In an era of globalization, private markets are expected to dominate the distribution of goods worldwide. Yet surprisingly little empirical work is conducted on them. The sensitive and secret nature of trading information, the complexity of real markets and the lack of official data other than that on price can all cause problems. This book seeks to overcome these in examining arguably the most difficult markets of all - agricultural markets under conditions of underdevelopment. Case-studies from nine countries covering all three underdeveloped continents offer a comprehensive overview of the lessons to be learnt from field experience.

LUCY ADRIAN Emeritus Fellow and Director of Studies, Newnham College, Cambridge, UK DEBORAH FAHY BRYCESON Africa Studies Centre, Leiden, Netherlands BERND CHRISTIANSEN Institute for Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences, the Tropics University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany PAUL CLOUGH Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta, Malta BEN CROW Food Research Institute, University of Stanford, California, USA GEORGE JONES Emeritus Research Fellow, Agricultural Economics Unit, Oxford University, UK PRISCILLA MAGRATH Natural Resources Institute, UK JOS MOOIJ Department of Agrarian Law, Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands WENDY OLSEN Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK MATTHIAS VON OPPEN Institute for Agricultural Economics and Social in the Tropics University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany THEODOSIOS PALASKAS Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University, UK LUZ ALICIA JIMENEZ PORTUGAL Institute for Agricultural Economics and Social in the Tropics University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany ELSBETH ROBSON Department of Geography, Keele University, UK