Public Investment in Agricultural R&D in Australia Remains a Sensible Policy Option

John Mullen

No 290667, 2011 ASAE 7th International Conference, October 13-15, Hanoi, Vietnam from Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE)

Abstract: There is evidence that productivity in Australia’s broadacre agriculture (extensive cropping and livestock industries) has been slowing in the past decade. A series of poor seasons has been partly responsible but an econometric analysis of structural changes in the trend of TFP indicates that stagnant public investment in agricultural R&D has also made a significant contribution to this slowdown in TFP. Related econometric analysis of the returns to public investment in agricultural R&D in the broadacre sector confirms that the rate of return to investment remains high. Despite these findings a recent enquiry by Australia’s Productivity Commission into the financing of rural research suggests that the public sector may be ‘crowding out’ private sector investment in agricultural R&D and recommends a reduction in public support. In this paper I briefly review the econometric analyses to date and the trends in TFP and public R&D investment. While I have not been able to conclusively test the ‘crowding out’ hypothesis, there seems to be little empirical evidence to prefer this hypothesis to a more traditional ‘market failure’ hypothesis. Clearly stakeholders in agricultural R&D in Australia have to do a better job in communicating the case for public investment in agricultural R&D. Other developed countries are experiencing the same phenomenon and it may become an issue in the future for developing countries in Asia.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18
Date: 2011-10-13
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:asae11:290667

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.290667

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