Public Policy And Agricultural Technology

Recent digital innovations provide opportunities to deliver better policies for the agriculture sector by helping to overcome information gaps and asymmetries, lower policy-related transaction costs, and enable people with different preferences and incentives to work better together. Drawing on ten illustrative case studies and unique new data gathered via an OECD questionnaire on agri-environmental policy organisations' experiences with digital tools, this report explores opportunities to improve current agricultural and agri-environmental policies, and to deliver new, digitally enabled and information-rich policy approaches.

This textbook integrates three related fields in economics, namely agricultural/forestry economics, environmental economics, and international trade, by foregrounding cost-benefit analysis as a significant policy tool. Exploring how welfare measures can be used in the analysis of agricultural, trade, and other economic policies, Applied Welfare Economics, Trade, and Agricultural Policy Analysis fills a gap in the literature on agricultural policy analysis by explaining the economic efficiency improvements and income transfers of various agricultural policy reforms in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. G. Cornelis van Kooten addresses methods of identifying and measuring economic surpluses (costs and benefits), the precautionary principle, identification of an appropriate discount rate, the importance of non-market values, and the role of agriculture in trade negotiations and climate change. Applied Welfare Economics, Trade, and Agricultural Policy Analysis draws on new research, brings attention to the existing literature, and includes review questions that challenge programming skills. The techniques developed in this text can be applied to the development and reform of agricultural policies in various regions in response to trade negotiations and many other situations involving government policy.

Prepared under the aegis of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this text presents a fresh and comprehensive look at agricultural development policy. It provides a clear, systematic review of important classes of policy issues in developing countries and discusses the emerging international consensus on viable approaches to the issues. The text is unique in its coverage and depth and it: Summarises hundreds of references on agricultural development policies Cites policy experiences and applied studies in more than 70 countries Provides guidance for policy makers giving examples of successes and failures Reviews issues related to the formulation of strategies and the requirements for making them successful Develops the conceptual foundations and illustrates policies that have worked, and some that have not, with explanations Topics covered include agriculture’s role in economic development, the objectives and strategies of agricultural policy, linkages between macroeconomic and agricultural policy, policies for the agricultural financial system and agricultural technology development. Upper level undergraduates taking courses in Economic Development and International Development and graduates taking courses in Agricultural Development, International and Economic Development, Natural Resource Management and specialised topics in agriculture will find this text of great interest. It also serves as a reference for professionals and researchers in the field of International Development.