Agricultural Policy
Faculty
Description
It is commonly observed that agricultural sector is exploited in developing countries and protected in developed countries. This corresponds to the fact that the role of agriculture to play in an economy is changing in the process of economic development. It is also shown that agriculture is the sector strongly intervened by the government regardless of the stage of economic development.
In this class, first, the theoretical framework of the so-called “political market” and political process to determine agricultural policy is lectured. Second, various types of actual agricultural policies as well as the structure of agriculture in Japan are discussed from economics and political economy’s viewpoint. Foreign agricultural policies such as in the US and the EU are also examined. Thirdly, these agricultural policies are connected to the WTO agricultural negotiations and agricultural issues in FTA negotiations. Then the globalization of agriculture and its meanings are discussed. Finally, future aspects and desirable policy for agriculture in Japan to be viable and more competitive are examined through the analysis on various aspects of agriculture as mentioned above.
< Short list of references >
(1) Honma, M., The Political Economy of Agricultural Problems, Nihon Keizai Shinbun-sha, 1994.
(2) Okuno, M. and M. Honma, M. (eds.), The Economic Analysis of Agricultural Issues, Nihon Keizai Shinbun-sha, 1998.
(3) Honma, M., A. George-Mulgan, and Y. Godo, “Globalization of Japanese Agriculture and Reforms in Politics and Agricultural Cooperatives”, RIETI Discussion Paper Series 04-J-024, 2004