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Existing research demonstrates why farmers demand subsidies, but remains ambiguous as to why consumers/taxpayers support or rather do not oppose such subsidies. We approach this puzzle from two angles: how sensitive are citizens to cost implications of agricultural subsidies, and what is their “value function” with respect to agricultural policy? We argue that farm subsidies, besides benefiting farmers, promise to generate an array of non-market goods that serve various interests in society and thus receive strong support overall. To test our argument, we conducted conjoint survey experiments in two countries: Switzerland and the United States. Our results show that while cost implications only marginally reduce support for subsidies, support is positively affected by the allocation of subsidies to various policy goals, such as guaranteeing food security and enhancing animal welfare. These findings suggest that individual-level support for agricultural subsidies does not result from a lack of information, but reflect genuine appreciation of the perceived multi-functionality of agricultural subsidies.

The paper is devoted to the investigation of agricultural protectionism. The scope of the liberalization of international trade in agricultural products since its’ start after the Uruguay Round is estimated. The U.S and the EU agricultural trade policy is taken into consideration. The scope of that agricultural liberalization is estimated as limited because of the immense increase of NTMs, emergence of “fragmented protectionism” – protectionist measures are still in place for sensitive products. The huge change in agricultural trade policy is revealed – shift from ‘hard core’ (true protectionist) non­tariff barriers to ‘soft’ NTMs that are more about technical and safety requirements than trade barriers. Special attention is paid to hidden form of agricultural protectionism in the US and EU. The key symptoms of these forms of protectionism include significant increase of NTMs, massive implementation of government support measures to producers that are only de jure green., Доклад посвящен исследованию проявлений протекционизма в международной торговле сельскохозяйственной продукцией. Оценка уровня протекционистской защиты сельскохозяйственного рынка проведена на примере ведущих участников мирового агросектора – США и ЕС. Установлен в целом ограниченный масштаб проведенной агролиберализации за период с начала ее инициации решениями Уругвайского раунда переговоров стран­членов ВТО. Определено, что зафиксированная в соглашениях ВТО либерализация международной торговли сельхозпродукцией выразилась в общем снижении тарифов, селективном отказе от наиболее искажающих нетарифных ограничений и создании нормативной основы по применению основных видов нетарифных мер (НТМ) при сохранении очагового протекционизма, значительном возрастании спектра нетарифных ограничений и закреплении за НТМ статуса ключевого торгового барьера. При этом выявлено, что произошел важнейший сдвиг в регулировании международной торговли сельскохозяйственной продукции, заключающийся в переходе от «жестких» НТМ, имеющих очевидную протекционистскую основу, к мерам, ориентированным на осуществление не столько торговой, сколько технической политики. Особое значение приобрела скрытая форма агропротекционизма, выражающиеся в преимущественно использовании НТМ и активном применении инструментов поддержки производителей, лишь формально не являющихся искажающими.

The article is devoted to the historical analysis of patterns of agrarian protectionism policy forming in developed countries. The problems and the objective regularities of protection agricultural policies realization in European countries on the different stages of economic development are investigated. The estimation of both positive and negative arguments of the policy under modern conditions of economic integration and membership in the WTO is accomplished., Використання цивілізованих методів протекціоністської підтримки на етапі активізації інтеграційних процесів в світовій економіці спрямовано на підвищення конкурентоспроможності та ефективності сільського господарства, що дозволить у майбутньому зберегти його ключову роль в економіці та забезпечити сталий сільський розвиток.

The article is devoted to the historical analysis of patterns of agrarian protectionism policy forming in developed countries. The problems and the objective regularities of protection agricultural policies realization in European countries on the different stages of economic development are investigated. The estimation of both positive and negative arguments of the policy under modern conditions of economic integration and membership in the WTO is accomplished., Використання цивілізованих методів протекціоністської підтримки на етапі активізації інтеграційних процесів в світовій економіці спрямовано на підвищення конкурентоспроможності та ефективності сільського господарства, що дозволить у майбутньому зберегти його ключову роль в економіці та забезпечити сталий сільський розвиток.

The article is devoted to the historical analysis of patterns of agrarian protectionism policy forming in developed countries. The problems and the objective regularities of protection agricultural policies realization in European countries on the different stages of economic development are investigated. The estimation of both positive and negative arguments of the policy under modern conditions of economic integration and membership in the WTO is accomplished., Використання цивілізованих методів протекціоністської підтримки на етапі активізації інтеграційних процесів в світовій економіці спрямовано на підвищення конкурентоспроможності та ефективності сільського господарства, що дозволить у майбутньому зберегти його ключову роль в економіці та забезпечити сталий сільський розвиток.

