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This paper analyses the factors explaining moderate wage growth in the EU in the post-crisis period. It investigates whether the historical relationship between wages and unemployment has weakened and whether composition effects moderated wage growth. The results suggest a negative answer to both questions. Wages in the EU have not stopped reacting to unemployment developments after the 2008 crisis. Wage growth was moderate because of low inflation, low trend productivity growth, and high unemployment. There are only a few Member States with a significant 'shortfall' in wage growth, including both low and high-unemployment countries. Migration, ageing and collective bargaining institutions appear to have mostly transitory effects on wage growth. During the last decade, changes in the composition of the workforce had a small but positive impact on wage growth in most of the EU, especially due to increasing average age and education level. In some Member States such as Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal, composition effects were a main driver of wage growth.

This paper analyses some macroeconomic implications of the statutory minimum wage in the member states of the European Union and assesses how its institutional design influences these outcomes. First, the paper looks at the institutional dimensions of statutory minimum wage setting. On the basis of this information, an indicator of institutional stringency is built to characterise the degree of predictability of minimum wage setting. Second, it explores the impact of minimum wage changes on employment, prices, consumption, and poverty.

status: published

This study is part of the research of the Belgian Policy Research Group on Financing for Development (BeFinD). It provides technical support for the Belgian participation to international climate governance bodies, such as the GCF, where Belgium is a Board member since the end of 2014. The specific objectives of the study are to provide a comprehensive overview of the financial instruments that a donor can use to make contributions to the GCF taking into account the aim of the GCF and the institutional context (“upstream financial instruments”), the financial instruments that the Board of the GCF and national and regional intermediaries can use to mobilize private finance (“instream financial instruments”) and the financial instruments that the Board of the GCF can use to finance projects (“downstream financial instruments”). nrpages: 50 status: published

This study is part of the activities of the Belgian Policy Research Group on Financing for Development 1. In particular, this study provides analysis to help DGD to identify potential pathways to improve its current international reporting practices on climate-related development finance at the federal and regional governance level. This paper presents a conceptual framework to analyze the reporting and mapping of climate finance. In particular, the paper discusses the most relevant concepts and definitions with respect to climate-related development finance. In addition, it presents a comprehensive overview of the most important methodologies used to report and map climate finance, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each methodology. nrpages: 54 status: published

status: published

Changes in global food prices have affected EU producers and consumers and have triggered policy reactions through the EU’s political process. In particular, the EU and member states responded by social policies to protect their consumers, attempts to regulate ‘speculation’ on agricultural commodities, revisions of sustainability requirements for biofuels, international development and food aid, and changes in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). With the exception of biofuel regulations, policy changes have been relatively limited and the effects on global food markets minor. The reasons are that the impact of global price volatility on EU consumers has been limited and the link between the CAP and the world market is much smaller than it was twenty years ago.

Land regulations have a major impact on economic development, especially in agrarian societies, and they continue to affect the efficiency of the rural economy when economies further develop. This paper aims to give an overview of the regulations that are present in the land market in the EU member states and builds a land regulatory index to quantify the extent of regulations of agricultural land sales and rental markets. ispartof: LICOS - Discussion paper series 354/2014 pages:1-31 status: published

Land regulations have a major impact on economic development, especially in agrarian societies, and they continue to affect the efficiency of the rural economy when economies further develop. This paper aims to give an overview of the regulations that are present in the land market in the EU member states and builds a land regulatory index to quantify the extent of regulations of agricultural land sales and rental markets.

The creation of optimal land institutions attracted renewed attention in the 1990s because of its central role in the transition process in former Communist countries in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and more recently because of largescale land investments in developing countries. This paper documents the existence of large variations in land institutions (markets and regulation) using current and historical data from Western and Eastern Europe. It then offers explanations for these differences and draws implications for the role and optimality of land institutions in development (with special reference to the current debate on large scale land acquisitions).

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Direct payments (DP) in the EU-27 were introduced as the central element of the 2003 CAP reform and are implemented in different models. The 2013 CAP reform will change both the implementation of the DP and their budget. This study assesses the possible effects of the DP reform proposals on EU land markets and the extent to which the DP are capitalized in land prices., JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Economy

Changes in global food prices have affected EU producers and consumers and have triggered policy reactions through the EU's political process. In particular, the EU and member states responded by social policies to protect their consumers, attempts to regulate 'speculation' on agricultural commodities, revisions of sustainability requirements for biofuels, international development and food aid, and changes in the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). With the exception of biofuel regulations, policy changes have been relatively limited and the effects on global food markets minor. The reasons are that the impact of global price volatility on EU consumers has been limited and the link between the CAP and the world market is much smaller than it was twenty years ago.

