The political economy of agricultural price distortions
By: [edited by] Kym Anderson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9780521763233
Description: "Despite numerous policy reforms since the 1980s, farm product prices remain heavily distorted in both high-income and developing countries. This book seeks to improve our understanding of why societies adopted these policies, and why some but not other countries have undertaken reforms. Drawing on recent developments in political economy theories and in the generation of empirical measures of the extent of price distortions, the present volume provides both analytical narratives of the historical origins of agricultural protectionism in various parts of the world and a set of political econometric analyses aimed at explaining the patterns of distortions that have emerged over the past five decades. These new studies shed much light on the forces affecting incentives and those facing farmers in the course of national and global economic and political development. They also show how those distortions might change in the future - or be changed by concerted actions to offset pressures from vested interests"--
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Part I. Introduction: 1. Understanding government interventions in agricultural markets Kym Anderson; 2. Agricultural distortion patterns since the 1950s: what needs explaining Kym Anderson, Johanna Croser, Damiano Sandri and Ernesto Valenzuela; Part II. Conceptual Frameworks and Historical Origins: 3. Political economy of agricultural distortions: the literature to date Johan Swinnen; 4. Special interests versus the public interest in policy determination Gordon Rausser and Ge;rard Roland; 5. Anglo-French trade, 1689-1899: agricultural trade policies, alcohol taxes and war John Nye; 6. Agricultural protection growth in Europe, 1870-1969 Johan Swinnen; 7. Determinants of farm policies in the United States, 1996-2008 David Orden, David Blandford and Tim Josling; 8. Agricultural distortions in the transition economies of Asia and Europe Scott Rozelle and Johan Swinnen; Part III. Political Econometrics: The Past Fifty Years: 9. Agricultural price distortions and stabilization Will Masters and Andres Garcia; 10. Which governments tax or subsidize agricultural trade? Kishore Gawande and Bernard Hoekman; 11. Impacts of ideology, inequality, lobbying and public finance Pushan Dutt and Devashish Mitra; 12. Agricultural trade interventions in Africa Robert Bates and Steven Block; 13. Do trade agreements reduce the volatility of agricultural assistance rates? Olivier Cadot, Marcelo Olarreaga and Jeanne Tschopp; 14. Constitutional rules and agricultural policy outcomes Alessandro Olper and Valentina Raimondi; Appendix. Coverage and distribution of assistance across countries and products, 1955-2007 Kym Anderson and Johanna Croser.