Distributional Effects of WTO Agricultural Reforms in Rich and Poor Countries
Distributional Effects of WTO Agricultural Reforms in Rich and Poor Countries

Author: Roman Keeney

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Abstract: Rich countries' agricultural trade policies are the battleground on which the future of the WTO's troubled Doha Round will be determined. Subject to widespread criticism, they nonetheless appear to be almost immune to serious reform, and one of their most common defenses is that they protect poor farmers. The authors' findings reject this claim. The analysis uses detailed data on farm incomes to show that major commodity programs are highly regressive in the United States, and that the only serious losses under trade reform are among large, wealthy farmers in a few heavily protected subsectors. In contrast, analysis using household data from 15 developing countries indicates that reforming rich countries' agricultural trade policies would lift large numbers of developing country farm households out of poverty. In the majority of cases these gains are not outweighed by the poverty-increasing effects of higher food prices among other households. Agricultural reforms that appear feasible, even under an ambitious Doha Round, achieve only a fraction of the benefits for developing countries that full liberalization promises, but protect U.S. large farms from most of the rigors of adjustment. Finally, the analysis indicates that maximal trade-led poverty reductions occur when developing countries participate more fully in agricultural trade liberalization.

Distributional Effects of WTO Agricultural Reforms in Rich and Poor Countries
Distributional Effects of WTO Agricultural Reforms in Rich and Poor Countries

Author: Thomas W. Hertel

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Rich countries' agricultural trade policies are the battleground on which the future of the WTO's troubled Doha Round will be determined. Subject to widespread criticism, they nonetheless appear to be almost immune to serious reform, and one of their most common defenses is that they protect poor farmers. The authors' findings reject this claim. The analysis uses detailed data on farm incomes to show that major commodity programs are highly regressive in the United States, and that the only serious losses under trade reform are among large, wealthy farmers in a few heavily protected subsectors. In contrast, analysis using household data from 15 developing countries indicates that reforming rich countries' agricultural trade policies would lift large numbers of developing country farm households out of poverty. In the majority of cases these gains are not outweighed by the poverty-increasing effects of higher food prices among other households. Agricultural reforms that appear feasible, even under an ambitious Doha Round, achieve only a fraction of the benefits for developing countries that full liberalization promises, but protect U.S. large farms from most of the rigors of adjustment. Finally, the analysis indicates that maximal trade-led poverty reductions occur when developing countries participate more fully in agricultural trade liberalization.

Distributional Effects of WTO Agricultural Reforms in Rich and Poor Countries
Distributional Effects of WTO Agricultural Reforms in Rich and Poor Countries

Author: Thomas W. Hertel

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Rich countries' agricultural trade policies are the battleground on which the future of the WTO's troubled Doha Round will be determined. Subject to widespread criticism, they nonetheless appear to be almost immune to serious reform, and one of their most common defenses is that they protect poor farmers. The authors' findings reject this claim. The analysis uses detailed data on farm incomes to show that major commodity programs are highly regressive in the United States, and that the only serious losses under trade reform are among large, wealthy farmers in a few heavily protected subsectors. In contrast, analysis using household data from 15 developing countries indicates that reforming rich countries' agricultural trade policies would lift large numbers of developing country farm households out of poverty. In the majority of cases these gains are not outweighed by the poverty-increasing effects of higher food prices among other households. Agricultural reforms that appear feasible, even under an ambitious Doha Round, achieve only a fraction of the benefits for developing countries that full liberalization promises, but protect U.S. large farms from most of the rigors of adjustment. Finally, the analysis indicates that maximal trade-led poverty reductions occur when developing countries participate more fully in agricultural trade liberalization.

The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty
The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789287042323

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty looks at the complex relationships between economic growth, poverty reduction and trade, and examines the challenges that poor people face in benefiting from trade opportunities. Written jointly by the World Bank Group and the WTO, the publication examines how trade could make a greater contribution to ending poverty by increasing efforts to lower trade costs, improve the enabling environment, implement trade policy in conjunction with other areas of policy, better manage risks faced by the poor, and improve data used for policy-making.

