Electoral competition is considered a control mechanism to guarantee a good performance of the government. However, in real life it often leads to a distorted policy implementation due to Government Capture and low Government Accountability. Therefore, the analysis of voter behavior is a key...

In democratic systems, elections are considered a mechanism to ensure that efficient policies seeking the wellbeing of the population are implemented by the government, although the reality often reflects the opposite. Governments usually act inefficiently due to problems of government...

Even in countries with well functioning democracies, not all people with the right to vote in a presidential election decide to cast a vote. In order to study the importance of abstention in presidential elections in Africa and Latin America, data from Senegal and Honduras was analyzed. These...

This chapter surveys studies that have used the methods of mechanism design, optimal taxation, nonlinear pricing, and principal-agent analyses in the analysis of agricultural policy. The optimal design and reform of agricultural policy are studied under the presumption that agricultural...

This chapter first discusses what economists mean by “the incidence of agricultural policy” and why we care about it. Then it reviews models of the determinants of the differential incidence of different policies among interest groups such as suppliers of factors of production, consumers,...

The aim of this paper is to assess the potential impacts of different fertilizer subsidy reform options on the performance of the Iranian crops production sector. This is achieved using a Regional Crop Programming (RCP) model, based on Positive Mathematical Programming, which includes in total...

In this paper we make a two-fold contribution. We first examine the impact of agricultural subsidies on Greece, using a detailed, micro-panel dataset for four years, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014. Our analysis is illuminating at least two aspects of subsidies: first, it suggests that an incentive...

Food security and environmental sustainability are global challenges that must be addressed together to be solved. After stressing the importance of solving the challenges of producing enough food to feed a growing population while preserving the climate and the environment, this analysis...

Learning from the experiences of other countries can support efforts to improve agricultural policies. Switzerland provides an interesting case because its policy is exceptionally targeted towards the establishment of sustainable production systems. We describe the history and the current state...

In this article Hamilton describes the growing interest in farming among a new generation of Americans and makes detailed suggestions for how the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and local governments can support policies to help support them. He notes that the interest in farming...