Plowshares and pork barrels : the political economy of agriculture / / E. C. Pasour, Jr. and Randal R. Rucker ; foreword by Bruce L. Gardner

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910788070303321
• Autore: Pasour E. C.
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oakland, California : , : The Independent Institute, , 2005; ©2005
• ISBN: 0-945999-03-8; 1-59813-194-X
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (410 p.)
• Disciplina: 338.1/0973
• Soggetti: Agriculture and state - United States; United States Economic policy
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Includes index.
• Nota di contenuto: 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 ChoicePrivate 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 BiasSummary; 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 StabilitySummary; 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 ReinstatedSummary; 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
• Sommario/riassunto: 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 ap