Grain Price Spikes and Beggar-Thy-Neighbor Policy Responses : A Global Economywide Analysis
When prices spike in international grain markets, national governments often reduce the extent to which that spike affects their domestic food markets. Those actions exacerbate the price spike and international welfare transfer associated with the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/08/20127805/grain-price-spikes-beggar-thy-neighbor-policy-responses-global-economywide-analysis-grain-price-spikes-beggar-thy-neighbor-policy-responses-global-economywide-analysis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20363 |
| Summary: | When prices spike in international grain
markets, national governments often reduce the extent to
which that spike affects their domestic food markets. Those
actions exacerbate the price spike and international welfare
transfer associated with the terms of trade change. Several
recent analyses have assessed the extent to which those
policies contributed to the 2006-08 international price
rise, but only by focusing on one commodity or using a
back-of-the-envelope method. This paper provides a more
comprehensive analysis that uses a global economywide model
that is able to take account of the interactions between
markets for farm products that are closely related in
production or consumption. The model is able to estimate the
impacts of those insulating policies on grain prices and on
the grain trade and economic welfare of various countries.
The results support the conclusion from earlier studies that
there is a need for stronger World Trade Organization
disciplines on export restrictions. |
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