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After the war with Iraq which ended in 1988, Iran implemented several agricultural support policies based on Five-Year National Development Plans. The main objective of these plans in the agriculture sector was to make the agricultural economy more market-oriented and to encourage sustainable agriculture. This paper investigates the extent to which Iran's government has been able to achieve this objective in the case of wheat. For this purpose, Producer Support Estimate (PSE) and Consumer Support Estimate (CSE) indicators for Iranian wheat are calculated and discussed. Generally, producers’ and consumers’ support is achieved chiefly by distorting market prices. As will be shown, from 1989 to 2006, the PSE increased about 20 times (in real prices), while the level of production increased 1.69 times. However, the PSE had no significant causal relationship with either wheat yield or its area under cultivation. With respect to consumers’ support, this was found to be positive for Iranian wheat, a result that is uncommon for most developed and developing countries. Recent agricultural policies in Iran do not appear to encourage international competitiveness for wheat and are making the wheat economy more dependent on support prices. We suggest that policy makers reconsider the method of subsidization and the pricing system, at least in the case of wheat. JEL:Q18

Most countries provide some level of support to their agricultural sectors. Because support can affect producers and consumers in other countries, a number of systems have been developed to measure agricultural support levels and classify types of support in ways that facilitate comparing them across countries. The WTO and OECD employ similar classification systems, generally addressing the same question and measuring the same programs. However, results can be surprisingly and fundamentally different, rendering comparisons inappropriate, meaningless, or even wrong. Careful attention to the sources of difference can prevent potential misunderstandings and misleading uses.

Macedonia, as a candidate country to the EU and a member of the WTO is in need of a comprehensive, transparent, and internationally comparable assessment of the support to agriculture in the country. OECD that has been measuring support to agriculture on a yearly basis, in its member countries as well as some other countries since the mid-1980s offers a good tool for such a task. The method is known for its most important indicator, the Producer Support Estimate (PSE). Using this method, data on Macedonian agricultural policy measures, in place – partly or entirely - for the period 1999 to 2004, have been gathered and categorized in order to arrive at an estimate of the level of support. This report presents the main findings of this assessment.

As a candidate country to the EU and a member of the WTO there is a need for a comprehensive, transparent and internationally comparable assessment of the support to agriculture in Macedonia. OECD that has been measuring support to agriculture on a yearly basis, in its member countries as well as some other countries since the mid-1980s, offers a good tool for such a task. The method is known for its most important indicator, the Producer Support Estimate (PSE). Using this method, data on Macedonian agricultural policy measures, in place – partly or entirely - for the period 1999 to 2004, have been gathered and categorized in order to arrive at an estimate of the level of support.

Depending on the type of policy measure to assist agriculture, support levels can differ over time and across regions. This paper assesses the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms during the 1990s on the fluctuation and distribution of gross transfers to producers. The empirical analysis of instability is based on the index proposed by Cuddy and Della Valle, which corrects for underlying trends in the time series. Results indicate that CAP transfers have be-come more stable by moving from market price support to direct area and head-age payments. To reveal territorial impacts of the adjustments in EU agricultural policy a regionalised concept of producer support estimates (PSEs) is adopted. For the German federal states, significant differences in CAP support levels are observed. Exploring the distributional dynamics, the findings show that those disparities across regions have increased throughout the period under study.

Depending on the type of policy measure to assist agriculture, support levels can differ over time and across regions. This paper assesses the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms during the 1990s on the fluctuation and distribution of gross transfers to producers. The empirical analysis of instability is based on the index proposed by Cuddy and Della Valle, which corrects for underlying trends in the time series. Results indicate that CAP transfers have be-come more stable by moving from market price support to direct area and head-age payments. To reveal territorial impacts of the adjustments in EU agricultural policy a regionalised concept of producer support estimates (PSEs) is adopted. For the German federal states, significant differences in CAP support levels are observed. Exploring the distributional dynamics, the findings show that those disparities across regions have increased throughout the period under study.

