Agriculture's 'multifunctionality' and the WTO
Date
2000-09
Authors
Anderson, Kym
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
Are the agricultural policy reforms embodied in the Uruguay Round consistent
with meeting domestic policy objectives such as providing adequate food security,
environmental protection and viability of rural areas? This article examines the
claim that agriculture deserves more price support and import protection than
other sectors because of the non-marketed externalities and public goods it
produces jointly with marketable food and fibre (agriculture's so-called 'multifunctionality').
Do these unrewarded positive externalities exceed the negative
externalities from farming by more than the net positive externalities produced by
other sectors? To what extent are those farmer-produced spillovers under-supplied,
and what are the most efficient ways to boost their production to the socially
optimal levels? The article concludes that there is little trade-off required to meet
domestic policy objectives on the one hand and agricultural protection reform
objectives as embodied in WTO rules on the other.
Description
Keywords
agricultural, policy, reform, Uruguay Round, domestic, food, security, environmental, protection, rural, externalities, public goods, fibre, multifunctionality, trade-off, WTO
Citation
Collections
Source
The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access