Land measurement bias and its empirical implications: evidence from a validation exercise

Andrew S. Dillon, Sydney Gourlay, Kevin Robert Mcgee, Gbemisola O. Oseni, Andrew S. Dillon, Sydney Gourlay, Kevin Robert Mcgee and Gbemisola O. Oseni
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Kevin McGee, Andrew Dillon, Sydney Gourlay and Gbemisola Oseni

No 7597, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This paper investigates how land size measurements vary across three common land measurement methods (farmer estimated, Global Positioning System (GPS), and compass and rope), and the effect of land size measurement error on the inverse farm size relationship and input demand functions. The analysis utilizes plot-level data from the second wave of the Nigeria General Household Survey Panel, as well as a supplementary land validation survey covering a subsample of General Household Survey Panel plots. Using this data, both GPS and self-reported farmer estimates can be compared with the gold standard compass and rope measurements on the same plots. The findings indicate that GPS measurements are more reliable than farmer estimates, where self-reported measurement bias leads to over-reporting land sizes of small plots and under-reporting of large plots. The error observed across land measurement methods is nonlinear and results in biased estimates of the inverse land size relationship. Input demand functions that rely on self-reported land measures significantly underestimate the effect of land on input utilization, including fertilizer and household labor.

Keywords: Primary Metals; Climate Change and Agriculture; Crops and Crop Management Systems; Food Security; Crime and Society; Educational Sciences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-03-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Land Measurement Bias and Its Empirical Implications: Evidence from a Validation Exercise (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7597

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