Conditional Income Disparity between Farm and Non?farm Households in the European Union: A Longitudinal Analysis

Government interventions in the agricultural sector have been historically justified by existence of an income disparity between farmers and non-farmers. However, recent studies found that such is disappearing over time, particularly United States. This work offers first longitudinal systematic assessment on average farm non-farm units European Union, differentiating old new Member Using EU-SILC dataset, both broad (having some income) narrow (living mainly agriculture) households are compared with a general sample more restricted self-employed households. To control for household observable characteristics time-constant unobserved factors, we use fixed effects regression. Results suggest farm/non-farm has disappeared Union unless compare all households: this case, former likely to be better off than latter. A limited only case States only. used draw policy implications regarding role CAP supporting income.