M any of the effects of invasive species occur in commodity markets affected by agricultural programs and policies, such as price and income supports, crop insurance, and trade barriers. In this paper, we focus on how policies to exclude, monitor and control, or eradicate invasive species interact with other policies. We present some general arguments, drawing on parallels in the literature on farm program impacts on the returns to agricultural research, and some preliminary results from a case study of citrus canker.

Annual data for forty-eight states are used to account for changes in the composition of input and output aggregates over space and time, and thereby to obtain new evidence on changes in inputs, outputs, and productivity in U.S. agriculture. The measures change significantly when we use state-specific rather than national prices and when we allow for changes in the composition of the aggregates, especially of labor and capital inputs. We compare our estimates and those reported by Ball et al. (American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81(1999):164–79). The national estimates are similar but substantial differences are found in state-level productivity growth. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

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Many low-income countries pursue cheap-food policies in which consumers pay subsidized prices for bread, rice and other staples, This paper addresses the issue of why different governments select different food subsidy policies, using multiple instruments rather than a simple across-the-board subsidy to provide consumers with access to cheap food, It examines the optimal structure of cheap-food policies in the context of a partial equilibrium model in which the country may be large in trade, and is able to combine import subsidies or tariffs, and output taxes or subsidies, to transfer income to consumers through the market. The model allows for a marginal opportunity cost of government revenues greater than one dollar. In addition, in the model, food aid from overseas may be either given away to the consumer, or given to the government for subsequent sale in the domestic market. The results indicate that only by happenstance will a country choose to use a pure consumption subsidy or a pure import subsidy to transfer income to consumers. In addition, an increase in international food aid does not necessarily lead the government to reduce producer and consumer prices for a commodity. cD 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.