Suchergebnisse

What's at stake : developing-country interests in the DOHA development round / Merlinda D. Ingco, John D. Nash -- Trade agreements : achievements and issues ahead / Merlinda D. Ingco, John Croome -- Export competition policies / Harry de Gorter, Lilian Ruiz, Merlinda D. Ingco -- Market access : economics and the effects of policy instruments / Harry de Gorter, Merlinda D. Ingco, Laura Ignacio -- Quota administration methods : economics and effects with trade liberalization / Harry de Gorter, Jana Hranaiova -- Domestic support : economics and policy instruments / Harry de Gorter, Merlinda D. Ingco, Laura Ignacio -- The distributional effects of agricultural policy reforms / Harry de Gorter, Merlinda D. Ingco, Cameron Short -- The multifunctionality of agriculture and its implications for policy / David Vanzetti, Els Wynen -- Food security and agricultural trade policy reform / Merlinda D. Ingco, Donald Mitchell, John D. Nash -- Managing potential adverse impacts of agricultural trade liberalization / William Foster, Alberto Valdés -- The sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, food safety policies, and product attributes / Simonetta Zarrilli with Irene Musselli -- Agricultural biotechnology : a primer for policymakers / Donald J. MacKenzie, Morven A. McLean -- Global intellectual property rights : a new factor in farming / Geoff Tansey -- Rules and options for special and differential treatment / Constantine Michalopoulos -- Special trade arrangements to improve market access / Helen Freeman

Enhancing the productivity of agriculture is vital for Sub-Saharan Africa's economic future and is one of the most important tools to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in the region. How governments elect to spend public resources has significant development impact in this regard. Choosing to catalyze a shift toward more effective, efficient, and climate-resilient public spending in agriculture can accelerate change and unleash growth. Not only does agricultural public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa lag behind other developing regions but its impact is vitiated by subsidy programs and transfers that tend to benefit elites to the detriment of poor people and the agricultural sector itself. Shortcomings in the budgeting processes also reduce spending effectiveness. In light of this scenario, addressing the quality of public spending and the efficiency of resource use becomes even more important than addressing only the level of spending. Improvements in the policy environment, better institutions, and investments in rural public goods positively affect agricultural productivity. These, combined with smarter use of public funds, have helped lay the foundations for agricultural productivity growth around the world, resulting in a wealth of important lessons from which African policy makers and development practitioners can draw. The rigorous analysis presented in this book provides options for reform with a view to boosting the productivity of African agriculture and eventually increasing development impact

While some argue that trade liberalization has raised incomes and led to environmental protection in developing countries, others claim that it generates neither poverty reduction nor sustainability. The detailed case studies in this book demonstrate that neither interpretation is universally correct, given how much depends on specific policies and institutions that determine 'on-the-ground' outcomes. Drawing on research from six countries around the developing world, the book also presents the unique perspectives of researchers at both the world's largest development organization (The World Bank) and the world's largest conservation organization (World Wildlife Fund) on the debate over trade liberalization and its effects on poverty and the environment. The authors trace international trade rules and events down through national development contexts to investigate on-the-ground outcomes for real people and places. The studies underscore the importance of evaluating trade from a perspective that pays attention to environmental and social vulnerability and understands the linkages between poverty reduction and environmental protection. The lessons drawn provide a critical first step in developing the appropriate response options needed to ensure that trade plays a positive role in promoting truly sustainable development

This paper addresses an old and recurring theme in development economics: the slow adoption of new technologies by farmers in many developing countries. The paper explores a somewhat novel link to explain this puzzle -- the link between market access and the incentives to adopt a new technology when there are non-convexities. The paper develops a theoretical model to guide the empirical analysis, which uses spatially disaggregated agricultural production data from Spatial Production Allocation Model and Living Standards Measurement Study survey data for Nigeria. The model is used to estimate the impact of transport costs on crop production, the adoption of modern technologies, and the differential impact on returns of modern versus traditional farmers. To overcome the limitation of data availability on travel costs for much of Africa, road survey data are combined with geographic information road network data to generate the most thorough and accurate road network available. With these data and the Highway Development Management Model, minimum travel costs from each location to the market are computed. Consistent with the theory, analysis finds that transportation costs are critical in determining technology choices, with a greater responsiveness among farmers who adopt modern technologies, and at times a perverse (negative) response to lower transport costs among those who employ more traditional techniques. In sum, the paper presents compelling evidence that the constraints to the adoption of modern technologies and access to markets are interconnected, and so should be targeted jointly.