Public Agricultural Research and Its Contributions to Agricultural Productivity

Abstract

There is broad agreement about the importance of investments in public agricultural research and extension in the United States, but there is less agreement about the exact methods to be used in data collection, variable definitions, econometric model specification, and benefit-cost comparisons. This chapter reviews these issues and presents a summary and comparison of recent estimates of the rate of return to investments in US public agricultural research and extension. This chapter will be useful to graduate students, researchers, university administrators, and agricultural science policy advisors.