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Does an Income Gap between Farm and Nonfarm Households Still Exist? The Case of the European Union

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  • Benedetto Rocchi
  • Maria Marino
  • Simone Severini

Abstract

The paper compares the income conditions of farm and nonfarm households in the whole EU and within three geographical groups of countries for the period 2008–2016. Overcoming the simple comparison of raw means of the groups, we estimate the farm/nonfarm income differentials by using Regression Adjusted and Covariate Matching techniques, which allow to control for observable characteristics among groups. Three innovative features of our analysis are that we account for the whole income of farm households (i.e. not only farm income), for the presence of in‐kind incomes from self‐consumption of produced goods and imputed rents from properties, and for the complex survey design. We find that an income differential still exists but with relevant differences across countries and along the period. Most of it is due to differences in the households’ characteristics. Hence, comparing raw means of the two groups can be misleading. Nonmonetary sources of income play a not negligible role, improving the relative position of farm households. The role of agricultural and rural policy is discussed in the light of results.

Suggested Citation

  • Benedetto Rocchi & Maria Marino & Simone Severini, 2021. "Does an Income Gap between Farm and Nonfarm Households Still Exist? The Case of the European Union," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1672-1697, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:43:y:2021:i:4:p:1672-1697
    DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13116
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    2. Pierre Chiaverina & Sophie Drogué & Florence Jacquet & Larry Lev & Robert King, 2023. "Does short food supply chain participation improve farm economic performance? A meta‐analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(3), pages 400-413, May.
    3. Maria Marino & Benedetto Rocchi & Simone Severini, 2021. "Conditional Income Disparity between Farm and Non‐farm Households in the European Union: A Longitudinal Analysis," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 589-606, June.
    4. Luigi Biagini & Simone Severini, 2021. "The role of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in enhancing and stabilising farm income: an analysis of income transfer efficiency and the Income Stabilisation Tool," Papers 2104.14188, arXiv.org.
    5. Robert Finger & Nadja El Benni, 2021. "Farm income in European agriculture: new perspectives on measurement and implications for policy evaluation," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(2), pages 253-265.

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