SLU AFEPA European MSc in Agricultural, Food & Environmental Policy Analysis

Sweden / EU · SLU with Bonn, UCLouvain and Cattolica · pg

165practice questions written to this syllabus
7subjects

Format

120 ECTS double degree over 2 years.

Sections

Over the years

Non-EU fee about SEK 284,000.

Official source: https://www.slu.se/en/study/programmes-courses/masters-programmes/agricultural-food-and-environmental-policy-analysis/

Subjects this exam draws on

Agricultural Marketing & Price Analysis4 questionsAgribusiness Environment & Policy41 questionsInternational Agri Trade & Export Management19 questionsAgricultural Development & Policy Analysis24 questionsEconomic Development and Agricultural Economies of the World51 questionsNatural Resource & Environmental Economics15 questionsInstitutional Economics11 questions

Five practice questions, worked

Original questions written to this exam's published syllabus and pattern. Not past papers.

1. The European Union's CAP reforms of 1992 (MacSharry) and 2003 mainly:

  1. Abolished all farm support in the EU
  2. Shifted support from price guarantees and intervention buying to direct payments, later decoupled from production
  3. Created minimum purchase prices for rice
  4. Introduced intervention buying for the first time, replacing the direct payments made to farmers since the Treaty of Rome
Answer and working

B. Shifted support from price guarantees and intervention buying to direct payments, later decoupled from production

The CAP began in 1962 with guaranteed prices; 1992 cut support prices and compensated with direct payments, and 2003 decoupled payments from output. Minimum purchase prices for rice are a Chinese policy.

Agricultural Marketing & Price Analysis · Agricultural price policy

2. Which statement about agriculture's falling share of GDP during development is correct?

  1. It is normal and consistent with success if output per farm worker rises and labour moves to better-paid jobs
  2. It shows that agriculture is becoming less productive and should be phased out as quickly as possible
  3. It happens only in countries that tax agriculture heavily
  4. It implies that absolute farm output must fall, since a shrinking share can only come from a shrinking sector
Answer and working

A. It is normal and consistent with success if output per farm worker rises and labour moves to better-paid jobs

The share falls mainly because demand for food grows more slowly than income (Engel's law) and other sectors grow faster; farm output usually still rises in absolute terms. Heavy taxation can speed the decline but is not its cause.

Agribusiness Environment & Policy · Role of agriculture in the economy

3. Which is a recognised limitation of the Balassa revealed comparative advantage index?

  1. It reflects trade distortions such as subsidies and ignores imports
  2. It requires detailed domestic price data for each product and every trading partner
  3. It can only take values between 0 and 1
  4. It cannot be computed for agricultural products
Answer and working

A. It reflects trade distortions such as subsidies and ignores imports

RCA uses observed exports, so export subsidies or protection can raise it without any true cost advantage, and imports are ignored. It ranges from 0 to infinity (hence symmetric versions), uses trade not price data, and is widely computed for farm products.

International Agri Trade & Export Management · Absolute and comparative advantage

4. The 'development paradox' in agricultural policy refers to the pattern that

  1. agricultural output rises over time while agriculture's share of GDP and employment rises too
  2. poor countries tax farming, rich countries protect it
  3. farm prices fall when harvests are good even though farmers produce more
  4. rich countries tax farmers ever more heavily as agriculture's share of employment and output shrinks
Answer and working

B. poor countries tax farming, rich countries protect it

Anderson and Hayami's development paradox: as agriculture's share of the economy falls, farmers become fewer and easier to organise while support becomes cheaper for everyone else, so policy moves from taxing to protecting agriculture. The good-harvest price fall is a separate idea (inelastic demand).

Agricultural Development & Policy Analysis · Role of agriculture in economic development

5. Real agricultural output in a region rises from an index of 100 to 180 over 10 years. The compound annual growth rate is closest to:

  1. 8.0 per cent
  2. 6.1 per cent
  3. 18.0 per cent
  4. 5.0 per cent
Answer and working

B. 6.1 per cent

CAGR = (180/100)^(1/10) − 1 = 6.05 per cent. 8.0 per cent is the simple average (80 ÷ 10), which overstates compound growth; 18.0 divides 180 by 10; 5.0 has no basis in the data.

Economic Development and Agricultural Economies of the World · Measuring growth and development

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