The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies

Abstract

“Governments intervene extensively in agricultural and food markets and they do so for political reasons. This book summarizes recent research on the political economy processes underlying these interventions.”  For students of economics, the term “political economy” is confusing. Two quite distinct strands of literature use the same term to describe themselves. The first strand arises out of mainstream economics. It uses the core tools of economics to explain political behavior, based on the hypothesis of self-interested action on the part of consumers, producers and governments, in much the same way as conventional economics explains the behavior of consumers and producers within markets for private goods and services. It uses the analytical tools of economics, including analysis of quantitative data, econometrics and mathematics, to do this.