This book investigates the recent rise of the market-oriented value chain approach in development policy with a focus on the agro-export sector in the Global South. The research project aims at unveiling the political, social and cultural processes around the circulation of market rationales at the global scale and on the ground. In-depth analyses of two exemplary settings, Peru and Ghana, reveal the extent to which national policies, development programs, laws and academic curricula have adopted a "thinking in terms of value chains" in the last decade. By embracing the perspectives of policymakers, consultants, entrepreneurs and producers, this book provides exciting first-hand insights about the making of markets for scholars and development practitioners alike. Content The associational politics of markets Public policy and pro-poor development in Peru Technocrats and technologies of trust in Ghana Commodity circuits Target Group Scholars in the field of the social studies of economization and marketization, economic geography, economic sociology, development studies, political science, ethnography Development practitioners The Author Dorothee Niebuhr studied Geography, French, International Relations and European Migrations in Mainz, Dijon and Canada and obtained a doctor’s degree in Economic Geography from Goethe University Frankfurt. During her field research, she worked with a leading international development organization on market-oriented development in Ghana and Peru.