Impacts of Regional Trade Agreements(RTAs) on Food Security: A Case of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement

摘要

Discriminatory trade liberalization policies are becoming more popular amongworld economies. Countries are motivated to enter for regional trade agreementsto capture faster economic growth for alleviating poverty. In developingeconomies like most of the member countries of the Association of South EastAsian Nations (ASEAN), a sizeable portion of people are suffering from povertyby exposing them to food insecurity. Low level of income and low productivityof agricultural sector have augmented the severity of food insecurity of thosepeople. Discriminatory trade liberalization policies are expected to reducepoverty and strengthen the food security. The objective of this paper is toexamine the effect of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) on food security of itsmember countries. The multiple regression analysis in panel data was employedto disentangle the impacts of trade liberalization on food securit y with useof regional trade agreement dummy variable. The finding of the study supportsthat AFTA has influenced positively on food security of its member nations.After the formation of AFTA, the level of per-capita daily dietary energysupply of the member countries has been increased moderately over time.