Reform the CAP

Expert knowledge and policy reform: Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel's rejoinder to Jean-Marc Boussard

Valentin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 07:03:20 +0000

Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel, Professor at the University of Göttingen, says that models are like maps: they are never entirely realistic but help us find the way. In the case of the post-2013 CAP, the reform path does not even depend on the traditional models because the main issue is not greater market orientation.

Direct Payments in the CAP post 2013

Valentin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:34:15 +0000

Stefan Tangermann (2011).

How can direct payments be justified after 2013?

A comment on the ‘Guide to the CAP reform politics’ by Jean-Marc Boussard

Valentin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Jean-Marc Boussard is a former director of the French agricultural research institute INRA and highly experienced in models of agriculture that incorporate uncertainty. Reacting to the recent ‘Guide to the CAP reform politics’, he raises important questions about what economists really know about agriculture and what kind of recommendations they can give with sufficient certainty. Readers are welcome to contribute short comments or longer responses (1-3 pages) in this debate that will be posted on this blog.

A Guide to CAP Reform Politics: Issues, Positions and Dynamics

Valentin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:02:32 +0000

Valentin Zahrnt (ECIPE), 2011.

Policy actors

Cioloş hearing at the House of Commons

Valentin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:03:53 +0000

On 13 January, Dacian Cioloş gave testimony to the UK Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on CAP reform. Here is what he said.

Food security seminar

Valentin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:17:42 +0000

Does the EU need agricultural tariffs and subsidies to ensure its food security? The food price surges in 2007/08 and the 2010 spike in wheat prices have pushed this question into the headlines. In December 2010, the FAO food price index even exceeded its 2008 peak.

Food Security and the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy: Facts Against Fears

Valentin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 06:57:42 +0000

Valentin Zahrnt, ECIPE (2011).

EU food security

Alternative Allocation Keys for EU CAP Funding

Valentin — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:21:17 +0000

Cao, Y., Elliott, J., Moxey, A. and Zahrnt V. (2010).

Public Money for Public Goods: Winners and Losers from CAP Reform

The long-term ineffectiveness of transfers: the trillion € waste

Valentin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:21:37 +0000

Since the beginning of OECD calculations in 1986, EU agricultural policies have transferred about €2.5 trillion from taxpayers and consumers to farmers. If an interest rate of 5% is assumed (a conservative figure compared to the social returns from investments in education and research), the present value of these transfers rises to about €5 trillion. If the agricultural subsidies and tariffs between 1957 and 1985 were added, for which no OECD data exists, we would get two-digit trillion numbers. But this money does not raise farm wages in the long run.

The rise in farm incomes: 2010 and the next decade

Valentin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:16:59 +0000

Farmers and speakers from DG Agri have repeatedly complained about the double squeeze of farm incomes: falling farm gate prices combined with rising costs for inputs, such as energy and fertilizer. The disastrous year of 2009 had wiped out all the gains of the last 15 years, they said. But the upswing of 2010 has been generous with farmers, and future price increases promise further improvements in farm incomes.