IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agecon/v26y2001i1p25-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic development, institutional change, and the political economy of agricultural protection: An econometric study of Belgium since the 19th century

Author

Listed:
  • Swinnen, Johan F. M.
  • Banerjee, Anurag N.
  • Gorter, Harry de

Abstract

This empirical study uses one hundred years of annual data on eleven agricultural commodities from Belgium to measure the impact of structural changes coinciding with economic development and changes in political institutions on agricultural protection. The analysis shows that changes in agricultural protection are caused by a combination of factors. Governments have increased protection and support to farmers when world market prices for their commodities fell, and vice versa, offsetting market effects on producer incomes. Other economic determinants were the share of the commodities in total consumer expenditures (negative effect) and in total output of the economy (positive effect). With Belgium a small economy, there was no impact of the trade position. Some changes in political institutions have affected agricultural protection. Democratic reforms which induced a significant shift in the political balance towards agricultural interests, such as the introduction of the one- man- one- vote system, led to an increase in agricultural protection. The integration of Belgian agricultural policies in the Common Agricultural Policy in 1968 coincided with an increase in protection, ceteris paribus. Both institutional factors, related to changes in access to and information about the decision- making at the EU level, and structural changes in the Belgian agricultural and food economy may explain this effect.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Swinnen, Johan F. M. & Banerjee, Anurag N. & Gorter, Harry de, 2001. "Economic development, institutional change, and the political economy of agricultural protection: An econometric study of Belgium since the 19th century," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 25-43, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agecon:v:26:y:2001:i:1:p:25-43
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169-5150(00)00097-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lilyan E. Fulginiti & Jason F. Shogren, 1992. "Agricultural Protection in Developing Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(3), pages 795-801.
    2. repec:ucp:ecdecc:v:43:y:1995:i:2:p:401-23 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Johan F. M. Swinnen & Harry De Gorter, 1993. "Why Small Groups And Low Income Sectors Obtain Subsidies: The “Altruistic” Side Of A “Self‐Interested” Government," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 285-293, November.
    4. Beghin, John C & Kherallah, Mylene, 1994. "Political Institutions and International Patterns of Agricultural Protection," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(3), pages 482-489, August.
    5. Adam Przeworski & Fernando Limongi, 1993. "Political Regimes and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 51-69, Summer.
    6. David S. Bullock, 1992. "Objectives and Constraints of Government Policy: The Countercyclicity of Transfers to Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(3), pages 617-629.
    7. Swinnen, Johan F. M. & Gorter, Harry de & Rausser, Gordon C. & Banerjee, Anurag N., 2000. "The political economy of public research investment and commodity policies in agriculture: an empirical study," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 111-122, March.
    8. North,Douglass C., 1991. "Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521397346.
    9. Bruce Gardner, 1983. "Efficient Redistribution through Commodity Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 65(2), pages 225-234.
    10. John C. Beghin & William E. Foster & Mylene Kherallah, 1996. "Institutions And Market Distortions: International Evidence For Tobacco," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1‐4), pages 355-365, January.
    11. Douglass C. North, 1991. "Institutions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 97-112, Winter.
    12. Olson, Mancur, 1985. "Space, Agriculture, And Organization," 1985 Annual Meeting, August 4-7, Ames, Iowa 278590, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Johan F. M. Swinnen, 1994. "A Positive Theory of Agricultural Protection," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(1), pages 1-14.
    14. Harald Witzke, 1986. "Endogenous supranational policy decisions: The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 157-174, January.
    15. Mancur Olson, 1985. "Space, Agriculture, and Organization," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 67(5), pages 928-937.
    16. Gardner, Bruce L, 1987. "Causes of U.S. Farm Commodity Programs," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(2), pages 290-310, April.
    17. Miller, Tracy C., 1991. "Agricultural price policies and political interest group competition," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 489-513.
    18. Swinnen, Jo & van der Zee, Frans A, 1993. "The Political Economy of Agricultural Policies: A Survey," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 20(3), pages 261-290.
    19. Schmitt, Günther, 1984. "Warum die Agrarpolitik ist, wie sie ist, und nicht, wie sie sein sollte," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 33(05).
    20. Von Witzke, Harald, 1990. "Determinants of the U.S. Wheat Producer Support Price: Do Presidential Elections Matter?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 155-165, February.
    21. De Gorter, Harry & Swinnen, Johan, 2002. "Political economy of agricultural policy," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 36, pages 1893-1943, Elsevier.
    22. Swinnen, Jo, 1996. "Endogenous Price and Trade Policy Developments in Central European Agriculture," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 23(2), pages 133-160.
    23. Holmes, James M & Hutton, Patricia A, 1990. "On the Causal Relationship between Government Expenditures and National Income," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(1), pages 87-95, February.
