Agricultural Policies in the Next Decade: A Global Perspective
Many countries around the world either tax agriculture or provide subsidies through trade and agricultural policies. This paper presents historical developments in the United States, European Union, Canada, China, India, and Thailand, which generally subsidize agriculture although the level of subsidization has decreased because of the significant rise in commodity prices. While progress has been made in lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers around the world with positive outcomes, the future progress in this area is questionable as evidenced by the Doha Round trade talks. Policy makers are now grappling with how to deal with price instability, uncertainty, and rising food prices.
High Commodity Prices and the EU's Single Payment Scheme: Some Consequences of Double‐Dipping
"When negotiating agricultural policies, decisions are generally based on historical net farm income figures, which are derived from the then current price and production data. In 2003, when the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) was introduced in the EU, agricultural commodity prices were "low." As a result the SPS is very generous when viewed in light of today's "high" agricultural commodities prices: farmers are double-dipping. We provide an empirical assessment of the implications for compensatory payments under the SPS in combination with high commodity prices for two major EU crops: wheat and barley. Yearly compensatory payments for these two crops alone exceed $10 billion. The lesson of this result for agricultural policy reform is that the payments under the SPS should have been made more flexible and tied to future (farm gate) prices, i.e., so payouts would usually vary with changing market conditions, while still being decoupled from production decisions." Copyright (c) 2008 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.
The Game Planners: Transforming Canada's Sport System.
The Game Planners studies the policy-making process in six Canadian national sports organizations, each of which deals with a different high-profile Olympic event. The authors argue that the creation of a "high-performance" sport system in Canada is due to pressure from three areas: the Canadian government, the physical education profession, and the sports community.