Edited by Joseph Cooper, Senior Economist, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US. He served during 2005 to 2006 as a senior economist in charge of agriculture and natural resources at the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Federico Perali, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Verona, Italy and Marcella Veronesi, Full Professor in Applied Economics, Climate Economics and Risk Management Section, Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, and Associate Professor in Economic Policy, Department of Economics, University of Verona, Italy