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Why was it so hard to reach an agreement in the Uruguay Round to reduce agricultural protection? After surveying the growth of agricultural protection in the 1980s, I develop arguments based on political economy that imply a systematic tendency for governments to protect farmers increasingly, at least up to some threshold, as economic development proceeds. Agricultural protection growth in industrializing countries is therefore normal, not exceptional. Liberalizing those policies before reaching that threshold is unattractive politically unless new influences, e.g. from abroad, upset the domestic political equilibrium. The Uruguay Round provided such a force. What made the early 1990s so significant a crossroads for farm policy reform was that coincidently there were other changes taking place in Europe which lowered the domestic political cost of reforming the EC's Common Agricultural Policy. The paper argues that the reforms to farm policy during the rest of this decade as a result of the Uruguay Round agreement will at best be slow and messy – but that is far preferable to the alternative of a failed Uruguay Round and continued growth of agricultural protection.

Why was it so hard to reach an agreement in the Uruguay Round to reduce agricultural protection? After surveying the growth of agricultural protection in the 1980s, I develop arguments based on political economy that imply a systematic tendency for governments to protect farmers increasingly, at least up to some threshold, as economic development proceeds. Agricultural protection growth in industrializing countries is therefore normal, not exceptional. Liberalizing those policies before reaching that threshold is unattractive politically unless new influences, e.g. from abroad, upset the domestic political equilibrium. The Uruguay Round provided such a force. What made the early 1990s so significant a crossroads for farm policy reform was that coincidently there were other changes taking place in Europe which lowered the domestic political cost of reforming the EC's Common Agricultural Policy. The paper argues that the reforms to farm policy during the rest of this decade as a result of the Uruguay Round agreement will at best be slow and messy – but that is far preferable to the alternative of a failed Uruguay Round and continued growth of agricultural protection.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Tables, Figures, and Boxes -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Author Profiles -- Abbreviations -- Map and Fast Facts -- 1. The Kazakhstan Economy: Achievements, Prospects, and Policy Challenges -- 1.1 Growth, Inequality, and Environmental Dynamics -- 1.2 The National Wealth Fund -- 1.3 Real Exchange Rate Movements and the Inflation Target -- 1.4 The Dutch Disease -- 1.5 Diversification of the Economy -- 1.6 Transcending the Middle-Income Challenge -- 1.7 Country Diagnostic Study for Kazakhstan -- References -- 2. Policies to Unlock Kazakhstan's Agricultural Potential -- 2.1 Kazakhstan's Policy Framework for Agriculture -- 2.2 Kazakhstan's Agricultural Performance -- 2.3 Kazakhstan's Agricultural Development Challenges -- 2.4 Policy Options to Unlock Agricultural Potential -- 2.5 Conclusions -- References -- Appendix 1: Methods for Measuring Technical Efficiency of Agricultural Producers in Kazakhstan using Stochastic Frontier Production Functions for Panel Data -- Appendix 2: Summary Statistics of Variables Used in Technical Efficiency Analysis -- 3. Kazakhstan's Manufacturing Potential -- 3.1 Kazakhstan's Industrial Programs: An Overview -- 3.2 Kazakhstan's Manufacturing Sector -- 3.3 Why Does Kazakhstan Need to Diversify Its Economy? -- 3.4 Potential Benefits of Diversification -- 3.5 Kazakhstan's Performance in Diversifying Its Manufacturing Sector, 1995-2015 -- 3.6 Product Space Analysis -- 3.7 Identifying High-Potential Export Products in Kazakhstan -- 3.8 Elements of Successful Manufacturing Development: Lessons and Insights from Other Countries -- 3.9 Policy Priorities for Manufacturing Development in Kazakhstan -- References -- Appendix 1: Kazakhstan's Exported Goods with Revealed Comparative Advantage > 1, in 2015.

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 index. Twelve of the most important wine-producing countries, that together account for all but one-eighth of the world's winegrapes, are included in the analysis. The data refer to circa 2000 (or 1999 for EU member countries, since that is their most recent census data). These indexes provide a baseline against which to compare more recent and future vintages. They will be especially useful as producers and regulators respond at varying speeds to the impacts of climate changes, in addition to market developments, on the optimal location of production of different varieties around the world

We provide economy-wide modeling results of the national and regional implications of two current challenges facing the Australian wine industry: a decline in export demand for premium wines, and a possible change in the tax on domestic wine sales following the Henry Review of Taxation. The demand shock causes regional GDP to fall in the cool and warm wine regions but not in the hot wine regions unless the shock is large. A change from the current ad valorem tax to a similarly low volumetric tax on domestic wine sales causes regional GDP to rise in the cool and warm wine regions, partly offsetting its fall due to the export demand shock; but GDP in the hot wine regions would fall substantially. The switch to a volumetric tax as high as the standard beer rate would raise tax revenue and lower domestic wine consumption by more than one-third, but would induce a one-third decrease in production of non-premium wine as its consumer price would rise by at least three-quarters (while the average price of super premium wines would change very little), hence exacerbating the difference in effects of a tax reform on hot versus warm and cool wine regions' GDP

Australia's wine industry has been through major structural changes over the past six decades and has grown especially rapidly since the early 1990s. Investments in generic promotion and in grape and wine research and development have been significant features of the industry throughout that period, and have grown in importance following the formation in the early 1990s of the Australian Wine Export Council and the Grape and Wine R&D Corporation which coordinates the investing of grapegrower and winemaker national levies and matching federal government funding for such generic promotion and R&D. This paper summarizes that recent history, and concludes by speculating on the scope for and likely approaches to innovation in the future