Hog Round Marketing, Seed Quality, and Government Policy: Institutional Change in U.S. Cotton Production, 1920-1960

Alan Olmstead and Paul Rhode

No 9612, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Between 1928 and 1960 U.S. cotton production witnessed a revolution with average yields roughly tripling while the quality of the crop increased significantly. This paper analyzes the key institutional and scientific developments that facilitated the revolution in biological technologies, pointing to the importance of two government programs -- the one-variety community movement and the Smith-Doxey Act -- as catalysts for change. The story displays two phenomena of interest in light of the recent literature: 1. an important real-world example of the workings of Akerlof's lemons model and 2. a case where inventors, during an early phase of the product cycle, actually encouraged consumers to copy and disseminate their intellectual property.

JEL-codes: N4 N6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-04
Note: DAE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Olmstead, Alan L. and Paul W. Rhode. "Hog-Round Marketing, Seed Quality, And Government Policy: Institutional Change In U.S. Cotton Production, 1920-1960," Journal of Economic History, 2003, v63(2,Jun), 447-488.

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Journal Article: Hog-Round Marketing, Seed Quality, and Government Policy: Institutional Change in U.S. Cotton Production, 1920–1960 (2003)
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