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Although agriculture plays a large role in the economies of many developing countries and has the potential to contribute to growth and alleviate poverty, it has suffered in the widespread push for industrialization.
The Bias Against Agriculture examines both the direct and indirect effects of trade and macroeconomic policies on agricultural performance and offers important lessons on the consequences of policy choices.

This volume is based primarily on research conducted at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) beginning in the early 1980s on the influence of trade and macroeconomic policies on the agricultural performance of developing economies. In June 1987 IFPRI sponsored a workshop on the subject, held in Annapolis, Maryland, that gathered senior policy makers and analysts from developing countries along with the researchers who participated in the country case studies. Most of the papers presented at that workshop, subsequently revised, are included as country chapters in this volume. We also invited the contribution of other chapters, with an eye to l ending additional perspectives on the subject.

Romeo M. Bautista

Romeo M. Bautista has been a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C., since 1983. He was a professor and chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of the Philippines  and served as deputy director-general for policy of the National Economic and Development Authority in the Philippines.

Alberto Valdés

Alberto Valdés is a Research Associate at the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile. Previously he held the position of Program Director for International Trade and Food Security at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC. Alberto Valdés has published extensively, including among others: Rural Poverty In Latin America, R. López and A. Valdés Editors, 2000; Agricultural Support Policies in Transition, World Bank Technical Paper No. 470, A. Valdes Editor, July 2000; The Plundering of Agriculture in Developing Countries, by M. Schiff and A. Valdés, 1992; the Surveillance of Agricultural Price and Trade Policies series, World Bank Technical Papers, 1995; The Political Economy of Agricultural Pricing Policy, Anne Krueger, et al. 1991.

Alberto Valdés earned his PhD. in Economics from the London School of Economics, his MA in Economics from the University of Chicago and his degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile.