A multiple-market framework is developed to measure the size and distribution of research benefits. The model considers an upstream raw product market and a downstream finished product market and allows for imperfect competition in the intermediary food-processing sector. A central conceptual result is derived: an increase in raw product output is a sufficient condition for cost-reducing innovations in the farm sector to increase social welfare. A special case of linear farm supply and isoelastic processing production functions reveals that necessary conditions for welfare to decrease are a convergent farm supply shift, an oligopsonistic upstream market configuration, and increasing returns-to-scale processing technology.
The purpose of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics is to provide a forum for creative and scholarly work in agricultural economics. Submitted manuscripts focus on the economics of natural resources and the environment, agriculture, and rural and community development. Papers are problem-oriented and demonstrate originality and innovation in analysis, methods, or application. Analyses of problems pertinent to research, extension, and teaching are included, as well as interdisciplinary research with a significant economic component. Review articles that offer a comprehensive and insightful survey of a relevant subject, consistent with the scope of the journal, are also included. All articles published are held to the same set of scholarly standards.
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. OUP is the world's largest university press with the widest global presence. It currently publishes more than 6,000 new publications a year, has offices in around fifty countries, and employs more than 5,500 people worldwide. It has become familiar to millions through a diverse publishing program that includes scholarly works in all academic disciplines, bibles, music, school and college textbooks, business books, dictionaries and reference books, and academic journals.
This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.
For terms and use, please refer to our
American Journal of Agricultural Economics
© 1998 Wiley