The Food Stamp Program (FSP) administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the cornerstone of the U.S. federal income and food safety net policy. The FSP has subsidized the food budget for millions of American households for over forty years, spending more than $60 billion per...

Many commentators have claimed that farm subsidies have contributed significantly to the ―obesity epidemic‖ by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant and, symmetrically, that taxing ―unhealthy‖ commodities or subsidizing ―healthy‖ commodities would contribute to...

Over the past ve decades in the United States both total medical expenditures and the proportion of medical expenditures nanced with public funds have increased sig- nicantly. A substantial increase in the prevalence of obesity has contributed to this growth. In this study we measure the...

Most previous studies of home consumption pricing and producer price equalisation schemes have concentrated on static economic surplus effects under an assumption of a perfectly elastic export demand. This paper compares the effects of different types of producer price equalisation schemes with...

Many economists and others are interested in the phenomenon of rising alcohol content of wine and its potential causes. Has the alcohol content of wine risen—and if so, by how much, where, and when? What roles have been played by climate change and other environmental factors compared with...

Recent theoretical work suggests that government policies may in°uence the quality mix of a commodity. This paper provides empirical evidence of quality responses to government policies for wheat policy implemented in France. Analysis is conducted using a detailed data set that includes the...