Resources for agricultural science are scarce across the world. Yet even as resources are shrinking, agricultural science has expanded its inquiry into many new areas - such as environmental preservation, food quality, and rural development - without forsaking its more traditional concerns. In a time of tight government budgets, research administrators are faced with the need to provide strong evidence that costs are justified by benefits. Science under Scarcityis an invaluable guide to the theory and methods necessary for evaluating research in agriculture and for setting priorities for resource allocation. Although economists have made significant progress in developing more sophisticated methods for research evaluation and priority setting, many research analysts and administrators do not have a working knowledge of those practices. Without the assistance of formal economic analysis it is particularly difficult to assess the social value of new technologies or to make informed judgements about the trade-offs that are involved in allocation decisions. Addressing that knowledge gap, this book reviews, synthesizes, and extends such methods as economic surplus analysis, econometric techniques, mathematical programming procedures, and scoring models. It discusses these practices in the context of scientific policy, describes their conceptual foundations, and explains how to do them. Originally published in 1995 in hardcover by Cornell University Press, it is now reissued in paperback by CAB INTERNATIONAL.

List of Illustrations	p. xiii
List of Tables	p. xvii
Foreword	p. xix
Preface	p. xxi
Introduction	p. xxix
Intended Audience	p. xxx
Topical Outline	p. xxxi
Institutional and Conceptual Framework
The Institutional, Scientific, and Policy Contexts	p. 3
Institutional Setting	p. 4
Executing Agencies	p. 4
Structure within Agencies	p. 5
Types of Decisions	p. 6
Funding Arrangements	p. 7
Scientific Context	p. 8
Basic, Applied, and Adaptive Research	p. 8
Research and Technology-Transfer Linkages	p. 9
Dynamics	p. 10
The Policy Context	p. 11
The Economic Justification for Government Intervention	p. 12
Research as an Instrument of Social Policy	p. 14
Political Economy Perspective on the Demand for Research	p. 16
Roles for Social Science Research	p. 17
Research Evaluation and Priority-Setting Principles	p. 19
Investing in Research and Technical Change	p. 21
Relating Research, Knowledge, and Production	p. 22
Economic Consequences of Agricultural Research	p. 27
Other Issues--Uncertainty and Adjustment Costs	p. 34
Measuring Benefits and Costs Using Economic Surplus Concepts	p. 40
Basics of Economic Surplus Measures	p. 41
Criticisms of Economic Surplus as a Welfare Measure	p. 43
"Alternatives" to Economic Surplus Analysis	p. 54
Determinants of the Size and Distribution of Benefits and Costs	p. 57
Critical Assumptions in the Model	p. 58
Extensions to the Basic Model	p. 65
Economy-Wide (General-Equilibrium) Implications of Research	p. 78
Distinguishing between Partial- and General-Equilibrium Models	p. 78
Practical Approaches for Research Evaluation	p. 79
Reconciling Multiple Objectives of Research	p. 80
Economic Efficiency	p. 81
Equity (Income Distribution) and Security Objectives	p. 82
Trading off Multiple Objectives	p. 87
Conclusions and Discussion	p. 92
Measuring the Effects of Agricultural Research
Econometric Measurement of the Effects of Research	p. 97
Conceptual Models of Production, Productivity, and Technical Change	p. 99
Parametric Approaches	p. 102
Nonparametric Approaches	p. 116
Index-Number Approaches	p. 120
Specification and Measurement Issues	p. 142
Primal Models	p. 143
Dual Models	p. 146
Single-Equation Supply Models	p. 150
Output and Input Data	p. 153
Research and Extension Variables	p. 167
Statistical and Econometric Issues	p. 188
Calculating the Effects of Research	p. 191
Growth Accounting	p. 191
Research-Benefit Streams	p. 193
Economic Surplus Methods	p. 207
The Basic Model	p. 208
Surplus Distribution in the Basic Model	p. 208
Disaggregating Benefits and Costs	p. 210
Horizontal Market Relationships	p. 212
