Plowshares & Pork Barrels : The Political Economy of Agriculture.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Abbreviations -- Foreword -- Preface -- 1. The Role of Economics in Agricultural Policy Analysis -- Functions of an Economic System -- The Market System versus Central Direction -- Market Prices and Market Socialism -- Marginal Efficiency Conditions and Public Policy -- Importance of Economics in Public Policy -- The Market Process: Competition and Entrepreneurship -- Summary -- 2. Economic Efficiency and Equity in U.S. Agriculture -- Economic Efficiency: An Elusive Concept -- Equity -- Rationales for U.S. Agricultural Programs -- Summary -- 3. Government and the Economy: Private versus Collective Choice -- Private Choice -- Problems Arising from Private Choice -- Private Action versus Collective Action -- Summary -- 4. Public Choice: The Economics of the Political Process -- Individual Participation -- Political Parties -- Legislative Branch -- The Executive Branch and the Bureaucracy -- Government Failure -- Improving the Collective-Choice Process -- Summary -- 5. Implications of Public-Choice Theory for Agricultural Policy -- The Changing Agricultural Agenda -- The Bias of the Collective-Choice Process in Agriculture -- The Problem of Budget Discipline -- Reducing the Overspending Bias -- Summary -- 6. The Farm Problem and Economic Justice -- Economic Growth versus Market Power -- Farm versus Nonfarm Incomes -- Income Inequality and Economic Justice -- Summary -- 7. The Role of Government in U.S. Agriculture -- Roots of Current Farm Programs -- The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 and the Great Depression -- Causes of the Great Depression -- New Deal Measures in Agriculture -- The Growth of Government Involvement in U.S. Agriculture -- Summary -- 8. Price Supports, Parity, and Cost of Production -- Parity Price -- Cost of Production -- Price Setting to Increase Market Stability.

Summary -- 9. History and Overview of Production Controls and Marketing Quotas -- Price Supports Alone -- Price Supports with Restrictions on Output Levels or Input Use -- Compensatory Payments -- History and Operation of Production-Control Programs -- Other Notable Past Commodity Programs -- Mandatory versus Voluntary Production Controls -- Summary -- 10. Production Controls, Price Supports, and Current Farm Programs -- Programs where Participation is Optional -- Income Support for Other Commodities under the FAIR Act -- The Tobacco Program -- The Peanut Program -- Honey and Wool Programs-Eliminated and Reinstated -- Summary -- 11. Cooperatives and Marketing Orders -- Marketing and Supply Cooperatives -- Capper-Volstead Act -- Incentive Problems -- Tax Treatment of Cooperatives -- Marketing Orders -- Marketing Orders as a "Self-Help" Program -- Milk Marketing -- Recent Changes in the Dairy Program -- Marketing Orders for Fruits and Vegetables -- Factors Affecting Development and Life of Marketing Orders -- Effects of Marketing Orders -- Summary -- 12. Effects of Agricultural Commodity Programs -- Who are the Short-Run Beneficiaries? -- Indirect Effects of Price-Support Programs -- Short-Run versus Long-Run Effects -- Restrictions on Competition -- Summary -- 13. Subsidized Food Programs -- Brief History -- Food Stamps -- School Lunch Program -- Other Food Assistance Programs -- Food Stamp Reform -- Nutrition and Health Policies -- Implementation Problems -- Agricultural Price Supports and Food Assistance -- Summary -- 14. International Trade and Trade Restrictions -- Comparative Advantage -- Barriers to Trade -- Export Subsidies and Restrictions -- GATT, the World Trade Organization, and Agricultural Trade Policy -- Reductions in Agricultural Trade Barriers -- Domestic Agricultural Policies and International Trade.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) -- Recap of U.S. Agricultural and Trade Policies -- Summary -- 15. Crop Insurance, Market Stabilization, and Risk Management -- Crop Insurance: An Expensive Disappointment -- Market Stabilization and Risk Management -- Summary -- 16. Subsidized Credit in U.S. Agriculture -- The Farm Credit System -- Effects of Easy-Credit Policies in U.S. Agriculture -- Summary -- 17. Conservation and "Protection" of Natural Resources -- What is Conservation? -- Conservation and the Market -- Soil Erosion -- Protection of Agricultural Land -- The Market versus Central Direction in Land-Use Decisions -- Summary -- 18. Agricultural Research and Extension Activities -- The Beginning -- Change in Scope of USDA Activities Over Time -- Who are the Beneficiaries? -- Rationale for Public Funding of Research and Education -- The Theory of Bureaucracy and Agricultural Research -- Summary -- 19. Taxation in Agriculture -- Marginal Tax Rates and the Progressive Income Tax -- The Federal Income Tax and Agriculture -- The Estate Tax -- Corporate Farming -- Farming as a Tax Shelter -- Implications for Agriculture -- Summary -- 20. The Effects of Government Farm Programs -- Programs that Increase Product Prices to Farmers -- Programs that Reduce Prices -- Net Effects: Who Wins? Who Loses? -- Policy Implications -- Summary -- Appendix the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002: How it Updated Existing Law -- Title I: Commodities -- Title II: Conservation -- Title III: Trade -- Title IV: Nutrition -- Title V: Credit -- Title VI: Rural Development -- Title VII: Research -- Title VIII: Forestry -- Title IX: Energy -- Title X: Miscellaneous -- Notes -- Index -- About the Authors -- Back Cover.

Agricultural subsidies in grains, cotton, milk, sugar, tobacco, honey, wool, and peanuts are analyzed in this examination of U.S. farm policy. Looking at such programs as food stamps, crop insurance, subsidized credit, trade credit, trade subsidies and import restrictions, conservation, agricultural research, and taxation, this historical perspective argues that these subsidies ultimately redistribute wealth to powerful agricultural interests who use their political clout to advance their economic interests at the expense of the general public. This analysis of government farm programs will appeal to professors and students who study agriculture; people affected by government farm policies; public officials, and businesses affected by agricultural policy such as those in food service, retail, and distribution.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.