U.S. Agricultural Policies in a Global Economy

Much attention has been paid in WTO negotiations to U.S. farm subsidies and their impact on poor farmers in developing countries.  Yet most research fails to support the contention that reducing or eliminating Northern agricultural subsidies will bring significant benefits to the rural poor in developing countries. Most media coverage and public policy debate about U.S. agricultural policies has rested on oversimplified notions about the impacts U.S. farm subsidies, both in the U.S. and abroad.  Domestically, farmers are seen as an over-powerful lobby continuing to exact excessive federal handouts that just make rich farmers richer.  Internationally, U.S. agricultural subsidies are seen as the cause of low international commodity prices for supported crops, with U.S. unwillingness to cut its farm programs named as one of the main reasons for the collapse of Doha Round at the WTO.  GDAE research show that farmers as a group have not gotten rich off U.S. farm programs, and eliminating U.S. subsidies would have only a marginal effect on production and international prices, with the notable exception of cotton.

Current research focuses on U.S. farm policy reform and its implications for the United States and for international agreements, such at the WTO's Doha Round. The goal is to demystify the issue for policy-making while focusing attention on who beyond farmers have benefited from U.S. farm policies and what policy alternatives exist besides eliminating farm subsidies. A recent focus of GDAE's research is the "Feeding the Factory Farm Project", which documents the “implicit subsidies” going to industrial livestock firms.

Key publications:

"Identifying the Real Winners from U.S. Agricultural Policies," Timothy A. Wise, GDAE Working Paper No. 05-07, December, 2005.

"The Paradox of Agricultural Subsidies: Measurement Issues, Agricultural Dumping, and Policy Reform" by Timothy A. Wise, GDAE Working Paper 04-02, May 2004.

"Understanding the Farm Problem: Six Common Errors in Presenting Farm Statistics," by Timothy A. Wise, GDAE Working Paper No. 05-02, March 2005.

Publications from the "Feeding the Factory Farm Project"

See all publications from GDAE's Globalization and Sustainable Development Project.