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Ken Thomson

Staff picture: Ken Thomson
Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences
Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences
Honorary Research Associate
ken.thomson@hutton.ac.uk
+44 (0)344 928 5428 (*)

The James Hutton Institute
Craigiebuckler
Aberdeen AB15 8QH
Scotland UK

 

Professor Ken Thomson is an economist who has worked on agricultural and rural policy issues for several decades of university career at Newcastle upon Tyne and Aberdeen (of which he is a native). He is currently working part-time in SEGS for a limited period, mainly to assist the Group and its members to obtaining and successfully completing contributions to the Institute's overall mission.

He has been a principal or co-investigator, a consultant or a reviewer for various EU FP7 (and FP6, FP5, etc.) research projects, e.g. TOP-MARD, RuDI, CAP-IRE, CAPRI-RD, RURAL-ECMOD, and TERA-SIAP. He was Editor of the Jouirnal of Agricultural Economics between 1987 and 1993, and remains an active member of the UK Agricultural Economics Society. He was a member of the UK-wide Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Agriculture Panels in 2001 and 2008, and has carried out similar work in or for Australia, Germany and Romania. He has been a specialist advisor to several Scottish and UK Parliamentary Committees, and is a Visiting Professor at the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire. He has acted recently as a consultant to OECD, FAO, and IFPRI.

His out-of-office activities include mountaineering (mainly hillwalking these days), music (mainly chamber and opera), and literature of various but not all kinds.

Current research interests

Much of Ken's work has focussed on the development of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as it has moved from market price support to "decoupled" direct payments, with rural development policy playing an ever-more important role for agricultural investment, agri-environmental land management and the wider rural economy. This work has involved number of modelling exercises carried out by Ken or his colleagues, e.g. the EU-wide "Newcastle" linear programming model of CAP markets in the 1970s and 1980s, and more recently SAM/CGE models at regional (e.g. the Scottish Western Isles with D. Roberts, and Greek regions with D. Psaltopoulos) or national/EU level. However, Ken has also written extensively on the political-economic arguments over CAP reform and related issues. He has carried out a number of projects in Central European countries, e.g. Poland, Romania and Serbia. From time to time, he has also dabbled in forestry, fisheries, rural tourism, and the host of issues raised by his 40-odd postgraduate research students over the years.

Past research

  • Input/Output Project, for Shetland Islands Council
  • Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services, for DEFRA and USW/ScottWilson
  • Mapping and explaining the contemporary patchwork of development, Module 8.1.1 within RESAS Programme Theme 8 "Nurturing Vibrant and Low Carbon Communities"
  • Application of an Ecosystem Approach, Workpackage 1.3 within RESAS Theme 1 “Scotland’s environmental assets, biodiversity and ecosystems services”
  • Developing a low carbon rural economy, Workpackage 4.2 within RESA Theme 4 “Resilient Rural Economy”
  • Distributional impacts and equity, Workstrand Activity 6 within RESAS Climate Change Centre of Expertise Mitigation Workstream

Bibliography

  • Bergmann, H.; Dax, T.; Hocevar, V.; Hovorka, G.; Juvancic, J.; Kroger, M.; Thomson, K.J. (2011) Reforming Pillar 2 - Towards Significant and Sustainable Rural Development?, In: Sorrentino, A., Henke, R. & Severini, S. (eds.). The Common Agricultural Policy After the Fischler Reform: National Implementations, Impact Assessment and the Agenda for Future Reforms. Ashgate, Farnham, Surrey, 331-346.
  • Thomson, K.J.; Bryden, K.J. (2011) Implications for policy., In: Bryden, J., Efstrateglou, S., Ferenczi, T., Knickel, K., Johnson, T.G., Refsgaard, K. & Thomson, K.J. (eds). Towards Sustainable Rural Regions in Europe. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, Chapter 14, 275-285. ISBN 978-0-415-88225-5 (hbk); 978-0-203-83140-3 (ebk).
  • Ferenczi, T.; Thomson, K.J.; Bryden, J.M. (2011) Comparing the outcomes of CAP policy reform scenarios: analysis of POMMARD results and DEA analysis., In: Bryden, J., Efstrateglou, S., Ferenczi, T., Knickel, K., Johnson, T.G., Refsgaard, K. & Thomson, K.J. (eds). Towards Sustainable Rural Regions in Europe. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, Chapter 13, 243-274.
  • Bergmann, H.; Thomson, K.J. (2011) Agriculture and tourism in a remote, sparsley populated area - Caithness and Sutherland, Scotland, UK., In: Bryden, J., Efstrateglou, S., Ferenczi, T., Knickel, K., Johnson, T.G., Refsgaard, K. & Thomson, K.J. (eds). In: Towards Sustainable Rural Regions in Europe. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, Chapter 12, 232-242. ISBN 978-0-415-88225-5 (hbk); 978-0-203-83140-3 (ebk).
  • Bryden, J.; Efstrateglou, S.; Ferenczi, T.; Knickel, K.; Johnson, T.G.; Refsgaard, K.; Thomson, K.J. (2011) Towards sustainable rural regions in Europe., Routledge Studies in Development and Society, Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, 360pp. ISBN 978-0-415-88225-5 (hbk); 978-0-203-83140-3 (ebk).
  • Haberfellner, S.; Thomson, K.J. (2010) Balancing between structural and rural policy., In: Oskam, A., Meester, G. & Huirne, H. (eds.). EU Policy for Agriculture, Food and Rural Areas. Wageningen Academic Press, The Netherlands Chapter 22, pp385-400. ISBN 987-90-8686-118-7.
  • Potter, C.; Thomson, K.J. (2010) Agricultural multifunctionality, trade liberalisation and Europe’s new land debate., In: Oskam, A., Meester, G. & Huirne, H. (eds.). EU Policy for Agriculture, Food and Rural Areas. Wageningen Academic Press, The Netherlands Chapter 10, pp213-222. ISBN 987-90-8686-118-7.
  • Thomson, K.J. (2010) Conclusions: pointers to a future CAP., In: Senior-Nello, S. & Pierani, P. (eds.). International Trade, Consumer Interests and Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon Chapter 9, 163-173.


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The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.