IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/26439.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Skill Investment, Farm Size Distribution and Agricultural Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Cai, Wenbiao

Abstract

This paper develops a general equilibrium model to quantitatively explain high labor share, low productivity and small farm size in agriculture in low income countries. The model features individual heterogeneity in skill that is augmentable over time and endogenous occupation choice. Calibrated to the U.S, the model can reproduce bulk of the observed variations in agriculture employment, agriculture output per worker and mean farm size across countries in the sample. In addition, the model generates endogenous farm size distributions that closely resemble the empirical counterpart for a large set of countries. Counterfactual exercises show TFP to be the main source of productivity differences.

Suggested Citation

  • Cai, Wenbiao, 2010. "Skill Investment, Farm Size Distribution and Agricultural Productivity," MPRA Paper 26439, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:26439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/26439/1/MPRA_paper_26439.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/27623/1/MPRA_paper_27623.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/28049/1/MPRA_paper_28049.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/29031/1/MPRA_paper_29031.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/29605/2/MPRA_paper_29605.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/30079/1/MPRA_paper_30079.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/32126/2/MPRA_paper_32126.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/32806/2/MPRA_paper_32806.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tasso Adamopoulos & Diego Restuccia, 2014. "The Size Distribution of Farms and International Productivity Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1667-1697, June.
    2. Berthold Herrendorf & Ákos Valentinyi, 2012. "Which Sectors Make Poor Countries So Unproductive?," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 323-341, April.
    3. Caselli, Francesco, 2005. "Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 679-741, Elsevier.
    4. Douglas Gollin & Stephen L. Parente & Richard Rogerson, 2004. "Farm Work, Home Work, and International Productivity Differences," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(4), pages 827-850, October.
    5. Nezih Guner & Gustavo Ventura & Xu Yi, 2008. "Macroeconomic Implications of Size-Dependent Policies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(4), pages 721-744, October.
    6. Restuccia, Diego & Yang, Dennis Tao & Zhu, Xiaodong, 2008. "Agriculture and aggregate productivity: A quantitative cross-country analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 234-250, March.
    7. Dietrich Vollrath, 2007. "Land Distribution and International Agricultural Productivity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(1), pages 202-216.
    8. Areendam Chanda & Carl-Johan Dalgaard, 2003. "Dual Economies and International Total Factor Productivity Differences," Macroeconomics 0305002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Diego Restuccia & Richard Rogerson, 2008. "Policy Distortions and Aggregate Productivity with Heterogeneous Plants," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(4), pages 707-720, October.
    10. Shenggen Fan & Connie Chan‐Kang, 2005. "Is small beautiful? Farm size, productivity, and poverty in Asian agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 135-146, January.
    11. Caselli, Francesco, 2005. "Accounting for cross-country income differences," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 5266, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    13. Areendam Chanda & Carl‐Johan Dalgaard, 2008. "Dual Economies and International Total Factor Productivity Differences: Channelling the Impact from Institutions, Trade, and Geography," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(300), pages 629-661, November.
    14. Andrew Atkeson & Patrick J. Kehoe, 2005. "Modeling and Measuring Organization Capital," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(5), pages 1026-1053, October.
    15. Vollrath, Dietrich, 2009. "How important are dual economy effects for aggregate productivity?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 325-334, March.
    16. Córdoba, Juan Carlos & Ripoll, Marla, 2009. "Agriculture and aggregation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 110-112, October.
    17. Caselli, Francesco, 2005. "Accounting for cross-country income differences," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3567, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Gollin, Douglas, 2008. "Nobody's business but my own: Self-employment and small enterprise in economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 219-233, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mike Waugh & David Lagakos & Doug Gollin, 2011. "The Agricultural Productivity Gap in Developing Countries," 2011 Meeting Papers 1397, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Berthold Herrendorf & Todd Schoellman, 2015. "Why is Measured Productivity so Low in Agriculture?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(4), pages 1003-1022, October.
    3. Jan Grobovšek, 2020. "Managerial Delegation, Law Enforcement, and Aggregate Productivity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(5), pages 2256-2289.
    4. David Lagakos & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Michael E. Waugh, 2023. "The Welfare Effects of Encouraging Rural–Urban Migration," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(3), pages 803-837, May.
    5. Diego Restuccia & Richard Rogerson, 2017. "The Causes and Costs of Misallocation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 151-174, Summer.
    6. Córdoba, Juan Carlos & Ripoll, Marla, 2009. "Agriculture and aggregation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 110-112, October.
    7. Chen, Chaoran, 2020. "Technology adoption, capital deepening, and international productivity differences," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Diego Restuccia, 2019. "Misallocation and aggregate productivity across time and space," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-32, February.
    9. Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "The dual economy in long-run development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 287-312, December.
    10. Tasso Adamopoulos & Diego Restuccia, 2014. "The Size Distribution of Farms and International Productivity Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1667-1697, June.
    11. Priyo Asad Karim Khan, 2012. "Sector-Specific Capital, Labor Market Distortions and Cross-Country Income Differences: A Two-Sector General Equilibrium Approach," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-52, March.
    12. Le, Kien, 2020. "Land use restrictions, misallocation in agriculture, and aggregate productivity in Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    13. Jan Grobovsek, 2014. "Managerial Delegation and Aggregate Productivity," 2014 Meeting Papers 1394, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Gottlieb, Charles & Grobovšek, Jan, 2019. "Communal land and agricultural productivity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 135-152.
    15. Cai, Wenbiao & Pandey, Manish, 2013. "Size-dependent labor regulations and structural transformation in India," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 272-275.
    16. García-Santana, Manuel & Pijoan-Mas, Josep, 2014. "The reservation laws in India and the misallocation of production factors," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 193-209.
    17. Jones, C.I., 2016. "The Facts of Economic Growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 3-69, Elsevier.
    18. Nezih Guner & Gustavo Ventura & Xu Yi, 2008. "Macroeconomic Implications of Size-Dependent Policies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(4), pages 721-744, October.
    19. Blanco, Cesar & Raurich, Xavier, 2022. "Agricultural composition and labor productivity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    20. Sibabrata Das & Alex Mourmouras & Peter Rangazas, 2018. "Wage and Fertility Gaps in Dual Economies," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, in: Economic Growth and Development, edition 2, chapter 7, pages 191-227, Springer.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income differences; agricultural productivity; Skill investment; farm size distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:26439. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.