Abstract
Life-long farmer Thomas Jefferson prioritized agriculture in his presidential administration because he envisioned a nation of yeoman farmers laboring upon the fertile New World soil, nourishing the nascent American society with the food they produced. Today, nearly two hundred years removed from the lifetime of Thomas Jefferson, the goal of supporting this noble profession has spawned several agricultural price support programs. However, these numerous programs seem to have a convoluted rationale and, at best, questionable justifications in today‘s neo-liberal trade climate. In fact, they seem to fly in the face of both classical Liberal economic theories and the American tradition of the Protestant work ethic. Facing fierce opponents and equally fierce advocates, the programs are indeed beneficial to farmers; however, they come at a high cost to others. Through a look at government intervention in the sugar sector, this paper seeks to answer several questions: Why support sugar? What are the consequences of this support, both in America and abroad? And finally, when did this practice begin, and is there any foreseeable end?
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Shannon
(2009)
"The Domestic Causes and International Consequences of the U.S. Government’s Sugar Price Support Programs,"
Pepperdine Policy Review: Vol. 2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/ppr/vol2/iss1/6
