Growth in the agricultural GDP of four major European countries is compared with US agricultural growth for the period 1974-1993. The agricultural sector's relative prices are taken into account along with economy-wide factor market adjustments. For Denmark, France, Germany and the UK, the...

The 2014 U.S. Farm Act passed into law in early February, 2014, after approximately three years of hearings. Much debate in the negotiations leading to this Farm Act focused on new programs for providing producers with support payments covering “shallow losses” in revenue. We develop an...

The 2014 U.S. Farm Act has new programs for providing producers with commodity support payments covering “shallow losses†in revenue. We develop an approach to examine the sensitivity of the farmer’s downside risk protection to marginal changes in the deductible in shallow loss...

The impact irrigation efficiency and the loan deficiency payment have on the quantity of groundwater withdrawn and the agricultural cost of groundwater conservation in the Texas High Plains (THP) is estimated. The irrigation efficiency component utilizes the two most common irrigation...

This study determines how production and trade policy distortions affected rice productivity in thirty-three rice-producing countries. A rice-productivity index for each country is constructed, and a model linking the productivity gap with policy distortions is presented. After controlling for...

Paper removed by authors for revision - 3/13/08.

A farm level simulation model is used to analyze the financial impacts of the U.S. proposal to the WTO to reduce farm subsidy payments. The impacts are examined for farms of different sizes, debt positions, and household characteristics. Results indicate that cash flow impacts of the policy...

Analysis with a stylised model of milk price determination shows that on a dollar for dollar basis it is theoretically possible for milk price support resulting from discriminatory pricing to be as or even more trade distorting than milk price support resulting from explicit trade intervention...

Sound environmental regulation must achieve environmental objectives while maximizing economic efficiency. This paper evaluates the impact of regulation on efficiency by measuring annual productivity across regulatory regimes in two similar fisheries with differing policy expectations....

Economics has looked at the decision process of politicians but the decision process of agency staff has primarily been the purview of sociologists. Agencies affect the final form of regulations, they may enforce or ignore regulations that exist, and they provide information to the political...