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Assessing the benefits of research expenditures on maize production in South Africa

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  • Townsend, Rob F.
  • van Zyl, Johan
  • Thirtle, Colin G.

Abstract

This paper focuses on assessing the benefits of research expenditures on maize production in South Africa. Both the production and supply function approaches are used to calculate elasticities of research expenditure on output and yield. Cointegration is used to establish long-run relationships between variables in these models. The lag structure of R&D expenditures on output is examined making use of the unrestricted, polynomial, beta and gamma distributions. The coefficients of these lag distributions were then used to calculate a rate of return to maize research expenditure, which was estimated as being between 28% and 39% per annum. These rates of return are high, mitigating in favour of more research expenditure rather than less.

Suggested Citation

  • Townsend, Rob F. & van Zyl, Johan & Thirtle, Colin G., 1997. "Assessing the benefits of research expenditures on maize production in South Africa," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 36(4), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:54718
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.54718
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    Cited by:

    1. Ortmann, Gerald F., 2005. "Promoting the competitiveness of South African agriculture in a dynamic economic and political environment," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 44(3), pages 1-35, September.
    2. Thirtle, Colin G. & Townsend, Rob F. & Amadi, Juliana & Lusigi, Angela & van Zyl, Johan, 1998. "The Rate Of Return On Expenditures Of The South African Agricultural Research Council (Arc)," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 37(4), pages 1-11, December.

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