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Agricultural Trade Liberalization And The Reform Of World Agricultural Policies

Posted on:2004-08-15Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:M L LuFull Text:PDF
GTID:1116360092475002Subject:World economy
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This thesis examines the interaction of agricultura1 trade 1iberalization andthe reform of wor1d agIicu1tura1 po1icies.Agricu1tural trade 1ibera1ization has 1arge1y been impe11ed by the need ofindustria1ized countries to reform their domestic agricu1tura1 po1icies. Theagricu1tura1 po1icies of these countries, which centred on price support foragricu1tura1 product, not on1y generated huge surp1uses of production and heavybudgetary burden, but a1so fai1ed to a11eviate the farm income prob1em in the 1ongrun. Furthermore, it brought about frequent internat ional trade frictions, and theeffects of the po1icies were offsetting each other by reducing the world price,triggering additiona1 uPWard adjustment in support price 1eve1s with an ana1ogouseffect on world price. Actua11y, a1most a11 deve1oped countries had incentive toinitiate agricu1tura1 po1icy reform.However, uni1atera1 1ibera1ization of agricu1tural po1icy is not very like1yto be a feasib1e strategy in open economies, because other countries wi11 befree--riders on it and raise the costs of po1icy adjustment of that country.Therefore, the on1y way of extricate one coufltry from the predicaJnent of domesticagricu1tura1 po1icy is to cooperate wi th the others. From the perspective of po1 itica1process, the goverrments of deve1oped countries did managed to push forward thereform of domestic agricu1tura1 po1icies through the pursuit of a more liberal wor1dagricultura1 trade regime. But, because of the conf1ictions between differentnationa1 interests and the resistence from the farm 1obbies of deve1op countries,the path of agricu1tura1 trade 1ibera1ization wou1d not be very straight. That iswhy the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agficu1tura1 (URAA), which has been an importantaccoInP1 ishInent of agricu1tura1 trade 1 iberal ization, a1so ref1ects a certain degreeof conservative nature.As a resu1t, the reforms of wor1d agricu1tura1 po1icies have been effectivelypromoted by the trend and the achievement of agricultura1 trade libera1ization. The6new ru1es of agricu1tural trade estab1ished by URAA wi1l make the future agricu1tura1po1icies of WT0's member countries to fit in a simi1ar pattern, which wi11 becharacterized by open market access and a less trade--distorting support system. Fromthe observation of the reform taking p1ace in deve1oped countries in l990s, we canfind that the aggregate 1eve1s of support for farm sectors were not apparent1y reduced.Rather, the governments on1y adjusted the structures of agricultura1 supportsystems, reducing trade--distorting measures on the one hand, maintainiflg or evenstrethening agricu1tura1 deve1opment po1icies which have 1ess trade--distortingeffects on the other hand. For most deve1oping countries, agricultural tradelibera1ization has brought more cha11enges than opportunities for them. Most of themincreased support for agricu1ture whi1e carrying out market--oriented reform in thefarm sectors.The background of agricu1tura1 trade libera1ization has made it more urgent forChina to practise support and protection for agricuture. But what we shou1d 1earnfrom the 1essens of deve1oped countries is to be careful when choose concrete po1icyinstruments. We shou1d especial1y refrain from adopting price support measure toavoid its negative effects to the continuous growth of economy. We shou1d a1so beaware of the future trend of agricu1tura1 trade liberalization and avert previouslythe adverse situation which might caused by domestic vested--interests and outsidepressures from multi 1atera1 trade negotiations.
Keywords/Search Tags:Agricultural Trade, Agricutural Policy
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