Inequality, Redistribution and Mobility of Agricultural Incomes in Scotland

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse different aspects of the distribution of agricultural incomes in Scotland. More specifically, the thesis will first investigate the impact of agricultural income support on inequality through the analysis of its redistributive effect. Decomposition of the redistributive effect allows to determine if agricultural support has been progressive or regressive in absolute terms and whether discrimination between farms with equal pre-support incomes exists. Such assessment is performed both for actual data with the historic model of the Single Farm Payment (SFP) in place, as well as for counter-factual data generated by two hypothetical regional model distributions of the SFP; the latter is particularly informative in the context of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform that will require all Member States to adopt area-based entitlements. In addition, the thesis will study the evolution of agricultural income distribution through the analysis of income mobility. The first focus of this dynamic analysis is to investigate the transition process underlying the evolution of agricultural income inequality over time. This is achieved by decomposing changes in inequality over time into the part which measures if income growth was progressive or regressive (vertical mobility) and the part which measures the resulting reshuffling of individuals within the income order (reranking mobility). The characterisation of the expected income growth process will indirectly examine the validity of Gibrat’s law in Scottish agriculture. Furthermore, the determinants of vertical mobility will be investigated in order to analyse the impact of structural change and transitory shocks. The second focus of the dynamic analysis is to investigate whether the inequality in Scottish agricultural incomes is a transitory or structural problem, and to what extent structural inequality is caused by differences in the economic size of farms.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Dundee

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Kasprzyk, Kalina

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Allanson, Paul
• Morelli, Carlo
• Barnes, Andrew

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:discovery.dundee.ac.uk:studenttheses/5362a34d-91a5-4970-ac21-adf6dd91eeba

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:discovery.dundee.ac.uk:studenttheses/5362a34d-91a5-4970-ac21-adf6dd91eeba