IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jku/econwp/2023-15.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The causal effect of agritourism on farm survival

Author

Listed:
  • Matthias Firgo
  • Dieter Pennerstorfer

Abstract

We use two waves of census data with detailed farm characteristics for the total population of Austrian farms to examine the causal effect of agritourism on farm survival. To account for self-selection into agritourism, we use regional variation in tourism intensity that is exogenous to individual farms. On average, agritourism causally increases survival probabilities by 10.3 percentage points over an eleven-year period, which is both large and statistically significant. Marginal effects vary by farm characteristics and are as large as 15.9 percentage points for some sub-populations. Agricultural policies to facilitate entry into agritourism can therefore be effective in keeping farms in the market. Our analysis shows that the magnitude of the estimated coefficients is heavily biased as long as we do not adequately account for endogenous self-selection into agritourism. This suggests that even with a big database, an appropriate identification strategy is required to obtain causal and thus policy-relevant estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Firgo & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2023. "The causal effect of agritourism on farm survival," Economics working papers 2023-15, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2023-15
    Note: English
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.jku.at/papers/2023/wp2315.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arthur Lewbel & Yingying Dong & Thomas Tao Yang, 2012. "Comparing features of convenient estimators for binary choice models with endogenous regressors," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(3), pages 809-829, August.
    2. Yasuo Ohe & Adriano Ciani, 2012. "Accessing demand characteristics of agritourism in Italy," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 18(2), pages 281-296, December.
    3. Christopher Baum & Yingying Dong & Arthur Lewbel & Tao Yang, 2012. "Binary choice models with endogenous regressors," SAN12 Stata Conference 9, Stata Users Group.
    4. Fabio Gaetano Santeramo, 2015. "Research Note: Promoting the International Demand for Agritourism: Empirical Evidence from a Dynamic Panel Data Model," Tourism Economics, , vol. 21(4), pages 907-916, August.
    5. Joo, Hyunjeong & Khanal, Aditya R. & Mishra, Ashok K., 2013. "Farmers’ Participation in Agritourism: Does It Affect the Bottom Line?," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 42(3), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Coban, Mustafa, 2020. "Redistribution Preferences, Attitudes towards Immigrants, and Ethnic Diversity," IAB-Discussion Paper 202023, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    7. Ayal Kimhi & Ray Bollman, 1999. "Family farm dynamics in Canada and Israel: the case of farm exits," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 21(1), pages 69-79, August.
    8. Bagi, Faqir Singh & Reeder, Richard J., 2012. "Factors Affecting Farmer Participation in Agritourism," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 189-199, August.
    9. William N. Evans & Robert M. Schwab, 1995. "Finishing High School and Starting College: Do Catholic Schools Make a Difference?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 941-974.
    10. Ellen Goddard & Alfons Weersink & Kevin Chen & Calum G. Turvey, 1993. "Economics of Structural Change in Agriculture," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 41(4), pages 475-489, December.
    11. Arne Hallam, 1991. "Economies of Size and Scale in Agriculture: An Interpretive Review of Empirical Measurement," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 13(1), pages 155-172.
    12. Ayal Kimhi, 2000. "Is Part-Time Farming Really a Step in the Way Out of Agricultural?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(1), pages 38-48.
    13. Pfeffer, Max J, 1989. "Part-time Farming and the Stability of Family Farms in the Federal Republic of Germany," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 16(4), pages 425-444.
    14. Stephan J. Goetz & David L. Debertin, 2001. "Why Farmers Quit: A County-Level Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(4), pages 1010-1023.
    15. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    16. Christoph R. Weiss, 1999. "Farm Growth and Survival: Econometric Evidence for Individual Farms in Upper Austria," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 103-116.
    17. Rebecca Hill & John Loomis & Dawn Thilmany & Martha Sullins, 2014. "Economic Values of Agritourism to Visitors: A Multi-Destination Hurdle Travel Cost Model of Demand," Tourism Economics, , vol. 20(5), pages 1047-1065, October.
    18. Schilling, Brian J. & Attavanich, Witsanu & Jin, Yanhong, 2014. "Does Agritourism Enhance Farm Profitability?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 1-28, April.
    19. Anna Jȩczmyk & Jarosław Uglis & Sylwia Graja-Zwolińska & Magdalena Maćkowiak & Aleksandra Spychała & Jan Sikora, 2015. "Research Note: Economic Benefits of Agritourism Development in Poland — An Empirical Study," Tourism Economics, , vol. 21(5), pages 1120-1126, October.
    20. Aditya R. Khanal & Ashok K. Mishra, 2014. "Agritourism and off-farm work: survival strategies for small farms," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 65-76, November.
    21. Arthur Lewbel & Yingying Dong & Thomas Tao Yang, 2012. "Viewpoint: Comparing features of convenient estimators for binary choice models with endogenous regressors," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(3), pages 809-829, August.
    22. Yasuo Ohe & Adriano Ciani, 2011. "Evaluation of Agritourism Activity in Italy: Facility Based or Local Culture Based?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 17(3), pages 581-601, June.
