Trade, development and agriculture: essays in economic policy analysis

Abstract

This book brings together core papers by the author and some of his colleagues during the past two decades on the role of trade openness, especially in farm products, in promotion national and global economic development. The chapters cover four areas: how national comparative advantage evolves in the course of economic growth; how agricultural markets and national and global economic welfare are affected by distortionary price and trade policies; how inefficiently non-trade concerns of societies are addressed using trade-distorting policies; and how the income distributional effects of trade policies drive the political economy of those policies.<b>Contents:</b> <ul> <li><b><i>Agriculture in an Integrating, Growing but Distorted World Economy:</i></b> <ul> <li><b>Evolving Comparative Advantages:</b> <ul> <li>On Why Agriculture Declines with Economic Growth</li> <li>The Rise and Demise of Textiles and Clothing in Economic Development: The Case of Japan</li> <li>Feeding and Fueling China in the 21st Century</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>Effects of Distortionary Policies on Agricultural Markets and Economic Welfare:</b> <ul> <li>More on Welfare Gains to Developing Countries from Liberalizing World Food Trade</li> <li>Agricultural Trade Reform and the Doha Development Agenda</li> <li>Doha Merchandise Trade Reform: What Is at Stake for Developing Countries?</li> <li>Krueger, Schiff, and Vald¨¦s Revisited: Agricultural Price and Trade Policy Reform in Developing Countries since 1960</li> <li>Global Distortions to Agricultural Markets: Indicators of Trade and Welfare Impacts, 1960 to 2007</li> <li>Export Restrictions and Price Insulation During Commodity Price Booms</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>Effects of Trade-Distorting Policies on 'Non-Trade' Concerns:</b> <ul> <li>Agricultural Trade Liberalisation and the Environment: A Global Perspective</li> <li>Environmental and Labor Standards: What Role for the WTO?</li> <li>On the Need for More Economic Assessment of Quarantine Policies</li> <li>Agriculture's 'Multifunctionality' and the WTO</li> <li>Global Market Effects of Alternative European Responses to Genetically Modified Organisms</li> <li>Would Freeing Up World Trade Reduce Poverty and Inequality? The Vexed Role of Agricultural Distortions</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>Political Economy of Price-Distorting Policies:</b> <ul> <li>Lobbying Incentives and the Pattern of Protection in Rich and Poor Countries</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <br> <b>Readership:</b> Students and researchers involved in the field of economic development and globalization, with a special interest in the impact of agriculture on economic policies. Key Features: The author has won numerous prizes for his contribution to this field, most recently as Recipient of the 2010 Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis of the (US) Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and the 2010 Quality of Research Discovery Prize of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Its treatment of the topic is unified and chronological, illustrating a history of thought and knowledge development in this field Its policy implications, for both high-income and developing countries, are hugely important for boosting economic growth, income equality and especially poverty alleviation