Contents -- Foreword -- PART I. Farm Management and Production Economics, 1946-70 -- The Need for Research and Education in Farm Management -- Our Heritage - Accounts and Surveys, Economic Theory, Statistics -- Farm Management and Production Economics since World War II -- Changes in the Underlying Methodology -- Some Results Reflecting the New Methodology -- Analytical Techniques -- The Development of Regional Activities -- Agricultural Adjustments and Aggregative Analysis -- Participation in the International Area -- The Changing Structure of Agriculture -- The Development of a Dichotomy -- Limitations of Static Economic Firm Theory and Profit Maximization -- Outlook for the Future -- The Farm Management Identity Crisis -- Orientations for the Future -- Notes -- References -- PART II. The Analysis of Productive Efficiency in Agricultural Marketing: Models, Methods, and Progress -- On the Meaning of Efficiency -- Formulation of a Theoretical Framework -- Production Systems in Marketing Firms -- Plant Costs and the Length of Operation -- Multiple-Service Plant Operations -- Spatial Components of Marketing Cost -- Total Systems Analysis -- Estimation of Plant Cost Relationships -- Descriptive Analysis of Accounting Data -- Statistical Analysis of Accounting Data -- The Economic-Engineering Approach -- The Evidence on Economies of Scale -- Applications and Extensions of Plant Efficiency Research -- Firm Optimizing Studies -- Feasibility Studies -- Efficient Organization within Market Areas -- Central Market Studies -- Evaluation of Progress and Achievement -- Notes -- References -- General References -- Descriptive Analysis of Accounting Data -- Statistical Analysis of Accounting Data -- Economic-Engineering Analysis -- Firm Optimizing Models -- Feasibility Studies -- Efficient Organization within Market Areas -- Central Market Studies.

PART III. Policy for Commercial Agriculture, 1945-71 -- Farm Problems and Their Economic and Social Setting -- The Agricultural Experience -- The Macroeconomics of Agriculture -- Empirical Knowledge about Key Economic Relations -- Production Capacity, Current and Prospective -- Parity and Income Comparisons -- Values, Beliefs, and Goals -- The Politics of Farm Policy -- Policy Issues and Proposals -- Histories of Commercial Farm Policy -- Evaluations and Proposals, 1945-50 -- Widening Differences during the 1950s -- An Approximate Policy Equilibrium Emerging in the 1960s -- Farm Policy Analysis -- The Free Market -- Price Support -- Domestic Consumption Subsidies -- Export Disposal -- Two-Price Plans -- Supply Control -- Direct Payments -- Farm Bargaining Power and Marketing Orders -- Storage and Market Stabilization -- Other Programs and Combinations of Programs -- Capitalization of Income Benefits -- Program Costs -- Efficiency -- Progressiveness -- Income Distribution and Equity -- Concluding Topics -- Farm Policy, Rural Poverty, and Development -- Approaches and Methods -- Comments on the Future -- Notes -- References -- PART IV. Postwar Policies Relating to Trade in Agricultural Products -- Domestic and International Policy Conflicts -- Policy Conflicts at the End of World War II -- United States Trade in Farm Products -- Farm Programs and Trade Interferences -- Farm and Trade Policies of Other Countries -- Measurement of Trade Policy Effects -- P.L. 480 and the Recipient Countries -- The Enlargement of the Common Market -- Industrial Country Policies and Agricultural Trade -- Benefits and Costs of Trade Policies -- New Directions for Research -- Estimates of Trade Restriction Effects -- Adjustment Problems of Farm People -- Trade Interferences and Price Instability -- Trade with the Centrally Planned Economies -- Notes -- References.

General References -- USDA Supply and Demand Studies for Foreign Nations and Related Summary Reports -- Demand Studies for the Agency for International Development -- Selected USDA Foreign Agriculture Studies -- PART V. Agricultural Price Analysis and Outlook -- Recursive and Simultaneous Equations Systems -- Demand Analysis -- Analyses Based on Aggregate Time-Series Data -- Parameters of Demand Functions -- Analyses Based on Individual Consumer Behavior -- Supply Analysis -- Time-Series Analysis -- Budgeting and Linear Programming Techniques in Supply Analysis -- Micro-Theory and Aggregate Supply -- Demand and Supply of Farm Inputs -- Analysis of Price Relationships -- Marketing Margins -- Spatial Relationships -- Intertemporal Relationships -- Price Discrimination -- Farm-Nonfarm Price Relationships -- Topics in Quantitative Price Analysis -- Models of Time-Series Behavior -- Analyses Involving Qualitative Variables -- Supply-Demand and Price Outlook -- Price-Making Institutions -- Alternative Pricing Methods and Price Behavior -- Future Markets -- Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- PART VI. Agricultural Finance and Capital Markets -- Overview of the Postwar Literature -- Capital Formation and Accumulation -- Theory -- Sources of Capital -- Demand for Capital by the Firm -- Life Cycle of the Firm -- Management of Financial Resources -- Assets and Debts in the Farm Sector -- Trends in Capital and Resource Organization -- Capital Formation and Land Prices -- Farm Input Prices -- Farm Consolidation -- Analysis of Land Prices -- Real Wealth Effects of Price Changes -- Capital Flows and Their Financing -- Flow-of-Funds Accounts -- Flow-of-Funds Models -- Demand for Non-Real Estate Assets -- Demand for Credit -- Credit Institutions and Policies -- Sources and Operating Procedures -- Interest Rates -- Legal Aspects -- Knowledge and Attitudes of Farmers.

Evaluation of Institutions and Policies -- Capital Markets and Financial Intermediaries -- Rural Credit Markets -- Rural Financial Intermediation -- Effects of National Monetary Policies -- Suggestions for Future Research -- The Question of Research Priorities -- Less Duplication of Descriptive Research -- Importance of Basic Data -- Use of Theory and Modeling -- Evaluation of Potential Innovations -- Evaluation of Institutions and Arrangements -- Credit Policy Analysis -- Disinvestment from Farming -- Rural Financial Markets -- Analysis of Fund Flows -- Problem-Oriented Research -- Effects of Credit on Income Distribution -- Concluding Comments -- References -- PART VII. Technical Change in Agriculture -- The Concept of Technical Change -- The Definition of Technical Change -- Embodied versus Disembodied Technical Change -- Factor-Saving Bias -- Induced Innovation -- Economies of Scale and Scale Bias -- Supply Function Shifts and Technical Change -- Measurement of Technical Change -- Index Approach -- Regression Analysis with a Time Variable -- Use of Partial Production Functions -- Farrell's Index of Technical Efficiency -- Sources of Productivity Growth -- Quality Changes and Productivity Growth -- Accounting for Productivity Growth -- The Production of New Technology -- Costs and Returns of Agricultural Research -- The Allocation of Research -- The Diffusion of Technology -- Interfarm and Interregional Diffusion -- International Diffusion -- Technical Change and Welfare -- Output Effects -- Distribution Effects -- Externalities and Adjustment Costs -- Notes -- References.