Agricultural Pricing Policies in Developing Countries: An Application to Pakistan

The range of and constraints on policy instruments available to thegovernment when raising and distributing revenue can have importantconsequences for the efficiency and equity implications of pricingpolicy. The usual trade-off between equity and efficiency ismagnified. We emphasize the potential for substantial efficiency gainsfrom reforming agricultural pricing policies and from developing moredirect income transfer mechanisms. The importance of incorporatingcross-price effects is highlighted and we show that these can changethe direction of welfare-improving marginal price reforms.     

Household Survey Data and Pricing Policies in Developing Countries

In recent years, household survey data from developing countrieshave increasingly become available and have been increasinglyused to cast light on important questions of policy. The reformof prices, whether agricultural prices, consumer taxes, subsidies,or tariffs, has consequences for individual welfare and forgovernment revenues, and these can be investigated empiricallywith household survey data. The gainers and losers from pricechanges can be identified, and the magnitudes of their gainsand losses measured. Nonparametric estimation techniques providea straightforward and convenient way of displaying this information.The procedure is illustrated for the effects of rice pricingin Thailand using data from more than five thousand rural households.Estimates of the revenue effects of price reforms are harderto obtain, because they require estimates of supply and demandelasticities, estimates that are not easily obtained for manydeveloping countries. A procedure is presented for estimatingprice elasticities of demand from spatial price variation asrecorded in household survey data. The main innovations liein the appropriate treatment of quality variations and measurementerror. Applications of the procedure in Côte d'lvoire,Indonesia, and Morocco are reviewed.     

Prospects for Agricultural Land Taxation in Developing Countries

Countries that collect tax revenue from the agricultural sectorthrough export taxes, marketing boards, and overvalued domesticcurrencies are often loath to abandon these distorting policiesbecause of the consequent revenue loss. One potential alternativeis to replace these distortionary taxes with a land tax, whichwould not depress output prices or discourage foreign exchangeearnings and which could be, in theory, a highly progressivetax. The advantages and disadvantages of a land tax are examinedtheoretically and using the specific experiences of Bangladesh,Argentina, and Uruguay. It is concluded that the land tax isnot necessarily more efficient than other types of taxes; theAchilles Heel of land taxation is administration; progressivetax rates based on land holdings are nearly impossible to administer;land taxes have been ineffective at promoting nonrevenue goals;political support by farmers is necessary to implement the tax;and the most promising prospects for a moderate land tax systemare in financing local, rather than central, government expenditures.     

WTO规则下发达国家农业保护政策的调整

通过对美国、欧盟、日本和韩国在WTO规则下对农业保护政策的调整进行了较为详细地分析,从而发现发达国家的农业保护政策已由原来的以"黄箱"政策为主,逐步转变为以"绿箱"政策为核心,在加强对农业保护的同时,追求政策效率的提高.     

部分发展中国家农业税制及其借鉴

部分国家的农业课税制度 1．秘鲁。 秘鲁拟把农产品加工业的所得税率从原来的30％降至15％，将现在执行的对开发荒地从事农……     

Natural Resource Management and Economywide Policies in Costa Rica: A Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Modeling Approach

A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is used to tracethe effects of government policies on Costa Rican forests inthe presence of incomplete markets. The results indicate thatcorrecting the market failure would, as expected, reduce deforestation.More interestingly, in the presence of the market failure, loweringthe tax on unskilled labor reduces deforestation because peoplegain employment in other parts of the economy. Taxation of otherproduced goods changes the incentives for deforestation. Forexample, a tax on agricultural products elevates the relativeprice of capital and shifts resources away from the capital-intensiveindustrial sector toward the agricultural and forest sectors;as a result, such a tax increases deforestation.     

An Argument for Deregulating the Transfer of Agricultural Technologies to Developing Countries

In the past few decades many developing countries have liberalizedtrade and investment, removing barriers to imports and allowingthe introduction of new foreign technologies. Unfortunately,agriculture often remains outside this reform process. Regulatoryobstacles continue to restrain the transfer of technologiesthrough private trade in seeds and other inputs. Industrialcountries characteristically allow the transfer of private andpublic technologies through multiple channels. Developing countriesoften force technology transfer through a single channel controlledby government agencies, with an emphasis on official performancetests. This article analyzes the institutional arrangementsgoverning the international transfer of new agricultural technologies,examining the cases of agricultural machinery in Bangladeshand seed varieties in Turkey. The analysis shows that allowingthe private transfer of technologies and refocusing input regulationson externalities could lead to significant productivity andincome gains in developing countries.     

