Farm size and income distribution of Latin American agriculture: new perspectives on an old issue

Margarita Gafaro, Ana Ibáñez, Daniel Sánchez Ordóñez and María Camila Ortiz

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Latin American and Caribbean countries have historically been known for their rates of land inequality, highest in the world. However, these countries also exhibit a high degree of heterogeneity in their patterns of land concentration and average farm sizes. These cross-country differences play a determining role in productivity of farms and the distribution of agricultural income. Constructing a new data-set matching agricultural census and household survey data, we provide suggestive evidence on the positive relationship between farm size and farm income and wages. We identify the prevalence of small farms and the resulting low agricultural incomes as an important mechanism contributing to high income inequality in agricultural regions. Low labor productivity in small farms appears as a key explanatory factor.

JEL-codes: Q12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 63 pages
Date: 2023-09-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-ger, nep-lab and nep-lam
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/120239/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Farm Size and Income Distribution of Latin American Agriculture New Perspectives on an Old Issue (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:120239

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