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Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to
evaluate ex post the effects of 2003 decoupling, with a
specific focus on farm investment behaviour. In the past
years a number of studies have addressed the issue of
the impact of EU policy reforms. However, long term
effects of policy changes and related impacts on
structural and investment behaviour received relatively
little attention in modelling exercises concerning CAP
reform up to now. This study is based on a survey about
250 farm households in Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain,
Greece, The Netherlands, France and Hungary. In the
majority of cases, farmers stated they were indifferent to
decoupling. Where any change occurred, the impact of
decoupling was highly differentiated. Differences in
reaction are better explained by different individual
household/farm characteristics, rather than by
association with a specific agricultural system.