Volume 1B. Part 2: Marketing, Distribution and Consumers. Agricultural commodity markets: spot, futures, options, forward contracts and derivatives (J. Williams). Storage and price stabilization (B. Wright). Food processing and distribution: an industrial organization approach (R.J. Sexton, N....

Volume 2B. Part 5: Agricultural and Food Policy. The incidence of agricultural policy (J.M. Alston, J.S. James). Information, incentives, and the design of agricultural policies (R.G. Chambers). Market failures and second-best analysis, with a focus on nutrition, credit, and incomplete markets...

Extension of factual and analytical work to policy issues has been a feature of agricultural economics from its beginnings, but only in recent decades have these efforts become part of the scientific core of what agricultural economists do. At the same time, the range of policy analysis has...

There is much in common between the agricultural sectors of the United States and Canada. This chapter begins with a brief background on the two sectors, then reviews their histories of farm policy developments before reporting new estimates of rates of assistance to their farmers and their...