This paper quantifies the effects of EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the instability of domestic farmers' revenues during the period 1986 to 2004. Comparing explicitly the situations with and without policy shows that CAP transfers have lowered the variability of revenues for major commodities through time. The decomposition of agricultural support allows to reveal the impacts of single instruments on instability and indicates that arable area and beef headage payments, introduced in the 1990s, tend to stabilise domestic farmers' revenues. With market price support, however, farmers' revenues are more stable.

Das im Rahmen des Beitrags verfolgte Untersuchungsziel besteht darin, im Sinne einer Mit/Ohne-Analyse zu überprüfen, in welchem Maße die Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik innerhalb des Bundeslandes Hessen eine Verringerung der Instabilität der landwirtschaftlichen Erzeugereinnahmen zur Folge hat. Unterschieden wird hierbei zwischen drei verschiedenen Typen von Erzeugerregionen, die sich durch unterschiedliche landwirtschaftliche Standorteigenschaften auszeichnen. Den Untersuchungsergebnissen zufolge gingen innerhalb des Zeitraums 1986 bis 2002 von der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik erhebliche Stabilisierungseffekte auf die Einnahmen der hessischen Landwirte aus. Dies trifft vornehmlich auf die naturräumlich begünstigten Erzeugerregionen zu, während die Landwirtschaft in den naturräumlich weniger begünstigten Regionen nur in verhältnismäßig geringem Maße von den Stabilisierungswirkungen der Agrarpolitik tangiert wurde.

Das im Rahmen des Beitrags verfolgte Untersuchungsziel besteht darin, im Sinne einer Mit/Ohne-Analyse zu überprüfen, in welchem Maße die Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik innerhalb des Bundeslandes Hessen eine Verringerung der Instabilität der landwirtschaftlichen Erzeugereinnahmen zur Folge hat. Unterschieden wird hierbei zwischen drei verschiedenen Typen von Erzeugerregionen, die sich durch unterschiedliche landwirtschaftliche Standorteigenschaften auszeichnen. Den Untersuchungsergebnissen zufolge gingen innerhalb des Zeitraums 1986 bis 2002 von der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik erhebliche Stabilisierungseffekte auf die Einnahmen der hessischen Landwirte aus. Dies trifft vornehmlich auf die naturräumlich begünstigten Erzeugerregionen zu, während die Landwirtschaft in den naturräumlich weniger begünstigten Regionen nur in verhältnismäßig geringem Maße von den Stabilisierungswirkungen der Agrarpolitik tangiert wurde.

Das wesentliche Ziel der hier vorgestellten Untersuchung ist eine theoretische und empirische Erklärung des Niveaus der Agrarförderung in Industrieländern und Schwellenländern. Dies erfolgt zum Ersten mittels eines theoretischen Zwei-Sektoren-Politikmodells, das den Einfluss unterschiedlicher Interessengruppen auf das Entscheidungsverhalten der Agrarpolitiker aufzeigt. Zum Zweiten werden anhand empirischer Regressionsmodelle maßgebliche Determinanten für den Umfang der Agrarprotektion innerhalb unterschiedlicher Länder aufgezeigt. Dies geschieht anhand von Länder-Querschnittsmodellen, die auf Daten aus ausgewählten OECD-Staaten basieren. Aus den Regressionsergebnissen wird deutlich, dass zahlreiche agrarökonomische bzw. gesamtwirtschaftliche Variablen einen erheblichen Einfluss auf die Agrarpolitik ausüben. Anzuführen sind hier beispielsweise der Anteil der Landwirtschaft an den Erwerbstätigen, der Verstädterungsgrad oder die Außenhandelsstruktur eins Landes. The main topic of the paper is a theoretical and an empirical explanation of the level of agricultural protection in industrialized countries and middle-income countries. Concerning this, a theoretical two-sector policy model is explained which illustrates the influence from different lobby groups on decision-making of politicians. Additionally, empirical regression models are presented in order to identify political and economic determinants of the level of agricultural protection in a country. These models are based on a cross-section of several OECD countries. Apparently, several exogenous variables have an impact on the amount of support transfers to the agricultural sector, such as the structure of exports and imports, the level of urbanisation and the proportion of agricultural employees in the total number of employees.