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The Seasonal and Spatial Dimensions of Sorghum Market Liberalization in Mexico
Author(s) -
Bivings E. Leigh
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1244137
Subject(s) - sorghum , liberalization , economics , agricultural economics , econometrics , natural resource economics , geography , market economy , forestry
Abstract Mexico's attempt to deregulate its sorghum market in 1990 was unsuccessful because policy analysts failed to consider the seasonal and spatial dimensions of trade. In this paper I present a detailed, seasonal, and spatially dissaggregated nonlinear programming model of the Mexican sorghum market calibrated with survey data of storage and transport costs in Mexico, and compare the results obtained with models that ignore these characteristics. The comparison demonstrates that the failure to incorporate these costs in trade models may lead to misleading conclusions and inappropriate policies.