Cheap Food Policy: Fact or Rhetoric

James Miller and Keith Coble
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James Miller: Mississippi State Department of Agricultural Economics

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Abstract: The term "cheap food policy" has frequently been used as a descriptor for U.S. commodity programs by those who contend these payments to farmers ultimately result in lower food costs for consumers. More recently, farm policy has been criticized for contributing to the obesity problem in the U.S. by making large quantities of fattening foods widely available and relatively inexpensive. This paper econometrically evaluates the impact of direct government payments to farmers from 1960-1999 on the proportion of disposable income consumers spend on food. The model finds the payments do not significantly affect the affordability of food.

Keywords: Agricultural policy; obesity; food policy; technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2005-06-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 24
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Cheap food policy: Fact or rhetoric? (2007)
Working Paper: Cheap Food Policy: Fact or Rhetoric? (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpot:0506008

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