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Agricultural protection and support in the European Economic Community, 1962–92: rent-seeking or welfare policy?

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  • Mark Spoerer

Abstract

The European Economic Community's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has found a lot of scholarly attention. While economists stress the irrationality of the CAP and explain its striking persistence by rent-seeking behavior, a prominent interpretation among historians is that the CAP should be interpreted as welfare policy for farm households. I subject the latter hypothesis for the period 1962–92 to an empirical test and find that the combined benefits from subsidies, import protection, and political prices gave much more benefits to European agriculture than any welfare policy could have achieved. If one still wants to find arguments legitimizing the political rents (or part of them) that agriculture received through the CAP one has to consider non-economic arguments (food security in the Cold War) or external effects (protection of the environment or landscape).

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Spoerer, 2015. "Agricultural protection and support in the European Economic Community, 1962–92: rent-seeking or welfare policy?," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(2), pages 195-214.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:19:y:2015:i:2:p:195-214.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hev001
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    Cited by:

    1. Vicente Pinilla, 2018. "Agriocliometrics and Agricultural Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1803, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    2. Hasan Arisoy, 2020. "Impact of agricultural supports on competitiveness of agricultural products," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 66(6), pages 286-295.
    3. Antonio Alberto Rodríguez Sousa & Carlos Parra-López & Samir Sayadi-Gmada & Jesús M. Barandica & Alejandro J. Rescia, 2020. "Evaluation of the Objectives and Concerns of Farmers to Apply Different Agricultural Managements in Olive Groves: The Case of Estepa Region (Southern, Spain)," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-21, October.
    4. Kuhmonen, Tuomas, 2018. "Systems view of future of wicked problems to be addressed by the Common Agricultural Policy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 683-695.

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