Reviews for Encyclopedia of Agricultural Science

The average rating for Encyclopedia of Agricultural Science based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-06-12 00:00:00 Mark Lorincz Peter West’s dissertation looks at the history of the tire industry and its relation to development as worldwide industry. There is a case study for the second half of the book on how it has impacted development economics in Latin America focusing on technology transfer and the costs associated. The book focuses on the major players like Firestone, Goodyear, Michelin, and Dunlop but also brings in many of the smaller players. The book focuses primarily on the years after World War 2 where synthetic rubber opened up the market beyond Southeast Asia. West gives evidence of various trends in the industry and how it competes an a global scale and what that means for supply and demand as well as oligarchy competition. The second half that focuses on technology transfer shows the typical view of the 1980’s of exploitation of the third world and provides good evidence of this occurring. With the exception of the FATE alliance in Argentina where internal technological development decreased the need for R&D support from the outside company the majority shows the outside companies dominating and exploiting the third world partners. While not overtly technical on an econometric front this book does require a very strong theoretical understanding of economics. There are two chapters that get heavier into econometrics and for the mathematically uninterested could be skipped without detracting too much from the overall narrative. Overall a good read for those interested in economic theory and how it relates to worldwide industries which have become prevalent in today’s study of economics. This is one of the first real studies on the effect of a worldwide market.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-08-05 00:00:00 Jack Demirjian This book had the potential to be interesting if it didn't expound on ideas that you've already put together with common sense. The paragraph (or two or three) that I remember the most explained how selective harvesting (of trees) lessens the total biodiversity (x) of a habitat. You mean x-1 is indeed less than x? Shocking. . . This book did, on the other hand, did have good chapters on human views of nature , conservation and ethics. A class could have good, thoughtful discussions based on some of those ideas.