Induced Product Innovation in the U.S. Dairy Industry

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, imports of milk protein concentrate had brought the U.S. agricultural programs to a crisis. The USDA was rapidly accumulating stocks of nonfat dry milk and unable to maintain the support prices to which it was committed, the cornerstone of American dairy policy. In this crisis can be seen many subtle and dynamic phenomena that make the modern economy so interesting, including how economic policy can induce the creation of new products, the consequences of mismatches between domestic and trade policy, and how the regulatory structure can become both a barrier to trade and an obstacle to innovation, all of which are explored here. This book also provides an overview of U.S. dairy policy, which consists not of a single policy but of several interrelated policies, such as the Federal and California Milk Marketing Orders, the Milk Price Support Program, trade policy, federal regulations, and international standards. These policies are thoroughly discussed and incorporated into an economic model of the U.S. dairy industry, presented here in detail.