Julian Alston

About

Julian Alston is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis. His research focuses on the economics of agriculture, agricultural policy, and food policy. He has contributed to the understanding of supply and demand for agricultural products and has been involved in analyzing various aspects of agricultural policy and its impacts.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Economics
• Economic growth
• Business
• Geography
• Sociology
• Biology
• Industrial organization
• Finance
• Economic geography

Selected publications

• Making science more effective for agriculture

  Advances in agronomy · 2020 · 47 citations

  PublisherDOI

• Unpacking the Agricultural Black Box: The Rise and Fall of American Farm Productivity Growth

  The Journal of Economic History · 2021 · 41 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Has the golden age of U.S. agricultural productivity growth ended? We analyze the detailed patterns of productivity growth spanning a century of profound changes in American agriculture. We document a substantial slowing of U.S. farm productivity growth, following a late mid-century surge—20 years after the surge and slowdown in U.S. industrial productivity growth. We posit and empirically probe three related explanations for this farm productivity surge-slowdown: the time path of agricultural R…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reflections on the Political Economy of European Wine Appellations

  Italian Economic Journal · 2021 · 34 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Today’s European wine policy is centered on a system of appellations, implemented as geographical indications (GIs), that entail significant technological regulations—restricting the varieties that may be grown, while imposing maximum yields per hectare and other rules regarding grape production and winemaking practice. This paper outlines the historical development of European wine policy under the CAP, and presents a more detailed analysis of the economic consequences of the rules and…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The economics of agricultural innovation

  Handbook of agricultural economics · 2021-01-01 · 27 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Consumer acceptance of new plant-breeding technologies: An application to the use of gene editing in fresh table grapes

  PLoS ONE · 2022-12-13 · 26 citations

  articleOpen access

  This study estimates consumers' willingness to pay for specific product (quality) and process (agronomic) attributes of table grapes, including taste, texture, external appearance, and the expected number of chemical applications, and for the breeding technology used to develop the plant. Considering varietal traits, on average our survey respondents were willing to pay the highest price premiums for specific offers of improvements in table grape taste and texture, followed by external appearanc…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Philip G. Pardey

  182 shared

• Abigail M. Okrent

  Economic Research Service

  53 shared

• Daniel A. Sumner

  46 shared

• Jennifer S. James

  44 shared

• James A. Chalfant

  University of California, Los Angeles

  39 shared

• Matthew A. Andersen

  Wyoming Department of Education

  35 shared

• Kate B. Fuller

  Economic Research Service

  31 shared

• Stephen A. Vosti

  University of California, Davis

  26 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  North Carolina State University

  1984

• Other, Agricultural Economics

  La Trobe University, Australia

  1978

• Other

  University of Melbourne, Australia

  1974

Similar researchers at University of California, Davis

• Michael Carterh-66
• Philip Martinh-59
• J. Edward Taylorh-56