Political Economy of Public Policies : Insights from Distortions to Agricultural and Food Markets

The agricultural and food sector is an
ideal case for investigating the political economy of public
policies. Many of the policy developments in this sector
since the 1950s have been sudden and transformational, while
others have been gradual but persistent. This paper reviews
and synthesizes the literature on trends and fluctuations in
market distortions and the political-economy explanations
that have been advanced. Based on a rich global data set
covering a half-century of evidence on commodities,
countries, and policy instruments, the paper identifies
hypotheses that have been explored in the literature on the
extent of market distortions and the conditions under which
reform may be feasible.