The political economy of maximum residue limits: A long‐term health perspective

David Karemera, Bo Xiong, Gerald Smalls and Louis Whitesides

Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2022, vol. 73, issue 3, 709-719

Abstract: Maximum residue limit (MRL) is the primary policy instrument to regulate the application of pesticides in agri‐food sectors. Partially due to the lack of scientific consensus on risk assessments, the prescriptions of MRLs vary substantially across markets and products. We provide the first empirical analysis of the political economy of MRLs at the market‐product‐chemical level, while accounting for long‐term toxicological effects of the regulated substances. Applying a Poisson model to the Health Scores derived from both the literal MRLs and their long‐run health impacts, we find that countries spending more on public health set more restrictive MRLs. We also find that countries possessing comparative advantages in fruits and vegetables adopt more lenient MRLs. Finally, products subject to lower tariffs are generally taxed with tougher MRLs.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12476

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jageco:v:73:y:2022:i:3:p:709-719

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0021-857X

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Agricultural Economics is currently edited by David Harvey

More articles in Journal of Agricultural Economics from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().