Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T14:47:44.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Political and Economic Determinants of Asynchronous Approval of New GM Events

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2018

Maurício Benedeti Rosa ,
Rosane Nunes de Faria  and
Eduardo Rodrigues de Castro
Maurício Benedeti Rosa
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Federal University of Sao Carlos
Rosane Nunes de Faria*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Federal University of Sao Carlos
Eduardo Rodrigues de Castro
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Federal University of Sao Carlos
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We use a political economy perspective to provide the first empirical analysis of the main political and economic determinants of asynchronous approval (AA) for a variety of countries over the period 2000–2015. The key results that emerge from our paper are the prominent role of regulatory quality and the number of internet users in a particular country in influencing AA across countries. We found that the higher the share of internet users in a country, the lower the AA. Consumer access to the internet makes them less exposed to negative news about genetically modified (GM) products, as they are less influenced by the negative bias of traditional mass media toward biotechnology. Additionally, the better the regulation quality (the more efficiently a government formulates and implements regulation), the shorter the time necessary to approve new GM events, and the lower the AA. Furthermore, our findings confirm that determinants such as corruption, trade relations with stringent markets, and the size of the rural population are also important in explaining AA of GM events.

Keywords

asynchronous approvalGM regulationeconomic and political determinantsdynamic panel data
Type
Research Article
Information
World Trade Review , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 75 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Maurício Benedeti Rosa et al. 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.

In countries that have already established GM regulation, a necessary condition for commercialization of a GM crop is the regulatory approval of each new GM event1 for import or production (Kalaitzandonakes, 2011; Vigani and Olper, 2013). However, the regulatory approval processes for a new GM event differ considerably across countries. Thus, the same event is not approved simultaneously in different countries, which creates a situation known as asynchronous approval (AA) (Stein and Rodríguez-Cerezo, 2010).

1

A GM event refers to a DNA recombination that is later used to create entire transgenic organisms. Plant lineage originating from transgenic events is considered genetically modified (GMO-COMPASS, 2013).

