In this study, we assess the economy-wide effects of biofuel investment in Ethiopia, with a focus on the external sector. The Government of Ethiopia has been revising its energy policy to switch from imported fossil oil to domestically produced biofuels, partly in response to climate change and partly in response to rising world oil prices, which leave oil-importing countries such as Ethiopia vulnerable to external oil price shocks.

After two decades of agricultural-led development strategies since the early 1990s, economic growth has been erratic, land degradation has worsened, and the country has failed to enjoy significant drop in the number of food insecure population.

Economists in Latin America are moving beyond the prevailing ‘macro’ orientation of their research focusing more on questions linked to development and the use and management of the environmental resource base in the region.