Fair Trade in Tropical Crops is Possible: International Commodity Agreements Revisited
Author(s)
Koning, Niek; Calo, Muriel; Jongeneel, Roel
Abstract
In this paper, the authors address three questions: 1) Are supportive arrangements for tropical export crops desirable?, 2) Why did international commodity agreements collapse?, 3) Are sustainable arrangements possible? The authors find that some system of managed trade is needed and argue that the failure of past agreements were the result of political rather than economic causes. Moreover, the authors believe that regulations can be made self-financing and resistant to free rider problems, and put forward a proposal to this effect. Finally, the authors also discuss how developing countries may overcome the resistance that is met from governments of developed countries.
