This book provides a simple but effective introduction to economics. Fully updated and revised, this fourth edition incorporates the recent changes that have taken place in the environment in which agriculture operates. Covering the impacts of the EU expansion to 28 Member States, major changes to financial support of agriculture, financial crises, economic recession and, in many countries, high levels of unemployment, it provides a rounded and up to date introduction to the subject. The inclusion of chapter-focused exercises, essay questions and further reading suggestions make this textbook an invaluable learning tool for students of agriculture, economics and related sectors.

Author Biography

Successively from 1970 to 2005 Berkeley Hill held the posts of lecturer, senior lecturer, reader in Agricultural Economics and, from 1999, professor at Wye College (University of London) and, following its merger in 2000, Imperial College London. This involved teaching economics and policy and researching at the interface between statistics and policy. On early retirement in 2005 he was made Emeritus Professor of Policy Analysis by Imperial College London (currently being listed within its Environmental Policy group). In 2008/9 Berkeley Hill was elected President of the Agricultural Economics Society. Since 2005 he has worked as a consultant for the World Bank, FAO, OECD, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the UNECE. He has also worked as part of the AgraCEAS Consulting team (a business part-owned by Imperial College) evaluating aspects of rural development policy in England, Wales and Scotland and in assessing the impact on agriculture of Brexit.