This paper studies the effect of a political regime transition on food security and more specifically on child mortality. Using a new estimation approach, the Synthetic Control Method, we find that a political reform towards a democracy does not systematically reduce child mortality. Of the 33...

This report presents a first step of the conceptual framework which will be used in the FOODSECURE project to analyse the determinants of food and nutrition security. It draws on previous research and insights to develop a broad conceptual framework. The framework addresses drivers and...

The food price spikes of 2007/08 have revived global awareness of the persistent problem of hunger and food insecurity all over the world, and turned the spotlight back onto the critical importance of food and nutritional security for economic development and political stability. Accordingly,...

This paper analyzes the political and institutional factors which are behind the dramatic changes in distortions to agricultural incentives in the transition countries in East Asia, Central Asia, and the rest of the former Soviet Union, and in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper explains why...

In a recent survey of European economic growth since 1950, Crafts and Toniolo (2008) conclude that incentive structures are a crucial explanator of comparative growth rates of the economies of east and west Europe. Pre-empting that, a 2006 report on trade performance and policies in Eastern...

This paper studies the effect of political regime transitions on public policy using a new data set on global agricultural and food policies over a 50-year period (including data from 74 developing and developed countries over the 1955-2005 period). We find evidence that democratization leads to...

<title>A<sc>bstract</sc> </title> There is a vigorous debate on the liberalisation of heavily regulated agricultural markets in India. A crucial institutional characteristic is the role of state regulated brokers in wholesale markets. Relying on data from a unique survey in Uttarakhand, a state in North India, we find...

The basic neo-classical model implies that agricultural employment responds positively to increases in farm income. This argument is assumed by proponents and critics of agricultural subsidy programs in their discourse in favor of or against government support for farmers. However, empirical...

Changes in global food prices have affected EU producers and consumers and have triggered policy reactions through the EU.s political process. In particular, the EU and member states responded by social policies to protect their consumers, attempts to reg