IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v71y2017icp17-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Empirical effects of short-term export bans: The case of African maize

Author

Listed:
  • Porteous, Obie

Abstract

Temporary export restrictions have been widely used in recent years in an attempt to stabilize domestic prices of staple grains. I use monthly, market-level price data to investigate the empirical effects of 13 short-term export bans on maize implemented by 5 countries in East and Southern Africa. I find no statistically significant effect of export bans on the price gaps between pairs of affected cross-border markets. My results for price gaps match those from a model simulation in which export bans are not implemented. However, prices and price volatility in the implementing country are significantly higher during export ban periods in the data than in the model simulation with no bans. Export bans in the region are imperfectly enforced, divert trade into the informal sector, and appear to destabilize domestic markets rather than stabilizing them.

Suggested Citation

  • Porteous, Obie, 2017. "Empirical effects of short-term export bans: The case of African maize," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 17-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:71:y:2017:i:c:p:17-26
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2017.07.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919217302579
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2017.07.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jayne, T.S. & Zulu, Ballard & Nijhoff, J.J., 2006. "Stabilizing food markets in eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 328-341, August.
    2. Will Martin & Kym Anderson, 2012. "Export Restrictions and Price Insulation During Commodity Price Booms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(2), pages 422-427.
    3. Williams,Jeffrey C. & Wright,Brian D., 2005. "Storage and Commodity Markets," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521023399, October.
    4. Osborne, Theresa, 2005. "Imperfect competition in agricultural markets: evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 405-428, April.
    5. Syud Amer Ahmed & Noah S. Diffenbaugh & Thomas W. Hertel & William J. Martin, 2012. "Agriculture and Trade Opportunities for Tanzania: Past Volatility and Future Climate Change," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 429-447, August.
    6. Bob Baulch, 1997. "Transfer Costs, Spatial Arbitrage, and Testing for Food Market Integration," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 477-487.
    7. Headey, Derek, 2011. "Rethinking the global food crisis: The role of trade shocks," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 136-146, April.
    8. Christophe Gouel & Sébastien Jean, 2015. "Optimal Food Price Stabilization in a Small Open Developing Country," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 72-101.
    9. Michael J. Roberts & Wolfram Schlenker, 2013. "Identifying Supply and Demand Elasticities of Agricultural Commodities: Implications for the US Ethanol Mandate," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2265-2295, October.
    10. Gaulier, Guillaume & Zignago, Soledad, 2004. "Notes on BACI (analytical database of international trade). 1989-2002 version," MPRA Paper 32401, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10840 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Xinshen Diao & Adam Kennedy, 2016. "Economywide Impact of Maize Export Bans on Agricultural Growth and Household Welfare in Tanzania: A Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Model Analysis," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 34(1), pages 101-134, January.
    13. Donaldson, Dave & Atkin, David, 2015. "Who?s Getting Globalized? The Size and Implications of Intra-national Trade Costs," CEPR Discussion Papers 10759, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Tschirley, David L. & Jayne, T.S., 2010. "Exploring the Logic Behind Southern Africa's Food Crises," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 76-87, January.
    15. Jenny C. Aker, 2010. "Information from Markets Near and Far: Mobile Phones and Agricultural Markets in Niger," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 46-59, July.
    16. Marcel Fafchamps & Flore Gubert, 2007. "Risk Sharing and Network Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 75-79, May.
    17. Götz, Linde & Glauben, Thomas & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2013. "Wheat export restrictions and domestic market effects in Russia and Ukraine during the food crisis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 214-226.
    18. Brian M. Dillon & Christopher B. Barrett, 2016. "Global Oil Prices and Local Food Prices: Evidence from East Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(1), pages 154-171.
    19. Rico Ihle & Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel & Sergiy Zorya, 2009. "Markov-Switching Estimation of Spatial Maize Price Transmission Processes between Tanzania and Kenya," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1432-1439.
    20. Fackler, Paul L. & Goodwin, Barry K., 2001. "Spatial price analysis," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 971-1024, Elsevier.
    21. Kym Anderson & Signe Nelgen, 2012. "Agricultural trade distortions during the global financial crisis," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 28(2), pages 235-260, SUMMER.
    22. T. Takayama & G. G. Judge, 1964. "An Intertemporal Price Equilibrium Model," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 46(2), pages 477-484.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Porteous, Obie C., 2015. "High Trade Costs and Their Consequences: An Estimated Model of African Agricultural Storage and Trade," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205776, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Christian Elleby, 2014. "Poverty and Price Transmission," IFRO Working Paper 2015/01, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    3. John Baffes & Varun Kshirsagar & Donald Mitchell, 2019. "What Drives Local Food Prices? Evidence from the Tanzanian Maize Market," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 33(1), pages 160-184.
    4. Brian Dillon & Chelsey Dambro, 2017. "How Competitive Are Crop Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1344-1361.
    5. Matthias Kalkuhl & Lukas Kornher & Matthias Kalkuhl & Irfan Mujahid, 2015. "Food price volatility in developing countries – the role of trade and storage," EcoMod2015 8415, EcoMod.
    6. Christophe Gouel, 2013. "Rules versus Discretion in Food Storage Policies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1029-1044.
    7. Götz, Linde & Goychuk, Kateryna & Glauben, Thomas & Meyers, William H., 2013. "Export Restrictions and Market Uncertainty: Evidence from the Analysis of Price Volatility in the Ukrainian Wheat Market," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150308, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Christophe Gouel, 2014. "Food Price Volatility and Domestic Stabilization Policies in Developing Countries," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Food Price Volatility, pages 261-306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Christophe Gouel & Sébastien Jean, 2015. "Optimal Food Price Stabilization in a Small Open Developing Country," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 72-101.
    10. Porteous, Obie, 2020. "Trade and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    11. Christophe Gouel & Madhur Gautam & Will J. Martin, 2016. "Managing food price volatility in a large open country: the case of wheat in India," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(3), pages 811-835.
    12. Berger, Jurij & Dalheimer, Bernhard & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2021. "Effects of variable EU import levies on corn price volatility," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Wenting Wang & Longbao Wei, 2019. "Impacts of Agricultural Price Support Policies on Price Variability and Welfare: Evidence from China's Soybean Market," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 19-wp592, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    14. Kornher, Lukas & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2015. "Cost and benefits from regional cooperation on grain reserves: The case of ECOWAS," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211824, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Götz, Linde & Qiu, Feng & Gervais, Jean-Philippe & Glauben, Thomas, 2013. "Export Restrictions and Multiple Spatial Price Equilibria: Export Quotas for Wheat in Ukraine," 53rd Annual Conference, Berlin, Germany, September 25-27, 2013 156135, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    16. Kym Anderson & Maros Ivanic & William J. Martin, 2014. "Food Price Spikes, Price Insulation, and Poverty," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Food Price Volatility, pages 311-339, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Paolo E. Giordani & Nadia Rocha & Michele Ruta, 2012. "Food Prices and the Multiplier Effect of Export Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 3783, CESifo.
    18. Sergio H. Lence & GianCarlo Moschini & Fabio Gaetano Santeramo, 2018. "Threshold cointegration and spatial price transmission when expectations matter," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(1), pages 25-39, January.
    19. Vollmer, Teresa & von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan, 2019. "The influence of Brazilian exports on price transmission processes in the coffee sector: a Markov-switching approach," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 291497, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    20. Kornher, Lukas & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2013. "Food Price Volatility in Developing Countries and its Determinants," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 1-32, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:71:y:2017:i:c:p:17-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.