Essays on the Economics of Policy and Regulation in Agricultural and Food Markets

Essays on the Economics of Policy and Regulation in Agricultural and Food Markets PDF Author: Shuay-Tsyr Ho
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
This dissertation analyzes the empirical implications of selected policies and regulations applied to agricultural and food markets in the United States. It focuses on the policies at the regional level where the role of government influences the dynamics of agricultural markets and consumer behavior. In the first essay, in Chapter 2, I examine how regulation affects household diversity-seeking behavior for alcohol. Here I hypothesize that different state-level regulatory regimes in alcohol retail sales impact shopping convenience. I use a consumer panel dataset to examine household purchases of alcohol between 2004 and 2016. By focusing on a subset of households that moved between regulatory regimes in the pooled cross-sectional dataset, I am able to treat the time-invariant regulatory rules as a natural experiment to identify the causal impact of grocery store sales of alcohol on consumer choice diversification. The key finding suggests consumers further diversify their product selections in states that allow alcohol sales in grocery stores which reduces consumer's shopping costs and increases convenience. In the second essay, in Chapter 3, I focus on the effects of crop insurance on the supply of specialty crops in the United States. I use a nationally-representative farm-level dataset to evaluate the impacts of crop insurance on the acreage and crop value of fruits and vegetables. The empirical strategy addresses the potential endogeneity between the provision of crop insurance and the economic significance of the crops. In assessing how the availability of crop insurance affects supply, I use a number of variables to instrument insurance availability for fruits and vegetables. Instruments include i) the number of policies sold and premium subsidies for field crops within the same county, ii) the number of policies sold and premium subsidies for fruits and vegetable crops in the neighboring counties, which characterize various degrees of insurance demand. The two-stage findings suggest that crop insurance has increased both the harvested acreage and production value of fruits and vegetables. In the final essay, presented in Chapter 4, I worked with a team to evaluate several risk management strategies for cherry growers facing crop losses due to spring frost and excessive summer rain. Here we developed a framework to model stochastic prices, yields, and revenue for sweet cherries in New York and Michigan in a Monte Carlo simulation framework. This research constructed a novel dataset comprised of state-level market information for sweet cherries, station-level weather data, and the monitored performance of high tunnel at horticultural trials from research farms. Our results show that when there are significant price premiums for early season fruit, a high tunnel system could be the optimal strategy as it has the capacity to generate higher net profits compared to a variety of alternative strategies using insurance products.

Modern Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy

Modern Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy PDF Author: Harry de Gorter
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303077760X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 519

Book Description
This volume celebrates the life and career of Gordon Rausser, pioneer and leader in natural resource economics, while critically overviewing the emerging literature in the field. As the chair of the Agriculture and Resource Economics department at UC Berkeley, Rausser led the transformation of the department from a traditional agricultural economics department to a diverse resource economics department addressing issues of agriculture, food, natural resources, environmental economics, energy, and development. This book builds on this theme, showcasing not only the scope of Rausser's work but also key developments in the field. The volume is organized into two parts. The first part speaks about the lessons of Gordon Rausser's career, in particular, his role as a leader in different spheres, his capacity to integrate teaching and entrepreneurship, and his impact on the world food system. The second part will address some of the significant developments in the field he contributed to and how it relates to his work. The chapters include contributions from modern leaders in the economics field and cover diverse topics from many subfields including public policy, public finance, law, econometrics, macroeconomics, and water resources. Providing an excellent reference, as well as a celebration of a pivotal figure in the field, this volume will be useful for practitioners and scholars in agricultural and resource economics, especially the many individuals familiar with Gordon Rausser and his career.

Handbook Of International Food And Agricultural Policies (In 3 Volumes)

Handbook Of International Food And Agricultural Policies (In 3 Volumes) PDF Author:
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9813226307
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1243

Book Description
Handbook of International Food and Agricultural Policies is a three-volume set that aims to provide an accessible reference for those interested in the aims and implementation of food and farm policies throughout the world. The treatment is authoritative, comprehensive and forward looking. The three volumes combine scholarship and pragmatism, relating academic writing to real-world issues faced by policy-makers. A companion volume looking at the future resource and climate challenges for global agriculture will be published in the future.Volume I covers Farm and Rural Development policies of developed and developing countries. The volume contains 20 country chapters together with a concluding comprehensive synthesis of lessons to be drawn from the experiences of the individual countries.Volume II examines the experience of countries with food policies, including those dealing with food safety and quality and the responsibility for food security in developing countries. The chapters address issues such as obesity, nutritional supplements, organic foods, food assistance programs, biotech food acceptance, and the place of private standards.Volume III describes and explains the international trade dimension of farm and food policies — both at the bilateral and regional level — and also the multilateral rules that influence and constrain individual governments. The volume also looks at the steps that countries are together taking to meet the needs of developing and low-income countries.The volumes are of value to students and researchers interested in economic development, agricultural markets and food systems. Policy-makers and professionals involved in monitoring and regulating agricultural and food markets would also find the volumes useful in their practical work. This three-volume set is also a suitable source for the general public interested in how their food system is influenced by government policies.

Economics of Regulation in Agriculture

Economics of Regulation in Agriculture PDF Author: Floor Brouwer
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 9781845935917
Category : Agricultural laws and legislation
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
This work debates and investigates the cross-compliance system - whereby farmers comply with certain standards relating to the environment, food safety and animal and plant health. The book discusses cross-compliance in the context of existing standards, on-farm costs and the competitiveness of farm businesses. Analysing the economics of regulation both within the internal market of the EU and the broader world market by examining a broad range of agricultural products. This resource will be of value to agriculture and resource economists, policy makers, researchers and students in environment

Three Essays on Agricultural Policy and Food Demand

Three Essays on Agricultural Policy and Food Demand PDF Author: Jing Zhao (Economist)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 108

Book Description
These essays study important causes and interactions of agricultural policy and food demand. Essay one identifies the pattern of wheat support and income over historical data. The results indicate that income has statistically significant effects on wheat support, the pattern is nonlinear and varies among support mechanisms, and this relationship permits estimation of the future support. Essay two examines the effect of China wheat stock policies in 2006-2013 on the market using a structural economic model. Simulation results suggest that government stock policies stabilized wheat market prices, if measured by the standard deviation, and raised production in China. Essay three applies fixed effect and demand system models to estimate how refrigerator ownership affects food consumption in rural China. Refrigerator ownership reduces total food expenditure and meat consumption quantity, according to the estimation results, and might increase the expenditure share of perishable foods, like meat, egg and seafood. Taken as a whole, the results suggest that scientists should consider the impact of expanding refrigerator ownership, recognize the potential effect of public stocks on the evolution of price, and include the income-to-support relationship in long-run analysis to generate more accurate projections of consumption, price volatility, and agricultural support.

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Food Consumption and Policy

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Food Consumption and Policy PDF Author: Jayson L. Lusk
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks
ISBN: 0199681325
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 923

Book Description
First reference on food consumption and policy.

The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies

The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies PDF Author: Johan Swinnen
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137501022
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Winner of the European Association of Agricultural Economists Book Award Food and agriculture have been subject to heavy-handed government interventions throughout much of history and across the globe, both in developing and in developed countries. Today, more than half a trillion US dollars are spent by some governments to support farmers, while other governments impose regulations and taxes that hurt farmers. Some policies, such as price regulations and tariffs, distribute income but reduce total welfare by introducing economic distortions. Other policies, such as public investments in research, food standards, or land reforms, may increase total welfare, but these policies come also with distributional effects. These distributional effects influence the preferences of interest groups and in turn influence policy decisions. Political considerations are therefore crucial to understand how agricultural and food policies are determined, to identify the constraints within which welfare-enhancing reforms are possible (or not), and finally to understand how coalitions can be created to stimulate growth and reduce poverty.

Local Food Systems; Concepts, Impacts, and Issues

Local Food Systems; Concepts, Impacts, and Issues PDF Author: Steve Martinez
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437933629
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 87

Book Description
This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. Defining ¿local¿ based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers¿ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Charts and tables.

Economic Studies on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment

Economic Studies on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment PDF Author: Maurizio Canavari
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461506093
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
This book contains a selection of the papers presented at the Joint Conference on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, which was held in Bologna, Italy, on June 12-14, 2001. This was the seventh gathering of a biennal meeting born from a cooperation agreement between US and Italian academic and research institutions. This round of the Conference was organized in the Faculty of Agriculture in Bologna by the Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Engineering (DEIAgra) and the CNR Land and Agri-System Management Research Centre (GeST A-CNR) of Bologna. There were two main reasons for the choice of this location: fIrst, the Conference was dedicated to Maurizio Grillenzoni and Franco Alvisi, two colleagues and friends who passed away in recent years, and who committed themselves and played an important role in developing the collaboration agreement and promoting the past Conferences; second, in the year 2000 the Faculty of Agriculture in Bologna celebrated its fIrst centennial, and this Con ference was part of a wide set of events organized to highlight the relevant role of the Faculty in the research activity, both at an Italian and international level. The Conference papers were articulated both in plenary and concurrent sessions, dealing with key topics for agricultural economists. A structure similar to the Conference was adopted for grouping the papers into the four sections contained in this book: • food, nutrition, and quality, focusing i. e.

Real Markets: Social and Political Issues of Food Policy Reform

Real Markets: Social and Political Issues of Food Policy Reform PDF Author: Cynthia Hewitt de Alcantara
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136294708
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 141

Book Description
Real Markets: Social and Political Issues of Food Policy Reform contains papers presented at a Seminar on Food Pricing and Marketing Reforms, sponsored by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and held in Geneva during November 1989.