IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/canjag/v66y2018i1p55-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Underinvestment in Producer†Funded Agricultural R&D: The Role of the Horizon Problem

Author

Listed:
  • Zhihua Xiao
  • Murray Fulton

Abstract

Agricultural research and development (R&D) investment has become an increasingly important policy issue as food prices increased and food security problems emerged over the last decade. An important source of agricultural R&D funding is the producer check†off, which is increasingly being used to fund applied agricultural research. Existing studies of producer†funded agricultural R&D indicate there are high private rates of return to agricultural R&D investment by farmers, and thus farmers are underinvesting in R&D. Since a farmer's time horizon is typically less than the period of time over which the benefits of agricultural R&D take place, the horizon problem has been identified as a possible factor in this underinvestment. This paper shows that the horizon problem is unlikely to be the only cause of the underinvestment when the internal rate of return is large. Instead, shortened producer horizons only emerge as the main source of underinvestment when the internal rate of return is low. As a result, other factors, including behavioral determinants, need to be looked at as contributors to the underfunding of agricultural R&D. Les investissements en recherche et développement agricoles sont devenus un important enjeu politique étant donné l'augmentation des prix des aliments et les problèmes de sécurité alimentaire de la dernière décennie. Une importante source de financement pour la recherche et le développement dans le domaine agricole sont les programmes de contribution des producteurs, ces derniers étant de plus en plus sollicités pour financer la recherche agricole appliquée. Certaines études portant sur la recherche et le développement agricoles financés par les producteurs indiquent un haut taux de rendement privé des investissements en recherche et développement agricoles par les producteurs. Ces derniers y investissent donc moins. Puisque l'échéancier de l'agriculteur est typiquement moins long que celui pendant lequel les avantages liés à la recherche et au développement dans le domaine agricole s'échelonnent, le problème de l'horizon a été identifié comme facteur potentiel au sous†investissement. Il est probable, selon cet article, que le problème de l'horizon ne soit pas la seule cause du sous†investissement lorsque le taux interne de rendement s'avère grand. Plutôt, les échéanciers réduits des agriculteurs apparaissent seulement comme les sources principales de sous†investissement lorsque le taux de rendement interne est bas. Il en résulte que d'autres facteurs, incluant les déterminants comportementaux, doivent être examinés à titre de contributeurs au sous†investissement de la recherche et du développement en agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhihua Xiao & Murray Fulton, 2018. "Underinvestment in Producer†Funded Agricultural R&D: The Role of the Horizon Problem," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 66(1), pages 55-86, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:canjag:v:66:y:2018:i:1:p:55-86
    DOI: 10.1111/cjag.12136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/cjag.12136
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/cjag.12136?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jensen, Michael C & Meckling, William H, 1979. "Rights and Production Functions: An Application to Labor-managed Firms and Codetermination," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(4), pages 469-506, October.
    2. Bhaskar, Arathi & Beghin, John C., 2007. "Decoupled Farm Payments and the Role of Base Updating Under Uncertainty," Working Papers 7350, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney & Kory Kroft, 2009. "Salience and Taxation: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1145-1177, September.
    4. Steffen Andersen & Glenn W. Harrison & Morten I. Lau & E. Elisabet Rutström, 2008. "Eliciting Risk and Time Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(3), pages 583-618, May.
    5. Laibson, David, 1998. "Life-cycle consumption and hyperbolic discount functions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-5), pages 861-871, May.
    6. Davis, Jeffrey S. & Oram, Peter A. & Ryan, James G., 1987. "Assessment of Agricultural Research Priorities: An International Perspective," Monographs, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, number 118048.
    7. Julian M. Alston & John W. Freebairn & Jennifer S. James, 2003. "Distributional issues in check-off funded programs," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(3), pages 277-287.
    8. Lence, Sergio H., 2000. "Using Consumption and Asset Return Data to Estimate Farmersï¾’ Time Preferences and Risk Attitudes," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1930, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Terrance M. Hurley & Xudong Rao & Philip G. Pardey, 2014. "Re-examining the Reported Rates of Return to Food and Agricultural Research and Development," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1492-1504.
    10. Michael L. Cook, 1995. "The Future of U.S. Agricultural Cooperatives: A Neo-Institutional Approach," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(5), pages 1153-1159.
    11. Kallbekken, Steffen & Kroll, Stephan & Cherry, Todd L., 2011. "Do you not like Pigou, or do you not understand him? Tax aversion and revenue recycling in the lab," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 53-64, July.