Large Infrastructure Investments: Financing Mechanisms and Incentives in Decentralised Countries*

Infrastructure services crucially affect competitiveness and efficiency. They are essential but they usually require important amounts of public funds. In decentralised countries, regional governments cannot usually afford large infrastructure projects, so co-financing with the central government is required. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the influence of the central government financing mechanisms on the contract offered by the regional government for the construction, maintenance and operation of the infrastructure. We prove that if the central government uses certain financing mechanisms (total cost coverage), the regional government may have no incentives to offer an efficient contract to the firm.     

GATT Law, Agricultural Trade, and Developing Countries: Lessons from Two Case Studies

This article examines the relevance and applicability of thelaw of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) totwo specific problems faced by Thailand: the negotiations ofa voluntary export restraint agreement on cassava with the EuropeanEconomic Community and the increased subsidies on rice givenby the United States under the Food Security Act of 1985. In the case of cassava, Thailand appears to have had parts ofGATT law on its side, but the government was very reluctantto use the law to its own advantage. This reluctance was dueto unclear procedures under GATT as to how to make effectiveuse of these legal advantages. On the rice subsidy issue, conversely,the substantive law is unclear and provides limited protectionfor competing exporters. The wider lesson drawn from the two cases is that GATT's lawshould be modified and its role reevaluated so that both developedand developing countries can participate more fully in the GATTsystem. This will be necessary if the GATT's laws are to becomeuseful instruments in the hands of developing countries in theirbilateral negotiations with contracting parties which are themore powerful economically.     

Trade Policies and the Highly Indebted Countries

In the early 1980s, faced with a mounting debt crisis, mosthighly indebted developing countries increased trade barriersto save foreign exchange—but in the last three to fouryears, they have reversed course. Almost all of these countrieshave undergone real devaluations, and many have undertaken significantliberalizations, so much so that some (Bolivia, Costa Rica,Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, and Uruguay) are less protectionistthan before the debt crisis. But industrial countries have imposed new nontariff barriersagainst imports from highly indebted countries. Canada, Australia,the European Community, and the United States have greatly increasedthe use of countervailing duties and antidumping actions. Thismakes it more difficult for highly indebted countries to payoff their debts, and ultimately rebounds on creditor governmentsand banks.     

The Trade-Off between Insurance and Incentives in Differentiated Unemployment Policies

In this paper, I revisit the central trade-off between insurance and incentives in the design of unemployment insurance policies. The generosity of unemployment insurance benefits differs not only across countries, but also across workers within countries. After illustrating some important dimensions of heterogeneity in a cross-country analysis, I extend the standard Baily–Chetty formula to identify the key empirical moments and elasticities required to evaluate the differentiated unemployment policy within a country. I also review some prior work and aim to provide guidance for future work trying to inform the design of unemployment policies.     

Saving in Developing Countries: An Overview

This article reviews the current state of knowledge on the determinantsof saving rates, presenting the main findings and contributionsof the recently completed World Bank research project, ‘SavingAcross the World.’ The article discusses the basic designof the research project and its core database, the World SavingDatabase. It then summarizes the main project results and placesthem in the context of the literature on saving, identifyingthe key policy and nonpolicy determinants of private savingrates. Special attention is paid to the relationship betweengrowth and saving and the impact of specific policies on savingrates. The article concludes by introducing the studies includedin this special issue.     

教育对经济增长的影响机制分析:来自发展中国家的经验证据

教育的落后是导致贫困的一个极为重要的因素。从世界范围来看,降低贫困率的主要原因来自经济增长,而经济增长源于人力资本和物质资本的积累,两种资本的积累又主要取决于技术水平的高低,而这最终归因于教育水平的提高。本文考察了教育对经济增长影响的宏观和微观机制,并对低、中、高收入国家进行了实证比较分析。对于发展中国家特别是贫困地区来说,增加教育投入,提高教育水平是降低贫困的重要战略。     

Agriculture in the Uruguay Round: Interests of Developing Countries

Agriculture has been favored and protected in developed countrieswhile trade policies in developing countries frequently supportindustry at the expense of exportables and unprotected importablesin agriculture. This protection constrains expansion of temperateand subtropical agricultural exports from developing countries.Several studies have estimated the effects of liberalizationof trade restrictions on world prices, export earnings, andimport costs. While developing countries generally would benefitfrom having the agricultural policies of the most powerful countriesbound by international rules on trade, there are differencesamong the developing countries as to which products should beliberalized. Even if such conflicts did not exist, politicallyfeasible means to obtain such compliance are elusive. The potentiallymost feasible approaches for developing countries to obtainsome measure of liberalization in the Uruguay Round of tradenegotiations are discussed.     

