Examination of trade in one of the most important agricultural products

What is life like on a sugar plantation at the end of the twentieth century? What will happen if the sugar industry collapses? How do the poverty-stricken cane cutters of rural Jamaica fit into the global economy? And how does sugar make its way from the canefield to our kitchens? The Carribean's history is inseparable from sugar. In Jamaica entire communities depend on the sugar industry, earning a precarious living on old-fashioned plantations. For many the crop even doubles as currency. But as the advanced nations reassess the economic policies that keep sugar alive, time is running out for the island's industry. King Sugar looks at the world sugar business, identifying the key playersproducers, markets and transnational companiesand explaining how the industry works. It explores the economics and politics of trading agreements, the mysteries of the futures market and the technology of sugar production. Based on interviews with traders, buyers and producers, it provides a unique look at the history of this commodity. King Sugar also looks in detail at how ordinary people fit into this global industry. Through interviews with workers on a plantation she provides a vivid picture of producers and the crises they face. The book finally assesses the future of sugar, both in Jamaica and the wider world, and considers the options for those still ruled by "King Sugar."

New contributions to the theory of international trade

Located within the plantation economy model of the “New World Group” of The University of the West Indies, this book explores how the changes in the European Union’s sugar regime impacted a sugar-dependent community in Jamaica. It details how the end of centuries of preferential treatment of Jamaican sugar in the British/European market in 2005 worsened the social and environmental realities of the Monymusk community in Clarendon, Jamaica, which depended on the sugar industry. In describing the response of the Jamaican Government to the changes in the EU Sugar Regime, and the subsequent roll-out of an EU funded adaptation strategy, the author provides some unique perspectives on this process, drawing on his experience as a senior civil servant involved in the process. The book also highlights the continued social and environmental impact on the area since 2015 . The book concludes with a discussion on the empirical findings and how those findings contribute to the debates on the dependency perpetuated by the Plantation Economy Model of development and the failure of neo-liberal influenced government policies, as well as the lack of imagination of post-independent governments to break this dependency and deliver on the promise of independence.

Presents an overview of world and European sugar markets and how they have evolved and using an economic model, analyzes the impact that liberalisation of markets might have.

In the past decade, China was able to carry out economic reform without political reform, while the Soviet Union attempted the opposite strategy. How did China succeed at economic market reform without changing communist rule? Susan Shirk shows that Chinese communist political institutions are more flexible and less centralized than their Soviet counterparts were. Shirk pioneers a rational choice institutional approach to analyze policy-making in a non-democratic authoritarian country and to explain the history of Chinese market reforms from 1979 to the present. Drawing on extensive interviews with high-level Chinese officials, she pieces together detailed histories of economic reform policy decisions and shows how the political logic of Chinese communist institutions shaped those decisions. Combining theoretical ambition with the flavor of on-the-ground policy-making in Beijing, this book is a major contribution to the study of reform in China and other communist countries. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1994. In the past decade, China was able to carry out economic reform without political reform, while the Soviet Union attempted the opposite strategy. How did China succeed at economic market reform without changing communist rule? Susan Shirk shows that Chine

divTrade policy experts convene to explore the social ramifications of the United States' international trade policy /DIV

The regulatory systems in place prior to the development and expansion of agricultural biotechnology are still responding to this new form of technology. Such systems include trade law, intellectual property law, contract law, environmental regulations and biosafety regulations.This book reviews these regulatory changes and consists of 24 chapters developed from papers presented at a conference of the International Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology Research, held in Italy in July 2002. It primarily considers the relationship between these changes and innovation, market development and international trade.

This book provides a timely and insightful analysis of the expansion of biofuels production and use in recent years. Drawing on interviews with key policy insiders, Ackrill and Kay show how biofuels policies have been motivated by concerns over climate change, energy security and rural development.