Land Misallocation and Productivityt

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chen, Chaoran; Restuccia, Diego; Santaeulalia-Llopis, Raul
• 署名单位: York University - Canada; University of Toronto; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Pennsylvania; Autonomous University of Barcelona; Barcelona School of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20170229
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 441-465
• 关键词: aggregate productivity; agricultural production; PROPERTY-RIGHTS; size; consumption; recall; WEALTH; income; farms; COSTS

摘要

Using detailed household-level data from Malawi on physical quan-tities of agricultural outputs and inputs, we measure farm total factor productivity (TFP), controlling for land quality, rain, and transitory shocks. We find that operated land size and capital are essentially unrelated to farm TFP, implying substantial factor misallocation. The agricultural output gain from a reallocation of factors to their efficient use among existing farmers is a factor between 1.7-and 2.8-fold. We provide suggestive evidence connecting misallocation with the extent of land markets and illustrate how an efficient alloca-tion via rental markets can substantially reduce agricultural income inequality and poverty. (JEL D24, D31, I32, O13, O15, Q12, Q15)