AJAE: Free Virtual Issue on Energy

In this virtual edition of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics we highlight the recent research on emerging sources of energy, including biofuels, natural gas and wind and their economic and environmental implications. While these are potentially low carbon sources of energy that can contribute to energy security for the US, their production has led to controversies about their economic and environmental impacts and the trade-offs they generate between food and fuel production, energy security and environmental quality. This virtual issue includes both papers that provide original estimates and reviews of existing evidence on these topics. These papers show the extent to which the expansion of biofuels has led to an integration of agricultural and energy markets and its implications for the link between energy prices, agricultural commodity prices and land values. They provide evidence of the positive and negative environmental impact of these alternative energy sources and ways to monetize these effects. They highlight the challenges for policies seeking to induce a shift in demand to low carbon energy sources and provide empirical estimates of the energy and carbon prices needed to induce production. This issue illustrates the significant role for economic analysis in drawing attention to the societal implications of emerging technologies and in designing policies to reduce unintended consequences.

Madhu Khanna
Editor

• Long-run and Short-run Co-movements in Energy Prices and the Prices of Agricultural Feedstocks for Biofuel
  Robert J. Myers, Stanley R. Johnson, Michael Helmar and Harry Baumes

• Is the Shale Energy Boom a Bust for Nearby Residents? Evidence from Housing Values in Pennsylvania
  Sathya Gopalakrishnan and H. Allen Klaiber 

• Economic, Energy Security, and Greenhouse Gas Effects of Biofuels: Implications for Policy
  Madhu Khanna and Xiaoguang Chen
   
• Wind versus Nuclear Options for Generating Electricity in a Carbon-Constrained World: Strategizing in an Energy-Rich Economy
  G. Cornelis van Kooten, Craig Johnston and Linda Wong
   
• The Impact of Biofuels on Commodity Food Prices: Assessment of Findings
  David Zilberman, Gal Hochman, Deepak Rajagopal, Steve Sexton and Govinda Timilsina
   
• Vegetable Spirits and Energy Policy
  Charles Towe and Constant I. Tra
   
• Supply of Cellulosic Biofuel Feedstocks and Regional Production Pattern
  Madhu Khanna, Xiaoguang Chen, Haixiao Huang and Hayri Önal