Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of liberalization and other policies and state institutions on agricultural markets.1 The first issues that need to be elucidated are what is meant by liberalization and by agricultural markets. Liberalization tends to be a catch word that can be used to describe a whole different range of policies and institutions. In a narrow sense, it entails trade liberalization (i.e. a package consisting of a devaluation, reduction and harmonization of tariffs, and the elimination of quantitative restrictions against imports) and elimination of state commodity boards and state monopolies for export crops. In its broader sense, liberalization can be interpreted as being almost synonymous with structural adjustment — including a combination of trade liberalization measures in addition to a significant state withdrawal from intervention in the pricing of domestic food crops and imports, as well as a whole constellation of structural measures designed to improve the competitiveness and functioning of agricultural markets, such as public investment in physical infrastructure (particularly irrigation and farm to market roads), research, extension, antitrust regulations and the privatization of many marketing activities previously performed by the state. I believe that the more conventional usage is to interpret liberalization in the more minimalist sense and particularly as measures required for “getting the prices right.”
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Thorbecke, E. (2000). Agricultural Markets Beyond Liberalization: The Role of the State. In: van Tilburg, A., Moll, H.A.J., Kuyvenhoven, A. (eds) Agricultural Markets Beyond Liberalization. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4523-1_2
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