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Market Access (market + access)
Selected AbstractsMarket Access and WTO Border Tax Adjustments for Environmental Excise Taxes under Imperfect CompetitionJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 4 2005STEVE McCORRISTON The literature identifies linkages between domestic environmental policies and trade, the treatment of imports being an important issue in administration of domestic environmental excise taxes. With the aim of ensuring foreign exporters do not attain a competitive advantage, border tax adjustments are used. Since most environmental excise taxes apply to intermediate goods, the relevant border tax adjustment applies to final imported goods. However, when both intermediate and final goods markets are oligopolistic, border tax adjustments may be non-neutral. Moreover, even if market access is unchanged, border tax adjustments can still lead to redistribution of profits between domestic and foreign firms. [source] The Mystery of Market AccessTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2000John Mo First page of article [source] Can Trade Help Poor People?DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 3 2007Market Access in Tanzania, The Role of Trade, Trade Policy Many development economists prescribe trade as a poverty-reducing formula. But how is this elixir supposed to work? This article contributes to the lively debate on this topic with household evidence from Tanzania , a poor country even within sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region. About 81% of the poor work in agriculture, which accounts for 88% of the export bundle. The article describes existing poverty and then evaluates the poverty-reduction potential of trade, trade policy and market access. The article extends the analysis by simulating tariff changes and four switching scenarios that swap some poor households into trade-related sectors, such as cash cropping or tourism, to project national poverty reductions of up to 5.6% and household income increases of up to 21.5%. [source] Community Ventures and Access to Markets: The Role of Intermediaries in Marketing Rural Tourism ProductsDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5 2004Kathrin Forstner Many community-based tourism ventures face marketing problems similar to those of other rural producers. They depend on intermediaries, such as private companies, membership organisations, public sector institutions and non-governmental organisations, to facilitate market access. The article analyses the strengths and weaknesses of each type of intermediary, based on different levels of marketing support. Reflecting discussions about marketing assistance in other rural sectors, it argues that intermediary institutions have different areas of expertise and experience different constraints in terms of capacity-building, marketing know-how, financial resources and overall livelihood impacts. Instead of pursuing individual support strategies, it is therefore necessary to develop combined approaches of marketing assistance, depending on location, tourism resources and existing organisational structures. [source] Perennialism and Poverty ReductionDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2004Nigel D. Poole This article, which is both conceptual and a synthesis of the literature, considers the research component of poverty alleviation strategies for people whose livelihoods depend significantly on tree and forest resources. Two policy approaches are contrasted: enhancing the utilisation of indigenous tree species within the household and the local economy, and integrating tree and forest-dependent peoples into the wider economy by promoting the commercialisation of conventional tree crop production. It is argued that the discussion is relevant for other poor peoples who depend on perennial production systems, and that the conclusions contribute to the wider debate about remoteness, market access, decentralisation and targeting in policy formulation, and globalisation. [source] Developing Countries' Position in WTO Agricultural Trade NegotiationsDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2002Alan Matthews Four themes in the developing countries' position are highlighted. (i) They are seeking meaningful improvements in market access for their agricultural exports. (ii) They have highlighted the asymmetry of current WTO obligations under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, and are seeking greater equality of outcomes in the new round. (iii) Meaningful concessions on special and differential treatment will be necessary to satisfy the interests of both exporters and importers, especially on the scope to be allowed for tariff protection to domestic food production. (iv) Innovative and reliable guarantees will need to be provided to the least developed food importers to protect them against the risk of world price volatility. [source] The alcohol industry and trade agreements: a preliminary assessmentADDICTION, Issue 2009Donald W. Zeigler ABSTRACT Aims To review trade agreements, their relation to alcohol control policy and examine the role of the alcohol industry in supporting and attempting to influence trade policy. Methods Review of peer review, public health advocacy literature (both pro and con on free trade), business, press and government documents on trade agreements, assess current and potential challenges by trade agreements to alcohol control policy and investigate the means and extent of industry influence in trade agreements. Findings ,Free' trade