The articles in this symposium analyze the economics of evolving international wine markets, including issues associated with taxes, measures of quality, reputation, consumer preferences, globalization, and emerging markets in China. This special symposium consists of peer-reviewed papers presented at the “Competitive Forces Affecting the Wine and Winegrape Industries: An International Conference on World Wine Markets,” sponsored by the Washington State University Impact Center, the Center for Wine Economics and Business of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Sciences and the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, University of California, in Davis, California, August 8–10, 2007, and the American Association of Wine Economists in Portland, Oregon, August 14–16, 2008.

The first paper, by Rachael Goodhue, Jeffrey LaFrance and Leo Simon, provides a theoretical analysis of the impact of taxes on the quantity and quality produced by a competitive firm of goods like wine for which market value. They consider the effects of various tax systems on wine quality and quantity distortions.