TARGETING “REAL FARMERS” WITH REFORMED CAP PAYMENTS: AN ANALYSIS FOR ITALY

A multi-sector model is used to assess the targeting of CAP payments in Italy, according with alternative definitions of the “real farmers” institutional sector. The model is based on a Social Accounting Matrix of the Italian economy, properly adapted to represent the process of income formation and distribution in agriculture. The accounting framework has been integrated with a set of microeconomic information from the Farm Business Survey, a sample of agricultural holdings representative of the whole industry in Italy. The effects of changes in CAP payments have been assessed through a process in which impacts moves from the micro to the macro module of the model and return, in an iterative way. A vector of final income increase for each household included in the survey is obtained and used to reclassify impacts according to alternative definition of the real farmer sector. Results show that the distributive structure of the Italian agriculture as well as the way the policy is implemented are likely to affect the targeting of payments under alternative definitions of the beneficiary group.Common Agricultural Policy, targeting, income distribution, social accounting matrix, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q18 agricultural policy, D57 input-output tables and analysis, D30 distribution general,

The Evolution of Institutional Structure of Italian Agriculture: A Historical Reconstruction Through the Debate on Agricultural Holdings Classification

Industrial Organization,

A comparative analysis of the redistributive effects of agricultural policy in Tuscany and Scotland

The article provides an empirical study of the redistributive effects of agricultural policy in Tuscany which finds that the provision of support increased absolute income inequality within the agricultural community because the distribution of transfers was both vertically and horizontally inequitable. These conclusions are shown to hold whether or not non-farm incomes are taken into account and for a range of alternative definitions of the agricultural community. The results for Scotland are broadly comparable except that the distribution of transfers was progressive not regressive, reflecting differences between the two regions in the degree of dependency of agriculture on support.Income redistribution, agricultural policy, Tuscany, Scotland

Distributive impacts of alternative agricultural policies: A SAM-based analysis for Italy

This paper assesses the distributive impacts of alternative agricultural policies in a SAM (social accounting matrix) framework. A SAM of the Italian economy has been properly modified in order to focus on agriculture. In doing so, a new method for disaggregating the institutional sectors and the production factors in a SAM framework has been proposed. Two types of analysis have been carried out: (i) a multiplier analysis, and (ii) an assessment of the distributive impacts of different sector policies. The main results can be summarised as follows: (i) ‘fully’ decoupled agricultural household income supporting schemes (transfers to agricultural households) are the most equitable interventions and determine a perfect targetVof the distributive effect on the relevant institutional sectors; (ii) ‘partially’ decoupled income supporting interventions, such as the ones implemented under the CAP before the Mid Term Review, are more effective than others (i.e., through multiplier effects) in indirectly generating positive impacts on the income of agricultural households; (iii) agricultural price support interventions show less desirable effects in terms of their distributive impacts: they are less effective as agricultural income-increasing policies and their distributive impacts are biased against poorer households both in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.social accounting matrix (SAM), income distribution, Common Agricultural Policy

Agriculture and Income Distribution: Insights from a SAM of the Italian Economy

The paper presents the results of the first SAM analysis of the agricultural sector in Italy. A SAM of the Italian economy has been properly modified in order to focus the analysis on agriculture. Two type of analysis have been carried out: (i) a multiplier analysis, and (ii) an assessment of the distributive impacts of different agricultural policies. This paper proposes also a new method for disaggregating the institutional sectors and production factors in order to analyze income distribution within the economy, with special emphasis on the agricultural sector. Main results are: (i) "fully" decoupled income supporting schemes (transfers to agricultural households) are the most equitable interventions and determine a perfect targeting of the distributive effect on the relevant institutional sectors; (ii) "partially" decoupled income supporting interventions, as the ones implemented under the current CAP, are more effective than others in indirectly (i.e., through multiplier effects) generating positive impacts on the income of agricultural households; (iii) agricultural price support interventions show less desirable effects in terms of their distributive impacts: they are less effective as agricultural income-increasing policies and their distributive impacts are biased against poorer households both in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.Social accounting matrix, agriculture, income distribution, Italy, Labor and Human Capital, R13, R15, Q18, E25,

Consumers' attitude towards farmers' markets: an explorative analysis in Tuscany

Farmers Markets (FMs) around the world are often considered as one key response to the less sustainable conventional food production systems. Despite the economic crisis, international studies show that the most important factor leading people to buy fresh products in these points of sale is the quality. In fact, consumers usually cite \better food quality", \locally produced foods", \higher social interaction" and \learning directly about the vendors and their food production practices", as the principal motivations in buying in FM environment. In this paper the results of a survey carried out in several FMs and shops in Tuscany are presented. A sample of consumers were interviewed on-site using a structured questionnaire. The attitude of respondent towards FM was assessed using a test scale composed of 16 items referring to five different features of this form of distribution, supposed to be relevant in the consumer choice: quality of products, direct contact with farmers, convenience, environmental sustainability, and support for rural development processes. The high level of reliability of the attitude scale allowed its use in performing a cluster analysis of observed units. The cluster analysis allowed to identify two groups of consumers with different characteristics both in term of socio-economic descriptive variables and in term of attitudes and motivations towards FMs.food miles,Alternative Food Networks (AFN),sustainability,Italy,Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC)

Economic Impact of Rural Development Plan 2007 2013 in Tuscany

In 2007 in every European Union region, involved in the planning of Rural Development Plan (RDP), an independent evaluator should asses the impact of the plan in term of value added and productivity. Each region has adopted different methodologies but few of them have followed the indications of Common and Monitoring Evaluation Framework (CMEF) to evaluate the net value deriving by direct and indirect effect. IRPET, the Independent evaluator of Tuscany, utilising REMI-IRPET model has assed the impact of RDP on the main economic variables until 2020. Among 30 different measures it has been chosen only 5 of them that cover more than 54% of total amount of public and private investments. The economic impacts are also evaluated at provincial level.evaluation, regional model, rural development, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Costs and Benefits of Compliance for HACCP Regulation in the Italian Meat and Dairy Sector

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Chapter Sostenibilità e riproduzione del capitale territoriale: il problema della scala di analisi

Starting from a critique of the concept of "natural capital" which helps in defining the concepts of territorial and rural capital, the utility is affirmed of measuring the sustainability of individual and collective actions with respect to the contribution they offer to their production and reproduction. The analysis of case studies therefore poses the problem of over-exploitation of territorial capital in the absence of adequate investments for its reproduction. This requires a detailed evaluation of the eco-territorial services, focusing on the communities of actors who take care of them