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.     

贫困地区农业结构调整对农民收入的影响——重庆五区县实证分析

本文利用重庆贫困地区5个区县619户农户实地调查资料,着重从农产品商品率和现金收入的变化,分析了农业结构调整对贫困地区农户人均纯收入的影响。同时探讨了农业结构调整对农户增收的影响因素。经过计算和分析认为:农民人均纯收入的变化中,贡献率最大的是外出打工等工资性收入,农业纯收入增量的贡献率不到1/3。且农业纯收入增量中,由于商品率提高带来的现金收入增量也不到一半。因此可以说,农业结构调整对农户收入的提高产生了一定影响,但作用有限。另外,农村基础设施建设,如道路、电力通讯等设施建设是影响农业结构调整对农民增收作用的重要因素。     

Retail planning policies in Scottish structure plans

Summary

This paper examines in detail the policy responses of planners, as seen in structure plan policy statements, to the challenge of a dynamic retail sector. The spatial scale of Scotland is taken to rectify the omission in previous work on planning and retailing which has been mainly Anglo‐centric in focus. Common themes from the structure plans are identified and analysed and the Scottish experience compared to the wider British context. The process of plan monitoring and policy review is examined to see if planners are meeting this challenge of retailing in a constructive way. The question is posed as to whether the traditional approach to retail planning, as exemplified in the structure plans, can now be maintained in the light of persistent attacks on the grounds of inadequacy and inappropriateness.     

Scottish structure plans and their role as indicators of future retail developments

Summary

In trying to form a view of what the pattern of retail development in Scotland is likely to be in the early years of next century, it is important to gain an understanding of how the physical planning framework influences the development process. Most Scottish Structure Plans now contain detailed statements of policy on retail development and the Scottish Development Department (SDD) periodically issues planning guidelines, including guidelines on the location of major retail developments. Much of this paper is taken up with analysis and interpretation of Structure Plan policies on retailing and the SDD's new planning guidelines, issued in December 1986.

Previous work in this subject area has identified common elements in Structure Plan policies on retailing and has pointed to the difficulties planners face in formulating policies appropriate to the dynamism of the industry. This paper attempts to go further than previous work by showing how policies are evolving in the face of change in the retail industry. Four broad trends in policy development are identified. The paper also describes the distinguishing features of the retailing policies of the six regional planning authorities in Scotland.

The review of Structure Plans, which was accompanied by a series of interviews with planning officers, highlighted a number of issues for further discussion. It is clear that the SDD's new guidelines on the location of major retail developments are being interpreted differently by different planning authorities and that the full intent of the guidelines has yet to emerge. Local authorities are also concerned about how the necessary environmental improvements in town and city centres are to be financed. Particularly in light of the emergence of new forms of shopping and proposals for new large‐scale and out‐of‐town developments, a further issue is the feasibility of retailing policies based on the principle of hierarchy.

Although there is no reason to suspect that the continuation of Structure Planning in Scotland may be in doubt, the question also arises of whether the plans have a future, given that Structure Planning is to be abandoned in England and Wales. The answer to the question is, ultimately, political, but Structure Planning in Scotland does appear to work. Scotland has a more coherent structure of local government than England and Wales and, unlike their counterparts elsewhere in Britain, upper‐tier local authorities in Scotland can exert strategic control over the development process by virtue of their call‐in powers.

The paper comes to the qualified conclusion that Scottish Structure Plans do, or at least have the potential to, indicate the way ahead for the pattern of retail development. The qualification is necessary because Structure Plans generally are in a state of flux and, for this reason, it is not entirely clear whether the policies are anticipating change in the retailing industry or are simply reacting to it. Some of the remaining uncertainties should be resolved, however, when Structure Plan policies are reviewed in light of the new planning guidelines.     

The incidence of agricultural policy on the land market in Poland: Two-dimensional and multilevel analysis

Research has shown that the reform of the CAP which broke the link between subsidies and production (the decoupling reform) has had little effect on farmers’ demand for land under the SPS (Single Payment Scheme) system. For this reason, in the conditions of the SPS, there is petrifaction of the structure of agricultural land, and an upward trend in prices on the market for agricultural land should not be expected to continue in the long term. Under the conditions of the SAPS (Single Area Payment Scheme), which applies in the EU-12 new Member States, the position in the market for agricultural land is different. However, most research carried out in Europe relates to the SPS system, where marginal changes in the value of land are identified as a result of the incidence of agricultural policy, as well as quantitative and qualitative attributes of particular properties. Under SAPS, these issues have not been sufficiently investigated. The authors have attempted to fill that gap, constructing a two-dimensional and multilevel econometric model for land prices in a leading agricultural region of Poland based on a sample of 653 transactions in the years 2010–2013. The aim is to determine how policy, as well as various quantitative and qualitative features, including location factors, affect the prices of land under SAPS. The results indicate, among other things, the key importance of the functional type of rural areas – properties in agrotouristic areas gained 43% higher prices on average than those in agricultural areas. Another finding of interest is that LFA and agro-environmental payments decapitalise the value of land.     

Sustainable rural communities? A legal perspective on the community right to buy

Sustainable development is the underlying policy behind the community right to buy land in rural Scotland enshrined in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, Part 2. The Act explicitly requires communities wishing to exercise the right to buy to have sustainable development at the heart of their community body and all their plans for the land. This paper examines the role and interpretation of sustainable development in the CRB. Since the Act was passed three administrations have headed up the Scottish government and sustainable development issues and strategies for Scotland have been aired in four important and distinctive policy documents showing that it is still very much an evolving concept in Scottish politics. The current administration has adopted the most econocentric approach yet seen in the UK, focusing on sustainable economic growth. Meanwhile, the community right to buy has developed its own sustainable development agenda. This review of decisions taken under the legislation illustrates that a diverse range of community ownership plans have been deemed consistent with sustainable development, from creation of sports facilities to preservation of castles, lighthouses and village greens. A range of economic, social and environmental objectives have been approved. On the other hand, communities that fail to adopt the ‘right’ approach to the principle will not be successful in using the legislation.     

Land consolidation in inland rural Galicia, N.W. Spain, since 1950: An example of the formulation and use of questions, criteria and indicators for evaluation of rural development policies

This paper examines whether the land consolidation (LC) practised since the 1950s in Galicia, N.W. Spain, has had the desired effects. To achieve this aim, we have adopted the methodology drawn up by the European Union for evaluation of its socioeconomic programmes, and we have adapted it as required by the subject matter and by the long-term historical perspective of this study. Our results suggest that, during the study period, LC has in general made a positive contribution to slowing rural depopulation.