Contributions Of Agricultural Economics To Critical Policy Issues

Papers and invited panels from an August 2006 conference shed light on recent work on the economics of natural disasters, trade and marketing of agricultural commodities in a globalizing world, and food safety and risk. Two opening lectures look at agricultural growth and economic development through the lens of globalization, and discuss ways of empowering rural people for their own development. Some paper and panel topics include food regulation and trade under the WTO, food safety as a global public good, the impact of droughts and floods on food security, the economics of biofortification, and tariff line analysis of US and international dairy protection. The editors are affiliated with the National Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies, Japan. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Keijiro Otsuka is a professorial fellow at the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID) in Tokyo and the Director of GRIPS/FASID Joint Graduate Program. He is president-elect of IAAE. He has been working extensively on the Green Revolution, land tenancy, property rights and natural resource management, and the poverty dynamics in both Asia and Africa.

Kaliappa Kalirajan is also a professorial fellow at FASID and a professor of development economics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). His areas of major interest include macroeconomic and trade policies and reform, poverty reduction, and technology issues. He is also an adjunct professor at the Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India.