Abstract

BAUDASSE, Thierry  and  CALDERON VILLARREAL, Cuauhtémoc. Trade integration of the agricultural sector and economic inequality in developing countries. Inv. Econ [online]. 2009, vol.68, n.269, pp.37-72. ISSN 0185-1667.

In this paper, we analyse the impact of liberalization policies on agriculture in developing countries. Our work suggests that agricultural liberalization in developing countries is not necessarily generating a decrease in inequality. We use a sample of 54 countries for the periods 1980-1990 and 1980-2000 and apply cross-sectional estimations to study Kuznets-Ahluwalia effects. We have found that for countries where the share of alimentary products in the consumption basket is small, liberalization of agriculture tends to increase inequality as oppose to those where such share is larger, in which case liberalization tends to diminish income inequality.

Keywords : economic inequality; agricultural liberalization; protection policies.

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