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Spatial heterogeneity in price (dis)incentives: evidence from the Ugandan maize value chain

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Letta

    (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)

  • Emiliano Magrini

    (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO))

  • Pierluigi Montalbano

    (Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) and Sussex University (UK))

Abstract

Impact assessments of policy interventions on agricultural commodity prices are carried out by international organizations using nationwide measures which overlook the effects of spatial heterogeneity in incomplete markets. We introduce a multi-step methodology to build spatially-disaggregated nominal rates of protection in a data-scarce environment and test it along the maize value chain in Uganda. Results confirm that the spatial dispersion of farmers plays a key role in determining heterogeneity in nominal rates of protection. This finding has far-reaching policy implications: i) the assumption of a nationally-representative market pathway is unrealistic; ii) pan-national interventions may exacerbate, rather than reduce, price distortions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Letta & Emiliano Magrini & Pierluigi Montalbano, 2019. "Spatial heterogeneity in price (dis)incentives: evidence from the Ugandan maize value chain," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 495-501.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00982
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    nominal rates of protection; spatial price heterogeneity; maize value chain; Uganda.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture

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