Determinants of farm exit: A comparison between Europe and United States

Paper removed temporarily by author 8/19/11.
In the last three decades, European Union (EU) agriculture has been characterized by major exit of farming households from agriculture. In some areas the share of exit has been as high as 40%. Similar pattern has also been observed in the United States (US), where the exit rates are about 9-10 percent per year. Understanding the exit behavior is a key to the future farm structure, management of abandoned land, depopulation of rural areas, and agricultural policy, including government program payments. The main objective of this paper is to review the theoretical background and empirically estimate the determinants of exit decisions through a comparative econometric analysis in the US and the EU.