American Economic Review Vol. 104 No. 6 2014
The Size Distribution of Farms and International Productivity Differences
Abstract
We study the determinants of differences in farm size across countries and their impact on agricultural and aggregate productivity using a quantitative sectoral model featuring a distribution of farms. Measured aggregate factors (capital, land, economy-wide productivity) account for one-quarter of the observed differences in farm size and productivity. Policies and institutions that misallocate resources across farms have the potential to account for the remaining differences. Exploiting within-country variation in crop-specific price distortions and their correlation with farm size, we construct a cross-country measure of farm-size distortions which together with aggregate factors accounts for one-half of the cross-country differences in size and productivity.
- DOI
- 10.1257/aer.104.6.1667
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1667-1697
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex