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- Volume 8, 2016
Annual Review of Resource Economics - Volume 8, 2016
Volume 8, 2016
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The Political Economy of Biotechnology
Vol. 8 (2016), pp. 397–416More LessThe political economy of agricultural biotechnology is addressed in this review through three puzzles. First, why were new crop technologies of the Green Revolution readily accepted, versus today's considerable blockage of genetically engineered crops? Second, why has genetic engineering in medicine and pharmaceuticals been normalized, whereas recombinant DNA technology in agriculture is highly restricted? Finally, why is there greater political acceptance of agricultural biotechnology in some countries versus others, for some crops versus others, and for some crop traits versus others? Explanation requires an extended theoretical framework of regulation that goes beyond a vector sum of weighted material interests. Consideration must also be given to the social construction of risk, political structure, and social psychology. A full political economy of agricultural biotechnology must consider not only costs and benefits to multiple actors in different societies within the classic interest-group and regulator model but also the transnational diffusion of ideologies, with attendant costs to poorer farmers and countries.
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Predicting Long-Term Food Demand, Cropland Use, and Prices
Vol. 8 (2016), pp. 417–441More LessThis review seeks to survey, understand, and reconcile the widely divergent estimates of long-run global crop output, land use, and price projections in the current literature. We review the history of such projections and the different models and assumptions used in these exercises. We then introduce an analytical partial equilibrium model of the global crops sector, which provides a lens through which we can evaluate this previous work. The resulting decomposition of model responses into demand, extensive supply, and intensive supply elasticities offers important insights into the diversity of model parameterizations being employed by the existing models. Along with the methodology for implementing productivity growth, this helps explain some of the divergences in results. We employ a numerical version of the analytical model, which serves as an emulator of this entire class of models, to explore how uncertainties in the common underlying drivers and economic responses contribute to uncertain projections of output, prices, and land use in 2050. We place each of the published estimates reviewed here into the resulting empirical distribution of outcomes at mid-century. In addition, we quantify the sensitivity of these projections to model inputs. Our findings suggest that the top priority for future research should be improved estimation of agricultural factor supply elasticities, a topic that has been largely neglected in recent decades.
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The Economics of Obesity and Related Policy
Vol. 8 (2016), pp. 443–465More LessThe global obesity epidemic reflects increases in caloric consumption from food and reduced energy expenditure at work. Many factors have contributed to the epidemic, including changes in technology (e.g., innovations on farms and in food processing and products), lifestyles, and women's wages and employment. Public health insurance externalities might justify government intervention, but the policy record is mixed, with no great success stories to date. Well-directed taxes on calories, sugar, or fat might be economically efficient ways of reducing obesity, as might regulation of television advertising, food labeling policies, or other nutrition education programs. Policies that induce the food industry to redesign foods may be more effective than policies that rely on inducing response by consumers. Farm subsidies and nutrition policies are largely irrelevant to the issue and modifying agricultural R&D policy is not an economical way to curb obesity. However, preventive approaches directed at children show some promise.
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Media Coverage, Public Perceptions, and Consumer Behavior: Insights from New Food Technologies
Vol. 8 (2016), pp. 467–486More LessThe media often play the role of translating new science to consumers. We discuss the recent literature that has examined the supply and demand factors that affect media coverage of new food technologies and the impact on public perceptions and consumer behavior toward food that utilizes these technologies. We start with a discussion of the ways in which the media influence public perceptions and consumer behavior related to foods made with new technologies. We then discuss the incentives of news media and the potential sources of biases in their reporting. We review empirical studies that have examined media reporting of new agricultural and food technologies, especially biotechnology, in terms of both their agenda setting and framing effects and the social amplification of risk. We synthesize the findings of studies that have examined the influence of media coverage on public attitudes and consumer behavior. We conclude and discuss avenues for future research.
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