Explaining the puzzling persistence of restrictions on seasonal farm labour in Germany

Abstract

The regulation of seasonal foreign farm labour (SFFL) in Germany distorts market outcomes and produces no significant benefits for any of the affected groups. Analysis of the media discourse on this regulation indicates that its persistence can be attributed to the political sensitivity of unemployment and related issues in Germany. To reach these conclusions, we propose a new method for the analysis of discourse data based on a Poisson change point model, and demonstrate that exogenous factors such as unemployment in Germany can explain structural breaks in the media discourse on SFFL in Germany.

Keywords

political economy; seasonal farm workers; discourse analysis; Monte Carlo Markov Chain; Poisson change point model; J43; P16; Q18

Published in

European Review of Agricultural Economics
2012, volume: 39, number: 4, pages: 707-728
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS

SLU Authors

• Hess, Sebastian

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Kleinschmit, Daniela

  • Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Political Science (Excluding Peace and Conflict Studies)
Media and Communication Studies
Economics

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbr057

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/41556