Agricultural protection, particularly in high income countries, have induced overproduction, thereby depressing world commodity prices and reducing export shares of countries which do not support agriculture. One-and perhaps the only-effective way to bring a socially acceptable and politically feasible reform is to replace payments linked to current production levels, input use, and prices by payments which are decoupled from these measures.

The authors focus on policy interventions for improving irrigation water allocation decisions by including both macro and micro considerations in a unified analytical computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework. The approach is demonstrated, using the case of Morocco, by analyzing selected policy (top-down and bottom-up) interventions and external shocks that affect the water sector. Both direct and indirect effects of these interventions are identified. The top-down (macro-to-micro) links are of a trade reform type.

The importance of distributional issues in policymaking creates a need for empirical tools to assess the social impact of economic shocks and policies. This paper reviews some of the modeling approaches that are currently in use at the World Bank and other international financial institutions. The specification of these models is dictated by the issues at stake, the knowledge about the nature of the process involved, and the availability and reliability of relevant data. Furthermore, shocks and policies have macroeconomic, structural, and distributional implications.

The author surveys the empirical literature on the political economy of agricultural protection. He uses a detailed data set of agricultural Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions over five U.S. congressional election cycles over the 1991-2000 period to investigate the relationship between lobbying spending and agricultural protection. A detailed graphical analysis of campaign contributions by the agricultural PACs indicates that although there are very many PACs, in most sectors the majority of contributions are made by very few PACs.

As pesticide traders are important sources of information about the health impacts of pesticides, a crucial understanding of their perception is necessary to guide further pesticide information dissemination efforts through this channel. To this end, a 2003 survey of 110 Bangladeshi pesticide traders was conducted with questions on the pesticides in stock, knowledge and training in pesticide use and handling, sources of information, protective measures, and health effects.

Afghanistan has come a long way since
emerging from major conflict in late 2001. Important
political milestones mandated by the Bonn Agreement (two
Loya Jirgas, a new Constitution, recently the Presidential
election) have been achieved. The economy has recovered
strongly, growing by nearly 50 percent cumulatively in the
last two years (not including drugs). Some three million
internally- and externally-displaced Afghans have returned

The authors assess impacts of rural road
rehabilitation on market development at the commune level in
rural Vietnam and examine the variance of those impacts and
the geographic, community, and household factors that
explains it. Double difference and matching methods are used
to address sources of selection bias in identifying impacts.
The results point to significant average impacts on the
development of local markets. They also uncover evidence of

This paper uses a duration analysis
based on adoption data spanning more than 25 years from six
communities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. The
analysis explores how household characteristics and external
trends play into both the adoption and diffusion processes
of non-traditional exports among smallholders. Adoption was
initially widespread and rapid, which led nontraditional
exports to be hailed as a pro-poor success, reaching all but

Recent trends in Albania suggest that it
has the potential for a modern and competitive agricultural
sector, provided there is sufficient private investment and
the right policy environment. This chapter looks at the role
of agriculture in the economy and the current status of the
sector, and outlines the implications of modernization and
transformation of agriculture for rural areas. It also
identifies trends and sources of growth for agriculture, and

In carrying out the program for investment climate reform, Orissa State has to keep three things uppermost: It s critical to strike the right balance between private and social interests so that both are mutually reinforced and growth is equitable and inclusive. 2) Both the implementation capacity of government and the political economy of reforms will require appropriate prioritization of reforms with a clear identification of short-, medium-, and long-term actions.

The objective of this study is to raise awareness and understanding of exposure and vulnerability to drought in Central Asian countries and the Caucasus and to introduce a strategic, pro-active framework of mitigation and prevention. The audiences of the report are the governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the Caucasus and Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia. The report will further be of interest to NGOs and civil society, as well as donors.

Using data collected during several missions, the author finds that the principal reasons for low revenue mobilization are (1) the adverse fiscal impact of trade liberalization, (2) the defiscalization of agriculture in the 1970s, (3) the collapse of the uranium boom in the 1980s, and (4) the poor record of the VAT in mobilizing revenue. The large reduction in tariffs during the 1980s and 1990s in the context of structural adjustment programs and West African regional integration initiatives had adverse effects on trade tax revenue during the period 1980 2003.