Project description DEENESFRITPL Improving farmers’ welfare in developing countries The majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas of developing countries and rely largely on farming, livestock, aquaculture and other agricultural work to make a living. One way to reduce poverty is to develop the agricultural potential in developing countries. The EU-funded SharingGains project will investigate the causes and consequences of market failures by interacting with multiple layers of agricultural value chains. The project will also evaluate different regulatory interventions and develop flexible tools to perform counterfactual analysis and evaluate the merits of alternative policies and regulations. It will also study voluntary sustainability standards such as Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance. These are increasingly popular responses to market failures in agricultural chains in developing countries. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The majority of the global poor live in rural areas and earn their livelihoods in agriculture. Linking farmers in developing countries (LDCs) to global markets, therefore, could potentially spur growth and reduce poverty. Market imperfections in agricultural chains in producing countries, however, limit these gains. Which policy tools, if any, help farmers in LDCs realize and share the gains from trade? I propose three broad projects that develop the tools to answer this question. The first project designs and implements the first randomized control trial (RCT) to test for the causes and consequences of market failures interacting along multiple layers of agricultural value chains. This is a necessary step to design targeted policy responses.The second project develops and estimates the first structural model of an agricultural value chain to evaluate different regulatory interventions. Historically, as well as today, governments have intervened in agricultural chains through a diverse array of policies and regulations. RCTs are not sufficient to evaluate these policies. The project develops flexible tools to perform counterfactual analysis and evaluate the merits of alternative policies and regulations in a variety of contexts. The third project studies voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) (e.g. Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance). VSSs are increasingly popular responses to market failures in agricultural chains in LDCs. Unlike regulatory interventions, VSSs directly affect only market participants that take them up. The project combines quasi-experimental and structural techniques to evaluate the direct impact, the indirect spillover effects, and the broader distributional consequences of VSSs. The three projects form a coherent research agenda that develops a comprehensive set of tools to evaluate existing agricultural policies and design better ones so that small producers in developing countries can realize and share the gains from globalization. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturesocial sciencessociologyglobalizationsocial scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementcommerce Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2018-COG - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2018-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE Net EU contribution € 1 996 009,00 Address Houghton Street 1 WC2A 2AE London United Kingdom See on map Region London Inner London — West Westminster Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 996 009,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 1 996 009,00 Address Houghton Street 1 WC2A 2AE London See on map Region London Inner London — West Westminster Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 996 009,00
