Lawmakers often subsidize farmers in times of financial distress. This article models this political impulse as a constraint on government farm policy, describing how ex ante government farm insurance can deter ex post“disaster relief” and improve production incentives by countering the...

This article develops a spatial model of regional livestock production and three attendant environmental effects: spills from animal waste stores;nutrient runoff due to the application of manure to croplands; and direct ambient pollution, including odors, pests, and gases. Assuming that neither...

This article presents an empirical study of population growth and environmental change using cross-section district-level data from South, Central, and West India. Environmental change is measured using a satellite-based vegetation index. Unlike prior work, the analysis treats population growth...

We study the relationships between rural income distributions and changes in environmental conditions in southern, western and central India between 1994--95 and 2000--01. Other than the relatively rich, we find that all income strata benefit from an improved environment, and intermediate...

This article studies the design of farm policy in the presence of asymmetric information about farmers' productivity, a government objective to insure farmers a minimum “parity” income, an endogenous land rent, and diminishing returns on alternative (nonprogram crop) land uses. In this...

This article presents an empirical study of population growth and environmental change using cross-section district-level data from South, Central, and West India. Environmental change is measured using a satellite-based vegetation index. Unlike prior work, the analysis treats population growth...

Lawmakers often subsidize farmers in times of financial distress. This article models this political impulse as a constraint on government farm policy, describing how "ex ante" government farm insurance can deter "ex post""disaster relief" and improve production incentives by countering the...

This article studies the design of farm policy in the presence of asymmetric information about farmers' productivity, a government objective to insure farmers a minimum "parity" income, an endogenous land rent, and diminishing returns on alternative (nonprogram crop) land uses. In this setting,...