Because packaging reaches consumers at the critical moments of purchase and consumption, it has become an important marketing tool for food manufacturers and retailers. In this paper, I first review how the marketing, health and nutrition claims made on packaging create “health halos” that make foods appear healthier than they are, thereby leading to higher consumption yet lower perceived calor...

This paper analyzes regulatory design for agroecosystem management on public rangelands. We present an informational and institutional environment where three of the most prominent regulatory instruments on public rangelands – input regulation, cost-sharing/taxation, and performance regulation – can be defined and compared. The paper examines how the optimal regulation is shaped by the informat...

The purpose of this paper is to determine what factor affect trust in scientists and food manufacturers, and to examine how trust in these institutions affects public support for biotechnology. Data from the U.S. Biotechnology Study reveal that benefits from biotechnology and expectations of trustworthiness are correlated with trust in scientists, but benefits and costs of biotechnology, and ex...

The paper includes: (i) a descriptive account of what has actually happened in the Baltic States in regard to agricultural sector reforms; (ii) an analysis of the institutions, policies, laws and regulations underlying the process of privatizing farming and land ownership; (iii) the interaction of these factors and their agricultural policy implications; and (iv) the influence of interest group...

The paper deals with the determinants of labour out-migration from agriculture across 149 EU regions over the 1990-2008 period. The central aim is to shed light on the role played by CAP payments on this important adjustment process. Using static and dynamic panel data estimators, we show that standard neo-classic drivers, like the relative income and the relative labour share, represent signif...

This study aimed at examining the merit of crop diversification as a strategy for agricultural growth in Bangladesh. Specifically, the existence of economies of diversification, scale economies and diversification efficiencies at the farm level were examined using a stochastic input-distance function approach. Results reveal strong evidence of diversification economies amongst most crop enterpr...

This paper deals with the quantification of GMO regulations on bilateral trade flows. A composite index of the ‘complexity’ of such regulations for sixty countries as well as an ‘objective’ score for six GMO regulatory sub-dimensions has been developed. Using a gravity model, we show how bilateral ‘similarity’ in GMO regulations, affect trade flows for the composite index and its components. Re...

We study whether a sudden increase of the price of rice supplied by the Indian Public Distribution System in Andhra Pradesh, a large Indian state, had a negative impact on child nutrition. A few months after the price increase, a health survey started to record weight for a large sample of children. The data collection continued for several months, so that children measured later lived for a lo...

We revisit the cost of the U.S. sugar program by analyzing the welfare implications of its removal. We use a multimarket model of U.S. sweetener markets, which includes raw crops, sugar extraction and refining, high-fructose corn syrup, and sweetener users (food-processing industries and final consumers). Our approach addresses the industrial organization of food industries using sweeteners and...