The objective of this paper is to develop an optimal incentive system for multitaskingscientists in universities or professors under repeat contracting. With the aid of a principalagentmodel under repeat contracting, we show that (i) when a second task is assigned to aprofessor and the two tasks...

The objective of this paper is to identify the impact of public and private agriculturalresearch on multi-output multi-input profit maximizing decisions of Midwestern farmers. The mainhypothesis is that investments in public and private R&D shift outward the supply curves for cropand livestock...

The chapter focuses on household production theory and models for non-agriculturalhouseholds, largely in developed countries. The objectives of the paper are: (1) to presentseveral types of microeconomic models of household decision making and highlight theirimplications for empirical food...

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...