Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups

An important issue in WTO trade negotiations is whether further liberalization of trade and agricultural policies may help or hinder food security in WTO member countries, especially the developing countries. The WTO recognizes various classifications of countries: developed, developing, least devel...

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Main Authors: Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio, Thomas, Marcelle, Robinson, Sherman, Cattaneo, Andrea
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2000
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155880
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author Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio
Thomas, Marcelle
Robinson, Sherman
Cattaneo, Andrea
author_browse Cattaneo, Andrea
Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio
Robinson, Sherman
Thomas, Marcelle
author_facet Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio
Thomas, Marcelle
Robinson, Sherman
Cattaneo, Andrea
author_sort Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description An important issue in WTO trade negotiations is whether further liberalization of trade and agricultural policies may help or hinder food security in WTO member countries, especially the developing countries. The WTO recognizes various classifications of countries: developed, developing, least developed (LDC) and net food importing developing (NFIDC). How well do these categories capture issues of food security? This paper employs various methods of cluster analysis (including an approach based on fuzzy sets) and data for 167 countries to identify groups of countries categorized according to five measures of food security: food production per capita, the ratio of total exports to food imports, calories per capita, protein per capita, and the share of the non-agricultural population share. The analysis identifies 12 distinct clusters characterized by similarities and differences across the various measures. The analysis suggests that the LDC category consists of largely food insecure countries, but that there also are food insecure countries that are not LDCs. NFIDCs is less precise as an indicator of food vulnerability, with more than a third of those countries not falling under any of the food insecure groups. Also, the general category of “developing countries” is very heterogeneous and is not very useful if the focus is on issues of food security. Finally, our typology shows that all developed countries are included in food secure categories.
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spelling CGSpace1558802025-11-06T06:25:29Z Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio Thomas, Marcelle Robinson, Sherman Cattaneo, Andrea food production food security trade liberalization wto trade policies An important issue in WTO trade negotiations is whether further liberalization of trade and agricultural policies may help or hinder food security in WTO member countries, especially the developing countries. The WTO recognizes various classifications of countries: developed, developing, least developed (LDC) and net food importing developing (NFIDC). How well do these categories capture issues of food security? This paper employs various methods of cluster analysis (including an approach based on fuzzy sets) and data for 167 countries to identify groups of countries categorized according to five measures of food security: food production per capita, the ratio of total exports to food imports, calories per capita, protein per capita, and the share of the non-agricultural population share. The analysis identifies 12 distinct clusters characterized by similarities and differences across the various measures. The analysis suggests that the LDC category consists of largely food insecure countries, but that there also are food insecure countries that are not LDCs. NFIDCs is less precise as an indicator of food vulnerability, with more than a third of those countries not falling under any of the food insecure groups. Also, the general category of “developing countries” is very heterogeneous and is not very useful if the focus is on issues of food security. Finally, our typology shows that all developed countries are included in food secure categories. 2000 2024-10-24T12:42:44Z 2024-10-24T12:42:44Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155880 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Diaz-Bonilla, Eugenio; Thomas, Marcelle; Robinson, Sherman; Cattaneo, Andrea. 2000. Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups. TMD Discussion Paper 59. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155880
spellingShingle food production
food security
trade liberalization
wto
trade policies
Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio
Thomas, Marcelle
Robinson, Sherman
Cattaneo, Andrea
Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups
title Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups
title_full Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups
title_fullStr Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups
title_full_unstemmed Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups
title_short Food security and trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization: a cluster analysis of country groups
title_sort food security and trade negotiations in the world trade organization a cluster analysis of country groups
topic food production
food security
trade liberalization
wto
trade policies
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155880
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