    24. Riethmuller, Paul & Roe, Terry, 1986. "Government intervention in commodity markets: The case of Japanese rice and wheat policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 327-349.
    25. Peltzman, Sam, 1976. "Toward a More General Theory of Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 211-240, August.
    26. Honma, Masayoshi & Hayami, Yujiro, 1986. "Structure of agricultural protection in industrial countries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 115-129, February.
    27. Harry de Gorter & Yacov Tsur, 1991. "Explaining Price Policy Bias in Agriculture: The Calculus of Support-Maximizing Politicians," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(4), pages 1244-1254.
    28. Gardner, Bruce L, 1992. "Changing Economic Perspectives on the Farm Problem," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 62-101, March.
    29. Wyn P. Grant & John T.S. Keeler (ed.), 2000. "Agricultural Policy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 1655.
    30. North,Douglass C., 1991. "Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521394161.
    31. Gary S. Becker, 1983. "A Theory of Competition Among Pressure Groups for Political Influence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(3), pages 371-400.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2008. "The Political Economy of Agricultural Protection: Europe in the 19th and 20th Century," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 43859, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Crommelynck, Anja & Kola, Jukka & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 1998. "Determinants Of Agricultural Protection In Finland (1931-1990)," PRG Working Papers 31878, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance.
    3. Swinnen, Johan F.M., 1997. "The Political Economy of Agricultural Transition," 1997: Economic Transition in Central and East Europe, and the Former Soviet Union: Implications ... Symposium, June 12-14, 1997, Berlin, Germany 50836, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    4. repec:lic:licosd:27911 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. De Gorter, Harry & Swinnen, Jo, 1995. "The Political Economy and Institutional Determinants of Public Policy in Agriculture," 1994 Conference, August 22-29, 1994, Harare, Zimbabwe 183390, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Harry de Gorter & Johan F. M. Swinnen, 1994. "The Economic Polity Of Farm Policy," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 312-326, September.
    7. Fertő, Imre, 1998. "Az agrárpolitika politikai gazdaságtana II. Az agrárpolitikák magyarázata [The political economy of agrarian policy. Part II. Explanation of the agrarian policies]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 297-316.
    8. Thornsbury, Suzanne, 1999. "Political Economy Determinants Of Technical Barriers To U.S. Agricultural Exports," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21499, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Thilo Glebe & Klaus Salhofer, 2007. "EU agri‐environmental programs and the “restaurant table effect”," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(2‐3), pages 211-218, September.
    10. Swinnen, Johan F. M. & Gorter, Harry de & Rausser, Gordon C. & Banerjee, Anurag N., 2000. "The political economy of public research investment and commodity policies in agriculture: an empirical study," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 111-122, March.
    11. Potters, Jan & Sloof, Randolph, 1996. "Interest groups: A survey of empirical models that try to assess their influence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 403-442, November.
    12. Alessandro Olper, 2001. "Determinants of Agricultural Protection: The Role of Democracy and Institutional Setting Alessandro Olper," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 75-92, May.
    13. Clas Eriksson, 2011. "Home bias in preferences and the political economics of agricultural protection," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 92(1), pages 5-23.
    14. Kym Anderson & Gordon Rausser & Johan Swinnen, 2013. "Political Economy of Public Policies: Insights from Distortions to Agricultural and Food Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(2), pages 423-477, June.
    15. Barrett, Christopher B., 1999. "The microeconomics of the developmental paradox: on the political economy of food price policy," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 159-172, March.
    16. Jonathan Brooks, 1996. "Agricultural Policies In Oecd Countries: What Can We Learn From Political Economy Models?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1‐4), pages 366-389, January.
    17. de Gorter, Harry & Tsur, Yacov, 1989. "Explaining Price Policy Bias In Agriculture: A Politician-Voter Interaction Approach," Staff Papers 13388, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    18. von Witzke, Harald & Hausner, Ulrich, 1993. "A Public Choice Analysis Of U.S. Producer Price Support In Wheat And Corn: Implications For Agricultural Trade And Policy," Staff Papers 13475, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    19. John C. Beghin & William E. Foster & Mylene Kherallah, 1996. "Institutions And Market Distortions: International Evidence For Tobacco," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1‐4), pages 355-365, January.
    20. Henning, Christian H.C.A. & Krause, Kim Carolin & Struve, Carsten, 2002. "Institutional Foundation Of Agricultural Protection: The Case Of Eu-Accession And Agricultural Policy In Eastern European Countries," Working Paper Series 24401, University of Kiel, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    21. Eriksson, Clas, 2011. "Home bias in preferences and the political economics of agricultural protection," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement (RAEStud), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 92(1).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agecon:v:26:y:2001:i:1:p:25-43. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/agec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.