Market organization and propagation of shocks: the furniture industry in Germany and Italy

In this paper we study the furniture industry in two European countries, Germany and Italy. Although the two industries are characterized by very similar output and technology, they differ widely in terms of market organization, most notably the distribution of firms by size, and the organization of retail. We find some evidences that these differences have an influence on the dynamic behavior of industry output, prices and exports in the two countries

Simulation Results on the Impact of Changes in the Main EU Policy Tools on Farm Investment Behaviour. Factor Markets Working Document No. 56, June 2013

This paper completes the comparative analysis of the investment demand behaviour, of a sample of specialised arable crop farms, for farm buildings and machinery and equipment, as a function of the different types and levels of Common Agricultural Policy support, in selected European Union Member States. This contribution focuses on their quantitative interdependence calculating the relevant elasticity measures. In turn, they constitute the methodological tool to simulate the percentage expected change in average net investment levels associated to the implementation of the, recently proposed and currently under discussion, reductions in the Pillar I Direct Payments disbursed under the Common Agricultural Policy. Evidence suggests a statistically significant elastic and inelastic relationship between both types of subsidies and the investment levels for both asset classes in Germany and Italy, respectively. An elastic dependence of investment in farm buildings on decoupled subsidies exists in Hungary while changes in the level of coupled payments appear to translate into less than proportional changes in the demand for both farm buildings and machinery and equipment in France. Coupled payments appear to influence the UK demand for both asset classes in an elastic manner while decoupled support seems to induce a similar effect on investment in machinery and equipment. Since the currently discussed Common Agricultural Policy reform options imply, almost exclusively, a reduction in the level of support granted through Direct Payments, simulated effects were expected to reveal a worsening of the farm investment prospects for both asset types (i.e., a larger negative investment or a smaller positive one). The actual evidence largely respects this expectation with the sole exception of investment in machinery and equipment in France and Italy reaching smaller negative or larger positive levels irrespectively of the magnitude of the implemented cuts in Direct Payments

Key policy questions for ex-ante impact assessment of European agricultural and rural policies

Policies in the agricultural and rural sectors are of key importance in shaping their sustainable development. These policies are changing from market-based policies to policies that aim to influence farmers' decision-making. Thus, the scientific literature supporting evidence-based policy-making must develop models that simulate individual decision-making (IDM) by farmers. This study aims to understand key policy objectives, related policy questions and benchmark scenarios relevant to the European agricultural sector to define the research agenda for a suite of IDM models. This research goal has been addressed following a five-step process that involved different research tools and heterogeneous actors, including key stakeholders. Results suggest that environmental policy objectives are the most relevant for European agriculture in the coming decades. Thus, the scenario modelling exercise should focus mainly on the agri-environmental policies' impacts while properly considering the potential trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives

Impact of Agri-environmental Schemes on Farm Performances in five EU Member States

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) of the European Union are the most important measure in terms of share on the public budget for Rural Development. Although the farmers uptake of AES is expected to strongly impact even farmer’s behavior, in the literature the attempts to investigate this impact are scarce. Our study applies a difference-in-differences propensity score matching estimator in order to perform a comparative analyses of the effects of AE measures on farmer’s practises and economic performances across five EU Member States. Results show differences in the AES effects across country as well as differences across farmers of the same country according to what extent the farm income is dependent on the AE payment. Our analyses suggests that the AE payment in Spain is not enough to compensate the large drop of the per hectare income after participation and the AE uptake does not seem to promote effectively environmental-friendly farm practises. In France and Italy the sustainable practises of farmer participants lead to an income foregone that is not fairly compensated by the AE payments. Only in Germany and UK the AE payments seem to compensate the income loss that results from changes in farmers production choices

Un modello econometrico dell'industria del mobile in legno. Bilancio e prospettive del modello Csil: 1981-1996

L'industria italiana del mobile costituisce un interessante caso di studio da vari punti di vista. Nonostante la debolezza strutturale nella disponibilit\ue0 di materia prima legnosa (tema oggetto di una connessa ricerca nel quadro del progetto Raisa) e nonostante l'elevata frammentazione del settore in migliaia di unit\ue0 produttive di piccola dimensione, l'Italia ha conquistato stabilmente la posizione di primo esportatore mondiale di mobili, in competizione con l'industria tedesca. Le cause di questa notevole performance vanno ricondotte alla elevata flessibilit\ue0 produttiva delle imprese, ad una buona dotazione tecnologica, all'eccellenza nel design. Sin dall'inizio degli anni '80 presso il Centro studi industria leggera di Milano (Csil) sono state avviate ricerche volte alla costruzione di un modello quantitativo dell'industria del mobile. Tali ricerche sono continuate nel quadro del Progetto Finalizzato Cnr Ipra ed hanno infine consentito di raggiungere l'obiettivo nel quadro del Progetto Finalizzato Cnr Raisa. Questo volume presenta, oltre ad un quadro strutturale e alle tendenze di lungo periodo del settore, un'analisi retrospettiva e i pi\uf9 recenti risultati ottenuti con il modello Csil. Le variabili dipendenti considerate sono: produzione, consumi, prezzi ed esportazioni, in particolare per Italia, Germania, Francia, Regno Unito. La banca dati del modello comprende 250 serie storiche attinte da una variet\ue0 di fonti statistiche nazionali ed internazionali