Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Using a Difference-in-Difference analysis, this thesis tests the hypothesis that Sweden and Finland experienced a decrease in overall self-sufficiency ratio after their EU accession compared to the control group during the given time period. The data is compiled of quantity produced, imported and exported for eleven agricultural goods for the years between 1990-2000 for each respective country. The trade-off between being self-sufficient and trade reliant is of great concern, especially in times of trade-disrupting events like Covid-19 or the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, we identify if any specific categories of agricultural goods were particularly affected by the EU accession. The study contributes to existing research by using the self-sufficiency ratio with a Difference-in-Difference approach to understand the causal effects of EU accession on Sweden and Finland compared to other Nordic countries.
The results indicate that there was no statistically significant change in the overall self-sufficiency ratio for agricultural goods in Sweden and Finland following EU accession when compared with the control group consisting of Norway and Denmark. However, when examining specific categories of goods, the findings suggest that crops experienced a significant decrease in SSR, vegetables showed a slight but statistically significant increase, while meats did not exhibit any statistically significant change. Because of the noise in the data and the bias introduced by the method and assumptions, we suggest further research to strengthen the results of this thesis.