Impact of the rice trade policy reforms on household welfare in the Philippines

The effects of rice trade policy reforms on household welfare, as
indicated by changes in consumer and producer prices, are analyzed
using nonparametric regression and density estimation. Since many
households in the Philippines are consumers and producers of rice, the
net benefit ratio (NBR) was used to measure the change in household
welfare given changes in prices. The impact of a policy change is not
the same across different groups of households. Thus, varying welfare
effects should be considered in designing policy interventions. Among
the different rice trade policy scenarios, the elimination of quantitative
restriction and full tariff reduction can lead to highest gains in
household welfare in the long run.