Plowshares & Pork Barrels (Paperback)

Randall R. Rucker

ISBN 10: 0945999038 / ISBN 13: 9780945999034

Published by Independent Institute,U.S., Oakland, 2005

About this Item

Paperback. 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 appeal to professors and students who study agriculture; people affected by government farm policies; public officials, and businesses affected by agricultural policy such as those in food service, retail, and distribution. Agricultural subsidies in grains, cotton, milk, sugar, tobacco, honey, wool, and peanuts are analysed in this examination of US farm policy. Looking at such programs as food stamps, crop insurance, subsidized credit, trade credit, trade subsidies and import restrictions, this historical perspective argues that these subsidies ultimately redistribute wealth to powerful agricultural interests. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780945999034

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Plowshares & Pork Barrels (Paperback)
• Publisher: Independent Institute,U.S., Oakland
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0945999038
• ISBN 13: 9780945999034
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Plowshares & Pork Barrels provides the historical and economic context necessary to make sense of U.S. agricultural policy and examines possible market-based alternatives that could benefit consumers and ensure the advancement of American agriculture in an increasingly interdependent global economy.

Established in 1860, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has grown without cease and is now the most entrenched of all federal agencies. The Farm Bills signed by Presidents Bill Clinton in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2002 only served to further expand this byzantine system.

Economists are nearly unanimous in their denunciation of this wasteful and pernicious web of politics. Subsidies for not growing crops are so notorious that they have been the object of biting political satire since their introduction in the 1930s. However, few books have critically analyzed government farm programs in their entirety like Plowshares & Pork Barrels.

About the Author

E. C. Pasour, Jr., is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University. He is the author of Agriculture and the State: Market Processes and Bureaucracy and has contributed to numerous books including Agriculture and Energy (W. Lockeretz, ed.), and Economy, Society and Public Policy (C. Pope and L. Wimmer, eds.).

Randal R. Rucker is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of Agricultural Economics and Economics at Montana State University. A contributor to numerous scholarly volumes, Professor Rucker is the author of many technical studies on natural resource and environmental issues.

Bruce L. Gardner (1942–2008), a graduate of the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago, was Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park and Interim Dean, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Maryland. He was a Senior Staff Economist on the Presidents Council of Economic Advisors and Assistant Secretary for Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture.