Staff Biographical Page: Kelly Day-Rubenstein

Briefly

Kelly Day Rubenstein is an economist with the Resource Economics Division. Her research focuses on economic aspects of agricultural research and development, particularly public sector research, technology transfer efforts, and the role of genetic resources in the agricultural production process.

Current Projects

• Economic Aspects of Genetic Resources: Genetic resources are critical inputs into the agricultural R&D process. Major components of this project include the role of genetic resources in agricultural production, genetic diversity, valuation of genetic resources, and policy making and international germplasm exchange. Research on the use of public germplasm focuses on National Plant Germplasm System. Another area of research is assessment of the new International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will govern international exchange of germplasm among countries.
• Government Patenting and Technology Transfer: This project addresses the use of intellectual property (IP) by public sector research institutions. It particularly focuses on patenting by ARS and compares ARS' use of IP with use by universities and the private sector. It asks to what degree IP facilitates technology transfer by the Federal sector and analyzes the degree to which IP might block the advance of fundamental knowledge.
• Agricultural Research and Development: Public sector research is a powerful tool to promote various missions of USDA, thus the level and direction of public R&D has important implications for agriculture. We empirically evaluate research funding, both public and private. Issues to be examined include the trends in research direction, the use of various funding instruments, and key factors affecting R&D, such as intellectual property rights. A related objective is assessing the future of plant breeding.

Education

Kelly received an M.S. in agricultural and applied economics in 1990 from the University of Minnesota and an B.A. in economics from the University of St Thomas in St. Paul.

Publications

ERS publications by this author

Day Rubenstein, K. and M. Smale. International Exchange of Genetic Resources, the Role of Information and Implications for Ownership. International Food Policy Research Institute, Environment and Production Technology Division Discussion Paper No. 119, July 2004.

Day-Rubenstein, K., and P. Heisey. “Plant Genetic Resources: New Rules for International Exchange,” Amber Waves, June 2003.

Day Rubenstein, K. “Transferring Public Research: The Patent Licensing Mechanism in Agriculture,” Journal of Technology Transfer, vol. 28 (2003), pp.111-130.

Day-Rubenstein, K., and P. Heisey, C. Klotz-Ingram and G. Frisvold. “Competitive Grants and the Funding of Agricultural Research in the U.S” Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 25, no. 2 (2003), pp. 352-368.

Smale, M., and K. Day-Rubenstein, “The Demand for Crop Genetic Resources: International Use of the U. S. National Plant Germplasm System,” World Development, vol. 30, no. 9, 2002): 1639-16.

Klotz-Ingram C., and K. Day-Rubenstein “Agricultural Research and Development,” chapter in Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2002.

Day-Rubenstein, K., and G. Frisvold. “Genetic Prospecting and Biodiversity Development Agreements,” Land Use Policy, vol. 18 (2001), pp. 205-219.

Day-Rubenstein, K., and P. Heisey “Agricultural Genetic Resources,” chapter 3.2 in Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2001.

Iows State University Press, October 1999Shoemaker, R., J. Harwood, K. Day-Rubenstein, T. Dunahay, P. Heisey, L. Hoffman, C. Klotz-Ingram, W. Lin and L. Mitchell. “Economic Issues in Agricultural Biotechnology,” Agricultural Information Bulletin, January 2001.

Day-Rubenstein, K., M. Stuart, and G. B. Frisvold. “Agricultural Land Use in Tropical Countries: Patterns, Determinants, and Implications for Biodiversity Loss,” World Resource Review, vol. 12, no. 4 (2000), pp. 621-650.

Day-Rubenstein, K. “Agricultural Genetic Resources: Building Blocks for Future Crops,” Agricultural Outlook, November 2000.

Day-Rubenstein, K., and K. Fuglie. “Resource Allocation in Joint Public-Private Agricultural Research,” Journal of Agribusiness, vol. 11, no. 3, Fall 1999.

Smith, K. R., N. Ballenger, K. Day-Rubenstein, P. Heisey, and C. Klotz-Ingram. “Biotechnology Research: Weighing the Options for a New Public-Private Balance,” Agricultural Outlook, October 1999.

Day-Rubenstein, K., and K. Fuglie. “The CRADA Model for Public-Private Research and Technology Transfer in Agriculture,” chapter in Public-Private Collaboration in Agricultural Research: New Institutional Arrangements and Economic Implications (Fuglie and Schimmelpfennig, eds.) Ames: Iowa State University Press, October 1999.