Are small farms really more productive than large farms?

Fernando M. Aragón, Diego Restuccia and Juan Pablo Rud ()
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Fernando M. Aragón: Institute for Fiscal Studies
Juan Pablo Rud: Institute for Fiscal Studies and Royal Holloway, University of London

No W21/35, IFS Working Papers from Institute for Fiscal Studies

Abstract: This paper shows that using yields may not be informative of the relationship between farm size and productivity in the context of small-scale farming. This occurs because, in addition to productivity, yields pick up size-dependent market distortions and decreasing returns to scale. As a result, a positive relationship between farm productivity and land size may turn negative when using yields. We illustrate the empirical relevance of this issue with microdata from Uganda and show similar findings for Peru, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. In addition, we show that the dispersion in both measures of productivity across farms of similar size is so large that it renders farm size an ine?ective indicator for policy targeting. Our findings stress the need to revisit the empirical evidence on the farm size-productivity relationship and its policy implications.

Date: 2021-10-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cwa, nep-eff and nep-his
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Related works:
Journal Article: Are small farms really more productive than large farms? (2022)
Working Paper: Are small farms really more productive than large farms? (2021)
Working Paper: Are small farms really more productive than large farms? (2021)
Working Paper: Are small farms really more productive than large farms? (2021)
Working Paper: Are small farms really more productive than large farms? (2020)
Working Paper: Are Small Farms Really more Productive than Large Farms? (2019)
Working Paper: Are Small Farms Really more Productive than Large Farms? (2019)
Working Paper: Are small farms really more productive than large farms? (2019)
Working Paper: Are Small Farms Really more Productive than Large Farms? (2019)
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