This book uses an economic framework to examine the consequences of U.S. farm and food policies for obesity, its social costs, and the implications for government policy. Drawing on evidence from economics, public health, nutrition, and medicine, the authors evaluate past and potential future roles of policies such as farm subsidies, public agricultural R&D, food assistance programs, taxes on particular foods (such as sodas) or nutrients (such as fat), food labeling laws, and advertising controls. The findings are mostly negative-it is generally not economic to use farm and food policies as obesity policy-but some food policies that combine incentives and information have potential to make a worthwhile impact. This book is accessible to advanced undergraduate and graduate students across the sciences and social sciences, as well as to decision-makers in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. Winner of the Quality of Research Discovery Award from the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.

This book presents the first thorough economic analysis of current agricultural biotechnology regulation. The contributors, most of whom are agricultural economists working either in universities or NGOs, address issues such as commercial pesticides, the costs of approving new products, liability, benefits, consumer acceptance, regulation and its impacts, transgenic crops, social welfare implications, and biosafety. Richard E. Just is distinguished University Professor and former Chair, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland at College Park. Julian M. Alston is Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Davis. David Zilberman is Chair, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Berkeley.

gricultural science policy in the United States has profoundly affected the growth and development of agriculture worldwide, not just in the A United States. Over the past 150 years, and especially over the second th half of the 20 Century, public investments in agricultural R&D in the United States grew faster than the value of agricultural production. Public spending on agricultural science grew similarly in other more-developed countries, and c- lectively these efforts, along with private spending, spurred agricultural prod- tivity growth in rich and poor nations alike. The value of this investment is seldom fully appreciated. The resulting p- ductivity improvements have released labor and other resources for alternative uses-in 1900, 29. 2 million Americans (39 percent of the population) were - rectly engaged in farming compared with just 2. 9 million (1. 1 percent) today- while making food and fiber more abundant and cheaper. The benefits are not confined to Americans. U. S. agricultural science has contributed with others to growth in agricultural productivity in many other countries as well as the Un- ed States. The world's population more than doubled from around 3 billion in 1961 to 6. 54 billion in 2006 (U. S. Census Bureau 2009). Over the same period, production of important grain crops (including maize, wheat and rice) almost trebled, such that global per capita grain production was 18 percent higher in 2006.

gricultural science policy in the United States has profoundly affected the growth and development of agriculture worldwide, not just in the A United States. Over the past 150 years, and especially over the second th half of the 20 Century, public investments in agricultural R&D in the United States grew faster than the value of agricultural production. Public spending on agricultural science grew similarly in other more-developed countries, and c- lectively these efforts, along with private spending, spurred agricultural prod- tivity growth in rich and poor nations alike. The value of this investment is seldom fully appreciated. The resulting p- ductivity improvements have released labor and other resources for alternative uses-in 1900, 29. 2 million Americans (39 percent of the population) were - rectly engaged in farming compared with just 2. 9 million (1. 1 percent) today- while making food and fiber more abundant and cheaper. The benefits are not confined to Americans. U. S. agricultural science has contributed with others to growth in agricultural productivity in many other countries as well as the Un- ed States. The world's population more than doubled from around 3 billion in 1961 to 6. 54 billion in 2006 (U. S. Census Bureau 2009). Over the same period, production of important grain crops (including maize, wheat and rice) almost trebled, such that global per capita grain production was 18 percent higher in 2006.

This book presents the first thorough economic analysis of current agricultural biotechnology regulation. The contributors, most of whom are agricultural economists working either in universities or NGOs, address issues such as commercial pesticides, the costs of approving new products, liability, benefits, consumer acceptance, regulation and its impacts, transgenic crops, social welfare implications, and biosafety.

Resources for agricultural science are scarce across the world. Yet even as resources are shrinking, agricultural science has expanded its inquiry into many new areas - such as environmental preservation, food quality, and rural development - without forsaking its more traditional concerns. In a time of tight government budgets, research administrators are faced with the need to provide strong evidence that costs are justified by benefits. "Science under Scarcity" is an invaluable guide to the theory and methods necessary for evaluating research in agriculture and for setting priorities for resource allocation. Although economists have made significant progress in developing more sophisticated methods for research evaluation and priority setting, many research analysts and administrators do not have a working knowledge of those practices. Without the assistance of formal economic analysis it is particularly difficult to assess the social value of new technologies or to make informed judgements about the trade-offs that are involved in allocation decisions. Addressing that knowledge gap, this book reviews, synthesizes, and extends such methods as economic surplus analysis, econometric techniques, mathematical programming procedures, and scoring models. It discusses these practices in the context of scientific policy, describes their conceptual foundations, and explains how to do them.Originally published in 1995 in hardcover by Cornell University Press, it is now reissued in paperback by CAB INTERNATIONAL.

Agricultural research and development have profoundly increased the quantity and quality of food production in the twentieth century. As populations increase, however, and land and water resources become more scarce, we must improve productivity and efficiency to provide adequate food supplies. Issues such as the environment, genetic diversity, food safety, poverty, human health, animal rights, public versus private responsibilities, and the question of intellectual property rights further complicate this task. "Agricultural Science Policy: Changing Global Agendas" consists of twelve chapters that describe important issues in agricultural science policy, the relevant facts, current economic thinking, and new results.

Topics Include: Changing Global Contexts and Agendas for Agricultural R & D; Productivity Measures and Measurement; Research, Productivity, and Natural Resources; Research for Genetic Improvement; and a Conclusion, which suggests directions for the future. The chapters in this volume will provide researchers and policy makers with a timely review of progress on the existing agenda as well as laying the foundation for a new agenda and new directions for global agricultural science policy in the 21st century.

Contributors: Julian M. Alston, University of California-Davis - Walter J. Armbruster, President of the Farm Foundation - Peter J. Barry, University of Illinois - Wilfred Beckerman, University of Oxford - Derek Byerlee, World Bank - Barbara J. Craig, Oberlin College - Robert Evenson, Yale University - Richard Gray, University of Saskatchewan - Zvi Griliches, Harvard University - Paul W. Heisey, U.S. Department of Agriculture - Frances Homans, University of Minnesota - Peter Lindert, University of California-Davis - Stavroula Malla, University of Saskatchewan - Philip G. Pardey, International Food Policy Research Institute and University of Minnesota - Prabhu L. Pingali, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center - Ismail Serageldin, World Bank and the American University in Cairo - Michael J. Taylor, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, Australia - Greg Traxler, Auburn University - James Wilen, University of California-Davis - Brian Wright, University of California-Berkeley.

Published in cooperation with the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Agricultural research and development has stimulated enormous increases in agricultural productivity in the twentieth century. Now, in response to common pressures, countries the world over are changing how they manage and pay for agricultural R & D. "Paying for Agricultural Productivity" reviews agricultural R & D policy in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States and assesses whether the new approaches are raising or lowering the efficiency and effectiveness of R & D. To complement the case studies, the book analyzes trends in R & D investment in twenty-two developed countries. "Paying for Agricultural Productivity" will be an invaluable resource for economic and development specialists concerned with agricultural research and development, as well as for farmers, food processors, agricultural wholesalers and retailers, environmentalists, and research scientists.