Alston / Andersen / James Persistence Pays

U.S. Agricultural Productivity Growth and the Benefits from Public R&D Spending
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4419-0658-8
Verlag: Springer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 504 Seiten

Reihe: Business and Economics

gricultural science policy in the United States has profoundly affected the growth and development of agriculture worldwide, not just in the A United States. Over the past 150 years, and especially over the second th half of the 20 Century, public investments in agricultural R&D in the United States grew faster than the value of agricultural production. Public spending on agricultural science grew similarly in other more-developed countries, and c- lectively these efforts, along with private spending, spurred agricultural prod- tivity growth in rich and poor nations alike. The value of this investment is seldom fully appreciated. The resulting p- ductivity improvements have released labor and other resources for alternative uses—in 1900, 29. 2 million Americans (39 percent of the population) were - rectly engaged in farming compared with just 2. 9 million (1. 1 percent) today— while making food and fiber more abundant and cheaper. The benefits are not confined to Americans. U. S. agricultural science has contributed with others to growth in agricultural productivity in many other countries as well as the Un- ed States. The world’s population more than doubled from around 3 billion in 1961 to 6. 54 billion in 2006 (U. S. Census Bureau 2009). Over the same period, production of important grain crops (including maize, wheat and rice) almost trebled, such that global per capita grain production was 18 percent higher in 2006.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Alston, Julian M.

Andersen, Matthew A.

James, Jennifer S.

