Publication: Trade Policy and Food Security : Improving Access to Food in Developing Countries in the Wake of High World Prices
Loading...
Published
2015
ISSN
Date
2014-11-18
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Based on forecasts of global population growth, food security will remain an important economic development issue over the next several decades. In addition, real food prices have risen in recent years after decades of decline, bringing the issue of food security even further into the public spotlight. However, there is no global food shortage: the problem is one of moving food, often across borders, from surplus production areas to deficit ones at prices that low-income consumers in developing countries can afford. Trade can be an excellent buffer for domestic fluctuations in food supply. World output of a given food commodity is far less variable than output in individual countries so increased trade integration holds considerable potential to stabilize food prices, boost returns to farmers and reduce the prices faced by consumers. Trade liberalization protects national food markets against domestic shocks by allowing more food to be imported in times of shortage and exported in periods of plenty. Historically, however, most countries have chosen to take the opposite approach by restricting imports of food and discouraging exports to keep domestic markets isolated from international shocks. Food commodity markets, therefore, remain highly distorted despite the wave of liberalization that has swept world trade since the 1980s. In addition to examining the determinants of recent food price spikes, Trade Policy and Food Security explores the impact of food prices on economic welfare, and how the effect of price changes on food security and economic welfare in developing countries can be mitigated through appropriate national policies at the border. It highlights the importance of both the extension and continued application of existing WTO disciplines on trade-distorting agricultural trade policies as a key resolution to the collective action problem witnessed during the recent food price spikes, whereby unilateral border policies--especially export controls--simply exacerbated the initial price increases.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Gillson, Ian; Fouad, Amir. Gillson, Ian; Fouad, Amir, editors. 2015. Trade Policy and Food Security : Improving Access to Food in Developing Countries in the Wake of High World Prices. Directions in Development--Trade. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20537 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Publication Democratic Republic of Congo Urbanization Review(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018)The Democratic Republic of Congo has the third largest urban population in sub-Saharan Africa (estimated at 43% in 2016) after South Africa and Nigeria. It is expected to grow at a rate of 4.1% per year, which corresponds to an additional 1 million residents moving to cities every year. If this trend continues, the urban population could double in just 15 years. Thus, with a population of 12 million and a growth rate of 5.1% per year, Kinshasa is poised to become the most populous city in Africa by 2030. Such strong urban growth comes with two main challenges – the need to make cities livable and inclusive by meeting the high demand for social services, infrastructure, education, health, and other basic services; and the need to make cities more productive by addressing the lack of concentrated economic activity. The Urbanization Review of the Democratic Republic of Congo argues that the country is urbanizing at different rates and identifies five regions (East, South, Central, West and Congo Basin) that present specific challenges and opportunities. The Urbanization Review proposes policy options based on three sets of instruments, known as the three 'I's – Institutions, Infrastructures and Interventions – to help each region respond to its specific needs while reaping the benefits of economic agglomeration The Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a crossroads. The recent decline in commodity prices could constitute an opportunity for the country to diversify its economy and invest in the manufacturing sector. Now is an opportune time for Congolese decision-makers to invest in cities that can lead the country's structural transformation and facilitate greater integration with African and global markets. Such action would position the country well on the path to emergence.Publication Strengthening Competitiveness In Bangladesh—Thematic Assessment(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-07-15)This is volume 2 of a three-volume publication on Bangladesh’s trade prospects. Bangladesh’s ambition is to build on its very solid growth and poverty reduction achievements, and accelerate growth to become a middle income country by 2021, and share prosperity more widely amongst its citizens. This includes one of its greatest development challenges: to provide gainful employment to the over 2 million people that will join the labor force each year over the next decade. Moreover, only 54.1 million of its 94 million working age people are employed. Bangladesh needs to use its labor endowment even more intensively to increase growth and, in turn, to absorb the incoming labor. The Diagnostic Trade Integration Study identifies the following actions centered around four pillars to sustain and accelerate export growth: (1) breaking into new markets through a) better trade logistics to reduce delivery lags ; as world markets become more competitive and newer products demand shorter lead times, to generate new sources of competitiveness and thereby enable market diversification; and b) better exploitation of regional trading opportunities in nearby growing and dynamic markets, especially East and South Asia; (2) breaking into new products through a) more neutral and rational trade policy and taxation and bonded warehouse schemes; b) concerted efforts to spur domestic investment and attract foreign direct investment, to contribute to export promotion and diversification, including by easing the energy and land constraints; and c) strategic development and promotion of services trade; (3) improving worker and consumer welfare by