Political and economic determinants of export restrictions in the agricultural and food sector

Utilizing a rich export restriction database that covers 527 agricultural products at the six-digit Harmonized System (HS) code level in 168 countries from 2005 to 2015, this article investigates political and economic determinants of countries’ decisions. Empirical analysis shows one standard deviation increase commodity's market power increases probability an on commodity by 5.5%, country's number Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) partners decreases 6.0%. There is also evidence higher downstream sector, which purchases inputs upstream leads restrictions sector. Macroeconomic variables, including urbanization rate, land per capita, weather are important restrictions. This highlights potential role RTAs competitive structure both sector interest its disciplining