Agricultural Policies and Trade

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

Consent from the subject coordinator is required for enrolment in this subject. Please contact Assoicate Professor Donald MacLaren, d.maclaren@unimelb.edu.au

Students are expected to have already taken at least one subject in microeconomics

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The subject covers the following topics:

· the reasons for government intervention in the agricultural sector;

· the principal agricultural policy issues in Australia, the European Union, the United States and China and India;

· the effects of these policies on international trade in agricultural and food products, on world food security and on poverty reduction in the least-developed countries;

· agriculture in the WTO – the Doha Round negotiations.

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:
• explain the reasons for government intervention in the agri-food sectors of several countries, and identify the policy objectives being pursued;
• critically analyse the economic effects, including the trade effects, of the policy instruments employed;
• describe and analyse the limitations of applied welfare economics in guiding public policy;
• critically analyse the issue of world food security;
• synthesise the current policy issues in the agri-food sectors of the world economy such as trade policies and the stability of commodity and food prices, and trade and food safety;
• explain the position of agriculture in the WTO; and
• critically appraise the proposals under negotiation in the WTO.

End of Semester Examination (2 hours) - 60%, Mid Semester Test - 20%, and one Assignment of up to 2,000 words - 20%

There is no textbook for this subject

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Information Not Available