The political economy determinants of agri-environmental funds in the European Rural Development Programmes

Abstract

In recent years, agricultural policies have broadened their scope to include funds for the promotion of the environmental sustainability of agriculture, but they have been neglected by the political economy literature. In this article we investigate the drivers of the allocation of funds to environmental goals in the Rural Development Programmes of the European Common Agricultural Policy. The main results indicate that GDP is positively correlated to environmental budget, while delegating the programmes management to sub-national jurisdictions negatively affects it. If the environmental sustainability of the sector is at stake, a central grip on budget should be maintained.

Keywords

• EU Rural Development Policy, political economy, agri-environmental schemes, environmental federalism