AREC 632 Fall 2006

 Fall 2006, B. Gardner

AREC 632/832. Agricultural Policies: Analysis and Explanation

Outline and Reading List

I. The Context of Policies

Agricultural Policy Notes (on-line newsletter, distributed by email)
 
R. Hoppe and D. Banker. “Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms,” USDA, Economic Research Service, Econ. Inf. Bul. 12, May 2006.
 
Gardner, B.L. American Agriculture in the Twentieth Century, Ch. 6, Harvard Univ. Press, 2002.
II. Analysis of Policies: Comparative Statics

A. Positive Economics: Effects on Prices and Income Distribution

Gardner, B. The Economics of Agricultural Policies. NewYork: McGraw-Hill. 1987, Chs. 2, 4 (revised)
 
Alston, Julian, and Jennifer James. “Incidence of Agricultural Policy” in Gardner and Rausser, eds., Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Vol 2B, Elsevier-Science, 2002, Ch. 33, pp. 1689-1749.
 
Chambers, Robert G. "The Incidence of Agricultural Policies," Journal of Public Economics 57 (1995): 317-335.
 
Gary Williams and Oral Capps, Jr. “Measuring the Effectiveness of Checkoff Programs,” Choices 2nd Quarter, 2006, pp. 72-78
B. Welfare Economics

Gardner, op. cit., Ch. 7
 
Parry, Ian. “Agricultural Policies in the Presence of Distorting Taxes,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 81 (1999): 212-230.
 
James, J., and J. Alston. “Taxes and Quality,” Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 46 (Sept. 2002): 417-445.

III. Long-term Policies: Agriculture and Economic Growth

Gruen, F. “Agriculture and Technical Change,” Journal of Farm Economics 43 (1961): 838-858.
 
Newbery, D.M.G. “Agricultural Pricing and Public Investment,” Journal of Public Economics, 47(1992):253-271.
 
Alston, J.M., and P.G. Pardey. “Attribution and Other Problems in Assessing the Returns to Agricultural R&D,” Agricultural Economics 25 (2001): 141-152.
 
Gardner, Bruce. “Price Supports and Optimal Spending on Research,” mimeo, 1989.
IV. Public Goods: Stabilization Policy and Information

Just, R.E., D.L. Hueth, and A. Schmitz. 2004.  Ch. 12.
 
Williams, Jeffrey C., and Brian D. Wright. Storage and Commodity Markets. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Chs. 12-14.
 
Gardner, Bruce. “Returns to Policy-Related Social Science Research in Agriculture”, in Pardey and Smith, eds. What’s Economics Worth, Johns Hopkins Press, 2004, pp.201-224.

(more to be added)
V. Political Economy: Politicians and Interest Groups

Becker, G.S. “A Theory of Competition Among Pressure Groups for Political Influence,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 48(1983): 371-400.
 
Helpman, E. and G. Grossman. “Protection for Sale,” American Economic Review, 1993.
 
Hillman, A., and J. Riley. “Politically Contested Rents and Transfers,” Economics and Politics, 1(1988):
 
Corcoran, W. and G. Karels. “Rent-Seeking Behavior in the Long Run,” in The Political Economy of Rent-Seeking, Boston: Kluwer, 1988, pp. 107-126.
 
Beghin, John, and William Foster. “Political Criterion Functions and the Analysis of Wealth Transfers,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics. August, 1992, 787-794.