ABSTRACT

As a contribution towards understanding treasure-based policy instruments, this chapter is an abridged adaptation of Steenblik, R., A Subsidy Primer (Global Subsidies Initiative of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switzerland, 2007).

Despite the fact that subsidies have become a central issue on the international agenda, the available information on subsidies is both highly dispersed and highly technical. While many valuable contributions have been made over the years to the literature of subsidies, most have been in the form of scholarly articles or books written by and for economists or trade experts. These tended to be either monographs focused on the magnitude of subsidies or their effects, or popular diatribes aimed at ridiculing subsidies in particular countries. This chapter addresses this challenge by consolidating the state of knowledge on subsidies as a major class of treasure instruments of public policy design.