agreements reduce trade barriers, increase competition, lower prices and promote alcohol consumption. However, international treaties, negotiated by free trade experts in close consultation with corporate lobbyists and without significant, if any, public health input, governments and corporations contain significant provisions that will result in increased alcohol consumption and may challenge public health measures of other nations as constraints on trade. Conversely, alcohol control measures seek to reduce access and consumption, raise prices and restrict advertising and product promotion. The prospect is for increased alcohol consumption and concomitant problems throughout the world. Conclusions Trade agreements challenge effective alcohol control policies. The alcohol industry seeks to influence agreements and can be expected to work through trade agreements to reduce tariffs, increase market access and seek to restrict effective domestic regulations. Further research is needed on the impact of trade agreements and the ongoing role of the industry. Advocates must recognize the inherent conflicts between unbridled free trade and public health, work to exclude alcohol from trade agreements, counter industry influence and protect alcohol control policies. [source] Do Developing Countries Need a Development Box?EUROCHOICES, Issue 2 2003Jonathan Brooks Summary Do Developing Countries Need a Development Box? Developing country proposals for a Development Box focus on changes to WTO rules on agricultural trade that would enable them to address more effectively their objectives related to food security, poverty alleviation and economic development. Yet, there are few instances where developing countries have been constrained in the policies they can adopt. This does not mean that demands for a Development Box are pointless, for if the next WTO agreement is to have a real impact on rates of protection, there will be a need for tighter commitments in both developed and developing countries. Hence proposals for a Development Box can be seen as an insurance policy, given the prospect of deeper multilateral reforms. There is a strong case for easier access to safeguards, under which developing countries could temporarily apply higher tariffs on food security crops when world prices are depressed below threshold levels. There may be an economic justification for expanding the types of domestic support measures that developing countries can employ, in those rare cases where policies would otherwise be constrained. However, these demands should not constrain progress on the most important issue; namely, how OECD countries can do more for developing countries through improvements in market access, the elimination of explicit and implicit export subsidies, and reductions in trade-distorting domestic support. Faut-il une boite spéciale pour le développement ? Les propositions des pays en développement en vue ?établir une ,boîte pour le développement'à,OMC sont centrées sur ,idée qu'il convient de modifier les règies du commerce international agricole, afin de leur permettre ?aborder de façon plus efflcace leurs problèmes spécifiques de sécurité alimentaire, de réduction de la pauvreté et de développement économique. Pourtant, il existe peu ?exemples de situations dans lesquelles un pays en développement ait pu être gêné dans ,adoption ?une politique particulière. Cela ne veut pas dire qu'une boîte pour le développement soit inutile: si le prochain accord à,OMC doit avoir un effet réel sur les taux de protection, des engagements encore plus stricts seront nécessaires de la part, aussi bien des pays en développement que des pays développés. II en résulte que les propositions en vue ?une ,boîte pour le développement' peuvent être considérées comme une politique ?assurance, dans ,optique de réformes multilatérales plus approfondies. II y a des raisons sérieuses pour faciliter le recours aux clauses de sauvegarde, grâce auxquelles les pays en développement pourraient imposer temporairement des droits plus élevés sur les denrées importantes pour leur sécurité alimentaire lorsque les cours mondiaux descendent en deçà?un certain seuil. Il peut exister une justification économique à,extension des catégories de soutien que les pays en développement peuvent employer, dans les cas peu fréquents où les engagements pris seraient contraignants à cet égard. Mais surtout, il faut que les pays en développement prennent garde à ne pas entraver les progrès dans les domaines vraiment importants, à savoir ce que les pays de ,OCDE peuvent faire pour eux en améliorant ,accès aux marchés, en eliminant les subventions implicites et explicites aux exportations, et en réduisant les mesures de soutien intérieures qui affectent les échanges. Benötigen Entwicklungsländer eine Development Box? Die Vorschläge der Entwicklungsländer für eine Development Box zielen auf Änderungen in den Agrarhandelsvorschriften der WTO ab; es soil ihnen ermöglicht werden, ihre Zdele hinsichtlich der Nahrungsmt-telsicherheit, Armutsbekämpfung und Wirtschaftsentwicklung wirkungsvoller zu verfolgen. Bis heute jedoch wurden die Entwicklungsländer nur in wenigen Fällen bei der Ausgestaltung bestimmter Politikmaßnahmen eingeschränkt. Damit ist nicht gesagt, dass Forderungen nach einer Development Box zwecklos sind, denn wenn sich das kommende WTO-Abkommen tatsächlich auf die Protektionsraten auswirken soil, werden sowohl den entwickelten Ländern als auch den Entwicklungsländern mehr Verpflichtungen abverlangt werden. Daher können Vorschläge für eine Development Box als eine