Vernon W Ruttan

This book explores the resource and environmental constraints on sustainable growth in agricultural production into the middle of the twenty-first century. It presents contemporary concerns with the implications of natural resource availability and environmental change.

The contributors to this volume, based on the Agriculture Research Seminars held annually at the University of Minnesota, examine the role of government, multinationals, and the emerging private sector (in both domestic and international contexts) in determining agricultural research policy.

This book explores the resource and environmental constraints on sustainable growth in agricultural production into the middle of the twenty-first century. It presents contemporary concerns with the implications of natural resource availability and environmental change.

The contributors to this volume, based on the Agriculture Research Seminars held annually at the University of Minnesota, examine the role of government, multinationals, and the emerging private sector (in both domestic and international contexts) in determining agricultural research policy.

Military and defence related procurement has been an important source of technology development across a broad spectrum of industries that account for an important share of United States industrial production. Changes in the structure of the defence industries and of the U. S. industrial economy make it unlikely that military and defence related procurement would again become an important source of revolutionary new technologies in the absence of a major war.

Ruttan advances a model of institutional change, which creates an environment where resource and cultural endowments and technical change can take place. The disequilibria resulting from such changes create opportunities for the design of more efficient institutional arrangements. The design perspective employed in the book stands in sharp contrast to organic or evolutionary perspectives. With its emphasis on interdisciplinarity, Social Science Knowledge and Economics Developmentis important reading for social scientists, development economists, and in the development studies classroom. Vernon W. Ruttan is Regents Professor Emeritus in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota.

The impact of technological change on the wider economy, especially its impact on economic growth, has been one of the key themes in the transition from the industrial age to the information age.