How Rural Policies Affect Attitudes: The Case of the Common Agricultural Policy

• In Event: (Affective) Polarization, Policy and Democratic Support

Abstract

Against the backdrop of rising spatial inequalities, place-sensitive policies have become an increasingly popular instrument to support rural and “left behind” areas. Current studies tend to focus on regional policies and analyze only the impact of funding. Yet, people’s experiences with a policy may vary substantially within a region, and other policy characteristics may also affect political attitudes. This paper aims at overcoming these limitations by studying the effect of individual payments of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, as well as their conditionalities, on the political attitudes of French farmers. It combines interviews with farmers, an observational analysis of the electoral returns of CAP funding, and an original targeted survey matched with administrative data on payments. Results will shed light on an understudied social group that is central to many current policy challenges and will open a new research agenda on policy feedback in the European Union.

Author

• Giorgio Malet, University of Zurich