It’s been a long and tough quarter, and I’ve got just two finals to finish before I leave for Uganda! I’ve saved my most difficult papers for last, as I want to devote the most attention to them. My focus at Korbel has been on trade as a development mechanism, particularly in the area of agriculture. Happily, both of these papers are able to strongly incorporate my interest and enhance my understanding of the issues facing liberalization of agriculture. One is devoted to liberalization of agricultural subsidies –such as those contained in the U.S. Farm Bill – as a linchpin for reopening the Doha Round of the WTO, and ensuring the organization’s legitimacy in the future. The other evaluates the effects of those same subsidies through the lens of feminist economics. This economic perspective looks at trade barriers’ effects on comparative advantage, world food prices, and women’s position in the work place in developing countries.
I’ve been doing a significant amount of research on the iterations of the U.S. Farm Bill, and to a lesser extent the EU’s CAP system. Coming from a family that includes many small scale farmers and fishermen, portions of this Bill have truly surprised me. Despite claims to the WTO of retaining American tariffs and subsidies to preserve a rural farm culture, the Farm Bill only benefits a few corporate farmers of select commodities – completely excluding fruits and vegetables – and is more successful at putting those farming “cultural icons” out of business. I was also intrigued by the fact that the value of the 2007 Bill was reduced due to projections of higher crop prices from increased demand for ethanol. If those prices rise and domestic consumption increases, American dumping of subsidized crops on world markets would decrease and world commodity prices could rise to the benefit of developing country exporters. Hopefully I’m not the only person out there who finds this stuff fascinating.
I’m also very exciting to be leaving for Uganda tomorrow! After wading through financial statements from BRAC for weeks, we’ve created an initial report for Deutsche Bank and formulated several questions to ask at headquarters and a branch. BRAC is a non-profit microfinance organization that also offers primary education and family healthcare, so I’m very curious to learn how they function in comparison to some of the more traditional banks other groups will be visiting. Of course I’m also just excited to visit Africa for the first time! Hopefully we see some interesting animals on our Safari!
