Five economic principles applied to stored product protection
Abstract
Society has long recognized the critical importance of stored product protection for welfare of humans and domestic livestock. Economists note additional benefits in terms of more efficient resource use, facilitated trade, and market stability. Estimates of the stored product losses vary greatly but are large in aggregate and potentially economically devastating to individual enterprises. Economic principles can be applied to stored product protection to understand current practices and to indicate potential pathways to refine strategies for stored product protection. The appropriate selection of the adaequate method in stored product protection will choose the alternative that provides the greatest net benefits. Cost-benefit analysis is a powerful tool for rationalizing the resource allocation. The decision should focus on ”how much” or ”which one”. Economic threshold models offer insight into discrete choice problems. The good storage protection practice should recognize and deal with externalities. Protection activities may be driven by economic externalities and may themselves general externalities impinging on others. Economic theory discusses which goods should be provided privately and which publicly (by government). Economic theory identifies the circumstances where government supported research is sound policy. Minimize transactions costs to improve market efficiency. Contracts, voluntary industry standards, government regulations, and treaties, if properly formulated, can reduce transactions costs and improve commerce and trade.Downloads
Published
2010-10-27
Issue
Section
Artikel
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attributed 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
Under the following terms:
-
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits