Agricultural Trade : What Matters in the Doha Round?

Laborde, David ; Martin, Will

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS;    ADVERSE IMPACT;    ADVERSE IMPACTS;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6261
RP-ID  :  WPS6261

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This survey concludes that includingagriculture in the Doha Agenda negotiations was importantboth economically and politically, although the politicalresistance to reform is particularly strong in this sector.While agriculture accounts for less than 10 percent ofmerchandise trade, high and variable agriculturaldistortions appear to cause the majority of the cost ofdistortions to global merchandise trade. Within agriculture,most of the costs appear to arise from trade barriers leviedon imports since these barriers tend to be high, variableacross time and over products, and are levied by a widerange of countries. The negotiations faced a need forbalance between discipline in reducing tariffs and hencecreating the market access gains that are central to thenegotiations, and flexibility in managing politicalpressures. While the approach of providing flexibility on acertain percentage of tariff lines is seriously flawed, theproposed Modalities still appear to provide worthwhilemarket access. Better ways appear to be needed to deal withdeveloping countries' concerns about food pricevolatility while reducing the collective-action problemsresulting from price insulation.