Determinant Factors of High Performing Agricultural Regions

Determinant factors of high performing agricultural regions. One indicator of agricultural performance is the agricultural labour productivity, as measured by the gross value added per annual working unit. Econometric approaches have been used to evaluate factors contributing to such productivity. However, these estimates require detailed data that often are not available at the regional level. We propose an alternative approach to disentangle the contribution of different drivers that lead to high productivity in EU regions, defined at NUTS 2 level. The fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) provides a framework to identify combinations of attributes present in the most productive EU regions, by revealing pathways or sets of sufficient drivers present in such cases. We selected drivers based on previous research, and our findings show that there is not a unique pathway to reach high agricultural productivity. However, some drivers as strong farm structure and relevant public support appear in most of the pathways. Other dimensions related to research, development and innovation, and to natural conditions, seem also relevant. Acknowledgement : Dr. Garcia-Alvarez-Coque and Dr. Mart nez-G mez acknowledge support of the Project AGL2015-65897-C3-3-R funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, for this research. Ms. Olfa Gharsi benefited from a scholarship from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza

The Barcelona Process and the Political Economy of Euro-Mediterranean Trade Integration

The Barcelona Process aims to create a free trade area between the EU and its Mediterranean neighbours by 2010. This article uses two-level game theory to analyse the negotiations leading to the signature of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements. It argues that conflicts of interests between the actors involved in the bargaining process are responsible for the restrictive nature of the agreements, characterized by agricultural protectionism, long transition periods and small amounts of financial support allocated by the EU to its partners. These provisions have prevented the Barcelona Process from significantly boosting Euro-Mediterranean bilateral trade in the last few years. Copyright (c) 2007 The Author(s); Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.