The Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Economics

This Handbook offers an up-to-date collection of research on agricultural economics. Drawing together scholarship from experts at the top of their profession and from around the world, this collection provides new insights into the area of agricultural economics. The Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Economics explores a broad variety of topics including welfare economics, econometrics, agribusiness, and consumer economics. This wide range reflects the way in which agricultural economics encompasses a large sector of any economy, and the chapters present both an introduction to the subjects as well as the methodology, statistical background, and operations research techniques needed to solve practical economic problems. In addition, food economics is given a special focus in the Handbook due to the recent emphasis on health and feeding the world population a quality diet. Furthermore, through examining these diverse topics, the authors seek to provide some indication of the direction of research in these areas and where future research endeavors may be productive. Acting as a comprehensive, up-to-date, and definitive work of reference, this Handbook will be of use to researchers, faculty, and graduate students looking to deepen their understanding of agricultural economics, agribusiness, and applied economics, and the interrelationship of those areas. Cover Title Copyright Contents Editor biographies List of contributors Acknowledgments 1 An introduction to The Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Economics 2 Broadening the validity of welfare economics for quantitative public policy analysis Part 1 Food economics 3 World food: new developments 4 Industrial organization of the food industry: the role of buyer power 5 Economic ramifications of obesity: a selective literature review 6 Behavioral economics in food and agriculture 7 Product quality and reputation in food and agriculture 8 Food marketing in the United States 9 Food from the water – fisheries and aquaculture 10 The economics of antibiotics use in agriculture 11 Advancements in the economics of food security Part 2 Environmental and resource economics 12 How does climate change affect agriculture? 13 Habitat conservation in agricultural landscapes 14 Water quality trading 15 Natural capital and ecosystem services 16 Water management and economics 17 Water supply and dams in agriculture Part 3 Trade, policy, and development 18 A synopsis of trade theories and their applications 19 International agricultural trade: a road map 20 Use of subsidies and taxes and the reform of agricultural policy 21 The political economy of agricultural and food policies 22 Macroeconomic issues in agricultural economics 23 Models of economic growth: application to agriculture and structural transformation 24 Rural development – theory and practice Part 4 Methods 25 Econometrics for the future 26 On the evolution of agricultural econometrics 27 New empirical models in consumer demand 28 A survey of semiparametric regression methods used in the environmental Kuznets curve analyses 29 Reconstructing deterministic economic dynamics from volatile time series data 30 Agricultural development impact evaluation 31 Estimating production functions Part 5 Production 32 Role of risk and uncertainty in agriculture 33 Investing in people in the twenty-first century: education, health, and migration 34 The economics of biofuels 35 Farm management: recent applications 36 Economics of agricultural biotechnology Part 6 Marketing 37 The financial economics of agriculture and farm management 38 Futures markets and hedging 39 Cooperative extension system: value to society 40 Theory of cooperatives: recent developments 41 Agribusiness economics and management List of reviewers Index Agricultural economics encompasses a large sector of any economy and this Routledge Handbook compiles the latest scholarship on agricultural economics. The entries in this volume explore contemporary issues such as climate change, genetically modified foods, and rural poverty.