What the Developing Countries Want from the WTO

There is a very strong consensus among economists that developing countries have the most to gain from movements towards freer trade under the WTO. But the Seattle WTO meeting was suspended in part because of vocal NGOs who charged that free trade and globalization were not in poor countriesÂ’ interests. This paper makes three points. First, developing countries do have much to gain from general trade liberalization. Trade expansion is positively linked to growth. Second, agricultural trade liberalization offers even greater gains than liberalization in other sectors because of the heavy dominance of agriculture in poor countriesÂ’ economies. Third, not all developing countries are poor, food-deficit, importing countries. They are a heterogeneous group and many are agricultural exporters. An open-economy development strategy has historically paid off for developing countries and is still the best bet for the future. Therefore, a WTO agreement which provides a fair, open, transparent, and rules-based international trading environment is absolutely critical to reducing poverty in these countries. They need access to markets and protection from predatory practices by large rich countries. The WTO is the best game in town.developing countries, NGOs, non-trade issues, open trade regimes, International Relations/Trade,

Liberalizing Agricultural Trade: Will It Ever Be a Reality?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture was signed in June 1994. It accomplished two things: it brought agricultural trade under the rules of WTO, and it set schedules for reducing barriers to trade under the three pillars of liberalization--market access, export assistance, and domestic support. Nine years later there has been precious little liberalization. The new Doha Round has ambitious objectives for agricultural trade liberalization. However, given recent behavior by rich developed countries, it seems unlikely that developing countries will get increased access to Northern markets or reduced competition from subsidized exports, despite their now representing a majority of WTO members.agricultural trade, barriers, distortions, improved access, liberalization, policy, protection, WTO, International Relations/Trade,

Greatest Contributions to Our Profession by Agricultural and Resource Economists - Some Musings to Stir Discussion

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Do Macroeconomic Variables Affect the Agricultural Trade Sector? An Elasticities Analysis

International Relations/Trade,

Prospects for global food security: a critical appraisal of past projections and predictions

During the last half century, a number of individuals and institutions, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and IFPRI, have engaged in projections of future food demand, supply, and related variables. In this brief, Alex McCalla and Cesar Revoredo compare projections with real-life outcomes. Projections forecast outcomes on the basis of certain underlying factors. If such forecasted outcomes are undesirable, changes may be made in the underlying factors so that the projections may not, in fact, come to pass. Many projections serve this precise goal. Therefore, the success of projections may not be that they match actual outcomes but that they avoid such outcomes by promoting action to change underlying variables. Unlike predictions, which are successful only if they match actual outcomes, projections that differ from actual outcomes may reflect either poor projection models or changes in underlying variables, possibly caused by the projections themselves.Food consumption., Food security.,

Consumption Stories : Customer purchases of alcohol at an upper canadian country store in 1808-1809 and 1828-1829

Douglas McCalla est historien, spécialiste d'histoire économique. Professeur à la Trent University (Peterborough, Ontario), il a signé plusieurs articles et ouvrages sur le XIXe siècle canadien et ontarien. En avril 1998, il était invité à participer au Séminaire International du Centre interuniversitaire d'études québécoises, qui associe également l'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. Placé sous le thème « Perspectives », ce Séminaire a bénéficié de la collaboration des Archives nationales du Québec. Nous sommes heureux de reproduire ici l'exposé du professeur McCalla dans ce numéro de Cheminements-Conférences