Agricultural policy reform and the WTO. Where are we heading?

Abstract:

This work arises from the papers presented to a conference of the same name held in Capri, Italy in June 2003. The book is organised in four parts.

Part one deals with the history of domestic and trade policies over different countries in the ten years following the Uruguay Round Agreement on agriculture. It addresses such issues as the slow progress in reduction of domestic and trade distortion policies, the experience of formerly centrally planned economies (ex Soviet bloc), potential impact of the Eastern European accession and the mid-term CAP reform. Other chapters in this part cover the Cairns Group post Uruguay, agricultural policies in India and China, and matters relevant to low income food deficit and net food importing countries.

Part two explores the three pillars of the WTO negotiations on agriculture. Papers consider the controversial subject of domestic support, the comparison of gains in economic welfare from the liberalisation of market access with those gained from reductions in domestic support, tariff cutting experience in Canada, Japan, the United States and the EU. The final paper in part two addresses the diversity of policy instruments under export competition.

The developing countries are the focus of part three which opens with a paper on the major challenges for agriculture, food security and trade. This is followed by three chapters which look at the Doha Development Agenda and the probable benefits of the alternative outcomes for the developing countries. Most negotiations comprise the broad search for consensus and the necessary protections for each parties often buried in the detail. Two chapters follow which examine that detail in the tariff schedules of the US and the EU, and the possible WTO changes which might allow national border measures to safeguard against temporary international price declines below long-term trends.

Part four looks at the increasing trend to bring domestic agricultural policies into international agreements as seen in the URAA. The interaction between different institutional and regulatory systems and the consequential impact on increasing integration of the international trade regime are explored in the first paper. The next paper examines the main economic issues arising from intellectual property rights protection in the context of WTO and is followed by one on food safety and quality and the role of the Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary agreement under the WTO. Comparison of the agri-environmental programs of the United States and the European Union is the subject of the next paper. Antidumping activity and its application to agricultural products vis-à-vis non agricultural goods is the focus of the penultimate chapter of the book, which closes with a chapter exploring the deeper economic integration that accompanies regional trade agreements.

The work will interest scholars, students, researchers and policy makers engaged in agricultural policy analysis and international economics.

Contents:
Preface: Agricultural Policy Reform: Past Present and Future
Part I: Agriculture and Agricultural Policy Changes Ten Years After the Uruguay Round
Part II: The Three Pillars of the WTO Negotiations on Agriculture
Part III: Agricultural Trade Relations, WTO Negotiations on Agriculture and the Developing World
Part IV: The WTO and the Future of International Trade Relations

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