CoPS/IMPACT Working Paper Number G-176

Title: How would global trade liberalization affect rural and regional incomes in Australia?

Authors: Kym Anderson,James Giesecke and Ernesto Valenzuela

Abstract

For decades rural Australia has been discriminated against by industrial policies at home and agricultural protectionism abroad. While agricultural export taxation in poor countries had the opposite impact, recent reforms there mean that that offsetting effect on Australia has diminished. There has also been some re-instrumentation of rich-country farm policies away from trade measures. This paper draws on new evidence to examine whether Australian farmers and rural regions are still adversely affected by farm price-distortive policies abroad, using a global and a national economy-wide model. The results vindicate the continuing push by Australia's rural communities for multilateral agricultural trade liberalization.

JEL classification:F13; Q18; C68; R13.

Please cite the later published version in:
Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2010, Vol. 54(4), October, pp. 389-406.

Keywords: trade liberalisation, rural income, regional CGE.

Working Paper Number G-176 can be downloaded in PDF format.

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