This article theoretically and empirically disentangles the effects of maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides on production, export supply and import demand. We adopt a modelling approach based on the costs and benefits associated with food safety standards and use our theoretical framework to assess the empirical net effects of MRLs for pesticides on African mango production and trade with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries. On the one hand, we theoretically highlight that for a given production technology and a level of elasticity of production costs with respect to the MRL gap, producers will likely (probability and quantity) produce standard-compliant products if they are able to completely pass through the standard-compliance costs to the unit price they receive from exporters; otherwise, they will exit standard-compliant products market. On the other hand, we theoretically show that the net effects of the MRL gap on bilateral trade can be positive, zero or negative depending on the effects of consumers’ perceived quality (positive), trade costs (negative) and standard-compliant production cost (negative). We use a cross-sectional data set for 12 African countries that produced and exported MRL-compliant mangoes to 31 OECD countries in 2016. On the one hand, we find that the net effect of MRLs is positive for the level of standard-compliant mango production and negative for the probability of producing. On the other hand, they are positive in mango trade between African and OECD member countries. Our results highlight that the tightening or imposition of strict MRLs for pesticides in developed countries may be trade promoting, while they severely impede production in African countries.

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非洲芒果对经合组织国家的贸易：消除遵守最大残留限量对生产、出口供应和进口需求的影响

本文从理论上和经验上解开了农药最大残留限量 (MRL) 对生产、出口供应和进口需求的影响。我们采用基于与食品安全标准相关的成本和收益的建模方法，并使用我们的理论框架评估农药最大残留限量对非洲芒果生产和与经济合作与发展组织 (OECD) 成员贸易的经验净影响国家。一方面，我们从理论上强调，对于给定的生产技术和生产成本相对于 MRL 差距的弹性水平，如果生产者能够完全通过，他们将可能（概率和数量）生产符合标准的产品他们从出口商处收到的单价的合规成本；否则，他们将退出符合标准的产品市场。另一方面，我们从理论上表明，MRL 差距对双边贸易的净影响可以是正的、零的或负的，这取决于消费者感知质量（正）、贸易成本（负）和符合标准的生产成本的影响。 （消极的）。我们使用了 12 个非洲国家的横截面数据集，这些国家在 2016 年向 31 个经合组织国家生产和出口符合 MRL 的芒果。一方面，我们发现 MRL 的净效应对符合标准的芒果水平是积极的生产，生产概率为负。另一方面，它们对非洲和经合组织成员国之间的芒果贸易有利。我们的研究结果强调，发达国家收紧或实施严格的农药最大残留限量可能会促进贸易，