The research starts from the necessity to create specific tools for evaluating the impacts of rural development policies on fragile areas. The objective of this study is to exploit a synthetic measure of marginality, obtained through a specific tool set by IRES Piemonte (Institute of Socio...

The TOP-MARD research project (Toward a Policy Model of Multifunctional Agriculture and Rural Development), that will be here described in its Italian version, links farmers’ behaviour with their economic, social and environmental effects, showing the difference between a behaviour guided by...

The research starts from the necessity to create specific tools for evaluating the impacts of rural development policies on fragile areas. The study is motivated by the need for developing an appropriate evaluation method that leads to gather meaningful information for a broader understanding of...

The Helpdesk of European Evaluation Network for Rural Development supported by a group of external experts has prepared a Working Paper on ”Capturing the impacts of Leader and measures to improve the Quality of life (QoL) in rural areas”. The working paper provides methodological support for...

Large differences in terms of economic and social development across countries and smaller regions are one of the most important hinders for effective implementations of sustainable development. This paper presents a methodological approach to measure differences of economic and social...

In Romanias farming sector are currently working 3.6 million people, representing 32.1% of the total countrys labour force. Yet, they contribute by only 8.5% to total GDP (2005). Besides the sectoral restructuring efforts, there are at present social problems that have to be solved up, namely...

The central hypothesis of this paper is that there may be situations in which the traditional approach to institutional analysis is of limited applicability. Such an approach, which has been called 'comparative institutional analysis', consists of comparing institutional environments and...

In many European countries, farmers are a member of a processing or marketing co-operative, and most of these farmers also deliver their products to that co-operative. However, an extensive dataset of Italian farmers shows that not all members deliver to their co-op, and that there are also...

In spite of the increasing number of certification schemes in the food sector, there is only few research about the economics of certification. Given the rapid growth and the lack of experience the actors have to cope with different forms of opportunistic behaviour. The following paper describes...

Land markets have received a considerable amount of attention in economic literature. Since the treatment of the topic covers various approaches, areas, and questions, it seems desirable to attempt an overview of the results. This paper devises a way in which to present a complete picture of the...