Agricultural Productivity: Measurement and Explanation

Cover......Page 2
Half Title......Page 3
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Original Title Page......Page 6
Original Copyright Page......Page 9
Table of Contents......Page 14
Foreword......Page 19
Acknowledgments......Page 23
Contributors......Page 25
1 Introduction and Overview......Page 27
Overview of the Book......Page 29
Summary Observations......Page 35
Part I Background......Page 44
2 An Introduction to Recent Developments in Production Theory and Productivity Measurement......Page 45
Basic Concepts in Modern Production Economics......Page 47
Approaches to Total Factor Productivity Measurement......Page 82
Measuring Interspatial and Intertemporal Total Factor Productivity......Page 99
Explaining Technological Change......Page 102
Dynamics......Page 104
Appendix 2-A. The Translog Cost Model......Page 113
Appendix 2-B. The Translog Profit Model......Page 122
Appendix 2-C. TFP Measurement Using Exact Index Numbers......Page 126
3 A Review of the Evidence on Agricultural Productivity and Aggregate Technology......Page 141
Historical Perspective: Pre-1970......Page 143
Historical Perspective: Post-1970......Page 146
Some Comparative Remarks......Page 162
Appendix 3-A. U.S. Agricultural Data Base......Page 171
4 The Statistical Base for Agricultural Productivity Research: A Review and Critique......Page 183
A Description of the Productivity Data Base......Page 185
Evaluation of the Data Base......Page 191
Agency Response to Suggestions......Page 200
Further Concerns......Page 202
Part II Measuring Agricultural Productivity and Technical Change......Page 207
5 A Comparison of Econometric Models of U.S. Agricultural Productivity and Aggregate Technology......Page 208
Introduction......Page 209
Full Static Equilibrium Models......Page 212
Partial Static Equilibrium Models......Page 223
Comparison of the Empirical Results......Page 229
Conclusions and Implications......Page 238
6 Productivity Measurement and the Distribution of the Fruits of Technological Progress: A Market Equilibrium Approach......Page 246
Competitive Market Equilibrium......Page 249
Factor Biases of Technological Change......Page 255
Price Effects, of Technological Change: Food Prices Versus Land Prices......Page 260
Application to U.S. Agriculture......Page 262
Conclusion......Page 266
7 Intertemporal and Interspatial Estimates of Agricultural Productivity......Page 270
Introduction......Page 271
Theoretical Models of Intertemporal and Interspatial Productivity......Page 274
Data Construction Using Firm Enterprise Data System Budgets......Page 282
Results......Page 285
Conclusion......Page 292
8 An Econometric Methodology for Multiple-Output Agricultural Technology: An Application of Endogenous Switching Models......Page 295
The Economic Model......Page 298
The Econometric Model......Page 300
A Procedure for Estimating the Econometric Model......Page 308
Conclusion......Page 310
Part III Toward Explaining Agricultural Productivity......Page 316
9 Induced Technical Change in Agriculture......Page 317
Induced Innovation in the Theory of the Firm......Page 319
Production and Productivity Growth......Page 326
Factor Substitution Along the Metaproduction Function......Page 333
A Test of the Induced Technical Change Hypothesis......Page 338
Guiding Technological Change Along Alternative Paths......Page 351
Appendix 9-A. Derivation of Equations for Measuring the Effect of Biased Technical Change......Page 352
Appendix 9-B. Two-Level CES Production Function......Page 354
Appendix 9-C. Factor Shares and Aggregate Input Price Indexes in the United States and Japan......Page 358
10 Research, Extension, and U.S. Agricultural Productivity: A Statistical Decomposition Analysis......Page 366
Methodology and Research Processes......Page 368
The Evenson-Welch Study (1974)......Page 383
Concluding Remarks......Page 394
11 Endogenous Technology and the Measurement of Productivity......Page 399
The Choice of a Technique......Page 400
Aggregation over Techniques......Page 404
Identification and Estimation......Page 408
Endogeneity of Technology......Page 411
Empirical Implementation......Page 415
Agenda for Future Research......Page 417
12 Dynamics, Causality, and Agricultural Productivity......Page 421
Dynamics, Stochastics, and Aggregation......Page 424
Causality in Production......Page 437
The Dynamics of Innovation......Page 440
Policy and Productivity......Page 446
Empirical Evidence on the Dynamic Structure of U.S. Agricultural Production......Page 451
Implications for Research......Page 459
13 Incorporating Externalities into Agricultural Productivity Analysis......Page 465
Externalities and Regulation in Agriculture: Implications for Productivity......Page 467
Modeling Agricultural Externalities......Page 473
An Empirical Example: Accounting for Resistance Development in the Measurement of Pesticide Productivity......Page 479
Conclusions......Page 491
Appendix 13-A. Model Specification......Page 493
Index......Page 499