CONTENTS
I. Introduction
Ⅱ. Complexity, Human Capital, and
Agricultural RD
Ⅲ. Unintended Consequences and the Importance of
Proper Pricing
Ⅳ. Harmonizing
Agricultural, Environmental, and
Resource Conservation Policies
V. Conclusion
ABSTRACT
I discuss three general lessons drawn from economic theory and historical
experience for improving the performance of agriculture with respect to
environmental protection and resource conservation. First, government
development of environment-
friendly, resource-conserving technologies and
government investment in improvements in human capital are critical for making
it feasible to reconcile agricultural productivity with environmental quality.
Second, because new technologies evoke responses that are difficult to
anticipate, it is essential to maintain proper incentives for environmental
protection and resource conservation (e.g., taxes on the use of polluting
inputs, setting prices of resources at their social opportunity costs,
establishing clear property rights). Third, agriculture sector policies like
price supports, input subsidies, limitations on imports, and settlement
promotion policies are important causes of environmental and resource
degradation in many countries; thus, agriculture sector policy reform is
necessary to improve environmental protection and resource conservation in
agriculture.
