Public Choice and Agriculture: An American Example

In the United States, agricultural politics were very much in the news in 1989. There were the intense negotiations in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); the $40+ billion appropriations bill for the nation’s farm and food programmes; the $900 million farmer reimbursement package for crop losses due to drought, floods — all have kept the agricultural situation in the forefront of the communications media. Because of this and other related events, a paper on ‘public choice and agriculture’ appears very appropriate at this time. We shall first examine the theory then proceed to examples which appear to substantiate the general thesis.