A new book on economic analysis
June 08 2026Jean-Christophe Bureau, Professor of Economics at AgroParisTech and Associate Researcher at the Centre for Prospective Studies and International Information (CEPII), has co-authored a book with Sophie Thoyer, Research Director at INRAE, entitled The Common Agricultural Policy, due to be published on 11 June 2026 by La Découverte. Through a rigorous economic analysis, the authors examine the strengths and limitations of a European policy at a crossroads, caught between agricultural competitiveness, agroecological transition and food sovereignty.
Seven decades of reforms under scrutiny
The book traces the history of the common agricultural policy (politique agricole commune PAC in French) from the Treaty of Rome to the most recent negotiations, analysing the major turning points in European agricultural policy: the 1992 reform, the decoupling of aid in 2003, the emergence of the second pillar dedicated to rural development, and the new governance model for the post-2020 PAC. The authors also shed light on the underlying economic mechanisms (the agricultural treadmill, risk management, and the political economy of negotiations between Member States) to provide the reader with the tools for a critical analysis of the instruments employed.
The environment, international trade and the future of the PAC
Jean-Christophe Bureau and Sophie Thoyer devote a significant portion of their analysis to the environmental and health challenges that the PAC is still struggling to address: the negative externalities of agriculture, the hidden costs of food systems, and the limitations of current incentive mechanisms. They also examine the PAC’s relations with third countries and international trade negotiations, as well as the issue of European food sovereignty, which is more relevant than ever. This book thus provides an essential framework for forming one’s own judgement on the ongoing debates surrounding the future of the common agricultural policy.