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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy

Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2021

Ag-Incentives: A global database monitoring agricultural incentives and distortions to inform better policies

In both developed and developing countries, governments often intervene in the agriculture sector to support development and to respond to political-economy pressures, using trade policies or price support for particular agricultural commodities. To understand the full implications of agricultural policies, it is necessary to correctly measure the extent to which policies and their derivatives distort market prices of commodities, and to understand the implications of protection provided to other sectors that affects agricultural incentives through real exchange rate impacts. Multiple international organizations (IOs) provide assessment and measurement of agricultural incentives. However, a comprehensive and long-term global database would enable analysts and policymakers to compare and interpret the impact of policy across commodities, countries, and time.