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Demystifying Blue Box Support to Agriculture Under the WTO: Implications for Developing Countries

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Listed:
  • Sachin Kumar Sharma
  • Adeet Dobhal
  • Surabhi Agrawal
  • Abhijit Das

Abstract

Developing members at the WTO face a shrinkage in policy space for supporting their agricultural sector due to the limited room available under the provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). Contrastingly, most developed members can provide high levels of product-specific support without breaching their commitments on account of their support entitlements. For some of these members, the so-called ‘Blue Box’ under the AoA, plays a pivotal role in expanding the policy space with respect to domestic support to agricultural products. Though a lot of scholarship has discussed and examined other support provisions under the AoA, the ‘Blue Box’ remains relatively shrouded in mystery. Testimony to this is the fact that although the Blue Box has found use amongst developed members, no developing member, except for China in 2016, has ever used the Blue Box to support their producers. Given the impasse in the Doha Round of negotiations and limited flexibilities available under the AoA, this paper examines the feasibility and compatibility Blue Box measures with developing members’ socio-economic situation. Findings of this paper bring to fore the variations in member practice and the operational flexibilities available in implementing Blue Box programmes to support agriculture. JEL: F13, F14, F17, Q17

Suggested Citation

  • Sachin Kumar Sharma & Adeet Dobhal & Surabhi Agrawal & Abhijit Das, 2021. "Demystifying Blue Box Support to Agriculture Under the WTO: Implications for Developing Countries," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 22(2), pages 161-185, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:22:y:2021:i:2:p:161-185
    DOI: 10.1177/13915614211035852
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anne Marie Thow & Sachin Kumar Sharma & Cut Novianti Rachmi, 2019. "An analysis of Indonesia’s shrinking food security policy space under the WTO," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(6), pages 1275-1287, December.
    2. Irene Musselli, 2016. "Farm Support And Trade Rules:Towards A New Paradigm Under The 2030 Agenda," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 74, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
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    6. Sachin Kumar Sharma, 2016. "The WTO and Food Security," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-981-10-2179-4, June.
    7. Kym Anderson & Bernard Hoekman & Anna Strutt, 2001. "Agriculture and the WTO: Next Steps," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 192-214, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xi Ma, 2023. "Smart Agriculture and Rural Revitalization and Development Based on the Internet of Things under the Background of Big Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Domestic support; Blue Box; WTO and agriculture; developing countries; product-specific support; policy space; negotiations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F17 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Forecasting and Simulation
    • Q17 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agriculture in International Trade

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