OIL CRISES & CLIMATE CHALLENGES - 30 YEARS OF ENERGY USE IN IEA COUNTRIES. By the International Energy Agency (2004). This publication examines how energy efficiency and other factors such as economic structure, income, lifestyle, prices, and fuel mix have shaped developments of energy use and CO2 emissions in IEA countries over 30 years. The study provides some challenging findings. For example, the rate of energy savings in IEA economies has slowed since 1990, as has the decline in CO2 emissions relative to GDP. This shows that the changes caused by the oil price shocks in the 1970s and the resulting energy policies did considerably more to control growth in energy demand and reduce CO2 emissions than the energy efficiency and climate policies implemented in the 1990s. For further information see http://www.iea.org/dbtw-wpd/bookshop/add.aspx?id=174
WORLD AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY AND DEMAND ESTIMATES (WASDE). By the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (March 2004). This full-text monthly report provides the most current USDA forecasts of US and world supply-use balances of major grains, soybeans and products, and cotton; and U.S. supply and use of sugar and livestock products. To access the report visit http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/waobr/view.asp?f=wasde-bb.
U.S.-EU FOOD AND AGRICULTURE COMPARISONS. By the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (February 2004). This report provides information and analysis on a wide range of topics relating to agriculture in the United States and European Union (EU), including comparisons of farm structure, production, agricultural productivity, risk management, environmental, commodity policy, trade, and food consumption, as well as implications of EU enlargement for bilateral relations. The purpose is to provide information to a broad audience seeking to understand key similarities and differences between two of the world’s largest agricultural producers and traders and to gain perspective on the issues affecting US-EU relations. To access the report visit http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/WRS0404/
US DUMPING ON WORLD AGRICULTURAL MARKETS: FEBRUARY 2004 UPDATE. By the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). IATP has documented export dumping from U.S.-based multinational corporations onto world agricultural markets for the last 12 years. Dumping is one of the most damaging of all current distortions in world trade practices. Developing country agriculture, vital for food security, rural livelihoods, poverty reduction and trade, is crippled by the competition from major commodities sold at well below cost of production prices in world markets. To access the report visit http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library/uploadedfiles/US_Dumping_on_World_Agricultural_Markets_Febru.pdf
"Inserting GM products into the food chain: the market and welfare effects of different labeling and regulatory regimes". By Murray Fulton and Konstantinos Giannakas in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 86 (1, 2004) pp. 42-60. The purpose of this article is to examine the system-wide effects of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) products with and without labelling and to compare these two regimes to a third regime where GM products are not present either because they have not yet been developed or because they have been banned. For each regime, the decisions and welfare of consumers, producers, and life science companies are examined. The article explicitly incorporates the consumer response to the introduction of GM technology and considers different market structures of the life science sector.
"Climate change and sustainable development: expanding the options". By Rob Swart, John Robinson and Stewart Cohen in CLIMATE POLICY 3 (Sup. 1, 2004) pp. 19-40. Climate change and sustainable development have been addressed in largely separate circles in both research and policy. Nevertheless, there are strong linkages between the two in both realms. This paper focuses on the scientific linkages and discusses the opportunities they provide for integrated policy development, and the necessity to consider the risk of trade-offs. It is suggested that integration may not only provide new opportunities, but may even be a prerequisite for successfully addressing both issues. Since the feasibility of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations is dependent on general socio-economic development paths, climate policy responses should be fully placed in the larger context of technological and socio-economic policy development rather than be viewed as an add-on to those broader policies. The arguments are supported by a range of examples for various economic sectors in the areas of both mitigation and adaptation, largely drawn from IPCC’s Third Assessment Report.