Agricultural Distortions in Sub-Saharan Africa : Trade and Welfare Indicators, 1961 to 2004

For decades, agricultural price and trade policies in Sub-Saharan Africa have hampered farmers contributions to economic growth and poverty reduction. Although there has been much policy reform over the past two decades, the injections of agricult...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Croser, Johanna, Anderson, Kym
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES AGRICULTURAL INCENTIVES AGRICULTURAL MARKETS AGRICULTURAL PRICE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AGRICULTURAL TRADE AGRICULTURE ANTI-TRADE BENCHMARK BORDER PRICE COMMODITIES COMMODITY COMPETITIVE MARKETS CONSUMER PRICE CONSUMER PRICES CONSUMERS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DOLLAR VALUES DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION DOMESTIC DEMAND DOMESTIC DISTORTIONS DOMESTIC PRICE DOMESTIC PRODUCTION ECONOMETRIC ESTIMATES ECONOMIC COOPERATION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC WELFARE ELASTICITY ASSUMPTION EQUILIBRIUM EXCHANGE RATE EXCHANGE RATES EXPORT SUBSIDIES EXPORT SUBSIDY EXPORT TAX EXPORT TAX EQUIVALENTS EXPORT TAXES EXPORTABLE GOODS EXPORTS FOOD PRICES FREE TRADE GDP GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBAL TRADE GROSS VALUE IMPORT TARIFF IMPORT TARIFFS IMPORT TAX IMPORT TAXES IMPORT VOLUME IMPORTS INDEX NUMBERS INPUT PRICES INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT INTERNATIONAL TRADE INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY MARKET FAILURE MARKET INDEXES NATIONAL INCOME OPEN ECONOMY OUTPUT PARTICULAR COUNTRY POVERTY ALLEVIATION PREFERENTIAL TRADE PRICE CHANGE PRICE DISTORTION PRICE DISTORTIONS PRICE ELASTICITY PRICE SUPPORT PRODUCER PRICE PRODUCER PRICES REGIONAL TRADE REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS SUPPLY CURVES SUPPLY FUNCTIONS SURPLUS TARIFF DATA TARIFF RATE TAX TAX RATE TAXATION TRADE COSTS TRADE DATA TRADE DISTORTIONS TRADE EFFECTS TRADE NEGOTIATIONS TRADE POLICIES TRADE POLICY TRADE PRICES TRADE REDUCTION TRADE TAX TRADE VOLUME TRANSITION ECONOMIES TRANSPARENCY VALUE OF IMPORTS VOLUME OF TRADE WELFARE ECONOMICS WELFARE IMPACTS WELFARE LOSS WELFARE LOSSES
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20100623090554 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3830

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Summary:	For decades, agricultural price and trade policies in Sub-Saharan Africa have hampered farmers contributions to economic growth and poverty reduction. Although there has been much policy reform over the past two decades, the injections of agricultural development funding, together with ongoing regional and global trade negotiations, have brought distortionary policies under the spotlight once again. A key question asked of those policies is: How much are they still reducing national economic welfare and trade? Economy-wide models are able to address that question, but they are not available for many poor countries. Even where they are, typically they apply to just one particular previous year and so are unable to provide trends in effects over time. This paper provides a partial-equilibrium alternative to economy-wide modeling, by drawing on a modification of so-called trade restrictiveness indexes to provide theoretically precise indicators of the trade and welfare effects of agricultural policy distortions to producer and consumer prices over the past half-century. The authors generate time series of country level indexes, as well as Africa-wide aggregates. They also provide annual commodity market indexes for the region, and a sense of the relative importance of the key policy instruments used.

Agricultural Distortions in Sub-Saharan Africa : Trade and Welfare Indicators, 1961 to 2004

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