Quality Standards, Value Chains, and International Development

Johan Swinnen is Professor of Economics and Director of the LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven). He is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies and Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University. Previously he was Lead Economist at the World Bank and Economic Advisor at the European Commission. He has published widely on political economy, institutional reform, trade, and global value chains. His books include Political Power and Economic Policy, Global Supply Chains, Standards and the Poor, Foreign Direct Investment and Human Development, Private Standards and Global Governance, and From Marx and Mao to the Market.

This book offers the first theoretical analysis of the determination of quality standards and their effects along the value chain.

1. Introduction; 2. Modelling standards; 3. Efficiency and equity effects of standards; 4. The political economy of standards and development; 5. International trade and standards; 6. Risks, externalities and the nature of standards; 7. Endogenous private and public standards in value chains; 8. Butterflies and political economy dynamics in standard setting; 9. The political economy of standards and inclusion in value chains; 10. Standards, production structure and inclusion in value chains; 11. Standards, market imperfections and vertical coordination in value chains; 12. Market power and vertical coordination in value chains; 13. Price transmission in value chains; 14. Commodity characteristics and value chain governance; 15. Economic liberalisation, value chains and development; 16. Standards and value chains with contracting costs: towards a general model; 17. General equilibrium effects of standards in value chains.