IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/erevae/v47y2020i4p1502-1530..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decentralisation of agri-environmental policy design

Author

Listed:
  • François Bareille
  • Matteo Zavalloni

Abstract

We theoretically examine the gains of the decentralisation of agri-environmental policy design. We consider a model with homogeneous regions and joint production of local and global public goods from agriculture. Assuming that governments are characterised by different agency costs and knowledge of the PG values, we evaluate whether decentralisation is a suitable strategy to improve the efficiency of agri-environmental payments. We find that partial decentralisation always improves the welfare. We apply our theoretical model to the case of abandoned wetlands in Brittany. We find that national governments are the most suitable to design agri-environmental policies. Our results contribute to reflections on future Common Agricultural Policy.

Suggested Citation

  • François Bareille & Matteo Zavalloni, 2020. "Decentralisation of agri-environmental policy design," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 47(4), pages 1502-1530.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:erevae:v:47:y:2020:i:4:p:1502-1530.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/erae/jbz049
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    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. Mikołaj Czajkowski & Wiktor Budziński & Danny Campbell & Marek Giergiczny & Nick Hanley, 2017. "Spatial Heterogeneity of Willingness to Pay for Forest Management," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(3), pages 705-727, November.
    2. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 416-416.
    3. Nils Droste & Claudia Becker & Irene Ring & Rui Santos, 2018. "Decentralization Effects in Ecological Fiscal Transfers: A Bayesian Structural Time Series Analysis for Portugal," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(4), pages 1027-1051, December.
    4. Antonio Estache & J. Cremer & Paul Seabright, 1996. "Decentralizing Public Services: What can we learn from the Theory of the Firm?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/44016, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Katherine Falconer & Pierre Dupraz & Martin Whitby, 2001. "An Investigation of Policy Administrative Costs Using Panel Data for the English Environmentally Sensitive Areas," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 83-103, January.
    6. Volker Beckmann & Jorg Eggers & Evy Mettepenningen, 2009. "Deciding how to decide on agri-environmental schemes: the political economy of subsidiarity, decentralisation and participation in the European Union," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 689-716.
    7. Kumar, Surender & Managi, Shunsuke, 2009. "Compensation for environmental services and intergovernmental fiscal transfers: The case of India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 3052-3059, October.
    8. Evy Mettepenningen & Ann Verspecht & Guido Van Huylenbroeck, 2009. "Measuring private transaction costs of European agri-environmental schemes," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 649-667.
    9. Ivana Logar & Roy Brouwer, 2018. "Substitution Effects and Spatial Preference Heterogeneity in Single- and Multiple-Site Choice Experiments," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(2), pages 302-322.
    10. Barrett, Scott, 1994. "Self-Enforcing International Environmental Agreements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 878-894, Supplemen.
    11. Oates, Wallace E., 2001. "A Reconsideration of Environmental Federalism," Discussion Papers 10460, Resources for the Future.
    12. Bård Harstad & Torben K. Mideksa, 2017. "Conservation Contracts and Political Regimes," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 84(4), pages 1708-1734.
    13. Olson, Mancur, Jr, 1969. "The Principle of "Fiscal Equivalence": The Division of Responsibilities among Different Levels of Government," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 479-487, May.
    14. Gilbert, Guy & Picard, Pierre, 1996. "Incentives and optimal size of local jurisdictions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 19-41, January.
    15. Uwe Latacz-Lohmann & Carel Van der Hamsvoort, 1997. "Auctioning Conservation Contracts: A Theoretical Analysis and an Application," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 407-418.
    16. Wallace E. Oates, 1999. "An Essay on Fiscal Federalism," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1120-1149, September.
    17. Mettepenningen, E. & Beckmann, V. & Eggers, J., 2011. "Public transaction costs of agri-environmental schemes and their determinants--Analysing stakeholders' involvement and perceptions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 641-650, February.
    18. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 2003. "Centralized versus decentralized provision of local public goods: a political economy approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 2611-2637, December.
    19. Lessmann, Christian & Markwardt, Gunther, 2010. "One Size Fits All? Decentralization, Corruption, and the Monitoring of Bureaucrats," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 631-646, April.
    20. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:22:y:2007:i::p:385-430 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Robert Johnston & Mahesh Ramachandran, 2014. "Modeling Spatial Patchiness and Hot Spots in Stated Preference Willingness to Pay," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 59(3), pages 363-387, November.
