Wine Policy Research Articles

Public choice theory as a tool for CMO wine reform analysis

The purpose of this paper is a partial reconstruction of the role of agricultural lobbyist and national alliances, determining the effort of re-opening the Common Market Organisation (CMO) of wine Reg. 479/2008. The case considered is the liberalisation of replanting rights chosen as a tool of public choice (PC) analysis. The paper is divided into three parts. The first is a brief summary of PC literature and methodological applications. The second is a study of the structure, behaviour and the relationship of the main actors involved in the policy genesis of the CMO. Third analyses the effects that lobbyist actions have generated in the case of vineyard liberalisation. The methodological approach is the PC model derived from Pokrivcak et al. (2006). This is partially used in this discussion, to explain the general idea and concept of bargaining and trade-offs in wine policy by the major actors in a simplified scenario.

Institutionalizations compared: Implementating the EU's 2008 wine reform

In 2008 the European Union adopted an apparently radical reform of its wine policy. However, whether this policy change actually reinstitutionalizes the regulation of this industry is dependent on how it is implemented and represented by both commercial operators and regulators located at national and intra-national scales. Using interview and documentary data generated on this process in France, Spain and Romania, this article sets out to compare and explain the differentiated institutionalization of the reform that has actually occurred to date. Its key empirical finding is that reinstitutionalization is dependent on the degree to which change has been legitimated within such regions. More precisely, durable change or maintenance of the status quo stems from how conflicts over different parts of the EU's reform have been framed and debated locally. This finding has two wider implications for institutionalist theories of political change. First, constructivist accounts of the framing of collective and public problems need to be brought to the fore. Second, at least when studying contemporary Europe, the question of scale and its institutional effects should be systematically built into research strategies and methodologies.

What's on the Wine List? Wine Policies in the New Zealand Restaurant Industry

Restaurants are an important outlet for wine sales and a means of raising customer awareness of wine. This research note reports on a study of restaurant policies and attitudes with respect to wine in New Zealand.

Wine budget stabilizers: A question of true balance

Demand for wine produced in the EC is falling. The level of output has been maintained in spite of the introduction, nine years ago, of programmes designed to reduce output. The reason for this lies above all with the use of distillation as a means of supporting prices. Uprooting premiums and distillation measures were reviewed recently, in an attempt to cap the EC wine budget, but most of the money is still being spent on distilling surplus wines. The question is whether the present wine policy is capable of bringing the market into balance by 1996.

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Alexandra, N.(ed.) (1988). World Agriculture Towards 2000: An FAO StudyChambers, R. G. (1988). Applied Production Analysis: A Dual ApproachColman, D. and Young, T. (1989). Principles of Agricultural Economics: Markets and Prices in Less Developed CountriesCommon, M. (1988). Environmental and Resource Economics: An IntroductionHaney, W. G. and Knowles, J. B. (eds.) (1988). Women and Farming: Changing Roles, Changing StructuresGasson, R. (1988). The Economics of Part‐Time FarmingMarks, H. F., edited by Britton, D. K. (1989). A Hundred Years of British Food and Farming: A Statistical SurveyPinstrup‐Andersen, P. (ed.) (1988). Food Subsidies in Developing Countries: Costs, Benefits and Policy OptionsRaikes, P. (1988). Modernising Hunger: Famine, Food Surplus and Farm Policy in the EEC and AfricaSpahni, P. (1988). The Common Wine Policy and Price StabilizationStevens, R. D. and Jabara, C. L. (1988). Agricultural Development Principles: Economic Theory and Empirical EvidenceUsher, J. A. (1988). Legal Aspects of Agriculture in the European CommunitySpedding, C. R. W. (1988). An Introduction to Agricultural SystemsTracy, M. (1989). Government and Agriculture in Western Europe 1880–1988Harrison, A. with Tranter, R. B. (1989). The Changing Financial Structure of FarmingJones, D. (1989). Financial Vulnerability in Farming: A Study of North West FarmsOrganisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (1989). Agricultural and Environmental Policies — Opportunities for IntegrationForeman, S. (1989). Loaves and Fishes: An Illustrated History of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1889–1989

Addiction control policies or there's no such thing as a free lunch.

SummaryThis paper sets out the characteristics of the basic economic approach to evaluating addiction control policy. It emphasises the importance of costing policy prior to implementation in an attempt to highlight the waste of resources which can result from ad hoc policy choice. Every policy choice is taken at the cost of another and if such costs are evaluated and minimised, limited funds can be spent most efficiently. The example used is the cost to the health of Europeans from EEC market controls such as the Common Agricultural Policy wine policy. These and similar costs must be considered if recent moves to set up an EEC Health Policy are to be fulfilled.

Wine Production in the European Community since 1975

SummaryThe article deals with the production of wine in the European Community since 1975. The Common Wine Policy of the Community is part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EC. Production of wine has increased in the Community at an average of 1 per cent a year since the beginning of the 1960s. At the same time consumption has remained stable which has resulted in a permanent surplus in wine. The policies of the EC aim to cope with this surplus and reduce it. The structure of wine production, the price system and the intervention procedures taken by the Community bodies are analysed in the article. The success of these efforts to control, reorganize and restructure the production of wine is discussed and evaluated.

Wine production in the European Community since 1975.

SummaryThe article deals with the production of wine in the European Community since 1975. The Common Wine Policy of the Community is part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EC. Production of wine has increased in the Community at an average of 1 per cent a year since the beginning of the 1960s. At the same time consumption has remained stable which has resulted in a permanent surplus in wine. The policies of the EC aim to cope with this surplus and reduce it. The structure of wine production, the price system and the intervention procedures taken by the Community bodies are analysed in the article. The success of these efforts to control, reorganize and restructure the production of wine is discussed and evaluated.