A NEW INDICATOR IN TOWN: THE NOMINAL RATE OF ASSISTANCE (NRA)

In the past, the only measure of agricultural incentives available on the AgIncentives website was the Nominal Rate of Protection (NRP). This measures the extent to which border measures such as tariffs or quotas change domestic prices of agricultural goods relative to world prices. While these are the most important forms of intervention in agricultural markets, there are many other interventions—such as subsidies to agricultural output and inputs, payments to land and payments designed to reduce environmental impacts—that are not captured by the NRP.

The Nominal Rate of Assistance (NRA) indicators provide measures of the full set of interventions affecting markets for food, including the extent of: border protection or taxation; subsidies on inputs, outputs or factors; and support for provision of public goods affecting agriculture. These measures will allow market participants, policy makers and analysts, to better understand the full consequences of government support to agriculture. They also provide information to taxpayers on where their money goes and measures of the overall budget cost of providing agricultural support. This information has proved very valuable for key policy questions like how agricultural incentives might be restructured to better achieve key societal goals such as supporting agricultural incomes, reducing poverty, lowering the costs of healthy diets, and increasing environmental sustainability.

Explore the Nominal Rate of Assistance (NRA) indicators here!