Richard E. Just – författare

REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: ECONOMICS AND POLICY Chapter 1 REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Richard E. Just,* David Zilberman/ and Julian M. Alston * University of Maryland, * University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis Abstract: This chapter introduces the topic of this book, drawing upon the content of its chapters. An overview is provided on the economics of technological regulation as applied to agricultural crop biotechnologies. Key elements of agricultural biotechnology regulation in the United States are summarized. Key words: agricultural biotechnologies, causes and consequences of technological regula­ tion, overview and synthesis 1. INTRODUCTION Agricultural biotechnologies apply modern knowledge in molecular and cell biology to produce new varieties and similar genetic materials. The use of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties has grown dramatically since they were introduced in 1995, and large portions of the land allocated to corn, soybeans, and cotton are grown with these varieties. The evidence from the United States, Canada, China, India, Brazil, and Argentina suggests that these applications of biotechnology in agriculture increase yield, reduce the use of pesticides, and save production costs.

REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: ECONOMICS AND POLICY Chapter 1 REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Richard E. Just,* David Zilberman/ and Julian M. Alston * University of Maryland, * University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis Abstract: This chapter introduces the topic of this book, drawing upon the content of its chapters. An overview is provided on the economics of technological regulation as applied to agricultural crop biotechnologies. Key elements of agricultural biotechnology regulation in the United States are summarized. Key words: agricultural biotechnologies, causes and consequences of technological regula­ tion, overview and synthesis 1. INTRODUCTION Agricultural biotechnologies apply modern knowledge in molecular and cell biology to produce new varieties and similar genetic materials. The use of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties has grown dramatically since they were introduced in 1995, and large portions of the land allocated to corn, soybeans, and cotton are grown with these varieties. The evidence from the United States, Canada, China, India, Brazil, and Argentina suggests that these applications of biotechnology in agriculture increase yield, reduce the use of pesticides, and save production costs.

After all the research on agricultural risk to date, the treatment of risk in agricultural research is far from harmonious. Many competing risk models have been proposed. Some new methodologies are largely untested. Some of the leading empirical methodologies in agricultural economic research are poorly suited for problems with aggregate data where risk averse behavior is less likely to be important.This book is intended to (i) define the current state of the literature on agricultural risk research, (ii) provide a critical evaluation of economic risk research on agriculture to date and (iii) set a research agenda that will meet future needs and prospects. This type of research promises to become of increasing importance because agricultural policy in the United States and elsewhere has decidedly shifted from explicit income support objectives to risk-related motivations of helping farmers deal with risk. Beginning with the 1996 Farm Bill, the primary set of policy instruments from U.S. agriculture has shifted from target prices and set aside acreage to agricultural crop insurance. Because this book is intended to have specific implications for U.S. agricultural policy, it has a decidedly domestic scope, but clearly many of the issues have application abroad. For each of the papers and topics included in this volume, individuals have been selected to give the strongest and broadest possible treatment of each facet of the problem. The result is this comprehensive reference book on the economics of agricultural risk.

This book demonstrates what the discipline of economics has to offer as support for analyzing cooperation on management of trans-boundary water resources. It also considers what the discipline of economics has to acquire to become a more effective contributor to trans-boundary water resource management given political, legal, social, physical, scientific, and ecological realities. This book has its genesis in a symposium of the International Water and Resource Economics Consortium held at Annapolis, Maryland, April 13-16, 1997. The symposium was organized by the editors and the book contains papers presented at the symposium with subsequent revisions. The symposium brought together both economists and agency management personnel for the purpose of discussing not only how economic tools apply to trans-boundary water management, but also of identifying the obstacles to making such tools useful and informative to politicians and negotiators in public decision making roles. INTERNATIONAL VERSUS DOMESTIC TRANS-BOUNDARY PROBLEMS Trans-boundary water problems arise in many dimensions. The two most important types of problems emphasized in this book are international and domestic interstate or interregional problems. Cooperation on international problems is especially difficult because enforcement must be voluntary given the sovereignty of nations and the absence of an effective legal enforcement mechanism. Agreements must be sustainable and self-enforced if they are to have lasting benefits. Every negotiating country must be convinced it will receive benefits before it gives its consent to cooperation. In the absence of enforceable agreements, trans-boundary (i. e.

REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: ECONOMICS AND POLICY Chapter 1 REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Richard E. Just,* David Zilberman/ and Julian M. Alston * University of Maryland, * University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis Abstract: This chapter introduces the topic of this book, drawing upon the content of its chapters. An overview is provided on the economics of technological regulation as applied to agricultural crop biotechnologies. Key elements of agricultural biotechnology regulation in the United States are summarized. Key words: agricultural biotechnologies, causes and consequences of technological regula­ tion, overview and synthesis 1. INTRODUCTION Agricultural biotechnologies apply modern knowledge in molecular and cell biology to produce new varieties and similar genetic materials. The use of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties has grown dramatically since they were introduced in 1995, and large portions of the land allocated to corn, soybeans, and cotton are grown with these varieties. The evidence from the United States, Canada, China, India, Brazil, and Argentina suggests that these applications of biotechnology in agriculture increase yield, reduce the use of pesticides, and save production costs.

After all the research on agricultural risk to date, the treatment of risk in agricultural research is far from harmonious. Many competing risk models have been proposed. Some new methodologies are largely untested. Some of the leading empirical methodologies in agricultural economic research are poorly suited for problems with aggregate data where risk averse behavior is less likely to be important. This book is intended to (i) define the current state of the literature on agricultural risk research, (ii) provide a critical evaluation of economic risk research on agriculture to date and (iii) set a research agenda that will meet future needs and prospects. This type of research promises to become of increasing importance because agricultural policy in the United States and elsewhere has decidedly shifted from explicit income support objectives to risk-related motivations of helping farmers deal with risk. Beginning with the 1996 Farm Bill, the primary set of policy instruments from U.S. agriculture has shifted from target prices and set aside acreage to agricultural crop insurance. Because this book is intended to have specific implications for U.S. agricultural policy, it has a decidedly domestic scope, but clearly many of the issues have application abroad.For each of the papers and topics included in this volume, individuals have been selected to give the strongest and broadest possible treatment of each facet of the problem. The result is this comprehensive reference book on the economics of agricultural risk.

This book demonstrates what the discipline of economics has to offer as support for analyzing cooperation on management of trans-boundary water resources. It also considers what the discipline of economics has to acquire to become a more effective contributor to trans-boundary water resource management given political, legal, social, physical, scientific, and ecological realities. This book has its genesis in a symposium of the International Water and Resource Economics Consortium held at Annapolis, Maryland, April 13-16, 1997. The symposium was organized by the editors and the book contains papers presented at the symposium with subsequent revisions. The symposium brought together both economists and agency management personnel for the purpose of discussing not only how economic tools apply to trans-boundary water management, but also of identifying the obstacles to making such tools useful and informative to politicians and negotiators in public decision making roles. INTERNATIONAL VERSUS DOMESTIC TRANS-BOUNDARY PROBLEMS Trans-boundary water problems arise in many dimensions. The two most important types of problems emphasized in this book are international and domestic interstate or interregional problems. Cooperation on international problems is especially difficult because enforcement must be voluntary given the sovereignty of nations and the absence of an effective legal enforcement mechanism. Agreements must be sustainable and self-enforced if they are to have lasting benefits. Every negotiating country must be convinced it will receive benefits before it gives its consent to cooperation. In the absence of enforceable agreements, trans-boundary (i. e.

This book demonstrates what the discipline of economics has to offer as support for analyzing cooperation on management of trans-boundary water resources. It also considers what the discipline of economics has to acquire to become a more effective contributor to trans-boundary water resource management given political, legal, social, physical, scientific, and ecological realities. This book has its genesis in a symposium of the International Water and Resource Economics Consortium held at Annapolis, Maryland, April 13-16, 1997. The symposium was organized by the editors and the book contains papers presented at the symposium with subsequent revisions. The symposium brought together both economists and agency management personnel for the purpose of discussing not only how economic tools apply to trans-boundary water management, but also of identifying the obstacles to making such tools useful and informative to politicians and negotiators in public decision making roles. INTERNATIONAL VERSUS DOMESTIC TRANS-BOUNDARY PROBLEMS Trans-boundary water problems arise in many dimensions. The two most important types of problems emphasized in this book are international and domestic interstate or interregional problems. Cooperation on international problems is especially difficult because enforcement must be voluntary given the sovereignty of nations and the absence of an effective legal enforcement mechanism. Agreements must be sustainable and self-enforced if they are to have lasting benefits. Every negotiating country must be convinced it will receive benefits before it gives its consent to cooperation. In the absence of enforceable agreements, trans-boundary (i. e.

