This chapter is motivated by the question of whether development assistance directed at agriculture ("agricultural aid") is effective. It argues that development assistance is continually changing as the ascendant visions of strong global leaders interact with theories of economic growth and...

The existence of linkages between the agricultural sector and the rest of the economy points to the specificity of that sector and justifies why we can conceive of a macroeconomics of agriculture. The primary sector is characterized by product homogeneity, a pre-condition for the absence of...

In the conventional theory of common-pool resources, participants do not undertake efforts to design their own governance arrangements. Substantial empirical evidence exists, however, that many common-pool resources are self-governed. Thus, in this chapter, I briefly review the conventional...

This chapter presents the theory of consumer choice as applied to household behavior. An internally consistent, self-contained framework is developed for the analysis of consumer preferences, household production, quality attributes, and produced nonmarket commodities in static and dynamic...

Widespread hunger and malnutrition persist today despite considerable growth in per capita food availability. This has prompted an evolving conceptualization of food security and of mechanisms to attain and maintain food security. This chapter discusses both food security and food assistance...

This chapter focuses upon competitive relationships in agricultural markets. These markets often exhibit high and increasing levels of buyer and/or seller concentration. Both food manufacturing and retailing are characterized by aggressive attempts by firms to achieve product differentiation....