Global Agricultural Policy Reform & Trade

'This is a very valuable and timely book that provides insightful factual and methodological perspectives on the co-evolution of agriculture and the environment in an era of trade liberalization and environmental regulation. It is an especially useful resource for understanding the emerging agricultural policies, which integrate environmental, international trade and income distribution considerations. It will be very beneficial for students of agricultural policy as it provides broad perspectives on both the forces shaping the future of global agriculture and the environment, and the crucial details of modeling for policy assessment and design.'- David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, US'The environmental consequences of trade are a major issue in the debate over the merits of expanded global trade. This book offers a systematic and accessible presentation of the conceptual issues and empirical results related to agricultural trade and the environment, as well as the impacts of environmental policies on trade. Agriculture is in many countries a major environmental driver, making an understanding of the environmental consequences of agricultural trade essential for a comprehensive understanding of the trade and environment issue. The empirical work presented in this book is largely focused on the United States but there are conceptual and methodological lessons that can be applied to studies in other contexts. The book is a valuable contribution to the emerging scientific evaluation of trade and the environment. It will be of interest to economists and policy analysts working in this area.'- James Shortle, Pennsylvania State University, USThe WTO's attempts at agricultural trade liberalization have raised concerns that the current movement towards globalization fails to adequately address environmental issues. Even in developed countries, where agriculture at the farm-level represents a small fraction of total GDP, trade-induced changes in agricultural production levels could have considerable environmental effects. This timely new book analyzes the possible linkages between agricultural trade liberalization and the environment, and assesses the negative and positive impacts of any possible reforms. The authors begin by providing an extensive empirical examination of the potential environmental consequences of agricultural trade liberalization at both a global and US level. However, not only might changes in trade policy affect the environment, but environmental policy can also influence trade. Consequently, the authors conduct a detailed study of the impact of US agri-environmental policies on trade flows. To conclude, they investigate conceptual and policy aspects of the important inter-relationship between agricultural trade and unintentional environmental by-products, transboundary concerns and multilateral environmental agreements.In the context of ongoing trade negotiations, this comprehensive book provides an objective overview of the potential economic consequences of the relationship between trade and the environment. It will be of special interest to agricultural, development and environmental economists as well as policymakers and policy analysts confronting the practical problems of environmental and economic assessment.