This paper presents a methodology for estimating technical efficiency levels for individual farms using both a fixed effects panel model and a stochastic production frontier approach. It tests whether the estimated technical efficiency levels are associated with measures of contact with the...

A further round of negotiations on agricultural trade liberalisation began in the WTO in March 2000. This paper discusses the interests of developing countries in these negotiations. Compared to the developed countries, developing countries have relatively few 'rights' to agricultural support...

Whether the UK should hold a referendum on continued membership of the European Union (EU) is one of the issues in its general election to be held in May 2015. A possible British withdrawal, or Brexit, would have profound implications for Ireland and particularly for its agri-food sector, given...

The WTO Ministerial Conference meeting in Seattle, USA in November/December 1999 failed to launch a further round of trade negotiations. However, negotiations on further liberalisation of agricultural trade were mandated in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and must still be...

Tariff rate quotas (TRQs) were introduced as a new market access instrument in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. The purpose of this paper is to examine the case for using this instrument to target improved market access for developing country agricultural exports, using the EU as a...

Given China’s impending membership of the WTO, this paper makes a first attempt to predict China’s negotiating strategy in the current agricultural trade negotiations in the light of its food policy objectives, trade position and its accession offer on agriculture. China’s interests with...

Conventional estimates of the economic contribution of agriculture and the agri-food sector suggest that the overall sector still accounts for around 10% of total employment, GNP and exports, even after the structural changes brought about by the Celtic Tiger economy in the 1990s. These...

This paper examines the impact of the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on the Irish economy using IMAGE, a CGE model of the Irish economy. The direct impacts on the tourism sector, the agricultural sector and on government finances are identified and their overall consequences for the...

This paper examines recent changes in EU agricultural policy and its implementation in Ireland and asks whether the changes made encourage a more sustainable agriculture in Ireland in line with the objectives of the Rio UN Conference on the Environment and Development. It argues that the Agenda...

This paper was prepared for an Environmental Protection Agency consultation on Sustainable Development Research priorities, held in Dublin, 12 November 2003.