The study examines some of the economic consequences of the Common Agricultural Policy. It does so from a global view; the intention being to exircise economic theory within a recognisable framework. A these which emerged wes one of unresolved conflict between various interest groups. The manipulation of farm prices has an impact upon the economic system, and this has been an object of study. Because produce prices determine the fortunes of some individuals in relation to others there are conflicts of interest; for eile the triangle of producers, consumers and taxpayers. But the advantages gained by producers will be limited by the elasticities of factor supply to the farm sector without limit to the costs imposed upon society, because of the 'open-ended' nature of the policy. Equally producers find that a common met of produce prices cannot meet all the stated objectives of farm policy and consequently conflicts follow within the farm vector. And more interesting conflicts flow for an economic union in which the taxation unit does not correspond to the political unit. There is taxation without representation in that consumers pay inflated prices to foreign farmers. Other issues which arose included the location of production and the determination of a foreign trade policy, both of which involve the advantages to be gained by the nation as against that of the larger grouping. A serious conflict is that caused by the interplay of exchange rate variations and common intervention prices, because then the farm policy has a direct impact upon national macro-economic policy. It would sees that the present farm policy must be modified if it in not to prejudge the question of greater or lesser flexibility in national exchange rate regimes.

The complicated world of fresh fruits and vegetables commerce has inspired me to proceed with this project. The main topic of this research is the production cost of tomato and potato which are the highest- in consumption -vegetables in the Greek market. The study is focused on Greek production versus rest countries around it (European and non European countries) which export these products under specific circumstances. By stating European countries, it is implied that the countries are laid geographically in European continent and they are included in the European Monetary Union. In non European countries there are either countries that belong geographically to Europe but they are not included in the European Monetary Union. Or countries that do not lay geographically in Europe. Therefore the methodology is divided geographically in two main levels of research: 1. Data collection from Greece where there are focus groups of agronomists, cooperative unions, traders. There’s a base of around two hundred farmers who have filled in questionnaires regarding the crops mentioned above. 2. Data collection from rest countries is based from interviews of foreign exporters, local importers – traders, embassies and also from colleagues of the mother company that I am working for. The questionnaires are structured in such a way to avoid coincidental answers by the interviewed people. The analysis was based on the SPSS statistical program and this has led to several findings: - Contracted agriculture in Greece may keep production costs low and reinforce the competitive power towards rest countries. In future, it should obviously expand to more crops. - Low income farmers pay more attention to finding cheap equipment than the rest. - Most farmers, especially the ones with big lands (more than five hectares per person) make precautionary use of chemicals to protect their crops from plant diseases. - Young farmers invest more in new technology and equipment than older generations. - Farmers, who invest in their crop business, believe in the future of biological agriculture. - The current evolution of biological agriculture in Greece remains lower than the average European one. - Large production farmers are more professional and they work on economies of scale to minimize their costs. - The expansion of organic crops in the Greek market can lead to a sustainable level of income for both producers and traders - Apart from unpredictable parameters like weather, the marketing of agricultural production can fully guarantee positive income. - The more professional the farmers are the more the investment in their crops - On a contract basis agriculture, farmers and super markets may become valuable partners Furthermore, the conclusions of this project can probably lead to future research on the topics below: - The successful minimization of production cost to contracted potato crops should find application in other cultivations. - The development of private labels in fresh fruits and vegetables is another exit to large scale Greek agricultural production. - Once the consumers become familiar with private labels, then the future researchers should concentrate on the evolution of these products. - The Greek exports should prioritize on the production of competitive, safe and qualitative products. These are the key factors to adapt to the European consumers’ demands. - The typical bureaucracy regarding imports and exports to and from Greece has to be lessened, because it often causes delays to loadings and quality reduction. - Exports to Scandinavian countries need to be further investigated in future. These countries have the financial ability to pay the added value of products, but they have high quality standards. The risk of rejection and a permanent collaboration break is quite high in such countries, if there is quality uncertainty. - Commercial challenges among rest countries should also be analyzed in future studies (exports from Fyrom to north Europe, from Turkey to north Europe, from China to Europe and Russia). - New legislation that eliminates the export barriers from the third Mediterranean countries (Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon etc) should change the balances in the European agriculture.

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No description available.

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The thesis examines the production dynamics of the corporate plantation system in the banana export activity of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama between 1947 and 1976. It particularly aims to elucidate the nature and direction of technical change on banana plantations owned or controlled by vertically-integrated transnational corporations; and to examine the implications of technical change for (i) the distribution of gains in export production of bananas, and (ii) the net barter terms of trade of banana exporting countries. Historical material traces the development of the banana sector up to 1947, showing how a process of horizontal and vertical integration resulted in control being exercised by two foreign enterprises and production being concentrated in large plantations. The organisational structure of production is shown to have remained stable in post-war years, and consists of corporate divisions which integrate production, purchase, transport and exportation of bananas as well as the related social infrastructure. Technical change is studied by comparative analysis of time-series data on labour productivity and yields supplemented by information on capital and the nature of innovations. This demonstrates substantial increases in the productive efficiency of both labour and capital, especially associated with the conversion to higher-yielding banana varieties. Technical progress accentuates the enclave nature of corporate banana production via a declining wage share of gross export value and an increased use of imported inputs. The secular decline in the terms of trade is attributed to a widening gap between labour productivity and real wages. The study includes detailed material on the labour process in banana plantations, the evolution of associated producer programmes, and the international banana market. Government policies aimed at capturing an enhanced share of the value generated in production and marketing are analysed in the context of structural conditions, technical change, and competition.

Despite the existence of the far-reaching literature on the problem of measuring animal welfare from both a scientific and a philosophical perspective, there are still few studies which aim at tackling its economic aspects. In this thesis, consumers' willingness to pay and heterogeneity of preferences for certified animal-friendly products were estimated by employing contingent valuation and choice modelling methods. However, since farm animal welfare is an emotional topic which can affect consumers purchasing decisions through aspects involving psychological components, it was decided to explore this hypothesis combining the theory of planned behaviour with stated choice methods. To reach this objective a survey was developed with the use of information tc!chnology which allowed us to administer the questionnaire both via web in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK and via telephone only in Italy. Information technology was adopted to satisfy specific research needs to reach the objective of this thesis such as the implementation of a budget approach to estimate willingness to pay, randomization of qUt:stionnaires to discern between omnivores and vegetarians, randomization of bids for eliciting monetary values, etc. Findings show interesting differences between Northern and Southern European countries as regards trust towards stakeholders operating along the animal-friendly food chain and other theoretical psychological constructs. Respondents are on the average willing to pay £7.00 on their weekly expenditure for certified animalfriendly products, and components of planned behaviour play a role both in willingness to pay for certified animal-friendly products and in determining heterogeneity of preferences. Thus it appears that the marriage between psychology and economics can open up new avenues of research not only for willingness to pay and preferences for certified products respecting FAW but also to other food choice contexts.

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No description available.