On the impact of US subsidies on world cotton prices: a meta-analysis approach

Despite the vast literature dealing with the impact of the subsidies on world cotton prices, there is no consensus regarding the quantification of these effects. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this literature through the implementation of a meta-regression analysis. This methodology allows us to: (i) identify the main sources of heterogeneity between the primary studies, (ii) give some tracks to improve the modeling, (iii) provide a reliable quantification of the removal of subsidies on world cotton prices. Relying on the estimation of various models to derive robust results, our findings show that a withdrawal of US subsidies would increase the world cotton price by around 10%.