Superficial change

Santiago, Chile: it was argued in the panel on agricultural policy and trade at the IPSA conference yesterday that the so-called ´paradigm shift´ in discussion of the CAP had not occurred in 2003 as some had argued or, if it had, it had had few concrete results. Supposedly the state assisted paradigm was replaced by a new multifunctionality paradigm. However, it was argued by Carsten Daugbjerg from Aarhus University that the multifunctionality paradigm provided cover for the continuation of state assistance.

Another paper looked at ´rent seeking´ interpretations of agricultural subsidy. From the ensuing discussion a view emerged that whilst such models might not be able to explain the origins of subsidy policies, they might be useful in understanding their continuation.