International trade in services also provides an assessment of how policy makers can further bolster their service industries by leveraging the changes prompted by technological advancements. The book provides policy recommendations that include the reduction of barriers to services trade across...

This Working Paper serves as a technical background note for the Farm-level analysis of risk, risk management strategies and policies (OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Working Papers No.26). It describes: 1) the data source and analytical methods employed to measure risk exposure at the farm...

Achieving the Millennium Development Goal to halve global poverty by 2015 looks increasingly likely, although many countries may fall far short of this goal. This study compares socio-economic characteristics of twenty-five countries that have posted exceptional progress in reducing poverty to...

This report applies a cost-benefit analysis to quantify the economic effects of non-tariff measures in the agri-food sector. Three case studies are presented to demonstrate how such analysis can help identify least-cost solutions of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) designed to ensure that imported...

Agricultural policies have undergone reforms in most OECD countries, each choosing a different path to replace policies historically based on market price support with other forms of support deemed superior in achieving differing policy objectives. This report looks at the results of this reform...

This study develops earlier OECD work on the treatment of agriculture in regional trade agreements for Latin America by extending the geographic coverage to Asia-Pacific and selected agreements in Africa. It covers over 50 regional trade agreements with respect to market access, subsidies, trade...

Agricultural production and support in Canada, the United States, and the European Union are highly concentrated on larger farms, which have higher income levels than the average of all farms. Smaller farms, though, are more dependent on support (in particular, payments) which accounts for a...

Trade in processed products, such as chocolates, steaks or wines, is dominated by high income OECD countries, although it is slowing down between these countries while growing very fast between emerging economies. Low income countries, however, account for a small share of such trade. Countries...

Recent years have witnessed a sharp increase in many commodity prices. This report examines the question of whether commodity price volatility has materially changed with the rapid run up in world prices in 2006-09, followed by an equally sharp decline in many commodity prices. The report...

This paper presents the Development Policy Evaluation Model (DEVPEM), a new simulation model which captures four critical aspects of rural economies in developing countries: (1) the role of the household as both a producer and a consumer of food crops; (2) high transaction costs of participating...