Open-Economy Politics: The Political Economy of the World Coffee Trade

(Paperback)

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Coffee is traded in one of the few international markets ever subject to effective political regulation. This book explores the origins, operations and collapse of the International Coffee Organization, an international "government of coffee" that was formed in the 1960s. In doing so, it addresses key issues in international political economy and comparative politics, and analyzes the creation of political institutions and their impact on markets. Drawing upon field work in East Africa, Colombia and Brazil, the text explores the domestic sources of international politics within a theoretical framework that blends game theoretic and more established approaches to the study of politics.

Reviews

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1997 "[The] analysis is from the perspective of new institutional economics, as the book straddles the fault lines between, on the one hand, political developments in Brazil, Colombia, and the United States and, on the other, interest groups in those countries... Bates's approach is therefore innovative... The book is beautifully produced, full of useful data... It will provoke lively debate."--Robert G. Greenhill, Economic History Review "A no-nonsense academic study of the politics of coffee ..."--Charles Corn, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Author Bio

Robert H. Bates is Eaton Professor of the Science of Government in the Department of Government and a Faculty Fellow in the Institute of International Development at Harvard University. His recent books include Beyond the Miracle of the Market and a volume he coauthored with Avner Greif, Margaret Levi, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, and Barry Weingast entitled Analytic Narratives (Princeton).