Agricultural Economics and Development

Agricultural Economics and Development

An Investigation on Outcomes and Consequences of Subsidies-Reform Law in Wheat, Flour and Bread Sectors

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
L. Abolhassani 1
N. Shahnoushi 2
A. Dourandish 3
H. Taherpour 4
H. Mansouri 5
1 Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
2 Professor of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
3 Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
4 MSc in Agricultural Economics
5 Ph.D. Student of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
10.30490/aead.2018.73555
Abstract
Iran’s government has followed subsidies reform since 2010. Due to the fact that a significant part of these subsides historically has belonged to wheat, flour and bread, this study aims to investigate on outcomes and consequences of subsidies reform in above mentioned sectors. To this end, 2-stage cluster sampling method among different populations of bread producers (576 observations) and consumers (1622 observations) plus flour producers(21 observations) is implemented in Tehran and Khorasan Razavi provinces as the dominant poles of consumption and production. Furthermore, this study covers subjects related to the fields of bread consumption, waste, flour and bread quality and production. Changes in variables have been verified by mean-comparison tests. Results indicate that more successful outcomes have been achieved with ‎bread consumption variables than those of bread and flour production. Consequently, this fact is argued that stems from incomplete enforcement of obligations to producers induced by subsidies-reform law. To address these issues, modification of bread and flour prices is proposed.‎
Keywords
Wheat
Flour
Bread
Subsidies-Reform Law
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