Versicherungspolirik vor dem Hintergrund der Aussicht auf tiefergreifende multilaterale Reformen angesehen werden. Es spricht vieles für einen einfacheren Zugang zu Schutzmaßnahmen, unter denen Entwicklungsländer vorübergehend höhere Zölle auf pflanzliche Erzeugnisse mit Bedeutung für die Nahrungsmittelsicherheit erheben könnten, wenn die Weltpreise unterhalb von Schwellenwerten liegen. Es mag aus ökonomischer Sicht eine Rechtfertigung für die Ausdehnung der inlandischen marktstützenden Maßnahmen geben, welche Entwicklungsländer anwenden dürfen; dies kann sinnvoll sein, wenn andernfalls, allerdings in seltenen Fällen, Politikmaßnahmen eingeschränkt werden müssten. Diese Forderungen sollten den Fortschritt bei den allerwichtigsten Themen jedoch nicht behindern; OECD-Länder können mehr für Entwicklungsländer tun, und zwar durch Verbesserung des Marktzugangs, durch die Abschaffung von expliziten und impliziten Exportsubventionen und durch Kürzungen bei den handelsverzerrenden Inlandssubventionen. [source] Banishing Bureaucracy or Hatching a Hybrid?GOVERNANCE, Issue 2 2000The CanadianFood Inspection Agency, the Politics of Reinventing Government The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is a means to overcoming long-standing bureaucratic politics while attaining some major policy ends.Contrary to some of the new public management bravado of transforming the public sector, the CFIA is not a bureaucratic revolution in reshaping the Canadian State. Changes in scientific staffing, funding, and inspection have been more incremental than fundamental. Moreover, the CFIA is something less than the special and separate operating agency models discussed in the alternative service delivery literature in terms of autonomy and market orientation, but something more autonomous and entrepreneurial than traditional government departments. These organizational and managerial reforms are modest extensions providing a means for achieving economies and enhanced effectiveness in carrying out the mandate of safety, consumer protection, and market access for Canadian food, animal, plant, and forestry products. [source] Towards the Spatial Patterns of Sectoral Adjustments to Trade Liberalisation: The Case of NAFTA in MexicoGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2007BENJAMIN FABER ABSTRACT A recent string of "new economic geography" (NEG) models has set focus on the impacts of trade liberalisation on the intra-national distribution of economic activity. What the existing contributions have in common is a basic two-sector assumption (agriculture/manufacturing) and a resulting focus on the question of whether liberalisation leads to a greater concentration of aggregate manufacturing activity. Reconsidering these models from a multi-sectoral perspective, the aim is to allow for sectoral differences in the spatial adjustments to liberalisation. This introduces a conceptual nexus between comparative advantage (CA)-type sectoral recomposition effects of trade and NEG-type spatial adjustments. In the analysis of Mexican manufacturing location 1993,2003, incipient empirical evidence is found in favour of the hypothesis that sectors characterised by a revealed comparative advantage and/or cross-border intermediate supplies grow faster in regions with good foreign market access, whereas import competing ones gain in relative terms in regions with higher "natural protection" from poor market access. The relevancy of the proposed NEG/CA framework concerns both efficiency and equity objectives of trade adjustment policies, and opens a new perspective on the long-run effects of trade on spatial inequality. [source] The Second Generation in Germany: Between School and Labor Market,INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 4 2003Susanne Worbs The German "mode of integration" after World War II has been to include migrants and their offspring into general societal institutions. This can be stated despite differences between federal states in some aspects of migrant integration (e.g., the educational sector). Migrant children normally attend the same schools and classes as their German age peers, they participate in the dual system of vocational training, and there are only a few limitations in labor market access. The second generation in Germany consists mainly of children of the "guestworkers" recruited in southern and southeastern European countries from the 1950s onwards. It is not easy to obtain information about their numbers and their socioeconomic position, as most statistical data distinguish only between foreigners and Germans. The achieved integration status of the second generation varies between areas: obvious problems in the educational system go along with considerable progress in the vocational training system and in the labor market. Children of Turkish migrants are the most disadvantaged group among the second generation. [source] Multilateral Trade and Agricultural Policy Reforms in Sugar MarketsJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2006Amani Elobeid Q18; F10 Abstract We analyse the impact of trade liberalisation, removal of production subsidies and elimination of consumption distortions in world sugar markets using a partial-equilibrium international sugar model calibrated on 2002 market data and current policies. The removal of trade distortions alone induces a 27% price increase while the removal of all trade and production distortions induces a 48% increase in 2011/2012 relative to the baseline. Aggregate trade expands moderately, but location of production and trade patterns change