    23. Carpio, Carlos E. & Wohlgenant, Michael K. & Boonsaeng, Tullaya, 2008. "The Demand for Agritourism in the United States," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 33(2), pages 1-16.
    24. Franz Sinabell & Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Matthias Firgo & Klaus Friesenbichler & Philipp Piribauer & Gerhard Streicher & Ludwig Gerner & Mathias Kirchner & Jochen Kantelhardt & Andreas Niedermayr & , 2019. "Eine Zwischenbilanz zu den Wirkungen des Programms der Ländlichen Entwicklung 2014-2020," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 61913.
    25. Bagi, Faqir Singh & Reeder, Richard J., 2012. "Factors Affecting Farmer Participation in Agritourism," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 41(2), pages 1-11, August.
    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. Thomas Glauben & Hendrik Tietje & Christoph Weiss, 2006. "Agriculture on the move: Exploring regional differences in farm exit rates in Western Germany," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 26(1), pages 103-118, March.
    2. Brunella Arru & Roberto Furesi & Fabio A. Madau & Pietro Pulina, 2019. "Recreational Services Provision and Farm Diversification: A Technical Efficiency Analysis on Italian Agritourism," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Manuel Denzer, 2019. "Estimating Causal Effects in Binary Response Models with Binary Endogenous Explanatory Variables - A Comparison of Possible Estimators," Working Papers 1916, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    4. Jin‐Tao Zhan & Yan‐Rui Wu & Xiao‐Hui Zhang & Zhang‐Yue Zhou, 2012. "Why do farmers quit from grain production in China? Causes and implications," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(3), pages 342-362, August.
    5. Ashok K. Mishra & J. Mathew Fannin & Hyunjeong Joo, 2014. "Off-Farm Work, Intensity of Government Payments, and Farm Exits: Evidence from a National Survey in the United States," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 62(2), pages 283-306, June.
    6. Jan Fałkowski, 2010. "Zmiany liczby gospodarstw rolnych w Polsce w okresie transformacji," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1-2, pages 89-108.
    7. Zhang, Yuejia & Mayes, David Geoffrey, 2018. "The performance of governmental venture capital firms: A life cycle perspective and evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 162-185.
    8. Whelan, Adele & McGuinness, Seamus, 2017. "Does a satisfied student make a satisfied worker?," Papers WP561, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    9. Yingying Dong & Arthur Lewbel, 2015. "A Simple Estimator for Binary Choice Models with Endogenous Regressors," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1-2), pages 82-105, February.
    10. Hung‐Hao Chang & Ashok K. Mishra & Tzong‐Haw Lee, 2019. "A supply‐side analysis of agritourism: Evidence from farm‐level agriculture census data in Taiwan," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(3), pages 521-548, July.
    11. Peter Egger & Anirudh Shingal, 2021. "Determinants of services trade agreement membership," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(1), pages 21-64, February.
    12. Alla Koblyakova & Larisa Fleishman & Orly Furman, 2022. "Accuracy of Households’ Dwelling Valuations, Housing Demand and Mortgage Decisions: Israeli Case," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 48-74, July.
    13. Reginald Holland & Aditya R. Khanal & Purushottam Dhungana, 2022. "Agritourism as an Alternative On-Farm Enterprise for Small U.S. Farms: Examining Factors Influencing the Agritourism Decisions of Small Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-12, March.
    14. Alessandro Corsi & Vito Frontuto & Silvia Novelli, 2021. "What Drives Farm Structural Change? An Analysis of Economic, Demographic and Succession Factors," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-24, May.
    15. Aditya R. Khanal & Ashok K. Mishra & Omobolaji Omobitan, 2019. "Examining organic, agritourism, and agri-environmental diversification decisions of American farms: are these decisions interlinked?," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 27-45, December.
    16. Pike, Susan & Lubell, Mark, 2018. "The conditional effects of social influence in transportation mode choice," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 2-10.
    17. Neuenfeldt, S. & Rieger, J. & Heckelei, T. & Gocht, A. & Ciaian, P. & Tetteh, G., 2018. "A multiplicative competitive interaction model to explain structural change along farm specialisation, size and exit/entry using Norwegian farm census data," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277090, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Crudu, Federico & Neri, Laura & Tiezzi, Silvia, 2018. "Family Ties and Children Obesity in Italy," MPRA Paper 90360, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Oct 2018.
    19. Alec Zuo & Sarah Ann Wheeler & Peter Boxall & W. L. (Vic) Adamowicz & Darla Hatton MacDonald, 2015. "Identifying Water Prices at which Australian Farmers Will Exit Irrigation: Results of a Stated Preference Survey," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 91(S1), pages 109-123, June.
    20. David Mmopelwa & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2021. "HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour in Botswana," Discussion Papers 2021-03, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    agritourism; firm survival; agriculture; diversification; big data; bivariate probit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z30 - Other Special Topics - - Tourism Economics - - - General
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

    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:jku:econwp:2023-15. 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: René Böheim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlinzat.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.