Housing Policy in Developing Countries: Conjectures and Refutations

This article discusses housing policy in developing economies.It examines recent research findings in light of earlier argumentsas to the benefits of more market-oriented approaches. It alsolooks at whether the recommendations of earlier work have beenrefuted or developed in subsequent analyses and policy measures.In particular, it reviews the empirical analysis of the effectsof policy on housing supply, the richer understanding of theeffects that land market regulations have on housing affordabilityand the functioning of urban areas, and the alleged mysteriouseffects that researchers claim effective property rights haveon housing policy and on development more generally. It alsoexamines the effects of the increased emphasis on communityparticipation, showing how it helps to more fully reconcilethe incentives faced by beneficiaries of housing policy anddonors. Finally, it examines recent literature on the welfareeffects of rent control. The article shows that some of theconjectures as to the likely benefits of more market-based policyhave been refuted, but large welfare gains for poor people canstill be realized by adapting this approach. Furthermore, thisapproach appears to be gaining ground as the consensus approachto effective housing policy.      

Macroeconomic Volatility and Welfare in Developing Countries: An Introduction

Macroeconomic volatility, both a source and a reflection ofunderdevelopment, is a fundamental concern for developing countries.Their high aggregate instability results from a combinationof large external shocks, volatile macroeconomic policies, microeconomicrigidities, and weak institutions. Volatility entails a directwelfare cost for risk-averse individuals, as well as an indirectone through its adverse effect on income growth and development.This article provides a brief overview of the recent literatureon macroeconomic volatility in developing countries, highlightingits causes, consequences, and possible remedies. It then introducesthe contributions of a recent conference on the subject, sponsoredby the World Bank and Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona.     

OECD国家对劳动力和金融市场的税收政策

对劳动力市场的税收政策 90年代以来,OECD国家遭遇的棘手问题之一是持续的高失业,随着与全球化进程相联系的所谓"新移民时代"的到来,失业问题已变得更加严峻.     

金融全球化与发展中国家的金融安全

金融全球化是当代世界经济发展的典型特征和时代潮流，金融全球化将严重冲击发展中国家金融体系的稳定性，削弱发展中国家金融管理当局的宏观调控能力，影响其国际收支均衡，对发展中国家的 生严重威胁。发展中国在加入金融全球的进程中，必须强化对金融风险的防范，以有效地维护其金融安全和经济安全。     

Household Saving in Developing Countries: First Cross-Country Evidence

Although most studies have relied on domestic or private sectorsaving data, this article uses household data available fromthe U.N. System of National Accounts for a sample of 10 countries.Household saving functions are estimated using combined time-seriesand cross-country observations in order to test households'responses to income and growth, rates of return, monetary wealth,foreign saving, and demographic variables. The results showthat income and wealth variables affect saving strongly andin ways consistent with standard theories. Inflation and theinterest rate do not show clear effects on saving, which isalso consistent with their theoretical ambiguity. Foreign savingand monetary assets have strong negative effects on householdsaving, which suggests the importance of liquidity constraintsand monetary wealth in developing countries.     

Macroeconomic Fluctuations in Developing Countries: Some Stylized Facts

This article documents the main stylized features of macroeconomicfluctuations for 12 developing countries. It presents cross-correlationsbetween domestic industrial output and a large group of macroeconomicvariables, including fiscal variables, wages, inflation, money,credit, trade, and exchange rates. Also analyzed are the effectsof economic conditions in industrial countries on output fluctuationsin the sample developing countries. The results point to manysimilarities between macroeconomic fluctuations in developingand industrial countries (procyclical real wages, countercyclicalvariation in government expenditures) and some important differences(countercyclical variation in the velocity of monetary aggregates).Their robustness is examined using different detrending procedures.