A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis
A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis

Author: Marc Bacchetta

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789287038128

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Trade flows and trade policies need to be properly quantified to describe, compare, or follow the evolution of policies between sectors or countries or over time. This is essential to ensure that policy choices are made with an appropriate knowledge of the real conditions. This practical guide introduces the main techniques of trade and trade policy data analysis. It shows how to develop the main indexes used to analyze trade flows, tariff structures, and non-tariff measures. It presents the databases needed to construct these indexes as well as the challenges faced in collecting and processing these data, such as measurement errors or aggregation bias. Written by experts with practical experience in the field, A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis has been developed to contribute to enhance developing countries' capacity to analyze and implement trade policy. It offers a hands-on introduction on how to estimate the distributional effects of trade policies on welfare, in particular on inequality and poverty. The guide is aimed at government experts engaged in trade negotiations, as well as students and researchers involved in trade-related study or research. An accompanying DVD contains data sets and program command files required for the exercises. Copublished by the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Globalization and Poverty
Globalization and Poverty

Author: Ann Harrison

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2007-11-01

Total Pages: 674

ISBN-13: 0226318001

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Over the past two decades, the percentage of the world’s population living on less than a dollar a day has been cut in half. How much of that improvement is because of—or in spite of—globalization? While anti-globalization activists mount loud critiques and the media report breathlessly on globalization’s perils and promises, economists have largely remained silent, in part because of an entrenched institutional divide between those who study poverty and those who study trade and finance. Globalization and Poverty bridges that gap, bringing together experts on both international trade and poverty to provide a detailed view of the effects of globalization on the poor in developing nations, answering such questions as: Do lower import tariffs improve the lives of the poor? Has increased financial integration led to more or less poverty? How have the poor fared during various currency crises? Does food aid hurt or help the poor? Poverty, the contributors show here, has been used as a popular and convenient catchphrase by parties on both sides of the globalization debate to further their respective arguments. Globalization and Poverty provides the more nuanced understanding necessary to move that debate beyond the slogans.

Food Prices and Rural Poverty
Food Prices and Rural Poverty

Author: Centre for Economic Policy Research

Publisher: CEPR

Published: 2010-11-15

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1907142134

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The impact of price developments on world food markets on poor households in developing countries is an important policy question. Who gains and who loses from agricultural commodity price changes depends on the specific circumstances of households, and, at the level of nations, on the structure of production and trade. The contributions to this volume review trends in international prices and trade patterns of key food commodities, and assess the incidence of food price changes in a number of developing countries using household level data on sources of incomes and consumption patterns.

Food Crises and the WTO
Food Crises and the WTO

Author: Baris Karapinar

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-04-08

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139485865

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The food and financial crises of 2008 and 2009 have pushed millions more people into poverty and hunger, while changing the parameters of international trade. Both crises have also challenged the fundamentals of WTO rules regulating agriculture, which had been designed to combat trade distortions due to artificially low-priced food commodities. This collection of essays examines to what extent the multilateral trading system contributes to food security in today's volatile markets. Bringing together a renowned group of expert economists, lawyers, environmental and development specialists, it offers a fresh and multi-dimensional perspective combining a strong economic analysis with a comprehensive legal assessment of the interface between food security and international trade regulation. Together, the contributions provide concrete policy recommendations on how the WTO could play a positive role in preventing or mitigating future food crises and promote global food security.

Agricultural Price Distortions, Inequality, and Poverty
Agricultural Price Distortions, Inequality, and Poverty

Author: Kym Anderson

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2010-03-17

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 0821381857

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The prices of farm products are crucial determinants of the extent of poverty and inequality in the world. The vast majority of the world s poorest households depend to a considerable extent on farming for their incomes, while food represents a large component of the consumption of all poor households. For generations, food prices have been heavily distorted by government policies in high-income and developing countries. Many countries began to reform their agricultural price and trade policies in the 1980s, but government policy intervention is still considerable and still favors farmers in high-income countries at the expense of many farmers in developing countries. What would be the poverty and inequality consequences of the removal of the remaining distortions to agricultural incentives? This question is of great relevance to governments in evaluating ways to engage in multilateral and regional trade negotiations or to improve their own policies unilaterally. 'Agricultural Price Distortions, Inequality, and Poverty' analyzes the effects of agricultural and trade policies around the world on national and regional economic welfare, on income inequality among and within countries, and on the level and incidence of poverty in developing countries. The studies include economy-wide analyses of the inequality and poverty effects of own-country policies compared with rest-of-the-world policies for 10 individual developing countries in three continents. This book also includes three chapters that each use a separate global economic model to examine the effects of policies on aggregate poverty and the distribution of poverty across many identified developing countries. This study is motivated by two policy issues: first, the World Trade Organization s struggle to conclude the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, in which agricultural policy reform is, again, one of the most contentious topics in the talks and, second, the struggle of the developing countries to achieve their Millennium Development Goals by 2015 notably the alleviation of hunger and poverty which depends crucially on policies that affect agricultural incentives.