Poverty and Environmental Damage in Philippine Agriculture: Do Trade Policies Matter?

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Is there some truth to the common assumption that upland farmers are insulated from and not directly affected by most economic policies? The authors note otherwise as they uncover the link between trade policies, poverty and environmental damage in Philippine agriculture. The findings stress the important implications on "understanding the environmental effects of trade and agricultural policies, real wage growth and internal migration, and macroeconomic policies affecting the prices of tradable farm outputs and inputs." And when government interventions seem to address a few problems only, the authors recommend that perhaps it is time that the government steps up its efforts to experiment on a new mix of policies that would benefit upland farmers and promote environmental concerns as well.