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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AGRICULTURAL POLICY REFORM IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND AUSTRALIA
Author(s) -
MacLaren D.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9552.1992.tb00236.x
Subject(s) - pace , redistribution (election) , economics , agriculture , redistribution of income and wealth , common agricultural policy , politics , transparency (behavior) , agricultural policy , position (finance) , distribution (mathematics) , economic policy , public economics , political science , economic growth , european union , finance , ecology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , geodesy , law , unemployment , biology , geography
A political‐economy framework is used to explore the differences which have been observed in the pace of agricultural policy reform in the European Community and in Australia. In this framework, policy‐making is endogenous in comparison with its exogenous position in applied welfare economics. It is shown that the institutional aspects of the policy process, the power of the farming lobby, and the economic philosophy of governments are important determinants of the extent of income re‐distribution and of moves towards the use of more efficient instruments of income redistribution. It is argued that the degree to which politicians are captured by the farming lobby, and the extent to which they support transparency in policy‐making, determine whether fundamental reforms are feasible. From this analysis, it is concluded that the pace of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy will continue to lag behind that in Australia.