Agricultural Policy
Faculty
M. Honma
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 agricultural 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. Japanese experiences of agricultural policy have been repeated in Korea and Taiwan , who have followed Japan in economic development based on the industrial growth similar to Japan. We thirdly examine the common factors of agricultural policies among Japan , Korea and Taiwan though the study on distortions to agricultural incentives for last 50 years conducted as a World Bank project. Domestic agricultural policies are now strongly concerned in the WTO agricultural negotiations and FTA negotiations. Fourthly the way of treatment of agricultural sector in those negotiations and how it is coping with the globalization in other sectors are discussed. Finally, future aspects and desirable policy for agriculture in Japan that shall be viable and more competitive in a globalizing world are examined.
< Short list of references >
(1) Anderson, K., et al . (eds.), Distortions to Agricultural Incentives: Global Perspective , the World Bank, forthcoming.
(2) Honma, M., The Policy Process on Contemporary Japanese Agriculture , Keio University Press, forthcoming.
(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
(4) Okuno, M. and M. Honma, M. (eds.), The Economic Analysis of Agricultural Issues , Nihon Keizai Shinbun-sha, 1998.
(5) Honma, M., The Political Economy of Agricultural Problems , Nihon Keizai Shinbun-sha, 1994.