The interests of developing countries in multilateral trade negotiations will need to be given greater consideration than previously if progress is to be made in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations. Modelling the impacts of policy changes on individual developing countries...

Landholders in rural Australia are increasing their use of computers and the internet. In part, this is because of the increased availability of hardware, software and communications infrastructure at reasonable cost. However, it is unclear what all the costs and benefits of adopting a new...

The Uruguay Round agreement on agriculture was a milestone, bringing this important sector under the disciplines from which it had escaped in the early days of the GATT. The agreement limits the distortions that countries may impose on: market access, on export subsidization and domestic...

Agricultural R&D in many developing countries plays an important economic role. However, to sustain successful agricultural R&D requires adequate, reliable funding and sound management and governance. In many developing countries, generating reliable flows of R&D funds and ensuring their proper...

Recent calls for a UN Convention on Soils begs the question about its feasibility and advisability. International conventions are most likely to be successful where the need for action is compelling, the effects of inaction immediate, dramatic and relatively certain, and there are significant...

In the last decade, the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia faced a severe drought which affected its agriculture production. Sustainable diversion limits as proposed in the Australian Government’s basin plan together with climate change is expected to impact on future agriculture production...

The production performance of wheatbelt farms in Western Australia is analysed to determine whether potential to exploit scale economies and improve technical efficiency has driven the trend towards increased farm size. An input-orientated stochastic frontier model is used to estimate technical...

Development objectives dictate that the Doha negotiations address tariff escalation. This could increase the production and export of processed goods in developing countries, expand investment and employment, and reduce dependence on primary product exports. Despite its importance, little...

The long-running WTO negotiations remain unresolved. Agriculture is the main stumbling block. Members have agreed to linear tariff reductions within bands, but proposed exemptions for sensitive products, while providing for much needed flexibility, threaten to undermine the ambition. A detailed...

The populist view of economic development and the environment is that advances in one will necessarily result in a decline in the other. Evidence in the Australian context is that the dual goals can be achieved simultaneously. As economic development progresses, the increasing levels of income...