The rise of contract farming and vertical integration is one of the most important changes in modern agriculture. Yet the adoption and diffusion of these new forms of organization has varied widely across regions, commodities, or farm types, however. Transaction cost theories and the like are...

The adoption and diffusion of contract farming and vertical integration in modern agriculture has varied widely across regions, commodities, or farm types. This paper lays out a framework for understanding the evolution of organizational practices in U.S. agriculture by drawing on theories of...

In this paper, I consider the question of whether ethical decision-making affects a person’s happiness. Using cross-country data from the World Values Survey, I find that people who agree that it is never justifiable to engage in ethically-questionable behaviors report that they are more...

In this paper we consider the question of whether middle-scale farmers, which we define as producers generating between $100,000 and $250,000 in sales annually, are better agricultural stewards than small and large-scale producers. Our study is motivated by the argument of some commentators that...

In this article I discuss the nature of ethical dilemmas and responsibilities. I begin by noting that there are two types of dilemmas, philosophical and behavioral. I distinguish between them, give examples, and explain why it is important to understand their differences. I also use the...

We investigate the relationship between exposure to "authoritarian" or "autocratic" institutions for prolonged periods of time and long-term economic development. Specifically, we examine how the length of time a country's regime was authoritarian between 1920 and 2000 is correlated with...

According to New Institutional Economics, transactional activities, governance structures, institutions and beliefs and values are related hierarchally. Each element must be aligned with the adjacent level for transaction costs to be minimized. This framework is applied to the question of...

We consider the effect of perceived economic pressures on the ethical attitudes of farmers. We hypothesize that an increase in the economic pressures a farmer faces could result in that farmer being more tolerant of unethical conduct than farmers not experiencing economic pressures. To test this...