a) improving skills and literacy; b) implementing labor and work safety guidelines; and c) making safety nets more effective in dealing with trade shocks; and (4) building a supportive environment, including a) sustaining sound macroeconomic fundamentals; and b) strengthening the institutional capacity for strategic policy making aimed at the objective of international competitiveness to help bring focus and coherence to the government’s reform efforts. This second volume provides in-depth analysis across seven cross-cutting themes that underpin most of the findings of pillars 1 and 2 above.Publication An Investment Framework for Nutrition(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-04-12)The report estimates the costs, impacts and financing scenarios to achieve the World Health Assembly global nutrition targets for stunting, anemia in women, exclusive breastfeeding and the scaling up of the treatment of severe wasting among young children. To reach these four targets, the world needs $70 billion over 10 years to invest in high-impact nutrition-specific interventions. This investment would have enormous benefits: 65 million cases of stunting and 265 million cases of anemia in women would be prevented in 2025 as compared with the 2015 baseline. In addition, at least 91 million more children would be treated for severe wasting and 105 million additional babies would be exclusively breastfed during the first six months of life over 10 years. Altogether, achieving these targets would avert at least 3.7 million child deaths. Every dollar invested in this package of interventions would yield between $4 and $35 in economic returns, making investing in early nutrition one of the best value-for-money development actions. Although some of the targets—especially those for reducing stunting in children and anemia in women—are ambitious and will require concerted efforts in financing, scale-up, and sustained commitment, recent experience from several countries suggests that meeting these targets is feasible. These investments in the critical 1000 day window of early childhood are inalienable and portable and will pay lifelong dividends – not only for children directly affected but also for us all in the form of more robust societies – that will drive future economies.Publication At a Crossroads(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-05-02)Higher education (HE) has expanded dramatically in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) since 2000. While access became more equitable, quality concerns remain. This volume studies the expansion, as well as HE quality, variety and equity in LAC. It investigates the expansion’s demand and supply drivers, and outlines policy implications.Publication Leveraging the Potential of Argentine Cities(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-10-18)Argentina’s path to economic prosperity is through efficient, sustainable and economically thriving cities. Not only are cities a spatial concentration of people, but also they generate agglomeration economies by concentrating ideas, talent, and knowledge. Argentina is one of the most urbanized countries in Latin America, with 90 percent of Argentine people currently living in cities. Argentina’s cities are geographically and economically diverse, and its largest urban area – Metropolitan Buenos Aires – is one of Latin America’s urban giants. Argentine cities need to address three main challenges to leverage their economic potential. Argentina’s current patterns of urban development are characterized by (a) high primacy and unbalanced regional development, (b) limited global economic footprint of urban economies, with employment concentrated in nontradable and resource intensive sectors, and (c) unplanned low-density urban expansion. Argentine cities thus face the challenges of moving toward a more balanced regional development, transitioning from local to global cities, and from urban sprawl to articulated densities to take full advantage of the benefits of agglomeration economies. To address these challenges, Argentina needs the leadership of the federal government; the coordinating power of provinces; and the capacity of empowered, financially sound municipalities. Argentine cities also need system-wide policy reforms in areas such as territorial planning, municipal finance, housing, urban transport, and local economic development. Leveraging the Potential of Argentine Cities: A Framework for Policy Action aims to deepen our empirical understanding of the interplay between urbanization and agglomeration economies in Argentina by asking the following: (a) What are the main trends and spatial patterns of Argentina’s urbanization that underlie agglomeration economies?, (b) Are urban policies leveraging or undermining the benefits of agglomeration economies?, and (c) Are Argentine cities fully reaping the benefits of agglomeration economies to deliver improvements in prosperity and livability? By addressing such questions and exploring their implications for action, this study provides a conceptual framework, empirical data, and strategic directions for leveraging the potential of Argentine cities.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Developing Country Trade Policies and Market Access Issues : 1990-2012(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-05)The study presents a comprehensive review of developing country trade policies and market access issues as they evolved over the period 1990-2012. The main findings are, first, that applied tariffs as well as traditional core non-tariff measures have declined significantly over time in both developed and developing countries. Second, the instruments of protection used by developed and developing countries are becoming increasingly similar: trade remedies, especially anti-dumping are the instruments of choice for all except low-income developing countries. Third, agriculture is the main sector where developing countries face access problems in OECD markets. Fourth, regional and other preferential trade agreements are both a result and a cause of the lack of progress in multilateral trade negotiations. They violate the basic World Trade Organization tenet of most favored nation and thus pose a potential threat to the multilateral system and a potential stimulus to further