The role of the EU Common Agricultural Policy: Assessing multiple effects in alternative policy scenarios

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the main drivers of change in EU agriculture and rural areas. One of the key issues still lacking sufficient coverage by the literature is the specific interconnection between agricultural policy and farm-household behaviour. This is also the main node to allow a better understanding of the reciprocal effects between the CAP, land use, (farm) practices and wider rural development issues. This paper summarises results from several studies developed within the project CAP-IRE. It highlights the role of original surveys in policy evaluation and the importance of exit/entry processes. It also emphasizes the challenges for further research on the multidimensional effects of policies given the increasingly complex context. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.