Comparative advantage and agricultural trade

摘要

This article is based on a transcript of the Leonard K. Elmhirst Memorial Address, delivered at the 30th International Conference of Agricultural Economists in Vancouver, Canada, on July 29, 2018. The presentation provided an overview of work that I have done recently on comparative advantage and its role in agricultural trade patterns and trade-driven changes in welfare. Two topics are addressed: (a) the static gains from intranational agricultural trade due to comparative advantage; and (b) how trade might mitigate consumption losses and food insecurity from changes in agricultural productivity caused by drought and climate change.