Because of growing stocks of grain and the reinstitution of production controls, the question of what allocative impacts such controls imply is once again relevant. The prospect that restrictions on land use may initiate an intensification in the use of substitute inputs such as fertilizer, which are already high in price, is discouraging. Although the issue is an old one, empirical evidence on the extent of these effects is incomplete.1 The purpose of this article is to derive a convenient means of measuring the allocative effects of changes in input restrictions. As an example of empirical application, results are presented which indicate the impact of acreage restrictions during the marketing quota years in North and South Dakota.
Subsurface stratigraphic analysis of Upper Cretaceous rocks, southeastern flank of the Williston Basin, North and South Dakota