Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Western Europe
Agriculture in Western Europe enjoys a degree of diversity that reflects a wide variety of soils and climatic conditions ranging from the arid Mediterranean regions to the Arctic Circle. Superimposed on this natural diversity is the complexity of d...
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Format: | Working Paper |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/526801468337236456/Main-report http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28186 |
Summary: | Agriculture in Western Europe enjoys a
degree of diversity that reflects a wide variety of soils
and climatic conditions ranging from the arid Mediterranean
regions to the Arctic Circle. Superimposed on this natural
diversity is the complexity of different social, economic
and political conditions in the eighteen countries that are
the subject of this chapter. History has played a major part
in creating this patchwork, particularly the different paths
that countries took from feudalism to independent farming
units and the inheritance laws that influenced the extent to
which land ownership was transmitted from generation to
generation. Average farm size varies considerably in the
countries of Western Europe, in turn reflecting the relative
political and social importance of landowners and small
farmers. By the late nineteenth century, these various
factors had determined a structure of farming in the Western
European region that is still visible today. Productivity
growth in Western Europe's agricultural sector compared
favorably with that in the manufacturing sector in the
immediate post-war period. Over the period 1949 to 1959, by
which time the economy had largely recovered from the
war-time disruptions, output per person in agriculture had
increased by more than that in manufacturing in most of the
countries in Western Europe. The productivity growth was a
combination of output increases as a result of mechanization
and modernization, and the outflow of labor as other sectors
absorbed rural workers. |
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