The producer support estimate calculated by the OECD is widely misused as an indicator of distortions created by agricultural policies. In this paper we demonstrate rigorously that a change in the relative (percentage) PSE is not an accurate indicator of the implications of policy reform for...

A new round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) was launched in 2001. One of the major aims of the Doha Development Round is to reduce agricultural protection and impose greater discipline on domestic agricultural subsidies, particularly those that are the most trade...

This paper shows how a developing country, Lao PDR, imports high glutinous rice prices by exporting its staple food to neighboring countries, Vietnam and Thailand. Lao PDR has extensive export controls on rice, generating a sizable difference between domestic and international prices. Controls...

The WTO rules have had a direct influence upon the 2006 reform of the European Common Market Sugar Organisation. The pre-2006 sugar CMO was not in a position to successfully face neither the recent Resolution of the World Trade Organisations Dispute Settlement Body and the liberalisation demands...

We present a statistical model of agrarian vineyard specialization in the province of Barcelona towards 1860, that combines the Boserupian push of population increase, the demand pull of a Smithian-type of growth (measured by the time-distances to the nearest seaport), and the agrological lands...

We examine strategies for complying with trade liberalization and GHG emission cuts in agriculture using Norway as an empirical example. Trade liberalization implied by the Doha draft agreement on agriculture in the WTO will not have a major impact on the sector’s Trade missions, since the...

During the global food crisis, Ethiopia experienced an unprecedented increase in inflation, among the highest in Africa. Using monthly data over the past decade, we estimate models of inflation to identify the importance of the factors contributing to CPI inflation and three of its major...

Agriculture remains a major sector of the New Zealand economy, with the vast majority of farm and food production exported. The accelerating intensification of farming in New Zealand over recent decades raises concern over the current sustainability of New Zealand farming, and whether it can...

This paper investigates the spectacular and successful growth of New Zealand kiwifruit production and exports between 1984 and 2009. It explores the evolution, current status, future prospects and challenges facing the industry where more than 90 percent of the output is exported. The study...

Climate change mitigation is urgent, and adaptation to climate change is crucial, particularly in agriculture, where food security is at stake. Agriculture, currently responsible for 20-30% of global greenhouse gas emissions (counting direct and indirect agricultural emissions), can however...