substantially. Protectionist Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (the EU, Japan, the US) experience an import expansion or export reduction and a significant contraction of production in unfettered markets. Competitive producers in both OECD countries (Australia) and non-OECD countries (Brazil, Cuba), and even some protected producers (Indonesia, Turkey), expand production when all distortions are removed. Consumption distortions have marginal impacts on world markets and the location of production. We discuss the significance of these results in the context of mounting pressures to increase market access in highly protected OECD countries and the impact on non-OECD countries. [source] Multinational supermarket chains in developing countries: does local agriculture benefit?AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 6 2009Hildegunn E. Stokke Backward productivity spillovers; Local constraints; Supply chain development; Intertemporal general equilibrium model Abstract There is no consensus in the empirical literature on how entry of multinational supermarket chains affects farmers in developing countries. Econometric analyses struggle with causality issues and are unclear about the channel of effects. We quantify the dynamic effects of supermarket expansion on agriculture within a structural framework that clarifies the adjustment mechanisms involved. The model specification allows for endogenous interaction between agricultural productivity and supermarkets' choice of suppliers. Based on numerical simulations, two results emerge. First, we offer a possible interpretation of the conflicting evidence in the empirical literature. Whether farmers benefit from supermarkets or get stuck in a low productivity trap depends on the extent of local constraints related to production capacity and market access. Second, supply chain development initiated by supermarkets can help farmers escape the low productivity trap. While supermarkets face a short-run cost to supplier upgrading, they gradually gain from more productive local suppliers. [source] Market Access and WTO Border Tax Adjustments for Environmental Excise Taxes under Imperfect CompetitionJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 4 2005STEVE McCORRISTON The literature identifies linkages between domestic environmental policies and trade, the treatment of imports being an important issue in administration of domestic environmental excise taxes. With the aim of ensuring foreign exporters do not attain a competitive advantage, border tax adjustments are used. Since most environmental excise taxes apply to intermediate goods, the relevant border tax adjustment applies to final imported goods. However, when both intermediate and final goods markets are oligopolistic, border tax adjustments may be non-neutral. Moreover, even if market access is unchanged, border tax adjustments can still lead to redistribution of profits between domestic and foreign firms. [source] Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri: factors affecting successful eradication of citrus cankerMOLECULAR PLANT PATHOLOGY, Issue 1 2004James H. Graham SUMMARY Taxonomic status:, Bacteria, Proteobacteria, gamma subdivision, Xanthomodales, Xanthomonas group, axonopodis DNA homology group, X. axonopodis pv. citri (Hasse) Vauterin et al. Microbiological properties:, Gram negative, slender, rod-shaped, aerobic, motile by a single polar flagellum, produces slow growing, non-mucoid colonies in culture, ecologically obligate plant parasite. Host range:, Causal agent of Asiatic citrus canker on most Citrus spp. and close relatives of Citrus in the family Rutaceae. Disease symptoms:, Distinctively raised, necrotic lesions on fruits, stems and leaves. Epidemiology:, Bacteria exude from lesions during wet weather and are disseminated by splash dispersal at short range, windblown rain at medium to long range and human assisted movement at all ranges. Crop loss:, Severe infections cause defoliation, blemished fruit, premature fruit drop, die-back of twigs and general debilitation of the tree. Distribution:, Citrus canker is not present in all subtropical to tropical regions of citriculture in the world, so considerable regulatory efforts are expended to prevent the introduction and spread of X. axonopodis pv. citri into areas in the Americas, Australia and elsewhere, with climates conducive to the disease. Importance:, Limited strategies exist for suppression of citrus canker on more susceptible cultivars. Blemished fruit are unmarketable and exposed fruit are restricted in market access. The economic impact of loss of markets is much greater than that from yield and quality reductions of the crop. Useful websites:,http://doacs.state.fl.us/canker , http://www.apsnet.org/education/lessonsplantpath/citruscanker/top.htm , http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/citruscanker/ , http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/review/citruscanker/ , http://www.abecitrus.com.br/fundecitrus.html , http://www.biotech.ufl.edu/PlantContainment/canker.htm , http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/ccanker/ . [source] Trade costs in empirical New Economic GeographyPAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2010Maarten Bosker Trade costs; New Economic Geography; market access Abstract Trade costs are a crucial element of New Economic Geography (NEG) models. Without trade costs there is no role for geography. In empirical NEG studies the unavailability of direct trade cost data calls for the need to approximate these trade costs by