This article considers the political, economic, and environmental factors associated with the allocation of federal LISA (Low Input/Sustainable Agriculture) funds among states. A tobit model is estimated with LISA allocations as the dependent variable. Results indicate that pressure groups are important. LISA funding depends positively on membership in environmental organizations, the number of farms, and the size of the rural-nonfarm population, while it depends negatively on the size of the urban population. States with host LISA institutions receive significantly more funding, as do states with Senators in leadership positions on key congressional agricultural committees.

Agricultural agencies have long offered agri-environmental payments that are inadequate to achieve water quality goals, and many state water quality agencies are considering point-nonpoint trading to achieve the needed pollution reductions. This analysis considers both targeted and nontargeted agri-environmental payment schemes, along with a trading program which is not spatially targeted. The degree of improved performance among these policies is found to depend on whether the programs are coordinated or not, whether double-dipping (i.e., when farmers are paid twice—once by each program—to undertake particular pollution control actions) is allowed, and whether the agri-environmental payments are targeted. Under coordination, efficiency gains only occur with double-dipping, so that both programs jointly influence farmers’ marginal decisions. Without coordination, double-dipping may increase or decrease efficiency, depending on how the agri-environmental policy is targeted. Finally, double-dipping may not solely benefit farmers, but can result in a transfer of agricultural subsidies to point sources.

This study examines the environmental impacts of trade liberalization in Costa Rica. A CGE model is constructed which includes eight environmental indicators covering deforestation, pesticides, overfishing, hazardous wastes, inorganic wastes, organic wastes, greenhouse gases, and air pollution. Three trade liberalization scenarios are examined. Two sets of analyses are conducted for each scenario, one in which technologies do not change in response to trade liberalization and the other in which total factor productivity in each sector changes in response to changes in imports of machinery and equipment. To account for uncertainty regarding values of the model's parameters, a Monte Carlo experiment is conducted for each policy option. The impacts of trade liberalization on the environmental indicators are generally negative in sign but small or moderate in magnitude, both when technology is constant and when technology is allowed to vary.

The paper by Taylor has merit because it is provocative, but like many things, this can be overdone. His self-described diatribe against neoclassical economics is in special need of a response. He appears to dismiss the notion of utility maximization, but in fact there is nothing to dismiss. Although many economists do not realize this fact, the assumption of utility maximization is not testable. Give me any pattern of behavior by an individual (or a society) and I can give you a utility function which, when maximized subject to whatever constraints that person or society may face, yields the observed behavior. An obvious example would be U = 1 for the observed behavior and U = 0 otherwise, although more complicated examples could also be constructed. The power of economics lies not in utility maximization, but in the specification of constraints on choice and in describing how changes in the constraints affect behavior. To illustrate, even a consumer who made decisions randomly would tend to have downward-sloping demand curves because of his or her budget constraint (Becker).

One potentially serious problem in evaluating the effectiveness of extension programs is that participants are not picked at random. Self-selection can be a problem, and it can be compounded if extension officials concentrate on the most progressive farms. This study explores the relationships between adoption of maize high-yielding varieties (HYVs) and participation in field trials intended to foster HYV usage, drawing on data from Swaziland. Results indicate that it is impossible to say if field trials had any effect on adoption. Participating farms used more HYVs, but this could have been due to self-selection or the government's selection process.

This article explores the speed of adjustment in Indian agricultural labor markets to changing economic circumstances. Agricultural wages in sixteen states during 1970–86 are analyzed. Results indicate that agricultural wages adjust quickly toward their long-run values, completing about one-fifth to one-fourth of the adjustment per year. Results also suggest strong linkages between the agricultural and nonagricultural labor markets. Interstate agricultural productivity differences have risen substantially in the last twenty-five years, and many feel this has led to a disintegration of the agricultural labor market. The findings suggest an indirect integration may be occurring through migration to nonagriculture.

Growing evidence of surface-water and groundwater contamination has led to demands for federal and state water quality protection policies. Agriculture will be an important target of such policies. Numerous instances of surface-water and groundwater contamination by pesticides and fertilizers have been recorded, and one study estimates that the drinking water of 50 million people in the U.S. is potentially contaminated by agricultural chemicals (Hallberg, Nielsen and Lee).