Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness, and Rent-Seeking Behaviour

The second edition of the groundbreaking Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness, and Rent-Seeking Behaviour expands upon its original analysis of the economic policies that affect agriculture and agribusiness. Widening their lens to include information on the European Union, the authors continue to emphasize the role of farmers and agribusiness in the formation of policy, exploring the issues from both economic and historical perspectives.

More theoretical than the first volume in its discussions of welfare economics and the theory of public choice, the second edition also addresses the broad significance of agricultural policies such as biofuels, nutrition, multifunctionality, genetically modified organisms, and multinational firms. The authors maintain and expand the empirical content to provide more practical examples suited to teaching and analyse specific problems including price and income stabilization, science policy, environmental policy, and food quality and safety.

Andrew Schmitz is a Ben Hill Griffin Jr. Eminent Scholar and professor of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida.


Charles B. Moss is a professor of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida.


Troy G. Schmitz is an associate professor in the Morrison School of Agribusiness and the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.


Hartley W. Furtan is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Saskatchewan.