Resources

A forthcoming report from the International Food Policy Research Institute analyzes protection to the agricultural sector in India, Indonesia, China and Vietnam.

Providing subsidies to companies involved in liquid coal, oil shale and tar sands "threatens drastic increases in heat-trapping global warming pollution and severe impacts on popular habitats across the United States and Western Canada," says a report released in June by the New York-based Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC).

The American Enterprise Institute, a non-profit research institute, has commissioned eighteen well-known agricultural economists to ascertain the effects of current U.S. agricultural subsidies, spending programs, and regulations, and to offer policy recommendations. The 2007 Farm Bill & Beyond was directed by Bruce Gardner, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Maryland, and Daniel Sumner, director of the Agricultural Issues Center at the University of California.

A study released by Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) points to the threat of increased food prices as a result of the expanding ethanol production in the US Corn Belt. Emerging Biofuels: Outlook of Effects on U.S. Grain, Oilseed and Livestock Markets, states that the increased price of corn due to subsidized ethanol production is already being felt by the livestock sector, but the worst may be yet to come. The study examined several possible scenarios and their effects on food prices.

A jump in fuel prices is never welcome by the general populace. Yet in Nigeria, where fuel prices are regulated, the government has recently allowed the price of refined petroleum products' to rise, and is prepared to continue doing so. The Nigerian government routinely imports petroleum and sells these imports at below cost on the domestic market to keep price levels down.

A paper from the Congressional Research Service (Biofuels: Agriculture, Infrastructure, and Market Constraints Related to Expanded Production) contends that biofuels will not make a significant contribution to America's energy security, even as production is ramped up over the coming decade.

A discussion paper from the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC), authored by David Blandford and Timothy Josling, examines how the WTO's Green Box can best be utilized to meet the needs of both rich and poor countries.

An "economic note" from the Montreal Economic Institute of Laval University concludes that the Canadian province of Quebec's subsidies for the aluminum producer Alcan add up to $300,000 CAD per job each year for 35 years. In February, the Quebec government initiated a subsidy to Alcan as part of an aluminum smelter project in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region.

A policy brief from the Groupe d'Economie Mondiale (GEM) of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Science Po) examines the impact that reduced cotton subsidies in rich countries would have on West African producers, and concludes that farmers in this region are poorly placed to take advantage of improved market conditions.