After all the research on agricultural risk to date, the treatment of risk in agricultural research is far from harmonious. Many competing risk models have been proposed. Some new methodologies are largely untested. Some of the leading empirical methodologies in agricultural economic research are poorly suited for problems with aggregate data where risk averse behavior is less likely to be important. This book is intended to (i) define the current state of the literature on agricultural risk research, (ii) provide a critical evaluation of economic risk research on agriculture to date and (iii) set a research agenda that will meet future needs and prospects. This type of research promises to become of increasing importance because agricultural policy in the United States and elsewhere has decidedly shifted from explicit income support objectives to risk-related motivations of helping farmers deal with risk. Beginning with the 1996 Farm Bill, the primary set of policy instruments from U.S. agriculture has shifted from target prices and set aside acreage to agricultural crop insurance. Because this book is intended to have specific implications for U.S. agricultural policy, it has a decidedly domestic scope, but clearly many of the issues have application abroad. For each of the papers and topics included in this volume, individuals have been selected to give the strongest and broadest possible treatment of each facet of the problem. The result is this comprehensive reference book on the economics of agricultural risk.

This outstanding text, a follow-up to the authors' award-winning 1982 text, provides a thorough treatment of economic welfare theory and develops a complete theoretical and empirical framework for applied project and policy evaluation. The authors illustrate how this theory can be used to develop policy analysis from both theory and estimation in a variety of areas including: international trade, the economics of technological change, agricultural economics, the economics of information, environmental economics, and the economics of extractive and renewable natural resources.Building on willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures as the foundation for applied welfare economics, the authors develop measures for firms and households where households are viewed as both consumers and owner/sellers of resources. Possibilities are presented for (1) approximating WTP with consumer surplus, (2) measuring WTP exactly subject to errors in existing econometric work, and (3) using duality theory to specify econometric equations consistent with theory.Later chapters cover specific areas of welfare measurement under imperfect competition, uncertainty, incomplete information, externalities, and dynamic considerations. Applications are considered explicitly for policy issues related to information, international trade, the environment, agriculture, and other natural resource issues.The Welfare Economics of Public Policy is ideal for graduate and undergraduate courses in applied welfare economics, public policy, agricultural policy, and environmental economics and provides an essential reference for practitioners of applied welfare economics.

This outstanding text, a follow-up to the authors' award-winning 1982 text, provides a thorough treatment of economic welfare theory and develops a complete theoretical and empirical framework for applied project and policy evaluation. The authors illustrate how this theory can be used to develop policy analysis from both theory and estimation in a variety of areas including: international trade, the economics of technological change, agricultural economics, the economics of information, environmental economics, and the economics of extractive and renewable natural resources.Building on willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures as the foundation for applied welfare economics, the authors develop measures for firms and households where households are viewed as both consumers and owner/sellers of resources. Possibilities are presented for (1) approximating WTP with consumer surplus, (2) measuring WTP exactly subject to errors in existing econometric work, and (3) using duality theory to specify econometric equations consistent with theory.Later chapters cover specific areas of welfare measurement under imperfect competition, uncertainty, incomplete information, externalities, and dynamic considerations. Applications are considered explicitly for policy issues related to information, international trade, the environment, agriculture, and other natural resource issues.The Welfare Economics of Public Policy is ideal for graduate and undergraduate courses in applied welfare economics, public policy, agricultural policy, and environmental economics and provides an essential reference for practitioners of applied welfare economics.

The practical value of intuitive insights provided by innovative scholars in the past drives much of the current development in applied welfare economics. This single volume presents the key works that serve as a basis for applied welfare economic practices, the major papers that develop the methodology of applied economic welfare measurement and some of the most exemplary applications in the fields of welfare work. This indispensable book is designed to provide students and scholars with a convenient single source of the essential foundations in applied welfare economics.

Agricultural, natural resource, and environmental problems are becom­ ing increasingly interdependent. For example, soil erosion is largely determined by agricultural land use. Both water use and water con­ tamination depend on land use and technology choice in agriculture. In many areas, the fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture are ma­ jor pollutants of ground and surface water, having adverse effects on drinking water and fisheries. Agricultural pollutants such as pesticides also produce adverse health effects for agricultural workers and the consuming public. On the other hand, the availability of water resources and the value of competing land uses influence agricultural production. Additionally, regional air quality problems may affect crops and global environmental trends may have long-term implica­ tions for farming. Agriculture, natural resources and environmental quality are all heavily regulated in the U. S. , but they are done so by a vast array of competing or unrelated agencies within the U. S. Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency; and numerous state agencies. Considering the large number of bureaucratically remote public agencies involved and the pervasive in­ terdependencies between agriculture, natural resources and the environ­ ment, policies develop which are at best uncoordinated and at worst conflicting and counterproductive. These policies have become sources of controversy as different interest groups struggle to affect their im­ plementation, as different agencies have fought for administrative con­ trol and as legislative bodies have attempted to enact piecemeal changes.