References

Anderson, K, Damania, R, and Jackson, LA (2004) Trade, Standards, and the Political Economy of Genetically Modified Food. CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4526, London: Centre for Economic Policy Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, K and Jackson, LA (2003) Why Are US and EU Policies toward GMOs so Different? AgBioForum 6, 95–100.Google Scholar
Arellano, M and Bond, S (1991) Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations. The Review of Economic Studies 58, 277–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arellano, M and Bover, O (1995) Another Look at the Instrumental Variable Estimation of Error-Components Models. Journal of Econometrics 68, 29–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Backus, GBC, Berkholt, P, Eaton, DJF, Franke, AC, de Kleijn, AJ, van Mil, EM, Lotz, LAP, Roza, P, and Uffelmann, W (2008) EU Policy on GMOs: A Quick Scan of the Economic Consequences. LEI Report 2008-070, The Hague: Wageningen University and Research Centre.Google Scholar
Balassa, B (1965) Trade Liberalisation and “Revealed” Comparative Advantage. The Manchester School 33, 99–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blundell, R and Bond, S (1998) Initial Conditions and Moment Restrictions in Dynamic Panel Data Models. Journal of Econometrics 87, 115–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, S, Hoeffler, A, and Temple, J (2001) GMM Estimation of Empirical Growth Models. CEPR Discussion Paper No. 3048, London: Centre for Economic Policy Research.Google Scholar
Carter, CA and Smith, A (2007) Estimating the Market Effect of a Food Scare: The Case of Genetically Modified StarLink Corn. Review of Economics and Statistics 89, 522–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, KR, McCluskey, JJ, and Swinnen, JFM (2008) Differences in Global Risk Perceptions of Biotechnology and the Political Economy of the Media. International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 8, 77–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimmick, J, Chen, Y, and Li, Z (2004) Competition between the Internet and Traditional News Media: The Gratification-Opportunities Niche Dimension. Journal of Media Economics 17, 19–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutta-bergman, MJ (2004) Complementarity in Consumption of News Types Across Traditional and New Media. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 48, 41–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faria, RN and Wieck, C (2015) Empirical Evidence on the Trade Impact of Asynchronous Regulatory Approval of New GMO Events. Food Policy 53, 22–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faria, RN and Wieck, C (2016) Regulatory Differences in the Approval of GMOs: Extent and Development over Time. World Trade Review 15, 85–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredriksson, PG and Svensson, J (2003) Political Instability, Corruption and Policy Formation: The Case of Environmental Policy. Journal of Public Economics 87, 1383–1405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GMO-COMPASS, Glossary, 2013, www.gmo-compass.org/eng/glossary (accessed 17 November 2015).Google Scholar
Graff, GD and Zilberman, D (2004) Explaining Europe's Resistance to Agricultural Biotechnology. Agricultural and Resource Economics Update 7, 1–4.Google Scholar
Gruère, GP (2006) An Analysis of Trade Related International Regulations of Genetically Modified Food and their Effects on Developing Countries. Discussion Paper 147, Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruère, GP, Carter, CA, and Farzin, YH (2009) Explaining International Differences in Genetically Modified Food Labeling Policies. Review of International Economics 17, 393–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immordino, G and Pagano, M (2003) Design and Enforcement of Legal Standards. Working Paper No. 98, Università di Salerno: Centro Studi Di Economia E Finanza.Google Scholar
Kalaitzandonakes, N (2011) The Economic Impacts of Asynchronous Authorizations and Low Level Presence: An Overview. Position Paper, Washington, DC: International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council.Google Scholar
Kalaitzandonakes, N, Kaufman, J, and Miller, D (2014) Potential Economic Impacts of Zero Thresholds for Unapproved GMOs: The EU Case. Food Policy 45, 146–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, PSN and Leung, L (2008) Assessing the Displacement Effects of the Internet. Telematics and Informatics 25, 145–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lusk, JL, Bruce, Traill W, House, LO, Valli, C, Jaeger, SR, Moore, M, and Morrow, B (2006) Comparative Advantage in Demand: Experimental Evidence of Preferences for Genetically Modified Food in the United States and European Union. Journal of Agricultural Economics 57, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCluskey, JJ and Swinnen, JFM (2004) Political Economy of the Media and Consumer Perceptions of Biotechnology. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 86, 1230–1237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, P and Glover, D (2003) Business and Biotechnology: Regulation and the Politics of Influence. Working Paper No. 192, University of Sussex: Institute of Development Studies.Google Scholar
Nie, NH and Hillygus, DS (2002) Where Does Internet Time Come from?: A Reconnaissance. IT & Society 1, 1–20.Google Scholar
Olper, A and Swinnen, JFM (2013) Mass Media and Public Policy: Global Evidence from Agricultural Policies. The World Bank Economic Review 27, 413–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, CD and Smyth, SJ (2012) Economic Implications of Low-Level Presence in a Zero-Tolerance European Import Market: The Case of Canadian Triffid Flax. AgBioForum 15, 21–30.Google Scholar
Stein, AJ and Rodríguez-Cerezo, E (2010) International Trade and the Global Pipeline of New GM Crops. Nature Biotechnology 28, 23–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swinnen, JFM and Vandemoortele, T (2011) Trade and the Political Economy of Food Standards. Journal of Agricultural Economics 62, 259–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takeshima, H and Gruère, GP (2011) Pressure Group Competition and GMO Regulations in Sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from the Becker Model. Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization 9, Article 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tothova, M and Oehmke, JF (2004) Genetically Modified Food Standards as Trade Barriers: Harmonization, Compromise, and Sub-Global Agreements. Journal of Agricultural Food Industrial Organization 2, Article 5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veyssiere, L and Giannakas, K (2006) Strategic Labeling and Trade of GMOs. Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization 4, Article 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigani, M (2017) ‘The Role of Mass Media and Lobbies in the Formulation of GMO Regulations’, in Adenle, A, Morris, E and Murphy, D (eds.), Genetically Modified Organisms in Developing Countries: Risk Analysis and Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Vigani, M and Olper, A (2013) GMO Standards, Endogenous Policy and the Market for Information. Food Policy 43, 32–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigani, M and Olper, A (2015) Patterns and Determinants of GMO Regulations: An Overview of Recent Evidence. AgBioForum 18, 44–54.Google Scholar
Vigani, M, Raimondi, V, and Olper, A (2012) International Trade and Endogenous Standards: The Case of GMO Regulations. World Trade Review 11, 415–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, JK and Damania, R (2005) Corruption, Political Competition and Environmental Policy. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 49, 516–535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winchester, N, Rau, ML, Goetz, C, Larue, B, Otsuki, T, Shutes, K, Wieck, C, Burnquist, HL, Pinto de Souza, MJ, and de Faria, RN (2012) The Impact of Regulatory Heterogeneity on Agri-Food Trade. The World Economy 35, 973–993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar