Regional Growth and Policies in the European Union: Does the Common Agricultural Policy Have a Counter-Treatment Effect?

This article investigates the impact of both the Common Agricultural Policy and structural policies on European regions by estimating a conditional growth convergence model. The Common Agricultural Policy influences the convergence process by affecting regional aggregate productivity, eventually conflicting with the structural policies designed to promote growth in lagging regions. The conditional convergence model is specified in a dynamic panel data form and applied to 206 regions observed from 1989 to 2000. A GMM estimation is applied in order to obtain consistent estimates of both the convergence parameter β and the impact of the conditioning variables, policy measures in particular.     

The status quo bias and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy: impact of voting rules, the European Commission and external changes

We develop a formal model of EU decision-making on the CommonAgricultural Policy (CAP). The model is used to evaluate underwhat conditions CAP reform occurs and what the influence ofthe European Commission (Commission) is on CAP reform. We findthat the voting and amendment rules in the Council of the EuropeanUnion, the number of policy instruments and external changeshave important impacts on the occurrence and extent of CAP reformand on the influence of the Commission. Stricter voting rulesincrease the status quo bias and reduce Commission influence,whereas stricter amendment rules increase both the status quobias and Commission influence. More significant external changeresults in more reform and more Commission influence.     

International diffusion of gains from biotechnology and the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy

This paper analyses the impact of adopting or rejecting genetically modified (GM) crops in the European Union, taking into account the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In this paper the productivity impact of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) differs across crops, taking factor biased technology change into account. The transfer of knowledge across countries is modelled as a process of endogenous knowledge spill-overs. Analysis with a multi-region applied general equilibrium model shows that the CAP protects farm income and production despite non-adoption of the more productive GM crops in the EU. The EU will forgo substantial benefits in terms of economic welfare if it bans GM imports.     

Resource Management under Production and Output Price Uncertainty: Implications for Environmental Policy

Various environmental policies have been proposed to control agricultural runoff of nutrients and pesticides. The impacts of these policies on input use are complicated because of the various sources of uncertainty farmers face and the precise nature of farmers' risk attitude. A risk–averse farmer's response to changed profit , input , and output taxes under output price and production uncertainty is examined. The impact of these policies on input use depends on the form of production uncertainty, risk–input relationships, risk attitudes, and degrees of output price and production uncertainty. These results have implications for the design and implementation of environmental and other production–related policies.     

我国农业保险政策实施的现状及建议

中国是农业灾害发生最为严重的国家之一,而农业风险控制的重要方式是农业保险,政策的指导与引领农业保险良好发展的需要。经过不断的探索,从2004年到2013年,我国为支持农业保险的稳健发展出台了一系列相关政策,已取得了比较明显的成效。但是不可否认的是,当前农业保险政策执行中存在着许多问题。面对国内外农业保险发展的新形势,完善和发展农业保险政策十分重要。本文通过深入分析农业保险政策实施过程中出现的一系列问题及原因,提出我国农业保险政策长足发展的建议。     

Measuring the Trade Restrictiveness of Domestic Support using the EU Common Agricultural Policy as an Example

We develop an index that measures the overall trade effects of domestic support payments. Our index is based on the Mercantilist Trade Restrictiveness Index (MTRI) and is capable of analysing the development of the trade restrictiveness of domestic support payments over time and across countries. It facilitates the evaluation of agricultural policy reforms introducing changes in the composition of domestic support payments. We conduct this analysis with a computable general equilibrium model that is extended to depict detailed agricultural policies using the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (EU) as an example. For the representation of agricultural policies, we updated the underlying database by incorporating detailed EU domestic support payments taken from the OECD Producer Support Estimate (PSE) tables and reconcile PSE data with the WTO classification scheme. Our index confirms a decrease in trade distortion stemming from the implementation of decoupled support in the EU. In addition, the trade-equivalent protection rate shows that the trade restrictiveness of domestic support payments depends on the assumptions made with regard to the degree of decoupling of those payments.     

Replacement of Agricultural Price Supports by Area Payments in the European Union and the Effects on Pesticide Use

This article determines the contribution of recent European Union agricultural policy reforms on the use of pesticides. Our theoretical model extends the multioutput generalization of the Lichtenberg–Zilberman damage control technology model developed by Chambers and Lichtenberg . Our empirical analysis uses farm-level data for a sample of French farms. Results suggest that price effects on the use of pesticides are always more elastic than area payment effects. This indicates that policy reforms consisting of a reduction in price supports in favor of area payments, may reduce application of crop protection inputs. Such policy changes, which represent a certain degree of decoupling, took place under the 1992 Common Agricultural Policy reforms.     

自然资源治理助力共同富裕：政策演进、 关键挑战与应对策略

研究目的：厘清自然资源治理的概念、内涵及其与共同富裕的关联逻辑,揭示自然资源治理在扎实推进共同富裕进程中存在的关键挑战,探索改革路径。研究方法：文献资料法和归纳演绎法。研究结果：（1）自然资源治理的内涵包括可持续发展、效率公平兼顾、协同善治;（2）从目标、对象、价值、实践等维度提出了面向共同富裕的自然资源治理框架;（3）共同富裕视角下我国自然资源治理政策经历了“同步富裕”“差异富裕”“多维富裕”三个阶段;（4）自然资源治理在缩小区域、城乡、收入三大差距中,存在一系列体制机制问题,据此提出了优化发展权配置体系、健全城乡融合体制机制、深化有为政府与有效市场的有机结合、提高集约利用水平等改革策略。研究结论：自然资源治理与共同富裕存在紧密联系,亟需以三大差距为锚点,构建系统性与针对性的自然资源治理改革策略,以此强化国土空间治理体系与治理能力,助力共同富裕目标的实现。     

The Redistributive Effects of Agricultural Policy on Scottish Farm Incomes

This paper focuses on the measurement of the redistributive effects of agricultural policy, proposing measures to characterise and quantify these effects that are based on the change in absolute value of the Gini coefficient. An illustrative study shows that the distribution of support in Scotland in 1999/2000 was regressive with respect to pre‐support farm incomes. Nevertheless, the provision of support would have had an equalising effect on farm incomes but for the resulting changes in the ranking of farms within the income distribution. Reranking not only makes ‘coupled’ support policies ineffective but also inefficient as redistributive instruments.     

Land Market Imperfections and Agricultural Policy Impacts in the New EU Member States: A Partial Equilibrium Analysis

This article analyses how transaction costs and imperfect competition in the land market affect the welfare effects of agricultural subsidies in the new Eastern Member States of the European Union. Benefits of land subsidies end up with landowners in new Eastern Member States also with imperfections in the new Eastern Member States land markets. With unequal access to subsidies, small tenant farmers may even lose out from the subsidies. Decoupling of payments shifts policy rents to farmers, but constrains productivity-enhancing restructuring. Using reserve entitlements to mitigate this effect reduces the intended benefits on distortions and target efficiency.     

Credit Market Imperfections and the Distribution of Policy Rents

This article shows that credit market imperfections have important implications for the distribution of policy rents. In a model with land as fixed factor and credit market imperfections, when an area payment is given, land rents go up by more than the subsidy. On aggregate farms may lose from the subsidy. The results depend on the extent to which subsidies have direct and indirect effects on the credit constraints, on whether farms rent or own land, and on farm heterogeneity.     

美洲原产作物的引种栽培及其对中国农业生产结构的影响

美洲作物之引种中国大多发生在明清时期，其中既有玉米、番薯、马铃薯这样重要的粮食作物，也有花生、向日葵一类油料作物；既有番茄、辣椒、菜豆、番石榴、番荔枝等蔬菜果树，也有烟草、陆地棉这样的嗜好作物和衣被原料，总数接近30种。虽然它们传入时有先后、途径不一，但在不长的时间中获得了相当快的发展，不少在今天的作物构成中占据举足轻重的地位。究其原因，与明清以来人口激增导致的人地矛盾加剧及市场经济的发展有着密切的关系。美洲作物的传播与发展不仅满足了日益增长的人口的生存需求，适应了人们对营养和享受多方面的需要，对充分用地和养地，提高农业生产效率也发挥了积极的促进作用。     

On the Characterisation and Measurement of the Redistributive Effect of Agricultural Policy

The article proposes a coherent framework for the evaluation of the redistributive performance of agricultural policy. An illustrative study shows that the vertical stance of policy in Scotland was progressive in absolute terms, reflecting the chronic dependence of Scottish agriculture on policy transfers. Nevertheless, the overall redistributive effect of policy was to increase absolute inequality in farm incomes because of horizontal inequities in the incidence of transfers, though neither systematic discrimination between farm types nor systematic reranking was the main cause. The targeting of policy transfers could be improved by the use of indicator variables more strongly correlated with pre‐transfer incomes.     

Agricultural Export Subsidies as a Tool of Trade Strategy: Before and After the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act of 1996

If the main justification for agricultural export subsidies is that they reduce government costs of deficiency payments, then the 1996 farm legislation would make U.S. export subsidies largely unnecessary. An additional argument advanced in favor of export subsidies is that their aggressive use by one country will cause competing countries to reduce or discontinue their own subsidies. This argument is explored by means of a Nash equilibrium in which countries choose both a base subsidy level and a response to competitors, and by a consistent conjectures equilibrium. Little support is found for the argument.