Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Why Domestic Food Prices Matter to Growth Strategy in Semi-Open West African Agriculture
Author:Delgado, Christopher L.ISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Journal of African Economies
Volume:1
Issue:3
Period:November
Pages:446-471
Language:English
Geographic term:West Africa
Subjects:exchange rates
food prices
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Economics and Trade
External link:https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/1/3/446.full.pdf
Abstract:The conventional wisdom that domestic food prices are purely endogenous to the determination of equilibrium real exchange rates ignores structural features of West African economies that make them 'semi-open'. The features include very high transfer costs from West African ports to producing and consuming points, the need to trade on world markets in order to grow, low comparative advantage in starchy food production on world markets, and a close link between the prices of basic food staples and the costs of exportables production, through the labour market. This introduces important exogenous elements into the determination of equilibrium prices of major domestically produced starchy staples (millet, sorghum, cassava, etc.). Weather shocks and food sector policies have scope for changing the price of non-tradables in a lasting fashion relative to the prices of importables and exportables. The structural features in question are investigated for a sample of countries in West Africa, and the reduced form of a macroeconomic model of real exchange rate determination is estimated incorporating the exogenous portion of domestic food prices as arguments. Results show that exogenous increases in domestic food prices lead to significant real exchange appreciation. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
Views
Cover