Discussion: Economic Research Trade-Offs Between Equity and Efficiency

Extract

I applaud Quentin West for what he said in his paper and commend him for the directions he had outlined for the Economic Research Service. If there was a time when economists could ignore the equity dimension in their analysis, it is no more. The agricultural establishment, largely uncritical lovers of traditional agricultural research and education, and the young radicals, largely unloving critics exemplified by Hard Tomatoes -- Hard Times, hold very different images of who pays for and who benefits from publicly supported agricultural research and education. Differences will not be resolved without better information in the hands of both groups.

It would be hard to quarrel with the thrust of ERS analysis reported by West for Tobacco and other programs. So I will deal with his shortcomings of omission rather than commission. Specifically, I will quantify the distribution of costs and benefits from agricultural research and education.