In a meta-analysis of spatial price transmission (PT) literature we aim to test for the presence of distance and border effects on price transmission. We use PT estimates for 1189 cereal market pairs extracted from 57 studies and seek to explain them by airline distance and existence of a...

This study aims to improve our understanding of the extent and speed of the transmission of international cereal prices to local markets in developing countries. We analyse two samples of price transmission (PT) estimates, one extracted from a comprehensive literature sample of 31 published...

Maize is a major staple food in Sub-Saharan Africa. Monthly maize prices in Tanzania are analyzed since the country is an important maize producer and exporter in East Africa. We analyze price transmission between the five most important urban regions of Tanzania between 2000 and 2008 which...

Agricultural commercialization has become the centerpiece of the sector development strategy in Uganda in recent years. Nevertheless the low market participation of most smallholders in the country remains a fact. We employ semi-parametric regression techniques to analyze the current state of...

While smallholder market participation is seen as a catalyst for poverty alleviation, farmers in rural areas face a number of challenges in doing so. One of the most important factors is considered transaction costs related to transportation. Our study quantifies the benefits associated with...

Applied general and partial equilibrium models are widely used tools for ex ante analysis of trade policy changes. However, simulation results seem to exhibit significant variation across publications, and the often criticised 'black box' character of applied trade models makes meaningful...

In the new millennium, the soaring economic growth in Asia and Africa, the increase of world trade, and globalization have boosted the global demand for cocoa. However, world cocoa supply could barely keep up with demand. These processes triggered a high volatility in global cocoa prices....

Social networks can serve as an instrument to link agents with each other over space and time. The emerging pattern can display the flow of information, the diffusion of technology or the trade flow of products between all kinds of agents. Networks are very flexible constructs, which are defined...

Sustainability standards such as Fairtrade, UTZ, and Rainforest Alliance have recently gained importance in global value chains, with some of the major tropical commodities seeing significant increases in the share of their certified area in the last ten years. This trend is directly related to...