Working Paper: NBER ID: w9612
Authors: Alan L. Olmstead; Paul W. Rhode
Abstract: Between 1928 and 1960 U.S. cotton production witnessed a revolution with average yields roughly tripling while the quality of the crop increased significantly. This paper analyzes the key institutional and scientific developments that facilitated the revolution in biological technologies, pointing to the importance of two government programs -- the one-variety community movement and the Smith-Doxey Act -- as catalysts for change. The story displays two phenomena of interest in light of the recent literature: 1. an important real-world example of the workings of Akerlof's lemons model and 2. a case where inventors, during an early phase of the product cycle, actually encouraged consumers to copy and disseminate their intellectual property.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: N6; N4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| government policy (one-variety movement and Smith-Doxey Act) (L49) | adoption of new biological technologies in cotton production (Q16) |
| adoption of new biological technologies in cotton production (Q16) | average yields (Q11) |
| adoption of new biological technologies in cotton production (Q16) | crop quality (Q11) |
| grading and marketing systems (Q13) | quality of cotton produced (L67) |
| government policy (one-variety movement and Smith-Doxey Act) (L49) | average yields (Q11) |
| government policy (one-variety movement and Smith-Doxey Act) (L49) | crop quality (Q11) |