ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the public sector programs of support for agricultural research and extension programs in the region and examines the Pacific Basin countries with other similar countries. It presents the private sector, with emphasis on the role of legal systems in encouraging invention and offers a brief policy discussion. The chapter examines the elimination of market interventions that produce inefficient resource allocations. It reviews the lowering of transactions and related costs through public-sector investments in market information, communication and through improvements in legal systems regarding contracts. A region's potential for increasing agricultural productivity can be measured in part by the resources it commits to agricultural research and extension. The industrialized countries of the Pacific Basin have increased their spending and manpower but at rates slower than for the middle-income developing and semi-industrialized countries. The expansion of agricultural research programs in Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, and South Korea is responsible for most of the increase in the Pacific Basin's share.
