The political economy of reforming agricultural support policies

The political economy of reforming agricultural support policies PDF Author: Vos, Rob
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
Agricultural support policies cost more than US$800 billion per year in transfers to the farm sector worldwide. Support policies based on subsidies and trade barriers are highly distortive to markets and are also regressive as most support is provided to larger farmers. On balance, the incentives this support creates appear to increase greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. In addition, some subsidies undermine the production of more nutrient-dense commodities that are otherwise critical for the improvement of dietary outcomes. This paper first highlights that better outcomes could be achieved if even a small portion of agricultural subsidies were repurposed into investments in research and development (R&D) dedicated to productivity-enhancing and emission-reducing technologies. This would create multiple wins — mitigating global climate change, reducing poverty, increasing food security, and improving nutrition. Nonetheless, the political economy challenges to doing so are sizeable. Because current support policies are often politically popular and serve well-organized interests, reform is difficult without committed political leadership and multilateral collaboration. Using several case studies of both successful and failed changes of agricultural support policies in China, India, and the EU and the United States, we highlight lessons learned about the political economy constraints on and possibilities for reform.

The Political Economy of Reforming Agricultural Support Policies

The Political Economy of Reforming Agricultural Support Policies PDF Author: Rob Vos
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Reforming agricultural support for improved environmental outcomes

Reforming agricultural support for improved environmental outcomes PDF Author: Mamun, Abdullah
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
Agricultural support has changed substantially in both rich and poor countries in recent years. In rich countries, there has been a strong move to decoupled subsidies and a fall in average rates of protection. In developing countries, market price support remains the dominant form of protection and average rates of support have risen—breaking the traditional pattern of taxing agriculture. Emissions from agriculture and land use change have contributed up to a third of total greenhouse gas emissions, with beef, milk and rice production accounting for more than 80 percent of agricultural emissions. Agricultural support was biased against emission-intensive goods until recent years and is now only slightly biased towards them. Although emission intensities are relatively higher in the developing countries, they have fallen far more rapidly in developing countries than in the rich countries in the past quarter-century, as agricultural productivity has grown in developing countries. Policy reform will be challenging given the strong political-economy support for the current structure of protection. Increasing investments in research and development to raise productivity and lower the emissions intensity of agricultural output would help agriculture and the environment.

The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm PDF Author: Johan F. M. Swinnen
Publisher: CEPS
ISBN: 9290797665
Category : Agriculture and state
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies

The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies PDF Author: Johan Swinnen
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137501022
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Food and agriculture have been subject to heavy-handed government interventions throughout much of history and across the globe, both in developing and in developed countries. Today, more than half a trillion US dollars are spent by some governments to support farmers, while other governments impose regulations and taxes that hurt farmers. Some policies, such as price regulations and tariffs, distribute income but reduce total welfare by introducing economic distortions. Other policies, such as public investments in research, food standards, or land reforms, may increase total welfare, but these policies come also with distributional effects. These distributional effects influence the preferences of interest groups and in turn influence policy decisions. Political considerations are therefore crucial to understand how agricultural and food policies are determined, to identify the constraints within which welfare-enhancing reforms are possible (or not), and finally to understand how coalitions can be created to stimulate growth and reduce poverty.

Reforming Agricultural Support for Improved Environmental Outcomes

Reforming Agricultural Support for Improved Environmental Outcomes PDF Author: Abdullah Mamun
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
Agricultural support has changed substantially in both rich and poor countries in recent years. In rich countries, there has been a strong move to decoupled subsidies and a fall in average rates of protection. In developing countries, market price support remains the dominant form of protection and average rates of support have risen -- breaking the traditional pattern of taxing agriculture. Emissions from agriculture and land use change have contributed up to a third of total greenhouse gas emissions, with beef, milk and rice production accounting for more than 80 percent of agricultural emissions. Agricultural support was biased against emission-intensive goods until recent years and is now only slightly biased towards them. Although emission intensities are relatively higher in the developing countries, they have fallen far more rapidly in developing countries than in the rich countries in the past quarter-century, as agricultural productivity has grown in developing countries. Policy reform will be challenging given the strong political-economy support for the current structure of protection. Increasing investments in research and development to raise productivity and lower the emissions intensity of agricultural output would help agriculture and the environment.

The Political Economy of International Agricultural Policy Reform

The Political Economy of International Agricultural Policy Reform PDF Author: Geoff Miller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural price supports
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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The Political Economy of Biodiversity Policy Reform

The Political Economy of Biodiversity Policy Reform PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264269541
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
This report provides insights on the political economy of biodiversity related policy reforms. It draws on existing literature and four new case studies covering the French tax on pesticides, agricultural subsidy reform in Switzerland, EU payments to Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau to...

Policy Reform in American Agriculture

Policy Reform in American Agriculture PDF Author: David Orden
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226632643
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Students of public policy and practitioners within the farm program arena will find theis book an essential source of insight, information, and original cross-disciplinary argument."--BOOK JACKET.

Reducing Distortions to Agricultural Incentives

Reducing Distortions to Agricultural Incentives PDF Author: Kym Anderson
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Agribusiness
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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Book Description
Most of the world's poorest people depend on farming for their livelihood. Earnings from farming in low-income countries are depressed partly due to a pro-urban bias in own-country policies, and partly because richer countries (including some developing countries) favor their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies reduce national and global economic growth and add to inequality and poverty in developing countries. Acknowledgement of that since the 1980s has given rise to greater pressures for reform, both internal and external. Over the past two decades numerous developing country governments have reduced their sectoral and trade policy distortions, while many high-income countries continue with protectionist policies that harm developing country exports of farm products. Recent research suggests that the agricultural protectionist policies of high-income countries reduce welfare in many developing countries. Most of those studies also suggest that full global liberalization of merchandise trade would raise value added in agriculture in developing country regions, and that much of the benefit from global reform would come not just from reform in high-income countries but also from liberalization among developing countries, including in many cases own-country reform. These findings raise three key questions that are addressed in this paper: To what extent have the reforms of the past two decades succeeded in reducing distortions to agricultural incentives? Do current policy distortions still discriminate against farmers in low-income countries? And what are the prospects for further reform in the next decade or so?