Scale Economies, Scale Externalities: Hog Farming and the Changing American Agricultural Industry
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Date
2016-01-27
Authors
Hsu, Shi-Ling
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon School of Law
Abstract
American agriculture is inexorably concentrating into the hands of a small number of large conglomerates. Expanding farms pursuing scale economies would normally have to abide by a system of environmental and other laws that would, in theory, require farms to account for negative externalities. If those laws were observed and enforced, they would help strike a balance between the greater profitability and the larger externalities of scaling up. But these laws are not widely observed nor rigorously enforced, which upsets this balance and gives large-scale farms a cost advantage while insulating them from corresponding responsibilities.
Description
44 pages
Keywords
Environmental law, Pollution, Sustainability
Citation
94 OR. L. REV. 23