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"Despite recent reforms, world agricultural markets remain highly distorted by government policies. Traditional indicators of agricultural and food price distortions such as producer and consumer support estimates (PSEs and CSEs) can be poor guides to the policies' trade effects. Two recent studies provide much better indicators of trade- (and welfare-)reducing effects of farm price and trade policies, but they provide somewhat differing numbers. This paper explains why those estimates differ and how they might be improved for use in on-going annual monitoring of the trade restrictiveness of agricultural policies in both high-incmoe and developing countries

In der Studie wird kurz zum Wachstum und der strukturellen Transformation der Wirtschaft von Japan, Südkorea und Taiwan Stellung genommen. Dann wird das landwirtschaftliche Handelsmodell dargestellt, und die Schlüsse daraus werden auf die ostasiatische Landwirtschaftspolitik in bezug auf Reis und Fleisch gezogen. (DÜI-Xyl)

AbstractThis paper provides an overview and analysis of wine regulations in an international and historical comparative perspective. Wine is an excellent sector to study government interventions because for centuries wine markets have been subject to many government regulations that differ greatly within and between countries. Wine consumption taxes, for example, range from zero in some countries to more than 100% in others. The European Union has extensive quantity and quality regulations for wine, while other major producers such as Australia and the United States are much less regulated. After a general overview of current regulations and historical evolutions, we analyze three key wine regulations in more detail: consumption taxes, planting rights, and geographical indications. Most wine regulations reveal a tension between the public interest and vested private interests.

For millennia alcoholic drinks have played an important role in food security and health (both positive and negative), but consumption patterns of beer, wine and spirits have altered substantially over the past two centuries. So too have their production technologies and industrial organization. Globalization and economic growth have contributed to considerable convergence in national alcohol consumption patterns. The industrial revolution contributed to excess consumption by stimulating demand and lowering the cost of alcohol. It also led to concentration in some alcohol industries, expecially brewing. In recent years the emergence of craft producers has countered firm concentration and the homogenization of alcoholic beverages. Meanwhile, governments have intervened extensively in alcohol markets to reduce excessive consumption, raise taxes, protect domestic industries and/or ensure competition. These regulations have contributed to, and been affected by, evolving patterns of consumption and changing structures of alcohol industries.

For decades the world's agricultural markets have been highly distorted by government policies, but differently for different commodities such that a ranking of weighted average nominal rates of assistance across countries can be misleading as an indicator of the trade or welfare effects of policies affecting global markets. This article develops two theory-based indicators, drawing on the recent literature on trade restrictiveness indexes. It estimates those indicators for each of 28 key agricultural commodities from 1960 to 2004,based on a sample of 75 countries that together account for more than three-quarters of the world's production of those agricultural commodities. ; Funding from World Bank Trust Funds provided by the governments of the Netherlands (BNPP) and the United Kingdom DfID), and from theAustralian Research Council,is gratefully acknowledged.

Despite recent reforms, world agricultural markets remain highly distorted by policies. Traditional indicators of those price distortions such as producer and consumer support estimates (PSEs and CSEs) can be poor guides to the policies' economic effects.Recent theoretical literature provides scalar index numbers of trade- and welfare-reducing effects of price and trade policies which this paper builds on to develop more-satisfactory indexes that can be generated using no more than the data used to generate PSEs and CSEs.We then exploit a new Agricultural Distortion database to provide time-series estimates of index numbers for 75 developing and high-income countries over the past half-century ; Funding from World Bank Trust Funds provided by the governments of the Netherlands (BNPP) and the United Kingdom (DfID), and from the Australian Research Council, is gratefully acknowledged.

Despite recent reforms, world agricultural markets remain highly distorted by policies. Traditional indicators of those price distortions such as producer and consumer support estimates (PSEs and CSEs) can be poor guides to the policies' economic effects.Recent theoretical literature provides scalar index numbers of trade- and welfare-reducing effects of price and trade policies which this paper builds on to develop more-satisfactory indexes that can be generated using no more than the data used to generate PSEs and CSEs.We then exploit a new Agricultural Distortion database to provide time-series estimates of index numbers for 75 developing and high-income countries over the past half-century ; Funding from World Bank Trust Funds provided by the governments of the Netherlands (BNPP) and the United Kingdom (DfID), and from the Australian Research Council, is gratefully acknowledged.

When a domestic divergence such as an externality is associated with the production (or consumption) of a good, the optimal first-best intervention typically is a production (or consumption) tax-cum-subsidy (Meade 1955; Bhagwati and Ramaswami 1963; Johnson 1965). Sometimes this first-best policy instrument cannot be used, perhaps because the government dislikes explicit subsidies for political reasons or because of high costs of raising or dispersing government revenue. In extreme cases the government may allow only a trade intervention on this good. The question then arises as to what is the optimal second- best trade intervention in the presence of an externality associated with the production or consumption of a tradable. To our knowledge only two studies have addressed this question previously, and both analyses contain errors.

When a domestic divergence such as an externality is associated with the production (or consumption) of a good, the optimal first-best intervention typically is a production (or consumption) tax-cum-subsidy (Meade 1955; Bhagwati and Ramaswami 1963; Johnson 1965). Sometimes this first-best policy instrument cannot be used, perhaps because the government dislikes explicit subsidies for political reasons or because of high costs of raising or dispersing government revenue. In extreme cases the government may allow only a trade intervention on this good. The question then arises as to what is the optimal second- best trade intervention in the presence of an externality associated with the production or consumption of a tradable. To our knowledge only two studies have addressed this question previously, and both analyses contain errors.

In the wake of recent food price spikes, plus growing demands for food in emerging Asia and for biofuels in Europe and the United States, governments are re-examining their strategies for dealing with both short-term and long-term food security concerns. This paper argues that long-run trends in real agricultural prices have policy implications for food security that are at least as important as those related to short-lived spikes around trend prices. The paper therefore summarizes recent projections of markets to 2030 under various scenarios, and then reviews evidence on how trade policy restrictions typically are altered to insulate domestic markets from short-run fluctuations in international prices around their long-run trends. That provides a firm empirical basis for re-examining the effectiveness and efficiency of various policy options for ensuring food security in Asia and elsewhere. Those options include boosting agricultural productivity growth rates to deal with long-run concerns, and using more-appropriate domestic policy measures rather than trade policies to cope with price volatility. ; Anderson, Nelgen and Strutt acknowledge funding support from the Asian Development Bank, the Australian Research Council, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, and the World Bank.

In the wake of recent food price spikes, plus growing demands for food in emerging Asia and for biofuels in Europe and the United States, governments are re-examining their strategies for dealing with both short-term and long-term food security concerns. This paper argues that long-run trends in real agricultural prices have policy implications for food security that are at least as important as those related to short-lived spikes around trend prices. The paper therefore summarizes recent projections of markets to 2030 under various scenarios, and then reviews evidence on how trade policy restrictions typically are altered to insulate domestic markets from short-run fluctuations in international prices around their long-run trends. That provides a firm empirical basis for re-examining the effectiveness and efficiency of various policy options for ensuring food security in Asia and elsewhere. Those options include boosting agricultural productivity growth rates to deal with long-run concerns, and using more-appropriate domestic policy measures rather than trade policies to cope with price volatility. ; Anderson, Nelgen and Strutt acknowledge funding support from the Asian Development Bank, the Australian Research Council, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, and the World Bank.