In this paper, we describe the regulations governing the rental markets for agricultural land in selected EU member states and candidate countries. The analysis focuses on various kinds of regulations and institutions connected with the land rental market, including price, tenancy duration, quantity and other regulations, as well as transaction costs. The diverse government regulations on price restrictions and tenancy duration are analysed, along with the social norms observed for rental payments and contracts. The paper also examines the type and registration of contracts, the contract enforcement rules, the regulations on the inheritability of contracts and the pre-emptive right of tenants to buy the land.

This paper describes recent developments in sales markets of agricultural land in selected member states of the European Union and its candidate countries. Analysis focuses on the importance of the sales market for agricultural land, the average size of transacted plots, and the evolution and magnitude of the land sales prices. The share of agricultural land sold on the market is relatively stable in most of the old member states, with the exception of Finland, the Netherlands and the UK, where a more dynamic market is observed. For the new member states, the sales market for agricultural land is strongly affected by public sales under the ongoing land privatisation programmes, while strong variation prevails in the private sales market. Substantial differences are also observed in both the average size of the transacted plots and the sales prices. For the latter, price regulations partially explain the heterogeneity in the evolution of sales prices.

This paper analyses the main institutional factors affecting the rental and sales markets for agricultural land. Particular attention is paid to the effects of the common agricultural policy on land markets, and more specifically the underlying mechanism through which agricultural subsidies are capitalised into land values and farmland rents. This paper also provides a broad overview of the empirical studies that estimate the impact of agricultural support policies on land rents and land prices. Various other fundamental factors that affect agricultural land markets are discussed, such as land market institutions and regulations, transaction costs, credit market constraints and levels of profitability, the legal means of contract enforcement and land use alternatives.

All agricultural markets are subjected to institutional regulations that – in one way or another –affect the functioning of these markets, and this is no different for the agricultural land market in the EU. In this paper, we describe the existing regulations in the sales markets for agricultural land in selected EU member states and candidate countries. The analysis focuses on three types of sales market regulations and institutions: quantity regulations, price regulations and transaction costs. The differences in the regulatory framework between land acquisition and ownership by domestic and foreign investors are analysed, as well as the taxes associated with land sales and ownership, zoning regulations and market imperfections.

In this paper, we describe recent developments in the rental market for agricultural land in selected EU member states and candidate countries. The analysis focuses on the importance of the rental market as well as on the evolution of rental prices. It appears that the share of rented land in the total utilised agricultural area varies considerably among member states. In the old member states, the share of rented land ranges between 18% in Ireland and 74% in France, while in the new member states (NMS) it ranges from 17% in Romania to 89% in Slovakia. For the former, different strategies to provide tenure security to tenants can explain differences in the importance of rental markets. Changes in the significance of land rental have also reflected changes in institutions and in economic and political conditions. In the NMS, diverse approaches to land reform have resulted in assorted ownership structures and hence in differences in the share of rented land. Regarding rental prices, governments impose price restrictions on agricultural land rents in some countries, such that large divergences are observed in rental prices between and within member states.

This Factor Markets Working Paper analyses the impact of increasing direct payments on land rents in six new EU member states in which agricultural subsidies largely increased as a result of their EU accession. The authors find that up to 25 eurocents per additional euro of direct payments is capitalised in land rents. In addition, the results show that capitalisation of direct payments is higher in more credit constrained markets, while capitalisation of direct payments is lower in countries where more land is used by corporate farms.

As recently as a century ago, one out of two people in Europe was employed in the agricultural sector. Today agriculture represents only a small fraction of total employment in most EU member states. What makes this decline in agricultural employment even more striking is that this evolution has occurred despite substantial EU subsidies to support farmers’ income. Given the apparent ineffectiveness of government support in keeping agricultural employment steady, it is worth considering which farming activities are likely to be successful in the economy of the 21st century. We argue in this paper that a potential growth path for European agriculture is the «experience economy» in which consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products and services that provide additional intangible ‘experiences’. We discuss the growth potential of the «experience economy» in the agricultural sector and conclude that it is worthwhile to consider the experience economy as a pathway for future farm growth.

