Agricultural Trade Policies in the New Millennium - Book Reviews

Business Economics, April, 2003 by Donald R. Anderson

The second section of the book is devoted to commodity trade issues. It takes five products of importance to the United States--rice, sugar, wheat, grain and cotton--and explores their positions in world markets in varying degrees of depth. The treatments are generally based on statistical analysis and political economics and are therefore easy for a non-economist to follow, something which is possibly important in this field. The paper on wheat, however, is supported by a mathematical model of the impact on the world wheat trade of China's entry into the WTO.

The third section explores a variety of specific problems in detail. These range from broad issues, such as the implications of regionalization and policy matters, to technical and micro-economic subjects, such as price volatility and anti-dumping. Some interesting models are included, providing uplifting intellectual purity amidst the harsh practicality of economic diplomacy.

The editors' conclusions assess the prospects for agricultural trade policy and make a plea for liberalization on economic grounds. The latter is coupled with a proposal that related, non-trade issues, such as environmental concerns, health matters, and "multifunctionality"--the relationship of agriculture to its host communities--be separated from trade issues and dealt with at the national level, thus enabling the international agricultural trading system to function in an efficient manner. Policy analysts, they suggest, should give a lead through identifying such policy alternatives.

It is a slightly unrealistic conclusion, since it fails to address the linkages between the trade and non-trade factors that are the kernel of the agricultural trade problem. But this was an academic conference, held outside the general mainstream of international affairs. This context may be responsible for one of the few criticisms that might be made of the contributions: that they concentrate almost exclusively on agricultural issues and do not adequately consider the interaction between these and the wider trade negotiation scene.

In all, however, this is an impressive volume. There are some omissions, with the deep divisions within the European Union over the Common Agricultural Policy and the increasingly powerful role played by the development non-governmental organizations being the most evident. But mistakes are few and confined to peripheral areas. The quality is impressively high. And as agriculture emerges as the key obstacle to progress in world trade, its publication is more than timely.