Dick Durevall () and Roy van der Weide ()
Additional contact information
Dick Durevall: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden
Roy van der Weide: Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank, Washington DC, The United States
Abstract: This paper shows how a developing country, Lao PDR, imports high glutinous rice prices by exporting its staple food to neighboring countries, Vietnam and Thailand. Lao PDR has extensive export controls on rice, generating a sizable difference between domestic and international prices. Controls are relaxed after good harvests, leading to a surge in exports early in the season and rapidly rising prices later in the year. There is thus a strong case for removal of trade restrictions since they give rise to price spikes, keep the long-term price of glutinous rice low, and thereby hinder increases in income from agriculture. Although this is a case study of Lao PDR, the findings may equally apply to other developing countries that export their staple food.
Keywords: exports; food prices; free trade; rice prices; rice markets; sticky rice; welfare
39 pages, November 2014
Full text files
37520 HTML file
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Ann-Christin Räätäri Nyström ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().
This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:11:23.