Farm Size and Income Distribution of Latin American Agriculture New Perspectives on an Old Issue

Margarita Gafaro, Ana Ibáñez, Daniel Sánchez-Ordoñez and María Camila Ortiz

No 13078, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

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 agri- cultural 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.

Keywords: Land inequality; Productivity; Agricultural income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J43 O13 O15 O54 Q12 Q15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev and nep-eff
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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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:idb:brikps:13078

DOI: 10.18235/0005088

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