Agricultural Distortions

This is a product of a research project on Distortions to Agricultural Incentives, under the leadership of Kym Anderson of the World Bank’s Development Research Group. The authors are grateful to Xiang Tao for research assistance; to Harry de Gorter, Alessandro Olper, and Gordon Rausser for many discussions and insights on this issue; to Kym Anderson for excellent collaboration and encouragement on the project; and to the World Bank for Trust Funds provided by the governments of the Netherlands (BNPP) and the United Kingdom (DfID). This paper will appear in Agricultural Price Distortions, Inequality and Poverty, edited by K. Anderson, J. Cockburn and W. Martin (forthcoming 2010). This is part of a Working Paper series (see www.worldbank.org/agdistortions) that is designed to promptly disseminate the findings of work in progress for comment before they are finalized. The views expressed are the authors ’ alone and not necessarily those of the World Bank and its Executive Directors, nor the countries they represent, nor of the institutions providing funds for this research project