Agricultural Trade Liberalization, Productivity Gain and Poverty Alleviation: a General Equilibrium Analysis

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models have gained continuously in popularity as an empirical tool for assessing the impact of trade liberalization on agricultural growth, poverty and income distribution. Conventional models ignore however the channels linking technical change in agriculture, trade openness and poverty. This study seeks to incorporate econometric evidence of these linkages into a CGE model to estimate the impact of alternative trade liberalization scenarios on poverty and equity. The analysis uses the Latent Class Stochastic Frontier Model (LCSFM) and the metafrontier function to investigate the influence of trade openness on agricultural technological change. The estimated productivity effects induced from higher levels of trade are combined with a general equilibrium analysis of trade liberalization to evaluate the income and prices changes. These effects are then used to infer the impact on poverty and inequality following the top-down approach. The model is applied to Tunisian data using the social accounting matrix of 2001 and the 2000 household expenditures surveys. Poverty is found to decline under agricultural and full trade liberalization and this decline is much more pronounced when the productivity effects are included.Openness, Agriculture, Productivity, Poverty, CGE modeling

Elaboration d'indicateurs de pression d'azote sur le bassin versant de la Leyre. DESS Géosciences appliquées aux équipements en milieux urbains, ruraux, littoraux et côtiers

3rd cycl

Trade, Human Capital, and Technology Diffusion in the Mediterranean Agricultural Sector

This paper investigates the roles of human capital and openness in the process of technology diffusion and productivity growth in the Mediterranean agricultural sector. We estimate a nonlinear productivity growth specification that nests the logistic and the confined exponential technology diffusion functional forms, using a panel of nine South Mediterranean countries and five European Union countries for the period 1990 to 2005. The estimation results suggest that the steady state is a balanced growth path, with all backward economies growing at the pace determined by the leading edge. The findings illustrate the positive roles of openness and human capital in facilitating technology diffusion and fostering agricultural growth. We find strong complementary effects between foreign technology embodied in imported capital goods and educational attainment on farming performance.Human capital; openness; technology diffusion; agricultural productivity; panel data

Trade, human capital, and technology diffusion in the Mediterranean agricultural sector

International audienceno abstrac

Technical efficiency in the mediterranean countries' agricultural sector

International audienceno abstrac

Does Agricultural Trade Liberalization Help the Poor in Tunisia? A Dynamic General Equilibrium Approach

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models have gained continuously in popularity as an empirical tool for assessing the impact of trade liberalization on growth, poverty and equity. In recent years, there have been attempts to extend the scope of CGE trade models to the analysis of the interaction of agricultural growth, poverty and income distribution. Conventional models ignore however the channels linking technical change in agriculture, trade openness and poverty. This study seeks to incorporate econometric evidence of these linkages into a dynamic sequential CGE model, to estimate the impact of alternative trade liberalization scenarios on welfare, poverty and equity. The analysis uses the latent class stochastic frontier model in investigating the influence of international trade on agricultural technological change and productivity. The estimated productivity gains induced from a more opened trade regime are combined with a general equilibrium analysis of trade liberalization to evaluate the direct welfare benefits of poor farmers and the indirect income and prices outcomes. These effects are then used to infer the impact on poverty using the traditional top-down approach and the Tunisian household survey

Aversion au risque et décisions de production: l'agriculture irriguée en Tunisie

[eng] Agricultural production, attitude towards risk, and the demand for irrigation water: the case of Tunisia - This paper presents a multi-output production model that explicitly incorporates farmer risk aversion and its influence on agricultural production and land allocation decisions. The model is used to evaluate the role of irrigation water price on agricultural land allocation, output supply, and irrigation water demand in the area of Nabeul, Tunisia. Estimation results highlight the role of irrigation water policy on cropland allocation decisions, and the importance of farmer risk aversion in production decisions. [fre] L'article présente un modèle de production à produits multiples intégrant l'attitude des agriculteurs face au risque et son influence sur leurs décisions de production et d'allocation des surfaces cultivables. Le modèle est appliqué à l'évaluation d'impact du prix de l'eau d'irrigation sur l'affectation des superficies agricoles, sur l'offre des produits et sur la demande d'eau dans la région de Nabeul en Tunisie. Les résultats d'estimation mettent en évidence l'importance des politiques de tarification de l'eau et le rôle de l'aversion au risque des exploitants agricoles.

Exporting, Technical Efficiency and Product Quality: An Empirical Analysis of the Agricultural Sector in the Mediterranean Countries

This paper investigates the association between exporting and agricultural performance in terms of production efficiency and product quality. We test for the learning-by-exporting and self selection effects in a panel of advanced and developing Mediterranean countries involved in global market liberalisation. Product quality measures are inferred from trade data using a discrete choice demand model, and technical efficiency scores are appraised using a stochastic production frontier approach. Based on joint estimation of the performance equations and a dynamic export probit decision, the empirical results lend strong support to the self-selection hypothesis. Exporting appears to help quality upgrading that encourages more efficient use of resources.