Agricultural Productivity Differences across Countries

Douglas Gollin (), David Lagakos and Michael Waugh

American Economic Review, 2014, vol. 104, issue 5, 165-70

Abstract: Recent studies argue that cross-country labor productivity differences are much larger in agriculture than in the aggregate. We reexamine the agricultural productivity data underlying this conclusion using new evidence from disaggregate sources. We find that for the world's staple grains—maize, rice, and wheat—cross-country differences in the quantity of grain produced per worker are enormous according to both micro- and macrosources. Our findings validate the idea that understanding agricultural productivity is at the heart of understanding world income inequality.

JEL-codes: D31 J24 O13 O15 Q11 Q12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.5.165
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (104)

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