Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar

Higher world food prices have led many governments in developing countries to adopt policy measures to mitigate the adverse impact on low-income households. This paper sets out a partial equilibrium framework to evaluate the relative efficiency, distributional, and revenue implications of alternativ...

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Main Authors: Coady, David, Dorosh, Paul A., Minten, Bart
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160857
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author Coady, David
Dorosh, Paul A.
Minten, Bart
author_browse Coady, David
Dorosh, Paul A.
Minten, Bart
author_facet Coady, David
Dorosh, Paul A.
Minten, Bart
author_sort Coady, David
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Higher world food prices have led many governments in developing countries to adopt policy measures to mitigate the adverse impact on low-income households. This paper sets out a partial equilibrium framework to evaluate the relative efficiency, distributional, and revenue implications of alternative policy responses. The model is applied to Madagascar data to evaluate the net welfare impact of reductions in rice tariffs and to compare this to the alternative policy of targeted transfers. Lowering tariffs is not a cost-effective approach to protecting low-income households due to substantial leakage of benefits to higher income households and an adverse impact on poor net rice producers even when the substantial efficiency gains from such tariff reductions are incorporated into the analysis. Developing a system of well-designed and -implemented targeted direct transfers to poor households is thus likely to be a substantially more cost-effective approach to poverty alleviation, especially if these can be linked to productivity-enhancing investments. Such an approach should be financed by switching revenue raising from rice tariffs to more efficient tax instruments. These policy conclusions are likely to be robust to the incorporation of general equilibrium considerations.
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spelling CGSpace1608572025-11-06T05:22:02Z Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar Coady, David Dorosh, Paul A. Minten, Bart rice tariffs welfare globalization markets food prices time use patterns Higher world food prices have led many governments in developing countries to adopt policy measures to mitigate the adverse impact on low-income households. This paper sets out a partial equilibrium framework to evaluate the relative efficiency, distributional, and revenue implications of alternative policy responses. The model is applied to Madagascar data to evaluate the net welfare impact of reductions in rice tariffs and to compare this to the alternative policy of targeted transfers. Lowering tariffs is not a cost-effective approach to protecting low-income households due to substantial leakage of benefits to higher income households and an adverse impact on poor net rice producers even when the substantial efficiency gains from such tariff reductions are incorporated into the analysis. Developing a system of well-designed and -implemented targeted direct transfers to poor households is thus likely to be a substantially more cost-effective approach to poverty alleviation, especially if these can be linked to productivity-enhancing investments. Such an approach should be financed by switching revenue raising from rice tariffs to more efficient tax instruments. These policy conclusions are likely to be robust to the incorporation of general equilibrium considerations. 2008 2024-11-21T09:52:21Z 2024-11-21T09:52:21Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160857 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Coady, David; Dorosh, Paul A.; Minten, Bart. 2008. Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices. IFPRI Discussion Paper 780. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160857
spellingShingle rice
tariffs
welfare
globalization
markets
food prices
time use patterns
Coady, David
Dorosh, Paul A.
Minten, Bart
Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar
title Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar
title_full Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar
title_fullStr Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar
title_short Evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices: The case of increasing rice prices in Madagascar
title_sort evaluating alternative policy responses to higher world food prices the case of increasing rice prices in madagascar
topic rice
tariffs
welfare
globalization
markets
food prices
time use patterns
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160857
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