Impacts économiques d'une réduction des utilisations agricoles des engrais minéraux en France : une analyse en équilibre général

We evaluate the consequences for the French economy of two policies aimed at reducing agricultural consumption of mineral fertilisers: taxation and utilisation quotas. Both policies correspond to a diminution of 15% in total utilisation of mineral fertilisers. Both appear to have only limited effects on the allocation of land area between crops and on the supply of various types of agricultural produce. Both lead to an increase in market well-being for the French economy (of roughly 1.6 billion 1994 francs). But the policy based on taxation would lead to a decline in agricultural value-added of around 2.5 billion 1994 francs, whereas the policy based on freely tradable quotas would enable it to be maintained at its initial level, albeit with disparities between agricultural sectors. Both policies would make it possible to obtain a major double dividend, i.e. an improvement in private well-being for the French economy and a reduction in pollution.