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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impacts of further trade liberalisation on the
agricultural sector in Ireland. In addition to evaluating the aggregate impacts on agricultural
production as well as the spill-over effect of this on the non-agricultural sector and for overall
Irish GDP, we evaluate the effects for different types of households. In order to capture
economy-wide impacts of the policy reform, a CGE model was formulated and implemented
using a social accounting matrix constructed for Ireland for the year 2005. Household effects
are captured using representative households. The simulation results suggest a positive impact
on the Irish economy as well as on the representative households. Many agricultural sectors
contract in the process but a more efficient reallocation of resources into manufacturing and
services sectors more than compensates those losses.