The Income Objective in Agricultural Policies

Our starting-point for this study is a country whose national policy aims at the well-being of all its citizens, and simultaneously at raising their standard of living as rapidly as possible. We shall also assume that the more important decisions made in this country are arrived at by majority vote on democratic lines, but that at the same time great attention is paid to the opinions of minorities: to this end, there is readiness to make compromises. We assume moreover that a policy of great restraint is observed in the exercise of economic pressure, not to mention compulsion, on the common citizens when their interests as individuals conflict with the interests of the general public. This ideal democratic state must have an agricultural policy. Just what its agricultural policy shall be, is a question that is perhaps not easy to decide.