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Tariffs are a type of tax that governments impose on imports for a variety of reasons, including a way to raise revenue and to protect domestic industries. This latter reason—protection—can come at a cost to domestic consumers in the form of higher prices. The resulting higher prices may stimulate or impede changes in the supply of goods, resulting in impacts on the global balance of trade called “distortions.” The World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed in 1995 in part to improve market access for trade by negotiating for its members the elimination of barriers, such as bans, that restricted trade by converting them to tariff equivalents. While these tariffs were intended to increase market access for agricultural products, they still can limit trade.

This paper views tariff-cutting formulas as a potential solution to the free-rider problem that arises when market opening is negotiated bilaterally and extended on a most-favored-nation basis. The negotiators in the Doha Agenda chose formulas that are ideal from an economic efficiency viewpoint in that they most sharply reduce the highest and most economically-costly tariffs. When the political support that gave rise to the original tariffs is considered, however, this approach appears to generate very high political costs per unit of gain in economic efficiency. The political costs associated with the formulas appear to have led to strong pressure for many, complex exceptions, which both lowered and increased uncertainty about members’ market access gains. Where tariff cuts focus on applied rates, it seems likely that a proportional cut rule would reduce the political costs of securing agreements. However, detailed examination of the Doha proposals with their product exceptions suggests that negotiators are likely to find cuts with exceptions politically attractive but economically costly when cuts are based on bound tariffs with different degrees of binding overhang.

NTMs, Agricultural and Food Trade, and Competitiveness Special Issue of The World Economy (forthcoming). Selected Papers from a European Commission co-funded Project on Assessment the Impacts of Non-tariff Measures on Competitiveness of the EU and Selected Trade Partners. Guest Editors: John Beghin and David Orden. The PDF file has the Table of Contents and teh introduction. Please contact the authors for individual papers. Once the articles are available on line, we will link directly to them.Contents:Overview Key Findings of the NTM-Impact Project David Orden, John Beghin, and Guy Henry The Impact of Regulatory Heterogeneity on Agri-food Trade Niven Winchester, Marie-Luise Rau, Christian Goetz, Bruno Larue, Tsunehiro Otsuki, Karl Shutes, Christine Wieck, Heloisa Lee Burnquist, Maurício Jorge Pinto de Souza, and Rosane Nunes de Faria Convergence of US and EU Production Practices under the New FDA Food Safety Modernization Act John Humphrey Case Studies The Trade and Welfare Impacts of Australian Quarantine Policies: The Case of Pigmeat John Beghin and Mark Melatos Potential of Regional and Seasonal Requirements in US Regulation of Fresh Lemon Imports Caesar Cororaton and Everett Peterson Assessment of the Impact of Avian Influenza Related Regulatory Policies on Poultry Meat Trade and Welfare Christine Wieck, Simon Schlueter and Wolfgang Britz Compositional Standards, Import Permits and Market Structure: The Case of Canadian Cheese Imports Marie-Hélène Felt, Bruno Larue and Jean-Philippe Gervais Effects of GlobalGAP on Horticultural Exports and Employment in Senegal Liesbeth Colen, Miet Maertens and Jo Swinnen

This Introduction summarises some of the key research findings of the papers in this special issue of The World Economy drawn from a European Commission co-funded project on non-tariff measures (NTMs) affecting agri-food trade of the EU and its trade partners. The project created a large symmetric international database of regulations and standards, constructed measures of their heterogeneity and evaluated the effects of heterogeneity on trade. Cases studies for selected dairy, meat, and fruit and vegetable products complement the aggregate analysis. The findings suggest that at least for some import standards, the harmonisation of regulations will increase trade. Additional findings address the potential protectionist leaning of some NTMs, their welfare impact, third-country consequences of their imposition, interface of NTMs with tariffs and other border measures, negotiation strategies, North-South dimensions of NTM impacts and the value added from the application of diverse and novel models to the assessment of their effects.

Bosnia Herzegovina (BH) is in the process of joining the World Trade Organization in the near future and the European Union in the medium term. As a net agriculture and food importer, accession will require BH to expose some of its inefficient and sensitive agricultural industries, such as meat and dairy products, to international competition. A bilateral trade model is used to estimate the potentially negative impacts of accession on production and trade in several specific sectors. According to the research results, BH imports are estimated to increase, driven by the livestock products sector. Exports are only marginally affected. A drop in overall customs revenues is expected. BH is expected to experience a small reduction in agricultural sector welfare following accession to the EU or the WTO. The implications for poverty are likely to be negative, especially for meat producers. On the other hand the main beneficiaries will be the consumers. This presumes that lower border prices are passed through to domestic consumers.

This thesis will focus on the issue of linking agricultural policy, agricultural tariffs and trade inter-war Czechoslovakia. It focuses on blending the implementation of agrarian circles Czechoslovak interests in foreign trade. In the field of view of the structure of the ambivalence of the Czechoslovak economy as industrial-agrarian country. The work is the analysis of official statistics of foreign trade. Use of the historical and contemporary literature and archival studies.

