Modeling the Impacts of Agricultural Support Policies on Emissions from Agriculture

David Laborde Debucquet, Abdullah Mamun (), Will Martin, Valeria Pineiro () and Robert Vos

No 27202, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: To understand the impacts of support programs on global emissions, this paper considers the impacts of domestic subsidies, price distortions at the border, and investments in emission-reducing technologies on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. In a step towards a full evaluation of the impacts, it uses a counterfactual global model scenario showing how much emissions from agricultural production would change if agricultural support were abolished worldwide. The analysis indicates that, without subsidies paid directly to farmers, output of some emission-intensive activities and agricultural emissions would be smaller. Without agricultural trade protection, however, emissions would be higher. This is partly because protection reduces global demand more than it increases global agricultural supply, and partly because some countries that currently tax agriculture have high emission intensities. Policies that directly reduce emission intensities yield much larger reductions in emissions than those that reduce emission intensities by increasing overall productivity because overall productivity growth creates a rebound effect by reducing product prices and expanding output. A key challenge is designing policy reforms that effectively reduce emissions without jeopardizing other key goals such as improving nutrition and reducing poverty. This analysis is an important building block towards a full understanding the impacts of reforms to agricultural support on mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change. That full analysis is being undertaken in current work incorporating land use changes and examining the impacts of specific reforms on mitigation, resilience and economic outcomes.

JEL-codes: F1 F13 F18 O13 O24 O44 Q01 Q17 Q18 Q2 Q28 Q5 Q55 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
Note: DEV EEE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Modeling the Impacts of Agricultural Support Policies on Emissions from Agriculture (2020)
Working Paper: Modeling the impacts of agricultural support policies on emissions from agriculture (2020)
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