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This thesis explores the processes by which agri-environmental policy has developed in Scotland, using the 1996 Countryside Premium Scheme consultation as a case study. The role of interest groups within the policy process and the impacts those groups have on policy outcomes through the provision of information to policy-makers are investigated. In the process of developing a new policy, policy-makers require new information. In designing agri-environmental schemes, the Scottish Office requires information on the likely environmental, farm management and farm income impacts of proposed schemes and prescriptions. Such information is increasingly sought through public consultations, which can be considered in terms of the policy-makers demanding information which is then supplied by interested parties. This policy 'market' is amenable to analysis using economic tools more generally used in conventional markets for priced goods and services, such as the Structure-Conduct-Performance framework and the analysis of transaction costs. The public consultations undertaken prior to the introduction of the Countryside Premium Scheme in 1997 was investigated as such a policy 'market'. This revealed the structure of the agri-environmental policy network within Scotland. Three-quarters of the 71 respondents to the consultation were interviewed to establish their conduct within the policy process, and the costs involved in their providing information to the Scottish Office. The impact of the information provided on the policy outcome was explored using a combination of the perceptions of the policy actors surveyed and, more objectively, a comparison of the suggestions made in the written consultation responses with the changes made prior to implementation of the Scheme. The transaction costs paid by interest groups involved in this consultation were the equivalent of around £50,000. In return for this investment, both agricultural and environmental interest groups were found to have had some limited impact on the policy outcomes, through the provision of different types of information.

Agricultural policy changes directly affect the economic viability of Texas crop producers because government payments make up a significant portion of their net farm income (NFI). NFI projections benefit producers, agribusinesses and policy makers, but an economic model making these projections for Texas did not previously exist. The objective of this study was to develop a model to project annual NFI for producers of major crops in Texas. The Texas crop model was developed to achieve this objective, estimating state prices, yields and production costs as a function of their national counterparts. Five hundred iterations of national price and yield projections from the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), along with FAPRI’s average production cost projections, were used as input to the Texas crop model. The stochastic FAPRI Baseline and residuals for Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) equations relating Texas variables to national variables were used to incorporate the risk left unexplained by OLS equations between Texas and U.S. variables. Deterministic and probabilistic NFI projections for Texas crops were compared under the January 2005 and January 2006 FAPRI Baseline projections. With production costs increasing considerably and prices rising moderately in the January 2006 Baseline, deterministic projections of 2006-2014 Texas NFI decreased by an average of 26 percent for corn, 3 percent for cotton, 15 percent for peanuts, and 12 percent for rice, and were negative for sorghum and wheat. Probability distributions of projected NFI fell for all program crops, especially sorghum and wheat. Higher hay price projections caused deterministic projections of NFI for hay to rise roughly 13 percent, and increased the probability distributions of projected hay NFI. Deterministic and probabilistic projections of total NFI decreased for each year, especially for 2006-2008 when fuel price projections were the highest. The Texas crop model can be used to simulate NFI for Texas crop producers under alternative FAPRI baselines. The model shows the impact of baseline changes on probability distributions of NFI for each crop and for Texas as a whole. It can also be useful as a policy analysis tool to compare impacts of alternative farm and macroeconomic policies on NFI.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 64 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 33).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-114). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1958. / Typescript. Abstracted in Dissertation abstracts, v. 19 (1958) no. 2, p. 382-383. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-211).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-114). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1973. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 122).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin, 1967. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.