Trade liberalisation, agricultural productivity and poverty in the Mediterranean region
研究了地中海国家贸易开放如何通过提高农业生产力来减少贫困，发现开放对农业效率有积极影响，且农业生产力增长是减贫的重要途径。
A widely held view in the economic literature is that productivity growth is an important pathway through which trade liberalisation may alleviate poverty. This paper explores the link between trade openness, agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction in a panel of Mediterranean countries. Technical efficiency scores and total factor productivity indexes are computed using the latent class stochastic frontier model to account for cross-country heterogeneity in farming production technologies. The relevance of agricultural productivity gains for poverty reduction is investigated through joint estimation of real per capita GDP growth and inequality changes in a dynamic panel setting. The findings illustrate the positive effects of openness on farming efficiency and productivity and give strong support to the view that agricultural productivity growth is a channel for poverty alleviation.