International Agricultural markets after the war, 1945-1960

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to offer a general overview of the evolution of international trade in agricultural and food products between 1945 and 1960. The developed countries not only maintained policies of stimulating agricultural production implemented during the war, but also deepened their intervention and support with regard to the agricultural sector. The culmination of such policies was, in the case of Western Europe, the creation of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy. This was one of the first community-wide policies and had a notable impact on international agricultural trade.To achieve the objective proposed we concentrate on two principal themes. On the one hand a reconstruction will be performed of the international flows of agricultural trade for that period. Furthermore, we shall attempt to analyse the principal determinants of the development of agricultural trade, paying special attention to the political economy which led to the taking of crucial decisions for its evolution, such as its exclusion from the GATT agreements.