HAS TRADE LIBERALIZATION IMPROVED FOOD AVAILABILITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

It has been over two decades since governments of many developing countries have undergone the process of structural adjustment and trade liberalization. Trade liberalization has been promoted by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization based on the argument that openness to trade will contribute to economic growth and development and with it, a reduction in poverty and, by extension, improvement in food security. Despite the lack of consensus, such argument prevailed over those which were cautious. As a result, most developing countries took the challenge to liberalize their economies. This paper examines empirically the effect of trade liberalization on food availability in developing countries using alternative estimation methods. An econometric analysis of panel data drawn from 37 countries seems to suggest that trade liberalization exerted a negative short run effect on food availability in the sample countries. The delayed outcome is found insignificantly positive, and the sum of the two differing outcomes fails to support the view that the medium to long run effect of trade liberalization on food availability is favorable.