Policy Reforms Affecting Agricultural Incentives: Much Achieved, Much Still Needed
Date
Authors
Anderson, Kym
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Abstract
For decades, earnings from farming in many developing countries have been depressed by
a pro-urban bias in own-country policies, as well as by governments of richer countries
favoring their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies reduce
national and global economic welfare and inhibit agricultural trade and economic
growth. They almost certainly add to inequality and poverty in developing countries,
since three-quarters of the world’s billion poorest people depend on farming for their livelihood.
During the past two decades, however, numerous developing country governments
have reduced their sectoral and trade policy distortions, while some high-income
countries also have begun reducing market-distorting aspects of their farm policies. The
author surveys the changing extent of policy distortions to prices faced by developingcountry
farmers over the past half century, and provides a summary of new empirical
estimates from a global economy-wide model that yield estimates of how much could be
gained by removing the interventions remaining as of 2004. The author concludes by
pointing to the scope and prospects for further pro-poor policy reform in both developing
and high-income countries.
Description
Keywords
farming, developing, countries, pro-urban, bias, own-country, policies, import, barriers, subsidies, national, global, economic, welfare, inhibit, agricultural, trade, economic, growth, inequality, poverty
Citation
Collections
Source
World Bank Research Observer
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access