Wheat market liberalization; a scientific recommendation or a policy obligation?

Self-sufficiency in wheat production and ensuring cheap bread supply have been the major goals agricultural and food policies in Iran since the revolution from now. Several policies have been adopted to achieve these two contradictory goals, among them price policies have been pervasive. Therefore, in this study it was tried to investigate the government support price policies in the wheat market using a calibrated regional partial equilibrium model. Results revealed that the mentioned policy scheme is associated with net social welfare loss, therefore, wheat market liberalization is more an obligation rather than a scientific guidance.