Pardey, Philip G.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Foreword by Norman Borlaug;8
2;Acknowledgments;12
3;Contents;15
4;Tables;18
5;Figures;23
6;Boxes;27
7;Part I Context;28
8;1 Introduction;29
9;2 A Brief History of U.S. Agriculture;35
9.1;2.1 Trends in Agricultural Output;35
9.1.1;Geography of U.S. Production;36
9.1.2;Input versus Output Trends;39
9.2;2.2 Farms and Farmers;42
9.3;2.3 Conclusion;47
10;Part II Inputs, Outputs and Productivity;48
11;3 Agricultural Inputs;49
11.1;3.1 Overview;49
11.1.1;General Developments;49
11.1.2;More Detailed Developments;52
11.2;3.2 The Composition of Capital;57
11.3;3.3 The Composition of Labor;63
11.4;3.4 The Composition of Land;68
11.5;3.5 Other Inputs;70
11.5.1;Materials;70
11.5.2;Biological Inputs;73
11.5.3;Natural Inputs;74
11.6;3.6 Factor Proportions, Relative Prices and Cost Shares;74
11.7;3.7 Conclusion;78
12;4 Agricultural Outputs;81
12.1;4.1 Value, Composition and Location of Production;81
12.1.1;Longer-Term Trends;81
12.1.2;Composition and Value of Agricultural Production, 1949–2006;82
12.1.3;The Changing Location of Production;86
12.1.4;Specialization of States in Agricultural Production;89
12.2;4.2 Indexes of the Quantity and Price of Output;93
12.2.1;Trends over Space and Time;93
12.3;4.3 Conclusion;98
13;5 Agricultural Productivity Patterns;110
13.1;5.1 Partial Factor Productivity Measures;111
13.1.1;Crop Yields;112
13.1.2;Livestock “Yields”;114
13.1.3;Land, Labor, Capital, and Materials Productivity;115
13.1.4;Labor Requirements;122
13.2;5.2 Multi-Factor Productivity Measures;123
13.2.1;Earlier Productivity Evidence for the United States;124
13.2.2;InSTePP Estimates;128
13.3;5.3 A Systematic Slowdown in Productivity Growth?;133
13.3.1;Crop Yields;137
13.3.2;Other Partial- and Multi-Factor Productivity Measures;137
13.4;5.4 Conclusion;143
13.5;APPENDIX II;150
13.5.1;The InSTePP Production Accounts;150
13.5.1.1;Variable Description;151
13.5.1.2;Aggregating Inputs and Outputs;152
13.5.1.3;Major Sources of Data;154
13.5.1.4;Satellite InSTePP Value-of-Production Accounts;156
14;Part III Agricultural R&D Funding and Policies;157
15;6 Research Funding and Performance;158
15.1;6.1 Overall Spending on the Sciences;158
15.1.1;International Developments;159
15.1.2;Domestic R&D Developments;160
15.2;6.2 Global Agricultural R&D Spending;164
15.2.1;Private Agricultural R&D Investments;167
15.3;6.3 U.S. Public and Private Agricultural Research;168
15.3.1;U.S. Private Agricultural Research Spending;168
15.3.2;U.S. Public Agricultural Research Spending;170
15.4;6.4 Trends in U.S. Public Agricultural Research and Extension Spending;172
15.4.1;Commodity Orientation;175
15.4.2;Productivity Orientation;177
15.4.3;Extension Trends;180
15.4.4;Research Personnel;181
15.5;6.5 Intensity of Investment;182
15.5.1;Variation in Intensities Among States;183
15.5.2;Commodity Congruence;187
15.5.3;Spatial Patterns;189
15.6;6.6 Sources and Forms of Funding;192
15.6.1;Research;192
15.6.2;Extension;195
15.7;6.7 Conclusion;196
16;7 The Federal Role;207
16.1;7.1 Enhanced Incentives to Innovate;208
16.1.1;Intellectual Property Rights;209
16.1.2;Expanding Scope of Intellectual Property Rights;210
16.1.3;Trends in Plant-Related Intellectual Property Rights;211
16.2;7.2 Organized Agricultural Research and Extension;213
16.2.1;The First 100 Years;214
16.2.2;More-Recent Legislation;215
16.3;7.3 Forms of Federal Funding;218
16.3.1;Formula and Other Block-Funding Instruments;219
16.3.2;Competitive Grants;220
16.3.3;Earmarked Funds;225
16.3.4;Trends in Funding Forms;226
16.4;7.4 Conclusion;230
16.5;APPENDIX III;249
16.5.1;U.S. Public Agricultural Researchand Extension Series;249
16.5.1.1;State Agricultural Experiment Stations (SAESs);249
16.5.1.1.1;Total Expenditures;249
16.5.1.1.2;Minnesota and Vermont Corrections;251
16.5.1.1.3;Scope of Included Research;252
16.5.1.2;RPA (Research Problem Area) and Commodity Focus;254
16.5.1.3;Intramural USDA Research;254
16.5.1.4;Extension Expenditures;255
16.5.1.5;Research Deflator;256
17;Part IV Models of R&D and Productivity;257
18;8 Research Lags and Spillovers;258
18.1;8.1 R&D Lags in Econometric Models;259
18.2;8.2 Stylized Facts about R&D Lags in Agriculture;263
18.3;8.3 Evidence on Research-Innovation-Adoption Lags;267
18.3.1;Wheat;267
18.3.2;Hybrid Corn;270
18.3.3;Biotech Corn;273
18.3.4;Uptake of Other Innovations by U.S. Agriculture;275
18.4;8.4 Spatial Aspects of the R&D Attribution Problem;278
18.4.1;Previous Work on Agricultural Technology Spillovers;278
18.5;8.5 Conclusion;281
18.6;Appendix 8-1 Models of Industrial R&D;284
18.6.1;R&D Lags in Models of Industrial R&D;284
18.6.2;Spillovers in Models of Industrial R&D;286
19;9 Models of Research and Productivity;289
19.1;9.1 Modeling Productivity and Knowledge Stocks;289
19.2;9.2 Specification of R&D Lag Distributions;293
19.2.1;Gamma Lag Distribution;294
19.2.2;Trapezoidal Lag Distribution;295
19.2.3;Influence of Lag Specification on Knowledge Stocks;300
19.3;9.3 Spillover Coefficients and Knowledge Stocks;302
19.3.1;A Measure of Spillover Potential Based on Output Mix;303
19.3.2;Estimates of Spillover Coefficients;304
19.3.3;Federal-State Spillover Coefficients—Spatial Patterns and Trends;308
19.3.4;State-to-State Spillover Coefficients—Spatial Patterns and Trends;311
19.3.5;Spillin Knowledge Stocks;313
19.4;9.4 More About Extension Knowledge Stocks;315
19.5;9.5 Weather;318
19.6;9.6 Conclusion;320
20;10 Econometric Estimation and Results;330
20.1;10.1 Estimation Procedure;330
20.2;10.2 Base Model Estimates;334
20.2.1;Lag Structure for Knowledge Stocks;335
20.2.2;Alternative Estimators;338
20.2.3;Unit Roots—First-Difference Models;342
20.3;10.3 Sensitivity of Results to Model Variations;345
20.3.1;Functional Form—Logarithmic Model;345
20.3.2;Extension Lag Distribution and Extension Spillovers;348
20.3.3;Synthesis of Results on Functional Form and Extension Lags;354
20.3.4;Alternative Research Spillover Models;355
20.3.5;Alternative Lag Distribution Models;357
20.3.6;Maximum Lag Length;358
20.4;10.4 Interpretation and Assessment;362
21;11 Productivity Patterns and Research Benefits;369
21.1;11.1 Growth Accounting;370
21.1.1;Growth Accounting Procedures;370
21.1.2;Growth Accounting Results—Contributors to Growth in MFP;373
21.1.3;Effects of Specification Choices on Growth Accounting Results;377
21.2;11.2 Analysis of State and National Benefits and Costs;382
21.2.1;Base Model Results;384
21.2.2;Accounting for Patterns in Base Model Results;388
21.2.3;State-State Comparisons of “Private” and “Social” Benefits;391
21.2.4;Effects of Alternative Specification Choices;395
21.3;11.3 Prospective Productivity Patterns;401
22;Part V Interpretation and Synthesis;425
23;12 Interpretation and Assessment of Benefit-Cost Findings;426
23.1;12.1 Summary of Main Findings;427
23.1.1;Sources of Growth;427
23.1.2;Benefit-Cost Analysis;428
23.2;12.2 Determinants of Benefits;431
23.2.1;Analytical Results;431
23.2.2;Data for the Meta-Analysis;431
23.2.3;Regression Results;433
23.3;12.3 Plausibility of Estimates—Various Perspectives;438
23.3.1;Comparison with Results in the Literature;438
23.3.2;The Value of Productivity Growth;439
23.3.3;Simple Approximate Benefit-Cost Ratios;443
23.3.4;Comparison of Approximations with Econometric Estimates;447
23.3.5;Analytical Representation of the Simple Approximation;448
23.3.6;Spatial Spillovers;450
24;13 Synthesis;467
24.1;13.1 Factology;468
24.1.1;Inputs, Outputs and Productivity;469
24.1.2;Public and Private Agricultural R&D;469
24.2;13.2 A Systematic Slowdown?;471
24.3;13.3 Attribution;471
24.3.1;Counterfactuals;472
24.3.2;Research Lags;473
24.3.3;Spillovers;473
24.4;13.4 Research Returns;474
24.5;13.5 Prospects;476
25;References;478
26;Index;506