Understanding how and why economies structurally transform as they grow is crucial for making sound national policy decisions. Typically, analysts who study this issue focus on sectoral shares of gross domestic product and employment. This paper extends those studies to include exports,...

This paper examines empirically two distinguishing aspects of the world‘s wine regions: their degree of specialization in certain varieties, as measured by a varietal intensity index; and their similarity with the varietal mix of other regions, as measured by a varietal-based regional...

Australia‘s export-led growth in demand for commercial bottled wine was based in part on producer freedom (relative to Europeans) to blend wines across the full range of varieties and geographic regions, so as to be able to reproduce year after year a consistent style for each label. Over...

This paper examines empirically two distinguishing aspects of the world's wine regions: their degree of specialization in certain varieties, as measured by a varietal intensity index; and their similarity with the varietal mix of other regions, as measured by a varietal-based regional similarity...

This paper offers an empirical analysis of the proposal by some developing countries for an agricultural Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) in the World Trade Organization. It draws on political economy and market theory to demonstrate that the loss-averting domestic producer benefits that...

For individual countries, variable trade barriers can be used to reduce the volatility of domestic relative to world prices. If this is done by countries accounting for a large share of the market, its effect is offset by increases in world price volatility. This study shows the nature of the...

The economic welfare implications of some countries using new genetically modified varieties in crop production will depend on which countries choose to adopt them and on whether others (notably Western Europe) ban their importation. They also depend on existing (non-GMO-specific) agricultural...

The first generation of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties sought to increase farmer profitability through cost reductions or higher yields. The next generation of GM food research is focusing also on breeding for attributes of interest to consumers, beginning with ‘golden rice’, which...

If South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are to become constructively engaged in the next attempt by World Trade Organization (WTO) members to liberalize trade multilaterally, they need to be convinced that there will be sufficient gains from trade reform to warrant the inevitable costs of...

Over the past two decades, earnings from farming in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia have been altered hugely by government sectoral and trade policy reforms. This paper summarizes evidence on the changing extent of distortions to markets for farm products since...