely on fossil fuel products (especially gasoline) to function. EVs are thus environmentally viable, bolstering the sustainability efforts of governments and institutions. However, the diffusion rate of EVs has been slow, notably in the United States. This study is therefore aimed at examining the role of value attributes of EVs in determining their embrace among residents of two underserved communities in the U.S. In the context of a survey design, a questionnaire was administered to obtain perceptions of the respondents, and data were analyzed using frequency counts, rank index, descriptive statistics as well as t-test technique. Findings reveal that safety, comfort, purchase price, and charging stations are areas of concern on the priority value attributes that the respondents expect a given EV to possess. We, therefore, conclude that car manufacturers, transportation planners, and metropolitan authorities should consider these attributes in their quest to make EVs popular among the general population.

The major offshoot of innovation of electric vehicles (EVs) is sustainability. Given the prevailing challenges of carbon emissions from automobiles and the consequent effects on climate change, the introduction of EVs is timely to serve as an effective mechanism for reversing global warming. However, knowledge of EVs is not well distributed among the general population. This study is therefore aimed to analyze the familiarity of Americans with the basic features of EVs. One hundred respondents were selected from two underserved communities in Huntsville, Alabama, using a simple sampling technique. Nonetheless, only 71 residents returned the filled questionnaires. Data were analyzed using frequency counts and descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that the respondents were generally aware of EVs, but EVs are not yet common on their roads. The respondents also signaled low preferences for EVs. The purchase price, charging stations, and limited supply are the candid explanations for why EVs are not a priority in the respondents' choice of cars. To bolster peoples' taste toward EVs, the study, therefore, concludes that government authorities and city planners should popularize incentives among the people in underserved communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected sectors that require international travel. One of these is the tourism sector. This study examined the impact of the pandemic on the spending patterns of international tourists in the United States. Using a vector autoregressive (VAR) framework, the study explored the influences of COVID cases and deaths on the number of international visitors in the United States. Exogenous variables in the VAR model are tourists' expenditure, GDP, and the total population of tourists' countries of residence. The lag order selected by Akaike and Schwarz information criteria was 2. The findings revealed that immediate past values of COVID cases and deaths determined their current figures as well as the count of international tourists in the U.S. Furthermore, tourists' expenditure, as well as GDP and population of tourists' countries, influenced the propensities of international tourists to select the U.S. as their destination. However, tourists' spending was not found a significant determinant of COVID cases and deaths, suggesting that coronavirus did not respect the spending abilities of the tourists. The study concluded that the U.S. authorities should be prepared for more inflow of visitors from countries with high GDP and high populations and should be cautious of high spending patterns of visitors as this may add to the existing inflationary pressures in the country.