Agricultural Productivity and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Brazil

Paula Bustos (), Bruno Caprettini and Jacopo Ponticelli

American Economic Review, 2016, vol. 106, issue 6, 1320-65

Abstract: We study the effects of the adoption of new agricultural technologies on structural transformation. To guide empirical work, we present a simple model where the effect of agricultural productivity on industrial development depends on the factor-bias of technical change. We test the predictions of the model by studying the introduction of genetically engineered soybean seeds in Brazil, which had heterogeneous effects on agricultural productivity across areas with different soil and weather characteristics. We find that technical change in soy production was strongly labor-saving and led to industrial growth, as predicted by the model.

JEL-codes: J43 O13 O14 O33 Q15 Q16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20131061
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Working Paper: Agricultural Productivity and Structural Transformation. Evidence from Brazil (2015)
Working Paper: Agricultural productivity and structural transformation. Evidence from Brazil (2015)
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