Content uploaded by Christian Flury
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Christian Flury on Aug 23, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Market liberalization and the role of direct payments in
Abstract and Figures
The fundamental reform of agricultural policy in 1992 shifted farm support from price and sales guarantees to direct payments that are condition al on the fulfillment of ecological and ethological standards. This article highlights the pillars of the Swiss direct payment system and its incentive structure , outlines the different agricultural policy strategies for Switzerland after the suspension of the WTO Doha Round, and discusses the important role of ex ante policy evaluations that have anticipated and accompanied agricultural policy reforms in Switzerland.
Figures - uploaded by Christian Flury
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Christian Flury
Content may be subject to copyright.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Most tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) around the world are allocated in rather intransparent ways. Yet, according to the fundamental WTO principles, TRQs are supposed to be allocated in a transparent, equitable and non-discriminatory manner. We argue that auctions offer a promising way to achieve these goals, and at the same time enhance the efficiency of the allocation. Moreover, they provide the means to slowly phase out a quota regime in favor of a tariff-only regime. The biggest challenge in this endeavour is to find an auctioning procedure that operates also well in situations otherwise prone to collusive bidding behavior. We draw from experiences made in government debt auctions to come up with a system that would be resistant to collusion.
For the economic evaluation of soil carbon sequestration and GHG mitigation in Swiss agriculture, we developed the Swiss INTegrated AGricultural ALlocation model (S_INTAGRAL). This is a recursive-dynamic linear optimization model which maximizes the aggregate annual income (labor income plus land rents) of Swiss agriculture under consideration of various constraints and dynamic properties of the system. It provides an analytical tool for economic analyses of GHG abatement strategies in the agricultural sector and to assess marginal GHG abatement costs. The model includes the most important activities of Swiss agriculture with regard to revenue, land use, livestock production and GHG emissions. It is divided into three major production zones (plains, hills and mountain area) and consists of the three production modules “livestock”, “grassland” and “cropland” that are integrated through the forage–manure cycle. With this integrated and recursive-dynamic formulation, the model does not have the extreme behavior which is characteristic for linear programming models. It provides an analytical tool for the assessment of future GHG emissions and mitigation costs from an agricultural system perspective.
This paper aims to offer an applicable evaluation framework for assessing sustainable development strategies at the regional level, with a particular view on the treatment of uncertain information. After a survey of various regional sustainable development studies, several methodological issues pertaining to regional sustainability are presented and discussed, which lay the foundation for the central approach in this paper, viz. the use of critical threshold values. Based on a multidimensional indicator system, a systematic multicriteria model is proposed by employing the recently developed and user-friendly flag model. This model is able to take into consideration various relevant classes of (non) compliance with critical threshold values. By means of this model an empirical case study is undertaken for the Songkhla/Hat Yai area in southern Thailand. Three policy scenario's (decentralization, sectoral and regional promotion and environmental protection) are systematically evaluated using a blend of the above-mentioned critical threshold value and the flag approach. It is concluded that in general the decentralization policy is slightly more preferable than the sectoral and regional development scenario and significantly more preferable than the environmental protection scenario for the region concerned. The analytical tools used (a qualitative systems approach, the use of critical threshold values and the flag model) appeared to yield a satisfactory contribution to sustainability assessment, even in case of qualitative information.
Zugl.: Zürich, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2004.
Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) has become a popular method for regional production models. The standard approach estimates cost (or production) functions for each land-use activity separately from each other. This means that the same crop grown under two technologies is treated as if it were two separate crops, which may lead to unsatisfying results, for example, if agri-environmental programs are modeled. We present an extended version of PMP that leads to more plausible results than the standard version in such cases. The extended method is applicable to other problems where differences in the elasticity of substitution between activities are important. Copyright 2003 American Agricultural Economics Association.
The current reform of the EC Agricultural Policy decouples subsidies from production and introduces the new concept of “eco-conditionality” which makes the receipt of subsidies contingent on compliance with a number of environmental standards. this reform, put in place by the Commission, involves a high risk that the cultivation of some Mediterranean products will be abandoned. Their producers will have to meet the challenge of competitiveness and avail themselves of appropriate mechanisms such as codes of good agricultural practices and the application of efficient management systems.
Cross Compliance in the EU and the Proof of Ecological Performance (Ökologischer Leistungsnachweis) in Switzerland -a comparative analysis: Summary, Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture
- H Nitsch
- B Osterburg
Nitsch, H., Osterburg, B., 2005: Cross Compliance in the EU and the Proof of Ecological
Performance (Ökologischer Leistungsnachweis) in Switzerland -a comparative analysis:
Summary, Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, Berne.
Rules of Origin in Free Trade Agreements, Trade Note 4, The World Bank, International Trade Department
- P Brenton
Brenton, P., 2003. Rules of Origin in Free Trade Agreements, Trade Note 4, The World Bank,
International Trade Department, Washington D.C.
Market Access Options in the WTO Doha Round: Impacts on the Swiss Meat Market, ETH Dissertation Nr. 15614, Agrarökonomische Monographien und Sammelwerke
- I Schluep Campo
Schluep Campo, I., 2005. Market Access Options in the WTO Doha Round: Impacts on the
Swiss Meat Market, ETH Dissertation Nr. 15614, Agrarökonomische Monographien und
Sammelwerke, Wirtschaftsverlag Vauk Kiel KG.