    12. Arathi Bhaskar & John C. Beghin, 2010. "Decoupled Farm Payments and the Role of Base Acreage and Yield Updating Under Uncertainty," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(3), pages 849-858.
    13. Peter Vitaliano, 1983. "Cooperative Enterprise: An Alternative Conceptual Basis for Analyzing a Complex Institution," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1078-1083.
    14. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.
    15. Sergio H. Lence, 2000. "Using Consumption and Asset Return Data to Estimate Farmers' Time Preferences and Risk Attitudes," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(4), pages 934-947.
    16. Scott, Terry & Guzel, Alper & Furtan, Hartley & Gray, Richard, 2005. "Returns to research: Western Grains Research Foundation wheat and barley check-offs," CAIRN Publications 273144, Canadian Agricultural Innovation and Regulation Network (CAIRN).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Minjie Li & Jian Wang & Yihui Chen, 2019. "Evaluation and Influencing Factors of Sustainable Development Capability of Agriculture in Countries along the Belt and Road Route," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-28, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marieka M. Klawitter & C. Leigh Anderson & Mary Kay Gugerty, 2013. "Savings And Personal Discount Rates In A Matched Savings Program For Low-Income Families," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(3), pages 468-485, July.
    2. Königsheim, C. & Lukas, M. & Nöth, M., 2018. "Individual preferences and the exponential growth bias," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 352-369.
    3. Pope, Rulon D. & LaFrance, Jeffrey T. & Just, Richard E., 2011. "Agricultural arbitrage and risk preferences," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 162(1), pages 35-43, May.
    4. Franken, Jason R.V. & Cook, Michael L., 2015. "Investment Constraints in Agricultural Cooperatives," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205427, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Keith Coble & Jayson Lusk, 2010. "At the nexus of risk and time preferences: An experimental investigation," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 67-79, August.
    6. Hermann, Daniel & Rüther, Dörte & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2015. "Die Zeitpräferenz von Landwirten," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 69(4), pages 396-417.
    7. Chaddad, Fabio Ribas & Cook, Michael L., 2001. "Testing For The Presence Of Financial Constraints In Agricultural Cooperatives," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20746, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Giannakas, Konstantinos & Fulton, Murray & Sesmero, Juan, 2016. "Horizon and Free-Rider Problems in Cooperative Organizations," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 1-21.
    9. James Alm & Carolyn J. Bourdeaux, 2013. "Applying Behavioral Economics to the Public Sector," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 206(3), pages 91-134, September.
    10. Malvido Perez Carletti Agustina & Hanisch Markus & Rommel Jens & Fulton Murray, 2018. "Farm Gate Prices for Non-Varietal Wine in Argentina: A Multilevel Comparison of the Prices Paid by Cooperatives and Investor-Oriented Firms," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, January.
    11. Grashuis, Jasper & Cook, Michael, 2016. "Capital, Ownership, and Governance: Analyzing the Structure of U.S. Farmer Cooperatives," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235677, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Xiao, Zhihua, 2015. "Producer-Funded Innovation: R&D Spillovers across Levy Programs," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205315, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. George Hendrikse & Li Feng, 2013. "Interfirm cooperatives," Chapters, in: Anna Grandori (ed.), Handbook of Economic Organization, chapter 26, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Hermann, Daniel & Mußhoff, Oliver & Rüther, Dörte, 2015. "Measuring farmers' time preference: A comparison of methods," DARE Discussion Papers 1506, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    15. Teklewold, Hailemariam, 2011. "Farming or burning? shadow prices and farmer’s impatience on the allocation of multi-purpose resource in the mixed farming system of Ethiopia," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 116080, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Tasoff, Joshua & Letzler, Robert, 2014. "Everyone believes in redemption: Nudges and overoptimism in costly task completion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 107-122.
    17. John Y. Campbell, 2016. "Restoring Rational Choice: The Challenge of Consumer Financial Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 1-30, May.
    18. Todd D. Gerarden & Richard G. Newell & Robert N. Stavins, 2017. "Assessing the Energy-Efficiency Gap," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1486-1525, December.
    19. Belzil, Christian & Sidibé, Modibo, 2016. "Internal and External Validity of Experimental Risk and Time Preferences," IZA Discussion Papers 10348, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Bryan, Gharad & Karlan, Dean & Nelson, Scott, 2009. "Commitment Contracts," Working Papers 73, Yale University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:canjag:v:66:y:2018:i:1:p:55-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/caefmea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.