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CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF FARM POLICY
Author(s) -
ALSTON JULIAN,
CARTER COLIN
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1991.tb00325.x
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , economics , public choice , public policy , politics , work (physics) , public economics , agribusiness , microeconomics , political science , economic growth , engineering , agriculture , law , mechanical engineering , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , biology
Two types of public choice models have been applied to model the political economy of farm programs: the self‐willed government (SWG) model and the clearinghouse government (CHG) model. In terms of theory, the two models are very similar but most analysts prefer the CHG model. In terms of empirical work, the CHG model has done a little more—but not much more—to further our understanding of the causes of farm programs. Reviewing the theoretical and applied literature indicates that one should extend and refine the models so as to allow explicitly for a larger number of interest groups (especially agribusiness and foreign interests), to allow multiple policy instruments to be applied jointly, and to explain the choice(s) of policy instruments jointly with the rate of protection.