As recently as a century ago, one out of two people in Europe was employed in the agricultural sector. Today agriculture represents only a small fraction of total employment in most EU member states. What makes this decline in agricultural employment even more striking is that this evolution has occurred despite substantial EU subsidies to support firmers' income. Given the apparent ineffectiveness of government support in keeping agricultural employment steady, it is worth considering which firming activities are likely to be successful in the economy of the 21st century. We argue in this paper that a potential growth path for European agriculture is the ?experience economy? in which consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products and services that provide additional intangible ?experiences?. We discuss the growth potential of the ?experience economy? in the agricultural sector and conclude that it is worthwhile to consider the experience economy as a pathway for future firm growth.

Like all markets in the former communist countries, the Eastern European beer market has been strongly affected by the economic reforms in the beginning of the 1990s. In the first years after reforms, there was a substantial decline in the production of barley, malt and beer. However, the brewery sector soon attracted interest from foreign investors, who faced problems in sourcing sufficient high quality malt in order to produce high quality beer. Therefore, they reintroduced vertical coordination in the supply chain to obtain malt and barley that consistently met their quality requirements. The associated change in beer quality has been one of the drivers behind the spectacular growth of beer consumption in several Eastern European countries. Most remarkable was the growth in the Russian beer market, where beer consumption more than quadrupled over the course of a decade. In this paper, we describe and analyze the dramatic restructuring of the beer industry and the changes in the industrial organization of its supply chain over the past two decades. In addition, we document how the drastic improvement in the quality of beer has been an important driver behind rapid growth in beer consumption in Russia. In den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten hat in der Bierindustrie in Osteuropa eine dramatische Umstrukturierung stattgefunden. Die Wirtschaftsreformen in den frühen 1990ern führten zu einer Abnahme der Produktion von Gerste, Malz und Bier. Ausländische Investoren, die Schwierigkeiten hatten, genügend hochwertige Gerste und Malz zu finden, führten zur Sicherung der Qualität vertikale Koordinationsmaßnahmen ein. Die daraus resultierende Steigerung der Bierqualität war eine der Hauptursachen für das spektakuläre Wachstum des Bierkonsums in vielen osteuropäischen Ländern und insbesondere in Russland.

Agricultural employment in industrialized countries has been steadily decreasing despite important levels of farm subsidies. In this paper we provide a new explanation for this puzzle, namely the positive impact of subsidies on the education level of farmers’ children. If farmers are credit constrained, they may underinvest in their children’s education. By increasing farmers’ incomes, subsidies increase investment in education. If more educated children are less willing to become farmers, in the long term subsidies may lead to a reduction of labor supply in the agricultural sector. We provide both theoretical and empirical evidence supporting this argument. Keywords

Since the accession of the eight Central and Eastern European countries, farmers in these countries started to receive substantial agricultural subsidies. Agricultural subsidies alter farmer production incentives and thus factor demand and factor prices. Hence, agricultural support has an impact on land rents. This paper analyses the impact of the introduction of direct payments on land rents in the new member states and correlates econometrically land rental price data with support measures while controlling for other effects. The impact of direct payments on land rents is not only found to be statistically significant, but also economically important as 15% of the direct payments are capitalized in land rents in the new member states.

Agricultural employment in industrialized countries has been steadily decreasing despite important levels of farm subsidies. We argue that one explanation to this puzzle is the positive impact of subsidies on the education levels of farmers’ children. If farmers are credit constrained, they may underinvest in their children’s education. By increasing farmers’ revenues, subsidies increase investment in education. If more educated children are less willing to become farmers, one long term effect of subsidies is to reduce labor supply in the agricultural sector. We provide a theoretical model and some empirical evidence supporting this argument.

ispartof: Structural change in agriculture and rural livelihoods: policy implications for the new member states of the European Union pages:84-107 edition:61 ispartof: pages:84-107 edition:61 edition: 61 status: published

ispartof: FAO Working paper series nrpages: 56 status: published

ispartof: FAO Investment Centre/EBRD Cooperation Programme, Report Series issue:16 status: published

The transition of a centrally planned to a more market economy provides a natural Experiment on the role of institutions and exchange in economic growth. This paper uses a unique dataset based on a survey of 305 dairy producing and supplying households in Bulgaria to analyze the impact of late payments for delivered products and farm assistance programs. The results of the dynamic panel analysis indicate that late payments have a negative influence on farm growth, while contracting with interlinked farm assistance programs, had a positive effect on farm growth.

ispartof: Working paper pages:1-50 status: published

ispartof: Working paper for FAO 27th ERC Ministerial Roundtable, May 2010, Yerevan, Armenia pages:1-39 status: published

ispartof: LICOS - Discussion paper series 268/210 pages:1-31 status: published

ispartof: The Shifting Patterns of Agricultural Production and Productivity Worldwide pages:279-313 ispartof: pages:279-313 status: published