Global Agricultural Trade and Developing Countries by World Bank Staff

This title presents research findings based on a series of commodity studies of significant economic importance to developing countries (coffee, cotton, dairy, fruits and vegetables, groundnuts, rice, seafood products, sugar, and wheat). First, the book sets the stage with background chapters and investigations of cross-cutting issues. The book follows with an analysis of product standards and costs of compliance and their effects on agricultural and food trade. An investigation of the impact of preferences given to selected countries and their effectiveness is next. The evidence on the attempts to decouple agricultural support from agricultural output is then reviewed. The last background chapter explores the robustness of the global gains of multilateral agricultural and food trade liberalization. The studies analyze current policy regimes in key producing and consuming countries, document the magnitude of these distortions and estimates the distributional impacts–winners and losers–of trade and domestic policy reforms. By bringing the key issues and findings together in one place, this title aids policy makers and researchers, both in their approach to global negotiations and in evaluating their domestic policies on agriculture.