Land fragmentation and farm productivity in China in the 1990s

The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of fragmentation on farm productivity in China and to discuss policy implications. Some earlier work has questioned the importance of the economic costs of land fragmentation in developing economies. It has been argued that policymakers should focus instead on reducing the root causes of fragmentation: inefficiencies in land, labour, credit, and food markets. Our results, using a more recent and larger dataset from a household survey in China, find that fragmentation does have an economic cost in China. Production functions are estimated for each of the major grain crops in the sample provinces. We also argue that to reduce the economic costs, land consolidation in China should be undertaken with less government intervention. More attention should be given to the establishment of markets for land (or land use rights) and improvements in rural credit and grain markets.     

Measuring returns to scale in nineteenth-century French industry

Were nineteenth-century French firms too small? Previous research has found either constant returns to scale throughout (Nye, 1987) or increasing returns to scale for most industries (Sicsic, 1994). This research sheds some light on these contradictory results by proposing and estimating a series of models that consider previously ignored econometric issues. My analysis of the 1839-1847 census suggests that there were increasing returns to scale for some industries and constant returns for others, while the analysis of the 1861-1865 census suggests constant returns to scale throughout. Assessing the economic implications of the estimated returns to scale, I argue that there were significant unexploited scale economies in the first half of the nineteenth century. In the second half of the nineteenth century, though, France had little to gain from scale economies.     

Off‐farm wage returns to education: Evidence from Lesotho

This article presents estimates of off‐farm wage returns to education in rural areas of Lesotho. Results from a sample survey conducted in the northern Lowlands and Foothills of Lesotho indicate that returns to education are relatively higher for people wage‐employed in Lesotho than those wage‐employed as migrants in South Africa. For people working within Lesotho, education appears to have a significant and positive effect on off‐farm wages. Most people working within Lesotho are employed as teachers, nurses and civil servants and these job categories require an educated labour force. For people wage‐employed in South Africa, education appears not to have a significant effect on off‐farm wages. Most men working in South Africa are employed as labourers in mines while women working in South Africa are employed as domestic servants.     

Identification of plot size effects on commercialization of small‐scale agriculture in KwaZulu

The aim of this paper was to identify plot size effects on a broadly defined commercialization concept in rural KwaZulu. Dissatisfaction with conventional production function approaches led to the use of Discriminant Analysis to identify differences between small (< 1 ha) and large (> 1 ha) plot households. A further division was made according to whether or not a household sold agricultural produce. Of the three potential discriminant functions two explained group differences with statistical significance. The first function separated groups according to plot size. Important variables in this function included: seed cost/ha, proportion of land under suger‐cane, number of implements owned, and the presence of a permanent male household head. The second function separated according to farm income production. Important variables in this function Included: the presence of a permanent male household head, number of migrants, draught hire/ha, fertilizer costs/ha and land rent costs/ha. Results appeared similar to those of previous studies using alternative methods.     

Total factor productivity in South African agriculture, 1947‐91

Indices of total factor productivity (TFP) measure aggregate output per unit of aggregate input, providing a guide to the efficiency of agricultural production. This article outlines the relationship between production functions and TFP indices. Then, an index is constructed for South African agriculture for the period 1947‐91. The index shows that TFP grew at an average rate of 1,3 per cent per annum. However, TFP growth has increased since the reforms of the early 1980s. Since capital has been more realistically priced relative to labour, greater productivity growth has gone together with increasing employment, which must have improved social welfare.     

Cost efficiency,economies of scale,technological progress and productivity in Indonesian banks

This study estimates cost efficiency, economies of scale, technological progress, and productivity growth among Indonesian banks from 1993 to 2000. Average cost efficiency for the banking sector over this period was 70%. However, there is a marked difference in cost efficiency before and after the Asian economic crisis. The banking sector cost efficiency was 80% prior to the crisis and 53% after the crisis. Moreover, results indicate that private-owned banks and joint venture/foreign banks were more efficient than public-owned banks. Furthermore, the relationship between cost efficiency and total assets suggests an optimum bank asset size. Cost reductions attributed to technological progress and economies of scale were greater prior to the Asian economic crisis. Larger decreases in total factor productivity are evident in the post-crisis period.     

Progress, decline, growth: product and productivity in Italian agriculture, 1000–2000

This article estimates agricultural production and output per worker in Italy, from about the year 1000 to the present. The millennium may be divided neatly into three periods. Output per worker increased until the fourteenth century, declined, with some fluctuations, until the end of the nineteenth century, and then recovered, booming in the past 50 years.     

Surplus mobilisation in farm agriculture: A comparison of Java and Japan, 1870–1940

This paper compares the degree to which farm agriculture surpluses in pre–World War II Java and Japan were mobilised for non-agricultural investment through taxation, landlordism and private savings. It also compares government efforts in both countries to spur productivity and farm income in rice agriculture through improvements in irrigation structures and the development and dissemination of seedfertiliser technology. The pressure of the land tax, the spread of tenant farming, and the degree to which rural savings were deposited were significantly lower in Java than in Japan. Pre-war conditions in rice agriculture were less conducive in Java than they were in Japan to the development and dissemination of seed-fertiliser technology, which could spur farm productivity and contribute to surplus mobilisation.     

Returns to size and structure of agriculture: A suggested interpretation

Neoclassical theory equates minimum costs and size among firms. Real‐world observation is quite different. Many empirical studies show constant returns to size. Explanations for economies or diseconomies often involve different technologies, buying or selling economies, integration, tax incentives, managerial limitations, demand fluctuations, flexibility and opportunity costs of production factors, particularly labour. Some explanations since the late sixties have largely involved managerial differences, which imply different optimal sizes for different firms. Optimum size does not involve minimum average costs, but maximum profit. Profit maximizing output varies among firms. An optimal structure implies diverse farm sizes rather than homogeneously sized farms. Social, cultural and political factors are also important Future South African agricultural policy will have to involve revitalization of commercial agriculture, development and commercialization of subsistence agriculture and some affirmative action regarding land use. Within this framework, policy calls for flexibility regarding farm sizes and farm structure.     

The optimal length of a patent with variable output elasticity and returns to scale in R&D

This paper extends the pure theory of patents to make it consistent with the empirical evidence on R&D which shows both variable returns to scale and a variable elasticity of cost reduction with respect to R&D (output elasticity). Using a generalized invention possibility function, the authors show that for a given social rate of discount, a socially optimal patent depends only on output elasticity and demand elasticity. The authors also show that an optimal patent can exist for increasing returns as well as for constant and decreasing returns to R&D. In general, the constant elasticity assumption overestimates the optimal life of a patent.     

Steam power, establishment size, and labor productivity growth in nineteenth century American manufacturing

We use establishment-level data from the 1850–1880 censuses of manufacturing to study the relationships among establishment size, steam power use, and labor productivity. Large establishments, measured here by employment, were much more likely to use steam power than smaller establishments. By 1880, slightly more than half of all manufacturing workers were employed in establishments using steam power, compared with 17 percent in 1850 and we show that, after controlling for various establishment characteristics, steam-powered establishments had higher labor productivity than establishments using other sources of power. Moreover, this productivity differential was increasing in establishment size.