    22. Pate, Jennifer & Loomis, John, 1997. "The effect of distance on willingness to pay values: a case study of wetlands and salmon in California," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 199-207, March.
    23. Jean CavailhËs & Pierre Wavresky, 2003. "Urban influences on periurban farmland prices," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 333-357, September.
    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. Zhigao Luo & Xinyun Hu & Mingming Li & Jirui Yang & Chuanhao Wen, 2019. "Centralization or Decentralization of Environmental Governance—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 11(24), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Thiel, Andreas & Schleyer, Christian & Hinkel, Jochen & Schlüter, Maja & Hagedorn, Konrad & Bisaro, Sandy & Bobojonov, Ihtiyor & Hamidov, Ahmad, 2016. "Transferring Williamson's discriminating alignment to the analysis of environmental governance of social-ecological interdependence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 159-168.
    3. Fabio Fiorillo & Agnese Sacchi, 2012. "On Local Environmental Protection," EuroEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 5(31), pages 28-42, December.
    4. Breuille, Marie-Laure & Gary-Bobo, Robert J., 2007. "Sharing budgetary austerity under free mobility and asymmetric information: An optimal regulation approach to fiscal federalism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 1177-1196, June.
    5. Bareille, F. & Zavalloni, M., 2018. "Agri-environmental policy decentralization: theoretical analysis and application to abandoned wetland in Brittany," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277109, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Robert P. Inman, 2008. "Federalism's Values and the Value of Federalism," NBER Working Papers 13735, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Ben Lockwood, 2008. "Voting, Lobbying, And The Decentralization Theorem," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 416-431, November.
    8. Baicker, Katherine & Clemens, Jeffrey & Singhal, Monica, 2012. "The rise of the states: U.S. fiscal decentralization in the postwar period," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1079-1091.
    9. Melle Marco C., 2014. "Eine europäische Bemessungsgrundlage für die Körperschaftsteuer? Konzeption und ordnungsökonomische Analyse / Conceptual design and constitutional economics analysis of a European tax base for corpora," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 65(1), pages 133-156, January.
    10. Bickenbach, Frank, 1999. "Regulierung und Wettbewerb im Bereich der Netzinfrastrukturen: Begründung, Regeln und Institutionen," Kiel Working Papers 910, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).
    11. Franz Sinabell & Hans Pitlik & Erwin Schmid, 2009. "Zukunft der Finanzierung und Ausgaben der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 36165.
    12. Wallace E. Oates, 2006. "On the Theory and Practice of Fiscal Decentralization," Working Papers 2006-05, University of Kentucky, Institute for Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations.
    13. Lorz, Oliver & Willmann, Gerald, 2005. "On the endogenous allocation of decision powers in federal structures," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 242-257, March.
    14. Prakash Chandra Jha, 2015. "Theory of fiscal federalism: an analysis," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 17(2), pages 241-259, October.
    15. Oto-Peralías, Daniel & Romero-Ávila, Diego & Usabiaga, Carlos, 2013. "Does fiscal decentralization mitigate the adverse effects of corruption on public deficits?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 205-231.
    16. Ligthart, Jenny E. & van Oudheusden, Peter, 2015. "In government we trust: The role of fiscal decentralization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 116-128.
    17. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, "undated". "The Role of Direct Democracy and Federalism in Local Power," IEW - Working Papers 209, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    18. Miriam Hortas-Rico & Vicente Rios, 2018. "Is there an Optimal Size for Local Governments? A Spatial Panel Data Model Approach," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1807, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    19. Alberto Ciancio & Camilo García-Jimeno, 2019. "The Political Economy of Immigration Enforcement: Conflict and Cooperation under Federalism," NBER Working Papers 25766, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Hindriks, Jean & Lockwood, Ben, 2009. "Decentralization and electoral accountability: Incentives, separation and voter welfare," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 385-397, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Common Agricultural Policy reform; environmental federalism; public goods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

    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:oup:erevae:v:47:y:2020:i:4:p:1502-1530.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Oxford University Press) The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Oxford University Press to update the entry or send us the correct email address or (Christopher F. Baum). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/eaaeeea.html .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.