Crop insurance subsidies and environmental externalities: evidence from Southern Italy

Fabian, Capitanio and Felice, Adinolfi and Fabio G., Santeramo (2014): Crop insurance subsidies and environmental externalities: evidence from Southern Italy.

Abstract

Rapid environmental changes can affect agriculture by introducing additional sources of uncertainty. Conversely, policy interventions to help farmers cope with risks may have strong impacts on the environment. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of public risk management programmes, particularly subsidies on crop insurance, on fertilizer use and land allocation. We implement a mathematical programming model based on data collected from 1,092 farms in Puglia, a southern Italy region. The results show that under the current crop insurance programmes, input use is expected to increase, while the effect on production is likely to be crop-specific. The policy and environmental implications are discussed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: uncertainty; risk management; input use; multifunctionality
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General

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