Agricultural policies and agricultural performance in Latin America and the Caribbean
Carmine Paolo de Salvo, UNU-MERIT
This dissertation aims to enrich the existing literature on agricultural policies and the monitoring and evaluation thereof. As with any other public policy, careful and detailed monitoring of agricultural policies allows for a degree of transparency that is an essential part of designing constructive policies. Stakeholders and civil society have a strong interest in the way taxpayers’ money is used and the impact it has on direct and indirect beneficiaries, as well as on society. Monitoring and evaluation are therefore complementary tools, with the constant, rigorous, and broad application of the former making the latter possible. In a world in which detailed monitoring of facts and rigorous analysis of their interconnection is made ever more feasible by technological progress, there is at the same time a threat of mounting delegitimization of scientific knowledge as a tool for policy making, therefore making the provision and adequate dissemination of additional scientific evidence on public policies paramount. This research sheds light on the relationship between different types of agricultural policies, the political economy dynamics determining them, and their effect on the performance of the agricultural sector, which employs about a third of the world’s population and feeds all of it. Specifically, the dissertation provides an analysis of the effects of different types of agricultural policies on agricultural performance in Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition, the dissertation will enrich the existing literature on the impact evaluation of agricultural policies and programs with two original studies on the impact of agricultural trade liberalization in Haiti and input donations in Paraguay. Finally, an analysis on the political economy determinants of agricultural policy measures is included. None of the mentioned studies exist as of today and will enrich different but complementary niches of knowledge on the effectiveness of agricultural policies. All these contributions to the literature are therefore original.
Venue: Aula, Minderbroedersberg 4-6, Maastricht
Date: 25 September 2023
Time: 16:00 - 17:30 CEST