Agricultural R&D, Technology, and Obesity

Julian Alston and Abigail M. Okrent
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Abigail M. Okrent: United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Chapter 8 in The Effects of Farm and Food Policy on Obesity in the United States, 2017, pp 203-235 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Agricultural R&D has contributed to obesity by making food more abundant and cheaper, and some commentators have proposed that the agricultural research portfolio could be tilted more in favor of healthy foods, and away from less-healthy foods. We review these ideas in principle, and present a review of prior work and new evidence on the effects of past research investments and on the likely costs of changing the R&D portfolio as a way of fighting obesity in the United States. Our analysis suggests that redirecting agricultural research priorities would be a generally ineffective and highly expensive way of fighting obesity.

Keywords: Agricultural R&D; Productivity; Underinvestment; R&D lags; Second-best policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psachp:978-1-137-47831-3_8

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DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-47831-3_8

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