multilateral collaboration. Fifth, sanitary and phytosanitary and technical barriers to trade are being increasingly used by both developed and developing countries but their protective intent is difficult to gauge. There is a need for increased vigilance, transparency, and reporting to ensure that they are not being used as a means of protection of economic interests. Sixth, the service sectors are the most promising area where efforts for further liberalization are needed and may produce significant benefits. And seventh, far less additional protection has been put in place following the 2008 financial crisis compared with what had been feared or what had happened in earlier crises.Publication Agricultural Policies and Trade Paths in Turkey(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-10)In 1959, shortly after the European Economic Community was founded under the 1957 Treaty of Rome, Turkey applied for Associate Membership in the then six-member common market. By 1963, a path for integrating the economies of Turkey and the eventual European Union had been mapped. As with many trade agreements, agriculture posed difficult political hurdles, which were never fully cleared, even as trade barriers to other sectors were eventually removed and a Customs Union formed. This essay traces the influences the Turkey-European Union economic institutions have had on agricultural policies and the agriculture sector. An applied general equilibrium framework is used to provide estimates of what including agriculture under the Customs Union would mean for the sector and the economy. The paper also discusses the implications of fully aligning Turkey's agricultural policies with the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, as would be required under full membership.Publication Regional Trade in Food Staples : Prospects for Stimulating Agricultural Growth and Moderation Food Security Crises in Eastern and Southern Africa(Washington, DC, 2008-12)This report focuses on growing trade in food staples in the Southern and Eastern African region of Africa as one of the largest growth opportunities available to African farmers. This paper examines the impact of regional trade in food staples, both for maintaining farmer incentives in surplus food production zones and for moderating price spikes in deficit areas. The paper begins by identifying the geographic extent of major maize market sheds in Eastern and Southern Africa. It then focuses on the South Eastern Africa market shed, the one centered in Malawi, Northern Mozambique and Zambia. This analysis concentrates on the regions two most important food staples, maize and cassava. Given the volatility of the region's rainfed maize production, this section aims to empirically evaluate the impact of maize production shocks on staple food prices, production incentives, consumption and trade. To do so, the paper develops a spatially disaggregated model o f maize and cassava markets in order to evaluate the impact of supply shocks, with and without cross-border trade.Publication Agricultural Exports from Latin America and the Caribbean : Harnessing Trade to Feed the World and Promote Development(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-05-20)The United Nations estimates that global food demand will double by 2050, with much of that growth in developing countries. The world will have 2.3 billion more people, and given the deep transformation of growth trajectories in low-income countries, they will be increasingly affluent, with demands for more, different, and better food. While countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are quite heterogeneous in their production potential, overall they are well equipped to contribute to meeting this challenge. LAC has always maintained a strong comparative advantage in agricultural production, as indicated not only by its position as a net food exporter but also by its high comparative advantage. LAC is also well endowed in renewable water resources, with about a third of the 42,000 cubic kilometers worldwide. Per capita, LAC has the highest endowment of renewable water among developing regions, though some sub regions in LAC face higher than average scarcity. This report's in-depth look at Argentina and Brazil identifies looming logistics and policy issues that threaten to derail these locomotives of agricultural growth and some policy choices that have contributed to their success and that might be worth emulating. While LAC countries have substantially reduced the anti-export and anti-agricultural biases in their trade regimes, this bias remains significant in some countries. Argentina, a major food exporter, imposes export taxes and quantitative controls, with considerable adverse consequences for the sector and the global food trade system. For LAC countries' agricultural sectors to stay competitive, it is important to appropriately manage the real exchange rate to minimize Dutch disease.Publication Long-Run Impacts of China's WTO Accession on Farm-Nonfarm Income Inequality and Rural Poverty(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-05)Many fear China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) will impoverish its rural people by way of greater import competition in its agricultural markets. Anderson, Huang, and Ianchovichina explore that possibility bearing in mind that, even if producer prices of some (land-intensive) farm products fall, prices of other (labor-intensive) farm products could rise. Also, the removal of restrictions on exports of textiles and clothing could boost town and village enterprises, so demand for unskilled labor for nonfarm work in rural areas may grow even if demand for farm labor in aggregate falls. New estimates, from the global economywide numerical simulation model known as GTAP, of the likely changes in agricultural and other product prices as a result of WTO accession are drawn on to examine empirically the factor reward implications of China's WTO accession. The results suggest farm-nonfarm and Western-Eastern income inequality may well rise in China but rural-urban income inequality need not. The authors conclude with some policy suggestions for alleviating any pockets of farm household poverty that may emerge as a result of WTO accession.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.