Zambia - The Relevance of a Rules-Based Maize Marketing Policy : An Experimental Case Study of Zambia

[摘要] A critical barrier to achieving foodsecurity and rural income growth in the mixed food marketingsystems characterizing many Eastern and Southern Africancountries revolves around the way that governments and theprivate sector interact. In shortage years, governments mayquestion the capacity of the private sector to import maize,and thus arrange imports on their own to cover theshortfall. At the same time, traders' import decisionsdepend on their expectations regarding governments'response to food shortages. Social dilemmas can arise iftraders are uncertain about future government behavior orlack trust in official announcements. This paper argues thatwell-functioning markets depend on transparent andpredictable government behavior underpinned by mutual trustand cooperation. The authors report on an economic policyexperiment based on a stylized model of the Zambian maizemarket. The experiment facilitates a comparison between thecurrent government policy of discretionary interventionismand a rules-based policy in which the government precommitsitself to a future course of action. A simple precommitmentrule can overcome the social dilemma by reducing the risk offood crises and provide appropriate incentives for privatetraders' participation in the market, thereby enhancingeconomic efficiency. Exploring mechanisms that can supportmore predictable and rules-based policy responses to foodshortages may therefore be beneficial to the Government ofZambia and to other governments in the region.

[发布日期] 2007-12-18 [发布机构] Washington, DC

[学科分类] 社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

[关键词] ACUTE FOOD SHORTAGES;AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT;AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;AGRICULTURAL POLICY;AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY