Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Australia Since World War II

Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Australia Since World War II

Australia's lackluster economic growth performance in the first four decades following World War II was in part due to an anti-trade, anti-primary sector bias in government assistance policies. This paper provides new annual estimates of the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Anderson, Kym, Lloyd, Peter, MacLaren, Donald
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ACCOUNTING ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE ADVANCED ECONOMIES AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AGRICULTURE BINDING CONSTRAINT BORROWING BUYING POWER COMMODITIES COMMODITY COMMODITY PRICE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE COMPETITION POLICY CONSUMERS CROPS CURRENT PRICES DAIRY FARMERS DAIRY PRODUCTS DEREGULATION DEREGULATIONS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING COUNTRY DISTORTED INCENTIVES DIVIDEND DOMESTIC MARKET DUMPING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS ECONOMIC COOPERATION ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS ECONOMIC POLICIES ECONOMIC REFORM ECONOMIC REFORMS ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGE RATES EXPORT SECTOR EXPORTS EXTENSION EXTERNALITY FARMERS FARMS FINANCIAL SECTOR FOOD PRICES FOOD PRODUCTS FORECASTS FOREIGN CURRENCY FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FOREIGN INVESTMENT FREE TRADE GDP GDP PER CAPITA GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS GROSS VALUE GROWTH RATE IMPORT BARRIERS IMPORT TARIFFS INCOME INCOME TAX INCOMES INDUSTRIALIZATION INFLATION INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY INTERNATIONAL FINANCE INTERNATIONAL MARKETS INTERNATIONAL TRADE LABOR MARKETS LABOUR LIBERALIZATION LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY MARKET ACCESS MARKET ECONOMIES MARKETING MULTILATERAL TRADE NATURAL RESOURCE NET EXPORTS NEW TECHNOLOGIES OPEN ECONOMY OUTPUT OUTPUTS PER CAPITA INCOME POLITICAL ECONOMY PRICE DISTORTIONS PRIVATIZATION PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH PROTECTIONISM RATE OF GROWTH REAL GDP REGULATOR RESERVE BANK RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE SAFETY SALES TAXES STRUCTURAL CHANGE TARIFF BARRIERS TAX TAXATION TAXATION POLICY TELECOMMUNICATIONS TEXTILES TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRADE BARRIERS TRADE NEGOTIATIONS TRADE POLICIES TRADE POLICY TRANSPARENCY TRANSPORT TREASURY TRUST FUNDS URUGUAY ROUND VALUE ADDED WAGES WATER USE WELFARE ECONOMICS WESTERN EUROPE WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS WORLD ECONOMY WORLD MARKET WORLD TRADE WTO
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/01/8928895/distortions-agricultural-incentives-australia-world-war-ii http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6441

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Summary:	Australia's lackluster economic growth performance in the first four decades following World War II was in part due to an anti-trade, anti-primary sector bias in government assistance policies. This paper provides new annual estimates of the extent of those biases since 1946 and their gradual phase-out during the past two decades. In doing so it reveals that the timing of the sector assistance cuts was such as sometimes to improve but sometimes to worsen the distortions to incentives faced by farmers. The changes increased the variation of assistance rates within agriculture during the 1950s and 1960s, reducing the welfare contribution of those programs in that period. Although the assistance pattern within agriculture appears not to have been strongly biased against exporters, its reform has coincided with a substantial increase in the export orientation of many farm industries. The overall pattern for Australia is contrasted with that revealed by comparable new estimates for other high-income countries.

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