Appendix A METHODOLOGY FOR MEASURING DISTORTIONS TO AGRICULTURAL INCENTIVES Kym Anderson, Marianne Kurzweil, Will Martin, Damiano Sandri, and Ernesto Valenzuela
This appendix outlines the methodological issues associated with the task of measuring the impact of government policies on incentives faced by farmers and food consumers. The focus is on those border and domestic measures that arise exclusively from government actions, that, as such, may be altered by a political decision, and that have an immediate effect on consumer choices, producer resource allocations, and net farm incomes. Most commonly, these measures include import or export taxes, subsidies, and quantitative restrictions, supplemented by domestic taxes or subsidies for farm outputs or inputs, and consumer subsidies for food staples. The incentives faced by farmers are affected not only by the direct protection or taxation of primary agricultural industries, but also indirectly via policies assisting nonagricultural industries, given that the latter may have an offsetting effect by drawing resources away from farming. This appendix begins by outlining what theory suggests should be measured directly and indirectly. It then outlines the way the theory is put into practice through this study. Thanks for invaluable comments are due to many project participants, including Bruce Gardner, Tim Josling, Will Masters, Alan Matthews, Johan Swinnen, Alberto ValdĂŠs, and Alex Winter-Nelson, plus Ibrahim Elbadawi. The information in this appendix is also available in Anderson et al. 2008a and 2008b.
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