Industry Commission submission to the mid-term review of the Rural Adjustment Scheme.
Adjustment to change is a continuing challenge for all industries, including the agricultural sector. The impetus for rural adjustment can come from many sources including changes in the weather, technology, the quality of management, conditions in local and international economies, and the natural...
Պահպանված է:
| Համատեղ հեղինակ: | |
|---|---|
| Ձևաչափ: | Գիրք |
| Լեզու: | English |
| Հրապարակվել է: |
[Canberra] :
Commonwealth of Australia,
1996.
|
| Խորագրեր: |
| Ամփոփում: | Adjustment to change is a continuing challenge for all industries, including the agricultural sector. The impetus for rural adjustment can come from many sources including changes in the weather, technology, the quality of management, conditions in local and international economies, and the natural environment. The importance of the various factors will vary over time. In an uncertain environment, response to changing circumstances is inherently risky. To balance risk, there also needs to be rewards for farm businesses who are successful in adjustment - adapting resources tot heir most efficient use. How the agricultural sector responds to change depends on how farms plan and manage theri resource use and their expectations about the future. Their ability to respond efficiently to change is sensitive to the availability of information about varying market and agricultural conditions. Some government interventions and failures in market processes can reduce or impede the flow of information to farmers, thereby limiting their opportunities for efficient adjustment. This submission focuses on the efficient adjustment or resource use by the agricultural sector in response to changes in its circumstances. In particular, the submission canvases the issues underlying the level and form of any future government involvement to facilitate farmer resopnses to ongoing adjustment pressures. Overall, the case for RAS on efficiency grounds does not appear to be strong. If, instead, RAS support is justified on welfare grounds, the following criteria should be satisfied: the welfare support should be delivered in a way the minimises negative feedbacks to efficiency; and the interaction between RAS welfare support and the general social security system should not create major inequities and/or adverse incentives for the allocation of resources. Analysis of ABARE [Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics] farm survey data suggests that, on balance, overall adjustments and related assistance is impeding rather than facilitating adjustment in the size and ownership of farms. Doubts also exist about the performance of individual components of the RAS 1992 package - interest subsidies, support for training and professional advice, re-establishment grants, land trading and support for exceptional circumstances - in facilitating efficient adjustment in the agricultural sector. RAS has benefited individual farmers. However, a broad examination of the scheme reveals little evidence that it overall contribution to economic efficiency is positive. Indeed, much of the information examined by the Commission suggests that any contribution is likely to be negative. In particular, there are sgnficiant doubts about the appropriateness of the interest rate subsidies, re-establishment grants and the exceptional circumstances provisions of the scheme. There are also doubts concerning the balance between the public and private benefits of the grants for training and professional advice, and whether RAS is the appropriate vehicle for providing these services. If the scheme is to be retained, nevertheless, there appears to be scope to reduce its efficiency costs to the community through modifications to the support measures used.e the. |
|---|---|
| Նյութի նկարագրություն: | "Forming the Productivity Commission"--t.p. Bibliography: p. [25]-[27] Includes appendices. "Cat. no. 9608028"--Back cover. |
| Ֆիզիկական նկարագրություն: | xiii, 64, [28] p. : ill. ; 25 cm. |
| Մատենագիտություն: | Includes bibliography. |
| ISBN: | 064447534X |