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A new spin on an old debate: Errors in farmer-reported production and their implications for inverse scale - Productivity relationship in Uganda

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  • Gourlay, Sydney
  • Kilic, Talip
  • Lobell, David B.

Abstract

Based on a two-round household panel survey conducted in Eastern Uganda, this study shows that the analysis of the inverse scale-productivity relationship (IR) is highly sensitive to how plot-level maize production is measured. While farmer-reported production-based plot-level maize yield regressions consistently lend support to the IR, the comparable regressions estimated with maize yields based on sub-plot crop cutting, full-plot crop cutting, and remote sensing point towards constant returns to scale, at the mean as well as throughout the distributions. In deriving the much-debated coefficient for GPS-based plot area, the maize yield regressions control for objective measures of soil fertility and edge effects at the plot-level, as well as time-invariant household- and parcel-level unobserved heterogeneity in select specifications. The core finding appears to be driven by over-estimation of farmer-reported maize production vis-à-vis their crop cutting-based counterparts, particularly in the lower half of the plot area distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Gourlay, Sydney & Kilic, Talip & Lobell, David B., 2019. "A new spin on an old debate: Errors in farmer-reported production and their implications for inverse scale - Productivity relationship in Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:141:y:2019:i:c:s0304387818306588
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102376
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Maize; Yield measurement; Plot area measurement; Inverse scale-productivity relationship; Crop cutting; Remote sensing; Household surveys; Uganda; Sub-Saharan Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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