This paper surveys some of the key themes in European agricultural policy research in recent decades. It identifies three main drivers of this research: a gradual broadening of the scope of the discipline in response to changing political priorities and values; an enlarged toolbox of policy...

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union has been in a process of reform since the early 1990s. As a result of reforms, agricultural market regulations have become more liberal and direct payments have been introduced which are to a large extent decoupled from production. In...

The most important element in the recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, which is intended to reduce the concentration of aid distributed under the direct support system, is the so-called redistributive payment. The redistributive effects of this instrument depend on its specific form...