Multiple Markets for a Single Product	p. 212
Disaggregating Consumer and Producer Surplus	p. 228
Multiple Products: Some General Issues	p. 230
Multiple Products Related in Consumption	p. 237
Multiple Products Related in Production	p. 240
Demand Shifts	p. 243
Vertical Market Relationships	p. 246
Two Factors with Fixed Factor Proportions	p. 246
Two Factors with Variable Factor Proportions	p. 251
Research Benefits with Input Substitution	p. 256
Models with More Than Two Factors of Production	p. 264
Market-Distorting Policies and Research Benefits	p. 266
Closed-Economy Examples	p. 270
The Small-Country Trader Case	p. 275
Large-Country Trader Models	p. 284
Overvalued or Undervalued Exchange Rates	p. 291
Sustainability Issues and Other Externalities	p. 293
Research Benefits in the Presence of Environmental Externalities	p. 294
Resource Depletion, Intergenerational Equity, and Agricultural Research	p. 297
Conclusion	p. 298
Evaluation and Priority Setting in Practice
Economic Surplus Measurement and Application	p. 303
Defining the Problem	p. 305
Clients for the Analysis--Decisions to Be Served	p. 305
The Objectives of the Analysis--Terms of Reference	p. 306
The Scope of the Analysis--Research Programs and Program Alternatives	p. 307
Objectives for the Research System--Measures of Benefits	p. 309
Strategy for the Analysis--Degree of Detail	p. 311
Market-Related Data	p. 314
Price and Quantity Data	p. 316
Elasticities	p. 319
Discount Rate and "Exogenous" Growth Factors	p. 324
Measuring the Research-Induced Supply Shift	p. 326
Conceptual Issues	p. 328
Practical Measurement	p. 332
Research Risk and Lags in Research, Development, and Adoption	p. 349
Application--Analyzing and Using the Data and the Results	p. 361
Calculating the Streams of Research Benefits and Costs	p. 361
Capital Budgeting	p. 362
Calculating Other Consequences of Research	p. 364
Variance of the Research Portfolio and Sensitivity Analysis	p. 365
Using the Results in Decision Making	p. 369
Conclusion	p. 377
Reality Check	p. 377
Achieving a Balance	p. 379
Computing Research Benefits	p. 380
A Spreadsheet Approach	p. 380
The Dream Approach	p. 386
Selected Formulas for Calculating Research Benefits	p. 395
Simplified, Two-Country Model	p. 395
Alternative Formulas for a Small, Open, Distorted Economy	p. 401
Estimating K Using Industry and Experiment Data	p. 411
A Two-Factor Equilibrium-Displacement Model	p. 411
Summary of Algebraic Results	p. 416
Data for Estimating the Supply-Shifting Effects of Research	p. 419
Elicitation Form Cover Sheet	p. 424
Research Resources	p. 425
Research Impact--Estimating k[superscript MAX]	p. 429
Research Dynamics	p. 433
Research Risk	p. 438
Reconciliation	p. 439
Mathematical Programming	p. 441
Mathematical-Programming Principles	p. 443
Basics of Mathematical-Programming Models	p. 443
Formulations for Research Resource Allocation	p. 450
Mathematical Programming in Practice	p. 456
Model Design	p. 457
Compiling Data and Calculating Coefficients	p. 460
Running the Model	p. 460
Conclusion	p. 462
Scoring and Other Shortcut Approaches	p. 463
Scoring	p. 465
Common Practice versus Basic Principles	p. 465
Defining a Simple Scoring Model	p. 472
Implementing a Scoring Model	p. 482
Other Shortcut Procedures	p. 487
Rules of Thumb and Guidelines	p. 487
Conclusion	p. 492
The Problem of Units in Eliciting Weights	p. 494
Overview and Assessment
Assessment and Conclusion	p. 501
Conceptual Framework Revisited	p. 502
Deciding on the Method and Degree of Detail	p. 503
Methods for Ex Post Evaluation of Research Programs	p. 504
Methods for Ex Ante Research Evaluation	p. 506
Setting Priorities	p. 507
Selecting Projects or Experiments	p. 508
Areas for Future Model Development and Application	p. 509
Conclusion	p. 511
References	p. 515
Author Index	p. 553
Subject Index	p. 561
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

We're the #1 textbook rental company. Let us show you why.

Science Under Scarcity

9780851992990

0851992994

Supplemental Materials

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Rewards Program