This paper examines the consequences of the transformations of extension services for small scale farms. It presents the results of investigations embedded in regulation theory, which combine a comparative institutional analysis, statistical data processing (national agricultural census) and...

Various theoretical models of public policy analysis are used to treat situations of decision-making in which public deciders have to take into account the multifunctionality of agriculture. For some, science-society relations are not really problematical. Others acknowledge the current attempts...

There is a wide range of evaluation methods. On the basis of which criteria should one method be chosen? On what scientific foundations are the results of numerous evaluations based? How can reliability and empirical validity be tested? The relevance of such questions is heightened in new fields...

The organization on a regional basis of the public Italian Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS) responds both to historical reasons and to the extreme differentiation of the local farming systems, institutional arrangements, and many other contextual factors. In Italy, each Region has its own...

Various theoretical models of public policy analysis are used to treat situations of decision-making in which public deciders have to take into account the multifunctionality of agriculture. For some, science-society relations are not really problematical. Others acknowledge the current attempts...

Les méthodes couramment utilisées pour l'évaluation des politiques publiques rencontrent deux principaux écueils. Le premier est d'analyser les relations de cause à effet uniquement à partir des opinions et avis des parties prenantes (stakeolders). Quand ces schémas de causalité...

Small-scale farming involves millions of households in the EU and plays an important role in the rural economy. A significant percentage of these farms produce commodities for the market. This productive dimension is often overlooked, however, as is the technical support needed by these farms....

Do telecoms really contribute to the economic development of developing countries ? After funding a new mobile phone operator in Haiti, the Agence Française de Développement and Proparco have been willing to assess the impact of the arrival of this new operator on the Haitian economy. This...

<alinea/> From the early 1990s ?evidence-based medicine? (EBM) was formalized to promote the most judicious use possible of available knowledge by practitioners, the word ?evidence? referring simultaneously to factual evidence, empirical corroboration, and proof. The tenets of EBM spread to other...

There is a wide range of evaluation methods. On the basis of which criteria should one method be chosen? On what scientific foundations are the results of numerous evaluations based? How can reliability and empirical validity be tested? The relevance of such questions is heightened in new fields...