Political economy of public policies: insights from distortions to agricultural and food markets

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Authors

Anderson, Kym
Rausser, Gordon
Swinnen, Johan

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American Economic Association

Abstract

The agricultural and food sector is an ideal case for investigating the political economy of public policies. Many of the policy developments in this sector since the 1950s have been sudden and transformational, while others have been gradual but persistent. This article reviews and synthesizes the literature on trends and fluctuations in market distortions and the political-economy explanations that have been advanced. Based on a rich global data set covering a half-century of evidence on commodities, countries, and policy instruments, we identify hypotheses that have been explored in the literature on the extent of market distortions and the conditions under which reform may be feasible.

Description

Keywords

agricultural and food sector, policy developments, market distortions, political-economy, public policies, international trade, prices, demand, supply, reform

Citation

Source

Journal of Economic Literature 51.2 (2013): 423–477

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Journal article

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