A Critical Assessment of Methods for Analysis of Social Welfare Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops: a Literature Survey

Abstract

This paper is a review of existing literature on economic and environmental costs and benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops focusing on methodological issues arising from this literature. Particular attention is given to the production function framework commonly used to quantify costs and benefits of GM crops at the farm level and to equilibrium displacement models used to quantify impacts of GM crops on social welfare. Methods are discussed with respect to their sensitivity to specific parameter values and key areas are identified for further research.