Thus, in high-income and developing countries there is now a large gap between their nominal rates of assistance for import-competing and export agriculture as well as a continuing large gap (albeit smaller than in the 1980s) between the relative rates of assistance in the two groups of countries. In the light of that evidence, the above question addressed here can be expressed more specifically, for any developing country of interest, as: How important are its own policies compared with those of the rest of the world in affecting the welfare of the poor in that country, and what do agricultural policies in particular contribute to those outcomes? Clear answers to this question are crucial to guiding countries in their national policymaking, and as they negotiate bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.