| Abstract: | In the estimation of agricultural research benefits, so far the only procedure taking into account the conditions under which new technology is introduced has been the semi-empirical Lindner-Jarrett construction. The present paper describes quantitatively the effect of various factors on the benefit estimate: original cost curve, technical parameters (yield increase and implementation cost), willingness to adopt new technology, and the market mechanism. Numerical results are given from which it is concluded that empirical constructions are unsatisfactory and that some overestimation of research benefits in previous analyses may well have occurred. |
