Bilateral Trade Agreements and Trade Distortions in Agricultural Markets

Cornelius Hirsch, Harald Oberhofer

Publication: Working/Discussion PaperWU Working Paper

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Abstract

Agricultural support levels are at a crossroad with reduced distortions in OECD countries and increasing support for agricultural producers in emerging economies over the last decades. This paper studies the determinants of distortions in the agricultural markets by putting a specific focus on the role of trade policy. Applying various different dynamic panel data estimators and explicitly accounting for potential endogeneity of trade policy agreements, we find that an increase in the number of bilateral free trade agreements exhibits significant short- and long-run distortion reducing effects. By contrast, WTO's Uruguay Agreement on Agriculture has not been able to systematically contribute to a reduction in agriculture trade distortions. From a policy point of view our findings thus point to a lack of effectiveness of multilateral trade negotiations.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationVienna
PublisherWU Vienna University of Economics and Business
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2017

Publication series

SeriesDepartment of Economics Working Paper Series
Number240

WU Working Paper Series

  • Department of Economics Working Paper Series

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