This paper analyzes the economic effects of agricultural price and merchandise trade policies around the world as of 2004 on global markets, net farm incomes, and national and regional economic welfare and poverty, using the global economy wide Linkage model, new estimates of agricultural price distortions for developing countries, and poverty elasticity's approach. It addresses two questions: to what extent are policies as of 2004 still reducing rewards from farming in developing countries and thereby adding to inequality across countries in farm household incomes? Are they depressing value added more in primary agriculture than in the rest of the economy of developing countries, and earnings of unskilled workers more than of owners of other factors of production, thereby potentially contributing to inequality and poverty within developing countries (given that farm incomes are well below non-farm incomes in most developing countries and that agriculture there is intensive in the use of unskilled labor)? Results are presented for the key countries and regions of the world and for the world as a whole. They reveal that, by moving to free markets, income inequality between countries will be reduced at least slightly, all but one-sixth of the gains to developing countries will come from agricultural policy reform, unskilled workers in developing countries the majority of whom work on farms will benefit most from reform, net farm incomes in developing countries will rise by 6 percent compared with 2 percent for non-agricultural value added, and the number of people surviving on less than US$1 a day will drop 3 percent globally.

During the 1960s and 1970s most developing countries imposed anti-agricultural policies, while many high-income countries restricted agricultural imports and subsidized their farmers. Both sets of policies inhibited economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries, while doing little to assist small farmers in high-income countries. Since the 1980s, however, many developing countries began to reduce the anti-agricultural bias of sectoral policies, and from the early 1990s the European Union began to move away from price supports to more-direct forms of farm income payments. This paper summarizes a forthcoming book that seeks to explain this evolving pattern of distortions to incentives conceptually and econometrically by making use of new political economy theory and a new globally comprehensive and consistent set of estimates of the changing extent of annual distortions over the past half-century. The distortion estimates involve more than 70 products that cover around 70 percent of the value of agricultural output in each of 75 countries that together account for over 90 percent of the global economy, and they expose the contribution of the various policy instruments (both farm and non-farm) to the net distortion to farmer incentives. Such a widespread coverage of countries, products, years and policy instruments has allowed this collection of studies to test a wide range of hypotheses suggested by the new political economy literature, including the importance of institutions. As a set it sheds much new light on the underlying forces that have affected incentives facing farmers in the course of national and global economic and political development, and hence on how those distortions might change in the future - or be changed by concerted actions to offset political pressures from traditionally powerful vested interests.

Dramatic changes took place in agricultural policies in Europe in the 19th and 20th century. In the 1860s European nations agreed on a series of trade agreements which spread free trade across the continent. In the 1960s European nations concluded an international agreement which spread heavy Government intervention and protection against imports across the continent. This paper offers hypotheses as to the causes of these dramatic changes in agricultural protection.

This chapter begins with a brief summary of the long history of national distortions to agricultural markets. It then outlines the methodology used to generate annual indicators of the extent of government interventions in markets, details of which are provided in Anderson and appendix A. A description of the economies under study and their economic growth and structural changes over recent decades is then briefly presented as a preface to the main section of the chapter, in which the nominal rates of assistance and consumer tax equivalents (NRA and CTE) estimates are summarized across regions and over the decades since the 1950s. These estimates are discussed in far more detail in the regional chapters that follow. A summary is also provided of an additional set of indicators of agricultural price distortions presented in chapter eleven that are based on the trade restrictiveness index first developed by Anderson and Neary (2005). In chapter twelve the focus shifts from countries to commodities, and all the various distortion indicators are used to provide a sense of how distorted are each of the key farm commodity markets globally. Then chapter thirteen uses the study's NRA and CTE estimates to provide a new set of results from a global economy-wide model that attempts to quantify the impacts on global markets, net farm incomes and welfare of the reforms since the early 1980s and of the policies still in place as of 2004. The chapter concludes by drawing on the lessons learned to speculate on the prospects for further reducing the disarray in world agricultural markets.

Earnings from farming in many developing countries have been depressed by a pro-urban bias in own-country policies as well as by governments of richer countries favoring their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies, which reduce national and global economic welfare and contribute to global inequality and poverty, have been undergoing reform since the 1980s. Using the linkage model of the global economy and modifications to the pre-release of version 7 of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) protection database for 2004, this paper seeks to compare the effect of those reforms to date with those that would come from removing remaining agricultural and trade policies. Two sets of results are thus presented: one showing the effects of policy reforms between 1980-84 and 2004, the other showing what the removal of remaining distortions as of 2004 could be. Both sets of results indicate improvements in the real value of agricultural output and exports, the real returns to farm land and unskilled labor, and real net farm incomes in most developing country regions despite the adverse effect on the international terms of trade for some developing countries that are net food importers or are enjoying preferential access to agricultural markets of high-income countries. Landowners in those high-income countries still offering their farmers price supports could readily afford to compensate them from the benefits of removing remaining agricultural protectionism.

