The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781137501011)

Winner of the European Association of Agricultural Economists Book Award

Food and agriculture have been subject to heavy-handed government interventions throughout much of history and across the globe, both in developing and in developed countries. Today, more than half a trillion US dollars are spent by some governments to support farmers, while other governments impose regulations and taxes that hurt farmers. Some policies, such as price regulations and tariffs, distribute income but reduce total welfare by introducing economic distortions. Other policies, such as public investments in research, food standards, or land reforms, may increase total welfare, but these policies come also with distributional effects. These distributional effects influence the preferences of interest groups and in turn influence policy decisions. Political considerations are therefore crucial to understand how agricultural and food policies are determined, to identify the constraints within which welfare-enhancing reforms are possible (or not), and finally to understand how coalitions can be created to stimulate growth and reduce poverty.

Author: Johan Swinnen
ISBN-10: 1137501014
ISBN-13: 9781137501011
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 05/25/2018
Pages: 254
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.69d