introducing a trade cost function. In doing so, hardly any attention is paid to the (implicit) assumptions and empirical consequences of the particular trade cost function used. Based on a meta-analysis of NEG market access studies as well as on the results of estimating the NEG wage equation for a uniform sample while using different trade costs functions, we show that the relevance of the key NEG variable, market access, depends nontrivially on the choice of trade cost function. Next, we propose an alternative way to approximate trade costs that does not require the specification of a trade cost function, the so called implied trade costs approach. Overall, our results stress that the specification of trade costs can matter a lot for the conclusions reached in any empirical NEG study. We therefore call for a much more careful treatment of trade costs in future empirical NEG studies. Resumen Los costos de comercio son un elemento crucial de los modelos de la Nueva Geografía Económica (NEG, siglas en inglés). Sin los costos de comercio no hay un rol para la geografía. En estudios empíricos de NEG, la falta de disponibilidad de datos de costos directos de comercio directo crea la necesidad de estimar estos costos de comercio mediante la introducción de una función de costos de comercio. Al hacer esto, apenas se presta atención a las suposiciones (implícitas) y consecuencias empíricas de la función de costo utilizada en particular. Basado en un meta análisis de estudios de acceso de mercado de NEG, así como en los resultados de estimar la ecuación salarial de NEG para una muestra uniforme al tiempo que utilizando diferentes funciones de costos de comercio, mostramos que la relevancia de la variable clave para la NEG, acceso a mercados, depende considerablemente de la elección de la función de costos de comercio. A continuación, proponemos una alternativa para estimar costos de comercio que no requiere especificar una función de costos de comercio, el llamado enfoque de costos de comercio implícitos. En resumen, nuestros resultados insisten en que el especificar los costos de comercio puede tener mucha importancia para las conclusiones alcanzadas en cualquier estudio empírico de NEG. Pedimos por tanto un tratamiento mucho más cuidadoso de los costos de comercio en futuros estudios empíricos de NEG. [source] Une histoire de résidus : à propos des facteurs généraux et locaux de croissance régionale au Canada, de 1971 à 2001THE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 4 2009PHILIPPE APPARICIO local economic development; regional growth models; centre-periphery En partant d'un modèle géostatistique d'explication des variations locales de croissance d'emploi pour le Canada (1971,2001), les résidus , par rapport aux prédictions , sont analysés dans le temps et dans l'espace, permettant ainsi de faire la distinction entre, d'une part, des facteurs à portée générale et, d'autre part, des facteurs proprement locaux, conjoncturels ou aléatoires. Le pouvoir d'explication du modèle, qui intègre des variables telles que la taille, la distance et les structures industrielles s'accroît dans le temps, si bien que la dynamique spatiale de l'économie canadienne s'aligne de plus en plus sur des grandes variables géo-structurelles. Toutefois, un regard sur les résidus révèle des processus plus localisés. La volatilité des trajectoires est surtout manifeste en Alberta et en Colombie-Britannique, qui abritent les économies locales les plus erratiques. Des processus émergents se devinent pour la dernière période, dont la sous-performance du Nord ontarien et des localités non-métropolitaines sur l'axe Québec-Windsor, riveraines du Saint-Laurent et des Grands-Lacs. En contrepartie, la surperformance de villes moyennes du Sud-est québécois laisse deviner des processus proprement locaux, associés au dynamisme de l'entreprenariat local. Starting from an econometric model of local employment growth, applied to Canada (1971,2001), residuals,relative to model predictions,are analyzed over time and over space, in turn allowing us to draw a distinction between general explanatory variables and factors of a more local, cyclical or accidental nature. The model's explanatory power grows over time, founded on variables such as urban size, market access and industrial structure, allowing us to conclude that local employment growth in Canada follows an increasingly geographically predictable pattern. However, an examination of the residuals reveals more localized processes. Growth volatility is most manifest in Alberta and British Columbia, home to the most erratic local economies. Emerging patterns are visible in the last period, most notably the underperformance of Northern Ontario and of non-metropolitan communities between Windsor and Québec City, lying along the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence. The over-performance,compared to model predictions , of small and mid-sized towns in south-eastern Québec can, on the other hand, be interpreted as a sign of truly local social processes, generally associated with a particularly dynamic local entrepreneurial class. [source] New economic geography meets ComeconTHE ECONOMICS OF TRANSITION, Issue 2 2006Regional wages, industry location in central Europe EU regions; market access; new economic geography; Comecon hypothesis Abstract We analyse the internal spatial wage and employment structures of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, using regional data for 1996,2000. A new economic geography model predicts wage gradients and specialization patterns that are smoothly