A POSITIVE THEORY OF AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION

The present paper analyses the political economy of agricultural prote ction in a general equilibrium framework. Rational politicians offer p rotectionist policies in return for political support from their const ituency. Individuals in the economy have different factor endowments. Politicians exploit these differences in establishing redistributive p olicies when maximizing political support. Changes in economic variabl es-such as the urban-rural income gap, capital intensity, the share of agriculture in total output and total employment, and the share of fo od in consumer expenditures-affect the political equilibrium policy. T he analysis concludes that the observed correlation between economic d evelopment and agricultural protection is caused by a multiplicity of factors.