Changing Contributions of Different Agricultural Policy Instruments to Global Reductions in Trade and Welfare
Trade negotiators and policy advisors are keen to know the relative contribution of different farm policy instruments to international trade and economic welfare. Nominal rates of assistance or producer support estimates are incomplete indicators,...
Main Authors: | , |
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Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2012
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Subjects: | |
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_20100623093142 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3831 |
Summary: | Trade negotiators and policy advisors
are keen to know the relative contribution of different farm
policy instruments to international trade and economic
welfare. Nominal rates of assistance or producer support
estimates are incomplete indicators, especially when
(especially in developing countries) some commodities are
taxed and others are subsidized, in which case positive
contributions can offset negative contributions. This paper
develops and estimates a new set of more-satisfactory
indicators to examine the relative contribution of different
farm policy instruments to reductions in agricultural trade
and welfare, drawing on recent literature on trade
restrictiveness indexes and a recently compiled database on
distortions to agricultural prices for 75 developing and
high-income countries over the period 1960 to 2004. Results
confirm earlier findings that border taxes are the dominant
instrument affecting global trade and welfare, but they also
suggest declines in export taxes contributed nearly as much
as cuts in import protection to global welfare gains from
agricultural policy reforms since the 1980s. |
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