New experimental economic methods are described and used to assess consumers'willingness to pay for food products that might be made from new transgenic and intragenicgenetically modified (GM) traits. Participants in auctions are randomly chosen adult consumersin major US metropolitan areas and...

The USDA is attempting to shift more research funds into competitive grants involving collaborationacross disciplines on large projects. This type of research structure raises a host of information andincentive issues. The objective of this paper is to shed new light on principal-agent problems...

The objective of this paper is to examine the status of labor-saving mechanization in U.S. fruitand vegetable harvesting. Fruit and vegetable harvest mechanization has several potentialadvantages: reduced harvest costs, eliminate problems associated with finding good qualityharvest labor, permit...

This paper reviews and synthesizes the theory of information economics and empiricalevidence on how information changes the behavior of consumers, households and firms. I show thatconsumers respond to new information in food experiments but perhaps not in retirement accountmanagement. Some...

The paper draws upon the work of T.W. Schultz to show that human capital theory andlabor market adjustments have important implications for investing in people for the 21st Century.[...]

A methodology for measuring public agricultural research capital is developed anddescribed for the first time, new public agricultural research capital measures for each of the 48contiguous US states, 1970-1999, are presented, and a new econometric analysis of the contributionof public...

The objective of this paper is to assess prospects for increasing agricultural productivitythrough advances in technology and innovation in farming techniques for developed and selectivedeveloping and transition countries over 2010-2019. Over this period of time, the net impact ofclimate change...

The objective of this paper is to examine how the likely growth in the ethanol industryover the next decade will impact U.S. labor markets, especially migrant crop labor, which is largelyimmigrant labor. To build the background for making projections for 2008-2010 and beyond, thepaper reviews...

This paper provides an updated assessment of the changing demand for farm labor, including its components and relative use, as reflected in the capital-labor ratios for California and Florida, which are major coastal producers of fresh fruits and vegetables, and of Iowa and Texas, which are two...

Food products containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients have entered themarket over the past decade. The biotech industry and environmental groups have disseminatingconflicting private information about GM foods. This paper develops a unique methodology forvaluing independent third-party...