Selected Aspects of Agro-structural Change within the Alps

La région couverte par la Convention alpine a connu un recul important des exploitations agricoles (– 40 %) entre 1980 et 2000. Des régions stables (Autriche, Suisse) côtoient des régions profondément transformées (Italie, Slovénie). Les modifications agrostructurelles ont conduit à des bouleversements majeurs dans les structures de fonctionnement (agrandissement des exploitations, abandon de surface agricole utile, partages diversifiés des types socio-économiques d’exploitations). Cela résulte de divers facteurs, qu’ils soient culturels (l’attachement aux traditions agricoles, l’identification de la société au monde agricole), politico-agricoles (Politique Agricole Commune, OMC) ou économiques (opportunités de revenus non-agricoles) et fonctionnels (taille des exploitations). Au-delà des différenciations nationales et régionales majeures au sein de l’arc alpin (abandon d’exploitations modéré à fort), les exploitations agricoles affrontent les mêmes enjeux en ce qui concerne les transformations des structures agricoles (ex : abandon d’exploitation et augmentation de la taille des exploitations restantes). En comparaison avec la moyenne à l’échelle alpine de l’évolution du nombre d’exploitations et des surfaces agricoles utiles (1980-2000), on peut observer des tendances modérées (Autriche/Suisse/Allemagne), dynamiques (Italie/Slovénie) ou non corrélées (France).The Alpine region registered a substantial abandonment of farms (-40%) between 1980 and 2000. Both Alpine regions with a relatively stable situation (AT, CH) and regions with significant agricultural changes (IT, SI) exist next to each other. The agro-structural change has led to profound changes in operational structures (enlargement of farms, abandonment of utilised agricultural areas, varying shares of socio-economic farm types). This resulted from various cultural (e.g. relatedness to agricultural traditions, identification of the society with agriculture), agro-political (e.g. Common Agricultural Policy/ WTO) and economic (e.g. non-agricultural income possibilities), and operational (e.g. farm-size) driving forces. Next to major national and regional differences within the Alpine Region (e.g. moderate and high farm abandonment), they also face parallels with regard to the change in their agricultural structure (i.e. farm abandonment and increasing farm-size of the remaining farms). Compared to the Alpine-wide average of the changes in the number of farms and the utilised agricultural area (1980-2000), moderate (AT/CH/DE), dynamic (IT/SI), and uncorrelated (FR) were observed

Éclairage sur les transformations des structures agricoles dans les Alpes

La région couverte par la Convention alpine a connu un recul important des exploitations agricoles (– 40 %) entre 1980 et 2000. Des régions stables (Autriche, Suisse) côtoient des régions profondément transformées (Italie, Slovénie). Les modifications agrostructurelles ont conduit à des bouleversements majeurs dans les structures de fonctionnement (agrandissement des exploitations, abandon de surface agricole utile, partages diversifiés des types socio-économiques d’exploitations). Cela résulte de divers facteurs, qu’ils soient culturels (l’attachement aux traditions agricoles, l’identification de la société au monde agricole), politico-agricoles (Politique Agricole Commune, OMC) ou économiques (opportunités de revenus non-agricoles) et fonctionnels (taille des exploitations). Au-delà des différenciations nationales et régionales majeures au sein de l’arc alpin (abandon d’exploitations modéré à fort), les exploitations agricoles affrontent les mêmes enjeux en ce qui concerne les transformations des structures agricoles (ex : abandon d’exploitation et augmentation de la taille des exploitations restantes). En comparaison avec la moyenne à l’échelle alpine de l’évolution du nombre d’exploitations et des surfaces agricoles utiles (1980-2000), on peut observer des tendances modérées (Autriche/Suisse/Allemagne), dynamiques (Italie/Slovénie) ou non corrélées (France).<br>The Alpine region registered a substantial abandonment of farms (-40%) between 1980 and 2000. Both Alpine regions with a relatively stable situation (AT, CH) and regions with significant agricultural changes (IT, SI) exist next to each other. The agro-structural change has led to profound changes in operational structures (enlargement of farms, abandonment of utilised agricultural areas, varying shares of socio-economic farm types). This resulted from various cultural (e.g. relatedness to agricultural traditions, identification of the society with agriculture), agro-political (e.g. Common Agricultural Policy/ WTO) and economic (e.g. non-agricultural income possibilities), and operational (e.g. farm-size) driving forces. Next to major national and regional differences within the Alpine Region (e.g. moderate and high farm abandonment), they also face parallels with regard to the change in their agricultural structure (i.e. farm abandonment and increasing farm-size of the remaining farms). Compared to the Alpine-wide average of the changes in the number of farms and the utilised agricultural area (1980-2000), moderate (AT/CH/DE), dynamic (IT/SI), and uncorrelated (FR) were observed

Selected Aspects of Agro-structural Change within the Alps

The Alpine region registered a substantial abandonment of farms (-40%) between 1980 and 2000. Both Alpine regions with a relatively stable situation (AT, CH) and regions with significant agricultural changes (IT, SI) exist next to each other. The agro-structural change has led to profound changes in operational structures (enlargement of farms, abandonment of utilised agricultural areas, varying shares of socio-economic farm types). This resulted from various cultural (e.g. relatedness to agricultural traditions, identification of the society with agriculture), agro-political (e.g. Common Agricultural Policy/ WTO) and economic (e.g. non-agricultural income possibilities), and operational (e.g. farm-size) driving forces. Next to major national and regional differences within the Alpine Region (e.g. moderate and high farm abandonment), they also face parallels with regard to the change in their agricultural structure (i.e. farm abandonment and increasing farm-size of the remaining farms). Compared to the Alpine-wide average of the changes in the number of farms and the utilised agricultural area (1980-2000), moderate (AT/CH/DE), dynamic (IT/SI), and uncorrelated (FR) were observed

The Learning Region: Impact of Social Capital and Weak Ties on Innovation

International audienceTheories that emphasise the role of proximity and tacit knowledge in innovation processes highlight the importance of social interaction and networking for the diffusion of knowledge. A concept that captures the impact of human relations on economic activity is Social Capital. Using factorial analysis with data from the European Values Study we demonstrate empirically the multi-dimensionality of Social Capital. The obtained independent dimensions serve as inputs in a knowledge production function estimated for a sample of European regions. One of our major results is that the impact of Social Capital on regional innovation processes is significant and comparable to the importance of Human Capital. However, not all dimensions of Social Capital exhibit the same explanatory power. The dimension “Associational Activity” represents the strongest driving force for patenting activity. Hence, empirical evidence for the significance of weak ties in innovative processes is given

Regional knowledge spillovers: Fact or artifact?

The explanation of different levels of innovation and their spatial distribution represents the central focus of the analysis. The empirical literature documents the incidence of spatial autocorrelation in patenting activities and interprets them as evidence for knowledge spillovers. Alternatively, the authors propose the spatial pattern of input variables in innovation processes as driving forces of patenting autocorrelation. They analyze 51 Nuts 1 regions in Europe and find that the high degree of spatial autocorrelation exhibited by patent applications can be explained comprehensively by the spatial location of the input factors in the knowledge production function. These are traditional indicators on R&D investments and human capital from Eurostat and proxy variables on social capital from the European Values Study. This finding has important implications for the scope of an autonomous regional innovation policy.