The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been supporting the incomes of the European Union's agricultural community for half a century. Despite this, there is still no official system in place to track the economic wellbeing of farmers and their families. This book examines the evidence on the overall wealth of farming households, and concludes that in nearly all member states, they are not generally a poor sector of society, with disposable incomes that are similar to, or exceed, the national average. In this updated edition, the author discusses the latest evidence, makes recommendations for gathering better information, and considers the implications for the CAP as we enter the second decade of the 21st century.
Updated and revised, this fifth edition incorporates recent developments in the environment in which agriculture operates. Issues that have gained prominence since the previous edition (2014) include climate change and agriculture's mitigating role, concern with animal welfare, the social contributions that agriculture makes, risks associated with globalization, and rising concern over sustainability. Important for UK and EU readers are the adjustments needed now that the UK is no longer a member of the European Union and the nature of the national policies developed to replace the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. Containing all the major economic principles with agriculture-specific examples, An Introduction to Economics, 5th Edition provides a rounded and up-to-date introduction to the subject. The inclusion of updated chapter-focused exercises, essay questions and suggestions for further reading make this textbook an invaluable learning tool.
The majority of recent publications on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union address current issues and specific applications. There is little available which attempts to increase understanding of the nature of existing policies, their development, intentions, problems and successes. The aim of this book is to improve knowledge and understanding of the ‘policy process’ and its application to the CAP, focussing on the principles of policy analysis. For while the details of agricultural and environmental policies evolve, the principles upon which they are based endure. The author uses economics as a basis for his exploration, as fairly simple economics holds the key to understanding many of the fundamental pressures to which agriculture and rural areas are subject. He explains the importance of the political and administrative context in which the process occurs, acknowledging the influence of environmental and sociological concerns. Such knowledge of the conceptual framework of the ‘policy process’ and its application to the CAP is essential for all concerned with agriculture and rural livelihoods, both within the European Union and in those countries trading with the EU. This includes both students and professionals. The book provides an understanding of these principles in terms of how and why policy changes, thus increasing the efficiency and efficacy of the process.
This title was first published in 2000: The central aim of the Common Agricultural Policy is to support the incomes of farmers, yet reliable information on the overall incomes of farmers and their households is scarce. In general, farmers in the EU are not a low-income or poor sector of society and much of the present CAP income support goes to those that are relatively well-off. This book, the 3rd edition to address these issues, has been updated and expanded to include: updated coverage of statistics and references; the major changes in methodology of income measurement flowing from the 1995 revision of the European System of Accounts; a critical examination of wealth and balance sheets for the agricultural industry as currently calculated; incorporation of material from Japan and countries in Central and Eastern Europe that are candidates for EU membership.
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