RELATIVE FOOD-PRICES UNDER STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT - PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM LATIN-AMERICA

This article examines the effects of changes in policies concerning exchange rates and consumer subsidies on relative prices of staple foods in selected Latin American countries. In countries where previously high subsidies on imported foods were reduced sharply or eliminated during the 1980s, prices of imported tradables have risen relative to prices of domestically produced foods. Elsewhere the impact of structural adjustment programmes has not been very clear, and more in-depth research is needed.