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This paper analyzes the impact of trade reforms on household welfare. In particular, it studies the importance of each of the links that together constitute the impact using data from the Vietnamese experience in the 1990s. The implementation of trade reforms in the 1990s, most noteworthy of which was the liberalization of rice, resulted in substantial improvement in welfare as evidenced by the drastic decline in poverty. Using analytical and empirical methods, the author examines the role of each channel (direct versus indirect) in this improvement for different groups of households. Results indicate that the growth has been broad based and pro-poor. Poorer households experienced more growth for each and every group analyzed. And contrary to the standard literature, net buyer households had more growth compared with net sellers, emphasizing the importance of indirect links. Decomposition of the growth shows that for rural households, both the direct effect and the multiplier effect drive growth while the multiplier effect was key in urban areas. The importance of the secondary effects underscores the need for a broader model to estimate the impact of trade reforms fully.

Agricultural Production --- Counterfactual --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Farmers --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Food Buyers --- Food Crops --- Food Prices --- Household Welfare --- Income --- Income Distribution --- Income Growth --- Income On Food --- Inequality --- Labor Policies --- Land Titling --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poor --- Poor Households --- Poverty --- Poverty Diagnostics --- Poverty Profile --- Poverty Reduction --- Private Sector Development --- Rural --- Rural Areas --- Rural Development --- Rural Households --- Rural Poor --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping --- Social Protections and Labor

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Zonder onderwerpscode: wereldeconomie, ontwikkelingsproblematiek

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There is a general consensus that most of the poor in developing countries are net food buyers and food price increases are bad for the poor. This could be expected of urban poor, but it is also often attributed to the rural poor. Recent food price increases have increased the importance of this issue, and the possible policy responses to these price increases. This paper examines the characteristics of net food sellers and buyers in nine low-income countries. Although the largest share of poor households are found to be net food buyers, almost 50 percent of net food buyers are marginal net food buyers who would not be significantly affected by food price increases. Only three of the nine countries examined exhibited a substantial proportion of vulnerable households. The average incomes (as measured by expenditure) of net food buyers were found to be higher than net food sellers in eight of the nine countries examined. Thus, food price increases, ceteris paribus, would transfer income from generally higher income net food buyers to poorer net food sellers. The analysis also finds that the occupations and income sources of net sellers and buyers in rural areas are significantly different. In rural areas where food production is the main activity and where there are limited non-food activities, the incomes of net buyers might depend on the incomes and farming activities of net food sellers. These results suggest the need for reevaluation of the consensus on the impact of food prices on food needs. Further work on the regional differences, and more important, on the second order effects, are necessary to answer these questions more precisely. Only on the basis of further analysis can we start generating better policy responses.

Agricultural activity --- Agricultural policies --- Agriculture --- Food & Beverage Industry --- Food intake --- Food needs --- Food prices --- Food production --- Food security --- Maize --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Reduction --- Rice --- Rural Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction

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There is a general consensus that most of the poor in developing countries are net food buyers and food price increases are bad for the poor. This could be expected of urban poor, but it is also often attributed to the rural poor. Recent food price increases have increased the importance of this issue, and the possible policy responses to these price increases. This paper examines the characteristics of net food sellers and buyers in nine low-income countries. Although the largest share of poor households are found to be net food buyers, almost 50 percent of net food buyers are marginal net food buyers who would not be significantly affected by food price increases. Only three of the nine countries examined exhibited a substantial proportion of vulnerable households. The average incomes (as measured by expenditure) of net food buyers were found to be higher than net food sellers in eight of the nine countries examined. Thus, food price increases, ceteris paribus, would transfer income from generally higher income net food buyers to poorer net food sellers. The analysis also finds that the occupations and income sources of net sellers and buyers in rural areas are significantly different. In rural areas where food production is the main activity and where there are limited non-food activities, the incomes of net buyers might depend on the incomes and farming activities of net food sellers. These results suggest the need for reevaluation of the consensus on the impact of food prices on food needs. Further work on the regional differences, and more important, on the second order effects, are necessary to answer these questions more precisely. Only on the basis of further analysis can we start generating better policy responses.

Agricultural activity --- Agricultural policies --- Agriculture --- Food & Beverage Industry --- Food intake --- Food needs --- Food prices --- Food production --- Food security --- Maize --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Reduction --- Rice --- Rural Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction

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This report is a joint study between the European Commission (EC), the World Bank, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It aims to inform employment support, activation, and social inclusion policy making, through an improved understanding of labor-market barriers. Covering 12 countries, the study builds on the previous joint EC and World Bank study to map the diversity of profiles of individuals who are out of work in six countries (Sundaram and others, 2014) and other analyses that characterize individuals with labor market difficulties (European Commission, 2012; Ferre and others, 2013; Immervoll, 2013). The study expands the previous analysis by looking at a broader group of labor market vulnerable beyond the out of work individuals to include: those in unstable employment, those with restricted hours, and those with near-zero incomes (i.e. individuals who are marginally employed). It also refines the analytical methodology by applying an employment barriers framework to facilitate policy making and country-specific application, and to provide a reference point for future methodological extensions.

Employment and Unemployment --- Labor and Employment Law --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Law and Development --- Rural Development --- Rural Labor Markets --- Social Protections and Labor