Agricultural Economics, 2018 (vol. 64), issue 3
Towards measuring political rents in agriculture: case studies of different agrarian structures in the EUOriginal Paper
Bazyli CZYZEWSKI, Anna MATUSZCZAK
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2018, 64(3):101-114 | DOI: 10.17221/286/2016-AGRICECON 
It is generally believed that the subsidisation of agriculture serves as a payment of political rents to farmers. Here, we attempt to show that characterisation of the entire amount of subsidies as "political rent" is unjustified in the light of the definition of political rent as formulated in the rent-seeking theory. Political rents in agriculture diverge from the definition, since the resources devoted to rent-seeking partly serve to produce public goods - that part cannot be regarded as wastage. Furthermore, if market imperfections cause rents to be captured by other entities (the treadmill theory), then it is even more true that these benefits...
Rural development policy in Italy: the impact of growth-oriented measures on farm outcomesOriginal Paper
Cristina SALVIONI, Dario SCIULLI
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2018, 64(3):115-130 | DOI: 10.17221/73/2016-AGRICECON
Growth-oriented measures of the EU's rural development policy have been promoted to meet the aims of the Lisbon strategy. This article assesses their impact on performance-related variables of farms. We apply a conditional difference-in-differences approach to the 2003-2007 Italian FADN survey. No evidence emerges to indicate any impact of the measures on farm income, employment or partial productivities. Conversely, participation in the selected policy schemes resulted initially in a productivity increase and, subsequently, in enhanced farm performance. We argue that participation in the growth-oriented measures gave rise to a process of capital deepening...
Securitization in crop insurance with soil classificationOriginal Paper
Daniel KOMADEL, Ludovit PINDA, Katarina SAKALOVA
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2018, 64(3):131-140 | DOI: 10.17221/156/2016-AGRICECON
Securitization is an emerging alternative to transfer of insurance risk, especially in cases exceeding the capacity of reinsurance, thus extending the insurability of risks. The original subjects of securitization are the risks emerging from the aftermaths of natural disasters. The range of securitized risks has broaden rapidly over the past decade. The reason of securitization's feasibility in transfer of agricultural risks is the spatial correlation of harvests among the producers that can result in fatal loss suffered simultaneously by many producers and subsequent producer's insolvency to settle the insurance claims. The paper proposes the reduction...
Measuring Japan's technical barriers to trade based on the China's fruit exports to JapanOriginal Paper
Qianhui GAO, Shoichi ITO, Hisamitsu SAITO
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2018, 64(3):141-147 | DOI: 10.17221/235/2016-AGRICECON
The study analyses the influence of technical barriers to agricultural trade carried out by Japan on China's fruit exports. In order to measure the tariff equivalents of technical barriers, the price wedge method is utilized. Based on the utility function specified in the study, the constructed model is adopted to evaluate the elasticity of substitution between the imported fruits and Japanese domestic fruits, and the consumers' preference parameters for different kinds of fruits. Sample data are chosen from the beginning of 2002 to the end of 2015. Based on the estimated preference parameters and elasticity of substitution, the results show that Japanese...