related to the regions' relative market access. As an alternative, we formulate a ,Comecon hypothesis', according to which wages and sectoral location are not systematically related to market access except for discrete concentrations in capital regions. Estimations support both the NEG (new economic geography) prediction and the Comecon hypothesis. However, when we compare internal wage and employment gradients of the five new member states with those of Western European countries, we find that the former are marked by significantly stronger discrete concentrations of wages and service employment in their capital regions, confirming the ongoing relevance of the Comecon hypothesis. [source] Impact of Government Ownership on Investment Banks' Underwriting Performance: Evidence from China,ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2010Ning Jia G21; G24; G28 Abstract This paper examines the effect of government ownership on investment banks' underwriting performance in China. A large number of Chinese investment banks are owned and controlled by their respective regional governments. While regional governments may capitalize on their superior local knowledge and administrative power to help affiliated investment banks identify and land high quality local issuers, they may also leverage affiliated underwriters to facilitate the capital market access of those underperformed but socially and/or politically desirable local firms. Empirical evidence favors the latter hypothesis. Specifically, using a sample of regional IPOs, we find that issuers underwritten by their respective regional government-affiliated investment banks exhibit lower earnings quality and poorer long-term performance compared with those underwritten by unaffiliated investment banks. However, this difference is attenuated after the abolition of the IPO quota system. Examination of underwriting fees and issuers' shareholder identity provides additional evidence supporting the latter hypothesis. [source] GM crop technology and trade restraints: economic implications for Australia and New Zealand,AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2005Kym Anderson How much might the potential economic benefit from enhanced farm productivity associated with crop biotechnology adoption by Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) be offset by a loss of market access abroad for crops that may contain genetically modified (GM) organisms? This paper uses the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model to estimate effects of other countries' GM policies without and with ANZ farmers adopting GM varieties of various grains and oilseeds. The gross economic benefits to ANZ from adopting GM crops under a variety of scenarios could be positive even if the strict controls on imports from GM-adopting countries by the European Union are maintained, but not if North-East Asia also applied such trade restaints. From those gross economic effects would need to be subtracted society's evaluation of any new food safety concerns and negative environmental externalities (net of any new environmental and occupational health benefits), as well as any extra costs of segregation, identity preservation and consumer search. [source] China's New Rural Income Support Policy: Impacts on Grain Production and Rural Income InequalityCHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 6 2006Nico Heerink D58; Q12; Q18 Abstract This paper analyses the impact of agricultural tax abolition and direct income payments to grain farmers on grain production and rural inequality in China. To separate the impact of the income support measures from recent price trends for grains and inputs, and to account for differences in household responses, we use a village-level general equilibrium model that we calibrate for two villages with different degrees of market access in Jiangxi province. The results show that the income support policy does not reach its goal of promoting grain production. The increased incomes allow farm households to buy more inputs for livestock production and involve other activities that are more profitable than grain farming. Selling of rice outside the villages declines more than rice production, because households in the villages consume more rice when incomes rise. We further find that the income support measures tend to reduce income within a village, but that tax abolition tends to widen income inequality between villages. (Edited by Zhinan Zhang) [source] Trade Balance: Numbers Can be DeceivingCHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 3 2006Yuefen Li F15; F23; O11 Abstract Trade disputes have become more prevalent and acute in recent years. Almost all center on bilateral trade balance and/or market access of certain merchandise or services. However, since at least the mid 1980s, affiliate sales have become a more direct and more powerful form of market access than the traditional cross-border commercial transactions for developed countries, whereas developing countries still rely predominantly on traditional trade. The importance of the international production supply chain is increasing with a bias against downstream producers. The current data collection and compilation system of trade balance can not reflect these changes in the world economic environment. It overstates exports of developing countries and understates their imports. None of the countries in the world can illustrate the weakness of the conventional system better than China. (Edited by Zhinan Zhang) [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||