Search

Begin New Search Topic Agriculture Author Robert H. Bates

1. Public Policy, Price Shocks, and Conflict: Price Shocks and Civil War in Developing Countries

Author:
Robert H. Bates and Brett L. Carter
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Those who study the role of agriculture in the political economy of development focus on government policy choices on the one hand and the impact of price shocks on the other. We argue that the two should be studied together. We find that civil unrest (Granger) causes government policies, pushing governments in poor and medium income countries to shift relative prices in favor of urban consumers. We also find that while civil wars are related to food price shocks, when government policy choices are taken into account, the relationship disappears. We thus learn two things: Policies that placate urban consumers may inflict economic costs on governments, but they confer political benefits. And when estimating the relationship between price shocks and political stability, equations that omit the policy response of governments are misspecified.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Economics, Government, Markets, Political Economy, and Food

2. The New Institutionalism and Africa

Author:
Robert H. Bates, Steven Block, Ghada Fayad, and Anke Hoeffler
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
After briefly reviewing the new institutionalism, this article uses the history of political reform in Africa to test its key tenet: that power, if properly organized, is a productive resource. It does so by exploring the relationship between changes in political institutions and changes in economic performance, both at the macro- and the micro- level. The evidence indicates that political reform (Granger) causes increases in GDP per capita in the African subset of panels of global data. And, at the mIcro-level, it demonstrates that changes in national political institutions in Africa strongly relate to changes in total factor productivity in agriculture.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Economics, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa

3. The Political Economy of Agricultural Trade Interventions in Africa

Author:
Robert H. Bates
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
This chapter explores the political economy of agricultural trade protection in Sub-Saharan Africa. Figure 1.1 portrays the impact of government intervention in support of agricultural and non-agricultural products by governments 1955-2005 in different regions of the globe. In devising these measures, World Bank researchers calculated for a sample of agricultural and non-agricultural commodities the degree to which government policies – tariffs, subsidies, or currency distortions -- led to a separation of domestic from world market prices. The measures represent un-weighted averages. When greater than 0, they indicate that government policies favor farming; when below, that their policies favor other sectors.
Topic:
Agriculture and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa