The Intended and Unintended Effects of U.S. Agricultural and Biotechnology Policies.

The Intended and Unintended Effects of U.S. Agricultural and Biotechnology Policies, edited by Joshua S. Graff Zivin and Jeffrey M. Perloff, is an NBER Conference Report that examines a wide range of policy issues that surround U.S. agriculture and the biofuel industry. Among the topics addressed are: how funds distributed by agricultural insurance programs were created to support farmers but often benefit crop processors instead; how the demand for biofuel could create uncertainty around agricultural prices; the ways in which genetically engineered crops might affect the competing goals of energy production, environmental protection, and maintenance of the global food supply; and how the growing availability of genetically-engineering food products affects world food markets. The volume is available from the University of Chicago Press for $99.00.

Graff Zivin is an NBER Research Associate and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. Perloff is a former member of NBER's Board of Directors and a Professor in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at the University of California, Berkeley.