The WTO negotiations on the reform of agricultural tariffs, export subsidies and domestic support is proving to be increasingly frustrating with little progress since prior to the Cancun Ministerial of August 2003, apart from an agreement to keep talking. In this paper a possible outcome in the agricultural negotiations is analysed and the various impacts on exporters, importers and taxpayers assessed. The results indicate that holding out for exemptions leads to a loss in welfare for developing countries but export growth is maintained. Whether this is an attractive outcome depends on priorities. One inherent drawback is that the majority of WTO members will experience a welfare loss from any likely negotiated agricultural reform.

Vietnam is about to join the WTO. As a major exporter of rice, coffee, cashew nuts and pepper, accession to the WTO will have little impact on these export markets, as tariffs on these exports are already low. However, accession will require Vietnam to expose some of its inefficient agricultural sectors, such as sugar and maize, to international competition. Furthermore, multilateral reforms within the WTO are likely to raise prices of temperate product goods that are imported by Vietnam, worsening its terms of trade. A quantitative analysis of likely policy changes is undertaken assuming Vietnam’s accession terms are likely to bring its agricultural tariffs down to an average of 18 per cent. A likely WTO outcome is then simulated. The impacts suggest Vietnam gains from accession but further WTO liberalisation raises import prices and has a negative impact.

This issue's focus is on the Short Courses offered by the O. A. C. in the agricultural topics of stock and seed judging, poultry, and fruit growing. Agricultural articles pertain to trade protection, agricultural economics of the dairy industry, and the improvement of cereal grains through hybridization. The focus of the Horticultural article is the co-operative movement in Ontario. Campus articles report the visit of Ontario legislators to the O. A. C. and the events of the Union Literary Society meeting, the Y. M. C. A. and the fifth Conversazione. An article regarding adult development and health is in the Macdonald Institute column. Alumni news is available in the Our Old Boys column. Protection and the Ontario farmer A Mid-Winter Night's Dream A week in Holland A Sunset The Short Courses Agriculture Concentrated effort in the dairy industry Dawn Experimental Fertilization in the principal cereal grains Incubation Horticulture Co-operation in Ontario The horticultural club Dawn Editorial College Life Ontario legislators at the O. A. C. The Indian's Grave Athletics Inter-year hockey Reckoning Our Old Boys Macdonald Are modern conditions conductive to high mental and physical development Locals A Macdonald Alphabet College Life advertising

This issue's articles address winter birds in Ontario, dairy tariffs and the Ontario farmer, nocturnal birds and the spread of noxious weeds in impure grain seed. The agricultural articles pertain to government dairy testing associations, the future in agriculture on the Prairies, and the economics of mutton production. The Horticulture articles address the profitability of fruit farming in Ontario, and greenhouse tomatoes. Campus articles include the examination results, how the O. A. C. is the largest residential college in Canada, and winter athletic activities. The Macdonald Institute column has an article on cooking classes in rural schools. Alumni news is available in the Our Old Boys column and this issue features the class of 1874. Our winter birds The tariff and the Ontario farmer Voices of the night The Aurora Borealis The spread of noxious weeds in Ontario The Shepard of the Soil Anglo-American musings on Canada Government cow-testing associations Agriculture Ontario and the West Some phases of mutton production Horticulture The economic importance of Canadian horticulture Greenhouse tomatoes Editorial College Life Home life at the O. A. C. and the opportunity it affords Athletics Our Old Boys Snowfall Macdonald A country school equipment Locals advertising

This issue's articles address the value of agricultural education, how the Buckeye steam ditcher may address problems of underdrainage in fields, that practical agricultural demonstration is worthwhile, and an alumnus' opinion on tariffs. Agricultural articles report on the International Livestock Exhibition in Chicago, the Ontario Provincial Winter Fair in Guelph, a twenty-five year retrospective of co-operative experiments in agriculture, and strawberry breeding. The poultry column pertains to the advantages of free-range poultry on a fruit farm, the activities of the O. A. C. Poultry Club, and the Ontario Poultry Show at the Provincial Winter Fair. Campus news contains an editorial on the Canadian Government Annuities Act and an obituary for Margaret Harcourt. Student activities of the Promenade Bazaar, the Philharmonic Concert, Union Literary Society meeting, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. are outlined in Campus Life. The Schools' and Teachers' Department column outlines the instruction in household science, manual training, and school gardening conducted in Kent County and Australia. The Macdonald Institute column contains articles on Robert Browning's poetry, the December promenade, and the Macdonald Literary Society. Alumni news is available in the Alumni column. The school and the farm The Soul The record of an old steam ditcher Agricultural demonstration The tariff Agriculture The Ontario Provincial Winter Fair The Chicago International Fat Stock Show On The Companionship With Nature Experimental Ontario's co-operative experiments in agriculture for a quarter of a century Horticulture The improvement of the strawberry Poultry Chickens on a fruit farm The O. A. C. poultry club The Ontario Poultry Show Past And Future Editorial College Life In Memoriam Alumni Athletics Macdonald Pompilia Among ourselves Much ado about nothing Schools' and Teachers' Department Locals advertising