Agricultural Support, Farm Land Values and Sectoral Adjustment : The Implications for Policy Reform

Governments intervene in the agricultural sector through policies that both support and shape agricultural production. This leads to two important outcomes. First, agriculture specific programmes intended to increase the welfare of farmers can become capitalised into asset values. Second, many policies, in particular regulatory ones, reduce asset mobility, resulting in reduced economic efficiency due a sub-optimal allocation of resources. This study focuses on the capitalisation of government support into land rents and prices. It assesses the consequences of inflated asset values, and suggests lessons for future policy making.