Book Description

This new series of comparative studies from the World Bank examines how policies have affected agriculture in eighteen developing countries. It considers the impact of both direct policies toward agriculture and of general development policies on incentives confronting agricultural producers and on agriculture's contribution to development. It is shown that general policies can have effects even more powerful than direct policies on incentives. Price discrimination is estimated against agriculture in individual countries, how it has changed over time, and the political-economic factors that guided the evolution. The authors evaluate the effects of this price discrimination on such key macroeconomic variables as foreign exchange earnings, agricultural output, and income distribution. A full range of country experience is drawn upon to give insight into the motivations of policymakers, the economic and political factors determining agricultural interventions, and the attempts to reform unsuccessful policies.