The article is devoted to the historical analysis of patterns of agrarian protectionism policy forming in developed countries. The problems and the objective regularities of protection agricultural policies realization in European countries on the different stages of economic development are investigated. The estimation of both positive and negative arguments of the policy under modern conditions of economic integration and membership in the WTO is accomplished., Використання цивілізованих методів протекціоністської підтримки на етапі активізації інтеграційних процесів в світовій економіці спрямовано на підвищення конкурентоспроможності та ефективності сільського господарства, що дозволить у майбутньому зберегти його ключову роль в економіці та забезпечити сталий сільський розвиток.

During more than three centuries of modern economic growth there has been only one significant episode involving a major liberalization of agricultural protectionism, namely the mid-nineteenth century repeal of Britain's Corn Laws. Other than that, the history of industrial and post-industrial development has been overlaid with a history of agricultural protection growth. Poor agrarian economies tend to tax agriculture relative to other tradables sectors, but as nations industrialize their policy regimes tend to gradually change from negatively to positively assisting farmers relative to other producers (and conversely from subsidizing to taxing food consumers). The period since the 1950s has seen substantial growth in agricultural protectionism in the advanced industrial economies and its spread to newly industrializing economies, and those tendencies accelerated in the 1980s (Anderson and Hayami 1986; Anderson 1994, 1995; Lindert 1991).

During the interwar period Japan achieved its stated objective of imperial self sufficiency in rice, but it involved the empire’s barriers to imports of foreign rice becoming increasingly protective. A model of the empire’s rice market is used to estimate the production, consumption, trade and welfare effects of that policy. It is shown that the policy was an extraordinarily inefficient means of transferring welfare to producers from consumers/taxpayers. The policy was especially harmful to poor consumers in the colonies of Korea and Taiwan because it raised the price and reduced the availability of less-preferred but potentially much cheaper Indica rice from Southeast Asia.

The 7 year long GATT Uruguay Round (UR) of trade negotiations saw the first concerted attempt to reform world trade in agricultural products which was badly distorted by government policies to support domestic fanners. From the outset agriculture was the single most divisive issue on the 15 point agenda, with conflicts between the USA and the EC severely hampering the reform process. This study provides a review, and analysis, of the alternative strategies proposed by the main participants in the UR, and the final UR settlement, agreed in December 1993; it also provides an examination of the policy options open to governments wishing to support farm incomes with minimal distortions to world markets. The main participants accepted relatively early in the Round that an Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) would be needed to quantify the existing level of internal support and then monitor reductions in it. Differences of opinion as to the calculation of such an AMS existed until 1990 when the main participants proposed that the AMS be based on the DECO Producer Subsidy Equivalent (PSE), but adjusted for differing policy coverage and the method of measuring market price support. Therefore, the PSE and the changes to the PSE suggested by the major participants in the UR are examined, giving the un surprising conclusion that by 1990 the USA and Cairns Group (CG) of exporting countries were calling for a far greater reduction in agricultural support than the EC. In addition, the USA and CG required that there be separate reductions in border protection and export subsidisation while the Ee contended that an AMS should capture all agricultural policies so that separate commitments would not be required. A partial equilibrium, dynamic, stochastic simulation model, covering 7 main trading areas, for wheat is developed to examine this contention; using the EC's 1990 proposals for reform, it is found that a reduction in the AMS does lead to a commensurate fall in import tariffs

The 7 year long GATT Uruguay Round (UR) of trade negotiations saw the first concerted attempt to reform world trade in agricultural products which was badly distorted by government policies to support domestic fanners. From the outset agriculture was the single most divisive issue on the 15 point agenda, with conflicts between the USA and the EC severely hampering the reform process. This study provides a review, and analysis, of the alternative strategies proposed by the main participants in the UR, and the final UR settlement, agreed in December 1993; it also provides an examination of the policy options open to governments wishing to support farm incomes with minimal distortions to world markets. The main participants accepted relatively early in the Round that an Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) would be needed to quantify the existing level of internal support and then monitor reductions in it. Differences of opinion as to the calculation of such an AMS existed until 1990 when the main participants proposed that the AMS be based on the DECO Producer Subsidy Equivalent (PSE), but adjusted for differing policy coverage and the method of measuring market price support. Therefore, the PSE and the changes to the PSE suggested by the major participants in the UR are examined, giving the un surprising conclusion that by 1990 the USA and Cairns Group (CG) of exporting countries were calling for a far greater reduction in agricultural support than the EC. In addition, the USA and CG required that there be separate reductions in border protection and export subsidisation while the Ee contended that an AMS should capture all agricultural policies so that separate commitments would not be required. A partial equilibrium, dynamic, stochastic simulation model, covering 7 main trading areas, for wheat is developed to examine this contention; using the EC's 1990 proposals for reform, it is found that a reduction in the AMS does lead to a commensurate fall in import tariffs