The effects of rice policy on food self-sufficiency and on income distribution in Vietnam

Type Journal Article
Title The effects of rice policy on food self-sufficiency and on income distribution in Vietnam
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2004
URL http://www.iatp-web.us/iatp/files/258_2_70033.pdf
Abstract
Rice policy in Vietnam has traditionally been concerned with maintaining food self-sufficiency,while protecting the poor. In this paper we specify and estimate demand and supply curves forrice, using data from the Vietnam Living Standards Survey of 1998, and use the estimates to help forecast production and consumption through 2018. The results show that rice self-sufficiency islikely to continue for the foreseeable future; indeed, exports are expected to rise slightly.Export taxes and subsidies are among the main tools of rice policy. A 10% tax on exports, bycutting the domestic price of rice, would trim production and boost consumption, reducing exports by over a quarter. Such a tax would help affluent households, and those living in remoteareas, because they are net purchasers of rice. The very poor would be helped, while somewhatpoor households would, on average, be hurt by an export tax on rice.

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