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Food and agriculture have been subject to heavy-handed government interventions throughout much of history and across the globe, both in developing and developed countries.1 Political considerations are crucial to understand these policies since almost all agricultural and food policies have redistributive effects and are therefore subject to lobbying and pressure from interest groups and used by decision-makers to influence society for both economic and political reasons. Some policies, such as import tariffs or export taxes, have clear distributional objectives and reduce total welfare by introducing distortions in the economy. Other policies, such as food standards, land reforms, or public investments in agricultural research, may increase total welfare but at the same time also have distributional effects. These distributional effects will influence the preferences of different interest groups and thus trigger political action. ; PR ; IFPRI4 ; DGO

Food standards have existed since the beginning of trade and exchange, but have increased and expanded in recent years, affecting global and local value chains. This has triggered vigorous debates on the impacts on trade and development. Standards may simultaneously enhance economic efficiency and redistribute rents, complicating policy analysis and implying that "the economics" and "the politics" of standards are often hard to separate. While substantial research has contributed important insights, dynamic aspects of standards have not received much attention. I present a framework to illustrate some dynamic economic and political aspects of standards in closed and open economies. This framework integrates changes over time in preferences, implementation costs, and protectionist pressures as determinants of standards, and suggests explanations for persistent differences in food standards across countries. Hysteresis in standards can persist due to protectionist motives, even if the initial standards were not introduced for protectionist reasons. I use some historical cases to document both the persistence and adjustment of standards over time and with international integration.

Standards have played an important role in food trade for a very long time. Their rapid growth in recent years has triggered vigorous debates on their impacts on international trade and development, with many arguing that standards are "non‐tariff barriers" to trade and that standards are marginalizing the poor. I present conceptual frameworks and review empirical evidence on the equity and efficiency effects and the political economy of standards. Models which incorporate essential aspects of standards yield complex theoretical results and nuanced conclusions. Careful empirical analyses support such nuanced arguments and find complex effects. For trade, standards can create welfare gains but also involve rent redistribution which induces lobbying by interest groups to set the standards at their preferred level. This makes it difficult to distinguish socially desirable standards from those resulting from political rent‐seeking. For development, it is crucial to explicitly account for (a) the endogeneity of the institutional organization of value chains and (b) both smallholder contracting and employment creation on large scale farms when considering the impact of standards on development and poverty. ; none

Only a few years ago the widely shared view was thatlowfood prices were a curse to developing countries and the poor. Their dramatic increase in 2006–8 appears to have altered this view fundamentally.Highfood prices are now judged to have a devastating effect on developing countries and the world's poor – a reversal of opinion that raises questions about the old and the new arguments and the proposed remedies, and also about the causes of this dramatic turnaround in analysis and policy conclusions. This article puts these changes in perspective and discusses their potential implications.

AbstractThis article reviews innovative research that has emerged in recent years, both in the general economics literature and as applied to agricultural and food policies. There have been important innovations and new insights in these fields, particularly regarding the micro‐foundations of political decision‐making, the impact of political institutions and ideology, and the role of the media. Data have also improved substantially. However, there are still important gaps in our understanding. Further research should focus on capturing interactions between explanatory variables, more refined measurement of (political) institutions and reforms, the effects of international agreements, broader representation of agents, more explicit modeling of crises, discontinuous effects, and the interaction of multiple policies.

Only a few years ago the widely shared view was that low food prices were a curse to developing countries and the poor. The dramatic increase of food prices in 2006-2008 appears to have fundamentally altered this view. The vast majority of analyses and reports in 2008 and 2009 state that high food prices have a devastating effect on developing countries and the world's poor. This reversal of opinion raises questions about the old and the new arguments and about the proposed remedies. It also raises questions about the causes of this dramatic turnaround in analysis and policy conclusions. In this paper I document these changes in perspective and I discuss potential implications and offer hypotheses on the cause of the change in views.

The 2003 refirm of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) under Commissioner Fischler was the most radical in the history of the CAP. This paper analyzes the causes and constraints of the refirm. The paper argues that an unusual combination of pro-refirm factors came together in the first years of the 21st century, making this refirm possible.

Food and agriculture have been subject to heavy-handed government interventions throughout much of history and across the globe, both in developing and in developed countries. Today, more than half a trillion US dollars are spent by some governments to support farmers, while other governments impose regulations and taxes that hurt farmers. Some policies, such as price regulations and tariffs, distribute income but reduce total welfare by introducing economic distortions. Other policies, such as public investments in research, food standards, or land reforms, may increase total welfare, but these policies come also with distributional effects. These distributional effects influence the preferences of interest groups and in turn influence policy decisions. Political considerations are therefore crucial to understand how agricultural and food policies are determined, to identify the constraints within which welfare-enhancing reforms are possible (or not), and finally to understand how coalitions can be created to stimulate growth and reduce poverty.

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Editors and Contributors -- Units of Measurements -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Part I Overview -- 1 Economics of the Craft Beer Revolution: A Comparative International Perspective -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Defining Craft Breweries and Craft Beer -- 1.2.1 "Gypsy Brewers": Are Contract Breweries Real Craft? -- 1.3 Concentration and Homogenization in the Global Beer Industry 1900-1980 -- 1.4 When Did the Craft Beer Revolution Start? -- 1.5 A Growing Demand for "Different" Beers -- 1.5.1 Demand for Variety: A Reaction to Homogenization in Beer Markets -- 1.5.2 Increasing Income -- 1.5.3 Peer Effects in Beer Consumption and Consumer Associations -- 1.6 Pioneers and Entrepreneurs in Craft Brewing -- 1.7 The Re-emergence of Small Firms in a Concentrated Market: Generalists and Specialists -- 1.8 Legitimization, Information, and Networks -- 1.9 Developing Technology and Capital Markets for Small Brewers -- 1.10 The Geography of Craft Beer -- 1.11 Regulations -- 1.12 The Macrobrewers' Responses to Craft Brewing -- 1.12.1 Craft-Style Beer Production by Macrobrewers -- 1.12.2 Takeover of Craft Brewers -- 1.12.3 Infrastructure Investment, Free Riding, and Consumer Access -- 1.13 Conclusion -- Appendix 1 -- References -- Part II Country Studies -- 2 Craft Beer in the USA: Strategic Connections to Macro- and European Brewers -- 2.1 Evolution of US Craft Brewing -- 2.2 The Early Brewers, Promoters, and Brewmeisters -- 2.2.1 The Early Brewers -- 2.2.2 The Early Promoters -- 2.2.3 The Brewmeister -- 2.3 Marketing and Strategic Interactions Between US Craft and Macrobrewers -- 2.3.1 Marketing Differences Between Craft Brewers and Macrobrewers -- 2.3.2 Macrobrewer Responses and Other Strategic Issues -- 2.4 The European Connection and Back -- 2.5 Conclusion -- Acknowledgment -- References